Tokutomi Sohō

Tokutomi Sohō
Born (1863-03-14)14 March 1863
Minamata, Kumamoto Japan
Died 2 November 1957(1957-11-02) (aged 94)
Atami, Shizuoka, Japan
Occupation Journalist, Historian
Genre essays

Tokutomi Sohō (徳富 蘇峰, 14 March 1863 – 2 November 1957) was the pen name of a journalist and historian active from late Meiji period through mid-Shōwa period Japan. His real name was Tokutomi Iichirō. He was the older brother of noted author Tokutomi Roka.

Biography

Sohō was born in Minamata, Higo Province (present day Kumamoto prefecture to a samurai- ranked family just before the Meiji Restoration. He studied Eigaku ("English studies") at the Kumamoto Yogakko, and later at the Doshisha (subsequently Doshisha University) in Kyoto. He left school without graduating, but later wrote of his gratitude to the school's principal, Joseph Hardy Neesima.

Following a period back in Kumamoto, where he started a local newspaper, Sohō moved to Tokyo. In 1887, he established the Min'yūsha publishing company, which printed Japan's first general news magazine, the Kokumin no Tomo ("The People's Friend") from 1887 to 1898. This magazine was highly influential in the politics of Meiji period Japan. In addition to this news magazine, the Min'yūsha also published a magazine of family issues, Katei Zasshi ("Home Journal", 1892–1898), an English-language version of the Kokumin no Tomo, ("The Far East", 1896–1898), and an influential newspaper, the Kokumin Shinbun (1890–1929).

Sohō was initially a champion of liberal democracy and populism, as he felt that a free, open and democratic social and political order in emulation of the western nations in general, and the United States in particular would enable Japan to modernize and strength itself in the shortest possible time. His newspapers and magazines were a thorn in the side of the government during the first administration of Matsukata Masayoshi, criticizing the numerous corruption scandals of the time. However, following the First Sino-Japanese War and the Triple Intervention, his political views moved to the right of the political spectrum. By the second half of the 1890s, he came to be regarded as a conservative champion of the Meiji oligarchy, and was a close confidant of Prime Ministers Yamagata Aritomo and Katsura Tarō. By 1905, the Kokumin Shinbun was regarded as a government mouthpiece, and as such, its offices were targets of protesters during the Hibiya riots.

In 1910, Sohō founded the Keijō Nippō, one of the major Japanese newspapers in Korea under Japanese rule.

While overseeing these publications as general editor, Sohō contributed some 350 articles, on diverse subjects ranging from international affairs, to history, biography and literature. He also compiled Kinsei Nihon Kokumin shi ("A History of Early Modern Japan"), which was published in 100 volumes over a period from 1918 to 1952. He was awarded the Order of Culture by the Japanese government in 1943.

Sohō was viewed with suspicion by the American occupation authorities, and was held under arrest during the occupation of Japan from December 1945 to August 1947 as a Class A War Criminal. The charges never came to trial (partly because of his age—he was 82 at the time), and he spent the time under house arrest at his villa in Atami. He continued to live in Atami until his death.

Tokutomi Soho self-portrait at the age 88

References

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