Pioneer of “Taishō Democracy”: Abe Isoo's Social Democratic Idealism and Japanese Concepts of Democracy from 1900 to 1920

Japanese research about so-called Taishō Democracy can be classified into three study fields: party politics and political movements (“political democracy”), social movements (“social democracy”), and movements of intellectuals (“intellectual democracy”). Especially within the field of “intellectual democracy” there is still a lack of research in Japan concerning the selection and analysis of sources. Relevant materials like Abe Isoo's writing Chijō no risōkoku—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 definitions of the Western term “democracy.” During the Taishō 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 Taishō eras.