Nagayama Yoshida (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Minsei Nagayama Yoshida (ナガヤマ ヨシダ; 永山吉田; Nagayama Yoshida; Fuchu, Musashi Province, April 8, 1871 – Tokyo, July 25, 1952) was a Japanese philosopher, writer, journalist, and political theorist. He was the leader of Nationalist Party of Japan (1919–1949) and the first President of the Republic of Japan (1931–1951).

Nagayama played an instrumental role in the Japanese Revolution of 1919 that overthrown the eight-century old Japanese Empire and established a new republican Japanese government under the leadership of Nationalist Party in Japan. Under his leadership, Japan went through a series of nationalization of key industrial and agricultural sectors, extensive industrialization, military conflict in Korea and Manchuria with China in 1931, and military victory against the Axis Powers at the World War II in 1945. He was granted the honorific Minsei (民聖, literally, "People's Sage") by the National Congress of Japan in 1946 for his state, party, and war leadership. His sociopolitical philosophies are collectively known as Social Nationalism.

Childhood
Nagayama Yoshida was born in Fuchu, Musashi Province on April 8, 1871, the only son of Nagayama Yoshimasa (永山昌優) and his wife, Ri Seiko (季征子). Yoshida is part of Nagayama clan, one of the prominent gakke families during the Era of Seclusion. His great-grandfather, Nagayama Masahisha (1761-1828), was a disciple of famous kokugaku scholar, Motoori Norinaga, and later serving as the one of elders within the Council of the State in 1811 following the rise of Motoori clan. Yoshida's grandfather, Nagayama Masano (1800-1862), who also a rōju and a leading figure of Kyoto clique, was killed by an assassin sent by the Edo clique during the political crisis in 1860s.

Yoshida's father, Yoshimasa (1838-1900), was the soldier for Kyoto clique forces during the First Japanese Civil War (1866-1867). After the abolition of the Council of State in 1868, Yoshimasa was stripped from his bureaucratic post by the new government and lost most of the private property that was previously owned by his family. Yoshimasa moved from his family residence in Kyoto and then lived in Fuchu where he later married his own maid, Seiko, in 1869.

Yoshida's mother, Seiko (1840-1928), was a Korean. Her real name is Yi Jung-hwan (季程桓). She was born in Busan, but spent most of her infant years in Tsushima. She then moved to Kyoto, followed his uncle to work in Nagayama family residences. Despite being a family maid, Seiko was already very close with Yoshimasa since their childhood and was treated by Masano as his own daughter. After Nagayama family estates being taken over by the government, Seiko decided to follow Yoshimasa instead to return to Tsushima with her family.

During his childhood, Yoshimasa;s family only owned small pieces of land for farming and they lived in poverty. Young Nagayama was taught by older Nagayama about the traditional Japanese and kokugaku classic texts by his father started at the age of nine. He also attended the local (寺子屋 terakoya) at the age of ten.

University years
Although his father desired Nagayama to continue the education, he voluntarily entered the first Imperial Military Academy in Osaka at the age of 15. He formally joined the Imperial Navy of Japan in 1890 at the age of 19. After contacted a tuberculosis, Nagayama discharged from the Navy and returned to his hometown in 1891. Followed his father’s advice, Nagayama began to study law and political science in Keio-Gijuku School in 1892, and later classical literature in Shōheikō University in 1895 while also worked as a part-time editor in Hochi Shimbun.

Soon after entering Shōheikō University, Nagayama was involved in the protests against the Treaty of Shimonoseki which Japan viewed to be treated unequally by the West and the government almost has no power to force the West to grant all of Korean peninsula to them. Since the Korean peninsula entered into a part of Russian sphere of influences, it was also viewed as "the spear that directly pointed toward the heart of Japanese realm" by the nationalists.

Unlike other nationalists at his time, Nagayama had a deep interest about the idea of republicanism and socialism. and held a strong view of anti-elitism against the wealthy ruling class inherited from his father and other people with gakke family background that deposed from their social prominence by the then-government of Japan. He also viewed the modernization of Japan corrupted and destroyed the thousand-year old traditional moral building of Japanese nation. Nagayama joined the Society for the Study of Socialism in 1896 and being one of its active contributors as an editor for the organisation weekly journal.

Nagayama was also a long-time friend of Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yat-sen, after the latter self-exiled to Japan following the failure of Guangzhou uprising in 1895. During Sun's stay in Japan, both of them often exchanged their respective revolutionary ideas. They held a deep respect toward each other where Sun praised Nagayama for his intelligence and strong patriotic stance and Nagayama respected Sun for his braveness and modern democratic idea.

