The formation of the Rikken Kokumin Party focussing the movements of Inukai Tsuyoshi and Sakamoto Kinya

Abstract

The purpose of the present article is to examine the process in which the Rikken Kokumin Party was formed in Okayama Prefecture, in order to clarify the political historical significance of attempts by that party to expand its influence via a platform calling for the reduction of fiscal burdens on the private sector to free up resources for economic development (minryoku kyuyo 民力休養).
The author begins in November of 1908, during which the Prefecture’s two political factions---one led by Sakamoto Kinya, the other by Inukai Tsuyoshi---decided to put aside their differences and form the local Kakumeikai Party. This reorganization of Okayama politics, which was accompanied by changes occurring in the Prefecture’s industrial structure negatively impacted the theretofore solid base secured by Inukai, who just that Spring had launched a campaign calling for “a buildup of economic armaments” in which the central government would cut taxes to the benefit of key Prefectural industries, thus coming into line with the Sakamoto Faction’s ongoing tax reduction movement and re-ensuring support for Inukai among Okayama’s landlords and entrepreneurs. Then beginning in 1909, the Inukai and Sakamoto Factions came to terms at the national level, which led to the formation of the Rikken Kokumin Party. What this meant for Okayama was the disbanding of the Kakumeikai in May and the incorporation of its members into the Okayama branch of the Rikken Kokumin Party.
From the above analysis of the transformation of the Kakumeikai into the Rikken Komin Party the author draws attention to the way in which the political demands of such groups as landlords and commercial-industrial interests were incorporated into the Party, through focusing on the conflict that arose between Inukai and Sakamoto, concluding that in locales where agricultural productivity was high and both newly rising and traditional industries were growing in particular in the Pacific Ocean and Seto Inland Sea coastal areas, the campaign of the rival Seiyukai Party to stimulate profit earnings failed to gain traction in the midst of the excitement over fiscal tax cuts and reductions In the author’s opinion, the post-Russo-Japanese War “minryoku kyuyo”fiscal measures were not only welcomed in Japan’s urban areas, as indicated in the research to date, but also raised excitement to a certain extent in the more economically developing regions of agrarian society, such as Okayama, and thus tapped into the political energy being generated by the Taisho democracy movement.