Anarchism in Japan

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Anarchism in Japan began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as Western anarchist literature began to be translated into Japanese. It existed throughout the 20th century in various forms, despite repression by the state that became particularly harsh during the two world wars, and it reached its height in the 1920s with organisations such as Kokuren and Zenkoku Jiren.

Japanese anarchism had a number of notable leading figures who dominated the movement at different times. The first of these leaders was Kōtoku Shūsui, who led the development of an anarchist faction within existing left-wing movements, which then split into its own independent movement in the first decade of the 1900s. Kōtoku was executed for treason in 1911, and the movement was subject to severe repression for a decade. The next leading figure was Ōsugi Sakae, who involved himself heavily in support for anarcho-syndicalism and helped to bring the movement out of its 'winter period', until he was murdered by military police in 1923.

Another leading figure was Hatta Shūzō, who reoriented the anarchist movement in a more anarcho-communist direction during the late 1920s, opposing labour unions as a tool of revolution. This produced a split between anarcho-syndicalists and anarcho-communists, which dominated anarchist politics and weakened the movement. From 1931 onwards, the anarchist movement was suppressed more harshly due to the wartime policies of the Empire of Japan. After the war, an anarchist movement once again appeared (the Japanese Anarchist Federation) and was led by important pre-war anarchists such as Iwasa Sakutarō and Ishikawa Sanshirō, but it was once again weakened by splits between the two factions.

From very early on in the history of Japanese anarchism, the movement was in close contact with anarchists from Europe, America, and elsewhere in Asia. Japanese anarcho-syndicalist ideas were often inspired by French syndicalists, and works by writers such as Peter Kropotkin and Emma Goldman had a great influence on the Japanese anarchist movement.