In the Philippines
In 1898, Nagayama was conscripted again to the Navy and stationed in Manila during the Spanish-Japanese War. Being a polyglot, Nagayama worked instead in the Communication Department as a clerk and translator. During his stay, he brought three big bookcases to the Philippines which annoyed his superior. Just after one year working behind the desk, Nagayama finally stationed as an active soldier on the part of intelligence network in northern Luzon during the Philippine-Japanese War. Nagayama remained in the Philippines even after the war ended and after discharged, he worked as a Japanese language teacher in a local school in Manila until 1906.

He finished his first book in 1905 during his last years in the Philippines, "The Strange Case of Capitalism" (資本主義の奇妙な物語 Shihon shugi no kimyōna monogatari), which was an analogue about the similarity of the dual contradictory natures of capitalism with the story of "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".

Social activist
Nagayama returned to Japan in 1906 and immediately joined the newly founded Japanese Socialist Party. During his membership days, he was known for always openly debating the anarchist Shūsui Kōtoku over the issues such as revolution, capitalism and anarchism. His arguments that linked Socialism with ancient Japanese tradition, instead to Marxism shocked most of his contemporaries and also made him as an enemy for most of Japanese Marxists and anarchists. Nagayama also personally against any violent attempts to overthrow the government and instead the Socialists should employed more peaceful ways, such as through the parliamentary election. He often referred Kōtoku and another anarchists as "terrorists" and even "bandits" during his speeches.

After the Socialist Party banned by the government in 1908, Nagayama founded the non-political, neo-traditionalist National Cultural Movement (國民文化運動 Kokumin Bunkwa Undō). According to its constitution, the Movement tried to promote the Japanese Cultural Renaissance by the purification of Japanese culture from Buddhist and Confucian influences and the re-exploration of the ancient Japanese spirit and combining it into Western ideals, in order to achieve the advanced and modern Japanese society with a strong moral building. Many of the kokugaku scholars, the linguists, and the historians joined this organization.

While devoted himself into the field of education and culture, Nagayama entered politics again in 1910 by joining the Constitutional Nationalist Party (立憲國民黨 Rikken Kokumintō) that led by Inukai Tsuyoshi. He soon established himself as an able orator and the leading figure of the party's left-wing.

Senator
In 1912, Nagayama was elected as the member of Imperial Senate, representing his home province of Musashi. As a senator, Nagayama hated by most of his seniors from the conservative parties much to his republicanism, his gakke background and his past membership on the Socialist Party. But, some older liberal senators such Inukai Tsuyoshi and Ozaki Yukio praised Nagayama for his intelligence and sharp, brilliant wit every time he getting offended by other senators' speeches.

In office from 1912 to 1919, Nagayama became the aide for leading opposition figure, Inukai Tsuyoshi, despite the political differences between these two political figures. Inukai viewed Nagayama as the part of his own family and even trusted Nagayama to privately mentoring his son, Takeru, who later became aide for Nagayama himself and appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs before and after the World War II.

In January 1913, about half of the Constitutional Nationalist Party defected to join the ruling Constitutional Party (憲政黨 Kenseitō). With the permission from Inukai, Nagayama soon took over the party leadership and shifted the party's political position from centre-right to being more moderate left in policy. He advocated for the universal suffrage, emancipation of the working class, the cooperative movement, and elimination of disparities in wealth, while keeping his usual nationalist rhetoric. As the party's leader, he refused any kind of financial banking from zaibatsu and chose to change the party into a self-funded cadre-based organization.

Thanks to its popular programs, the party drew a broad support from the urban working class, intellectual workers, middle-class shop owners, and even from the rural population that still doesn't understand anything about politics at that time. The party memberships grew significantly between 1914-1915 from only 1000 in 1913 to more than 7100 throughout Japan in 1916. However, due to the limited male suffrage, the party only able to gain 70 seats during the 1917 general election, making its the third largest party in the Senate of Japan.

Japanese Revolution
Following the end of war, Japan’s economy also already suffered and the country was succumbed into deep economic crisis. On August 1918, rice riots caused by this inflation erupted in towns and cities throughout Japan. Following the resignation of all Constitutional-Nationalist senators from the Senate, Emperor Keishin dissolved the Senate and announced a new general election to be scheduled in September 1918.

The Constitutional Nationalists then gained a narrow victory with more than 95 seats in the Senate, making it the second largest party in the Senate. But, the coalition between the Constitutional Party and the Liberal Party able to form a government under conglomerate Iwasaki Hisaya, much to the Constitutional Nationalists' dissatisfaction. The death of Emperor Keishin in March 27, 1919 signaled the start of era of political turbulence in Japan.

The nation-wide demonstrations and strikes against the government sparked throughout the country, especially in major cities such Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima. This events later climaxed on November 13, 1919 where more than 5,200 peoples gathered in Hibiya Park, Tokyo, denounced the imperial rule. When the demonstrators marched from the park and approached toward the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Guards opened fire on the masses, killed 50 individuals and injured 327 others.

