Toshiyuki Maesaka (前坂 俊之, Maesaka Toshiyuki) is a Japanese freelance journalist, a former senior researcher of Mainichi…Toshiyuki Maesaka (前坂 俊之, Maesaka Toshiyuki) is a Japanese freelance journalist, a former senior researcher of Mainichi Shimbun Newspaper, and a professor emeritus at the University of Shizuoka.
Tadao Ogura (Japanese: 小倉 忠夫, Ogura Tadao, born March 22, 1929) is a Japanese art critic, known primarily for his work…Tadao Ogura (Japanese: 小倉 忠夫, Ogura Tadao, born March 22, 1929) is a Japanese art critic, known primarily for his work in the fields of printmaking and Western-style painting. Active from the 1960s through the 1970s, he published numerous critiques that significantly influenced the postwar Japanese art scene. He was born in Takahashi City, Okayama Prefecture. His father was Gyoka Ogura (Japanese: 小倉 魚禾, Ogura Gyoka), a painter.
Hitoshi Yamakawa (Japanese: 山川 均, Yamakawa Hitoshi; 20 December 1880 – 23 March 1958) was a Japanese socialist…Hitoshi Yamakawa (Japanese: 山川 均, Yamakawa Hitoshi; 20 December 1880 – 23 March 1958) was a Japanese socialist intellectual, activist, and theorist. He was a central figure in the early Japanese socialist movement and a co-founder of the first Japanese Communist Party in 1922. After breaking with the party a year later, he became the leader of the Rōnō-ha (Labor-Farmer Faction), a dissident group of Marxist thinkers who challenged the Comintern's thesis that Japan required a two-stage revolution. Born in Kurashiki into a family that had lost its wealth and status, Yamakawa developed a strong anti-authoritarian streak and a sense of social alienation during his youth. After dropping out of Dōshisha, a Christian school where he was first exposed to socialist ideas, he was imprisoned for lèse-majesté in 1900. This experience proved transformative, and he emerged a dedicated revolutionary. Yamakawa joined the Japan Socialist Party in 1906 and, under the influence of Kōtoku Shūsui, became a leading advocate of anarcho-syndicalism. Following another prison term after the Red Flag Incident of 1908 and a period of withdrawal, he returned to activism in 1916. The Russian Revolution led him to embrace Leninism, and in 1922 he helped establish the Japanese Communist Party. He developed the doctrine of "Yamakawaism," which called for a mass-based, legal proletarian party rather than a small, secretive vanguard, leading to the dissolution of the first JCP in 1924. In 1927, he led the Rōnō-ha in a definitive split from the JCP, initiating the highly influential "Japanese capitalism debate". Yamakawa and his faction argued that Japan was an advanced capitalist country requiring a direct, one-stage socialist revolution, a position that placed them in direct opposition to both the JCP and the Comintern. After World War II, he helped establish the Socialist Association (Shakai-shugi Kyōkai (社会主義協会)), which became a powerful left-wing force within the new Japan Socialist Party. He remained a major figure in the socialist movement until his death in 1958.
Hakuchō Masamune (正宗 白鳥, Masamune Hakuchō; 3 March 1879 – 28 October 1962), born Tadao Masamune, was a noted Japanese…Hakuchō Masamune (正宗 白鳥, Masamune Hakuchō; 3 March 1879 – 28 October 1962), born Tadao Masamune, was a noted Japanese critic and writer of fiction, and a leading member of the Japanese Naturalist school of literature.
Tsunashima Ryōsen (綱島 梁川, Tsunashima Ryōsen; May 27, 1873–September 14, 1907) was a Japanese author and philosopher. He…Tsunashima Ryōsen (綱島 梁川, Tsunashima Ryōsen; May 27, 1873–September 14, 1907) was a Japanese author and philosopher. He was a graduate of Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō. He was originally a rationalist and then became a Christian. He is buried in Tokyo's Zōshigaya cemetery.
