PIONEER OF “TAISH DEMOCRACY”: ABE ISOO’S SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC IDEALISM AND JAPANESE CONCEPTS OF DEMOCRACY FROM 1900 TO 1920

Abstract: Japanese research about so-called Taish Democracy can be classified into three study fields: party politics and political movements (“political democracy”), social movements (“social democracy”), and movements of intellectuals (“intellec-tual democracy”). Especially within the field of “intellectual democracy ” there is still a lack of research in Japan concerning the selection and analysis of sources. Rel-evant materials like Abe Isoo’s writing Chij no riskoku – Suisu (Ideal state on Earth – Switzerland) have not yet been taken into account by Japanese historians. What were the fundamental ideas and conceptions of democracy in prewar Japan? The starting point for answering that question should be an analysis of Japanese defi-nitions of the Western term “democracy. ” During the Taish period, quite a number of translations for “democracy, ” such as minponshugi, heiminshugi, and minseishugi were in use. Astonishingly, there is no Japanese research so far exploring the origin and usage of those translations. The aim of this paper is not only to introduce Abe’s work, which was overlooked by historians until now, but also to give insight into the etymological and historical origins of the various translations of “democracy” in use during the late Meiji and the Taish eras. 1. ABE ISOO’S IDEALISTIC VIEWS OF SWITZERLAND “This small country of complete freedom! Where else can there be found a nation that exists only for the purpose of giving its people wealth, liberty, and equality? How can other countries still be eager for glory and territorial expansion? All the other countries in this world should be ashamed and venerate this small and yet ideal na-tion ” (Abe 1947: 33f.).1 Switzerland appears as the most ideal country of the world in a writing of the critic Abe Isoo (1865–1949), one of the foremost theoretical exponents of the early socialist and democratic movement in Japan. In his 100-page publication of 1904 entitled Chij no riskoku – Suisu (Ideal state on Earth – Switzerland) Abe describes the political system and social conditions of Switzerland in the late nineteenth century. Though written almost a hun-1 All translations are my own