The Revolution soon swept the city by November 1919 and the country in the next month. A split within the revolutionary rank caused the moderate Left elements proposed to form an opposition coalition government with non-Left parties. During the night of November 27, 1919, a group of revolutionaries led by Shokiri Chosuke sneakingly went to the residence of Nagayama Yoshida despite the curfew that implemented by the government. Nagayama was quietly surprised when the revolutionaries came to his house that night.

After the group told Nagayama the purpose they coming is about the formation of opposition government with the Constitutional Nationalists, he then invited them to talk inside and promised for not calling any security guard. The negotiation between Nagayama and the revolutionaries was very tough. Despite his strong republicanism, Nagayama indeed want the social order in Japan to be maintained and preferred the national unity instead the civil war. However, he agreed with the revolutionaries that the revolution is unavoidable and the government lack of compromise will worsening it. After a ten-hour talk, negotiation was finally failed and with Nagayama's generosity, the group stayed in his house until morning. But, Nagayama promised them that he will discuss with Inukai about their aspiration. However, Inukai who was told by Nagayama about the proposal next morning also rejected it.

By October 1919, the political situation rapidly changed and the revolution became a nation-wide phenomenon. Nagayama became more disillusioned about the continuation of the party's parliamentary struggle and believed that the old monarchy was already rotten, despite Inukai's resentment. During the October 17 session of the party's central committee, Nagayama declared to drop the word "Constitutional" from the party name and made its now simply known as the "Nationalist Party". The Nationalists now became increasingly republican and began to show its support to the "Council of National Salvation" which was formed by the mutinied soldiers.

On October 20, 1919, the Council of National Salvation proclaimed Nagayama as the provisional Prime Minister of Japan. Although felt reluctant about his nomination at first, Nagayama finally accepted it on October 23, 1919. Without any revolutionary experiences or other kind of adventurism like other world revolutionary figures, Nagayama soon found himself being the leader and centre of the Japanese Revolution without he ever expected.

With his "Proclamation for the Formation of People's Revolutionary Army" on October 24, 1919, Nagayama attempted to organize the mutinied soldiers and the revolutionary groups into one unified command. Lieutenant Matsutaka Imada from the 3rd Division of the Imperial Army was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, while Nagayama himself assumed the title of "Political Commander of the Army and Navy" (海陸軍政治司令官 Kairikugun Seiji Shirei-kan).

The Provisional Executive Committee was established on October 25, 1919 with Nagayama as its President. Among its members is a former high school teacher that participated during the Northern Tokyo Uprising named Hōtori Etsu. Hōtori was appointed as the Chief of Mobilization Department and responsible for the recruitment of the Republican soldiers. His organizational ability gained a favor from Nagayama and later made him a part of the revolutionary's leadership inner circle.

The fighting between the government forces and the Republicans broke in every major Japanese cities. On the rural areas, especially in the most conservative ones, the Republicans' influence was at its strongest and by January 1920, most of Central Honshu and all of Shikoku was under the control of Republican Army. The seat of Republican government was also changed several times. Kyoto served as the Republican seat between October to November 1919, followed by Nagoya in December 1919, Osaka and Nara in January 1920 and, finally, Kōchi in February 1920.

On February 15, 1920, the deputies from all parts of Japan convened the National Congress of Japan in Kōchi where the Republic of Japan was officially declared by Nagayama Yoshida on February 16, exactly coincides with the traditional date of the foundation of Japanese state.

An excerpt from the 1920 Declaration of Establishment of the Republic of Japan that later will serve as the preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of Japan:


 * 「大和民國ハ 人民ノ意志 ト 人民ノ勞働 ニ基ズイテ 設立サ レマシタ. 大和民國ハ 高貴ナ 先祖ノ ト 愛國ナ 殉教者ノ 血魂ノ神聖合成デアル、我ノ 勢力ノ ト 我ノ 意志ニ ヨリ 永遠ニ 持續 ナケレバ ナリマセン サ」
 * "Daiwa Minkoku wa jinmin no ishi to jinmin no rōdō nimotozuite setsuritsu sa remashita. Daiwa Minkoku wa kōkina senzo no to aikokuna junkyōsha no chikon no shinsei gōseidearu, kano seiryoku-ni to kano ishi-ni yori eien ni jizoku nakereba narimasen sa"


 * Translations: "The Republic of Japan is founded on the labor of the people and the will of the people, the people of the Japanese islands, from Karafuto to Nan'yo Islands. The Republic of Japan is a sacred union of the blood and soul of our great ancestors and our patriotic martyrs that must lasting forever by our might and our will!"

At the Republic inaugural ceremony that attended by local Kōchi citizens, the Republican flag, Mizuho-no-hata, was hoisted and the Republican anthem, Wagakuni, was sung for the first time, marked the birth of new government and new era in Japan.