1905-1918 The Era of Popular Violence in Japan

 Hibiya Incendiary Incident 1905

- Portsmouth Treaty ended Russo-Japanese War, but the agreements were seen as humiliating and far inferior to what Japanese people were hoping. 

 -A crowd showed up to Hibiya Park on September 5, 1905 for a rally in opposition to the Portsmouth Treaty to find police enforcement and barricaded park gates

 -Soon the crowd fluctuated to 30,000 people. Police would not open the gates to the park.

 -The people rampaged the city, destroyed/damaged about 350 buildings

 -17 killed, 450 cops and more civilians injured

Other Events

-Streetcar strikes & riots, Tokyo 1911

-Three day riot 1914, Nagoya 

Strikes, riots, and general social unrest continue to heighten, peaking in 1918. . .

July-September 1918 Rice Riots

In response to:

-wartime inflation

-low wages

-commodity speculation

Price of rice/grain doubled along with a high increase in many other goods. Wages remained low
Overall, rioters were not just "poorer" workers, but mostly the middle class with modern, industrial jobs.

Protests are generally thought to begin on July 22 1918, Toyama

-Murakata Ikki  (traditional village uprising), common feature in Japanese history in 16th to 19th century

-Fisherman’s wives tried to stop the export of grain

-While fishermen were away for a long time, wives kept a thumb on the pulse of grain, inflation, and the economy.

-General rioting until Oct 4th, including 30 separate incidents

-Most of these protests were lead by women, including attacks on rice merchants, sit-ins, marches, and preventing grain loading

-Fishing town riots soon spread to urban areas

Nagoya Riots, August, 1918

-August 9th- 500 people met in Tsurumai Park

-August 10th there were 30,000 people meeting the park

-August 12th- 50,000 people take to the streets (destruction ensues)

-August 13th- discount rice sales begin, but riots continue

-Coinciding with the Odon Festival-  protest-parties! (sake, drumming, dancing)

-Riots spread to over 40 cities, lasting two days to over a week.

Overall:

130,000 out of a total population of 437,000 people took part in riots in Nagoya

10 million out of a population of 56 million took part in the riots nationally

Attacks were primarily against property, cops, and military.

For the most part, individual rice dealers & their homes went untouched

Prime Minister Terauchi resigns at the end of September

Other Targets:

-Shipyards & factories

-Landlords & estate agents

-Coal

These riots were surprisingly not attached to any specific ideology,  but for a fair economy and basic sustenance for living (hence, popular uprising).  Nonetheless, communist and other radical groups, along with Russian and Chinese influence are given much of the blame.  This period marks one of the largest social upheaval in modern Japan.  These riots demonstrate the ability of marginalized individuals to act as a whole body for economic and social justice.  

Sources
Rioters and Citizens. Mass Protest in Imperial Japan. Michael Lewis. University of California Press. 1990.
 libcom.org/library
John Crump, The Anarchist Movement in Japan