The Dai Nihon Kyokai (Society for Greater Japan) (大日本協会)

The Dai Nihon Kyokai (Society for Greater Japan) was a political organization (October 1 - December 29, 1893) that was formed in the Meiji period with the aim of gathering together hard-liners on foreign nations.

It was formed on October 1, 1893, by Iwane ABEI, Norimi SAKAMOTO, Tomofusa SASSA, Tomotsune KOMUCHI and others, with Naichi Zakkyo Kokyukai (The Society for Research on Mixed Residence of Foreigners and Japanese in Japan) as it's parent organization. While some of the members were council members of the party, it included among it's members of the Dai Nihon Kyokai were lawmakers of the House of the Representatives, many of whom also belonged to other political parties that maintained cooperative relations with Dai Nihon Kyokai, including the Toyo Jiyuto (Oriental Liberal Party), the Kokumin Kyokai (National Association [Japan]), The Policy Affairs Research Council (a political party in the Meiji period), and the Domei Club (League Club). Nationalists from Genyosha (the Black Ocean Society) and other organizations also belonged to the Dai Nihon Party. The Dai Nihon Kyokai condemned the Meiji government's diplomacy as weak-kneed, and under the slogans of "the rigorous enforcement of the treaties," "an autonomous foreign policy," and "a hard-line stance against Qing," it primarily advocated the refusal of all treaty revisions except for the conclusion of treaties on equal terms and opposition to mixed residence of foreigners and Japanese in Japan.

Meanwhile, however, the movement was also, in a sense, part of the plan to create a national political realignment focusing on foreign affairs among nationalists in particular, who allowed popular rights groups to take the initiative in the anti-government movement Minto (political parties including the Liberal Party and the Progressive Party) since the Seinan War (a local war by Satsuma ex-samurai against the Meiji government); In other words, it also represented a political trend to unify all political parties with nationalism at the core in the future by involving the parties from the Kokumin Kyokai, a Rito which was fundamentally a pro-government political party, to the Toyo Jiyuto, a radical popular rights party which advocated universal suffrage. The Dai Nihon Kyokai called for cooperation from the Rikken Kaishinto (Constitutional Progressive Party) to build a coalition (taigaiko roppa [six parties advocating a hard-line foreign policy: the Dai Nihon Kyokai, the Toyo Jiyuto, the Kokumin Kyokai, the Policy Affairs Research Council, the Domei Kurabu and the Rikken Kaishinto]) against the government, the Jiyuto (Liberal Party [Japan: 1890-1898]), which was strengthening its partnerships with the government. In December, the Toyo Jiyto dissolved, and some of its members, including Kentaro OI, formally joined the Dai Nihon Kyokai.

However, some radical members of the society attacked foreigners in Japan, causing the government to crack down on the society as the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation drew near. On December 29 of the same year, when the House of Representatives was dissolved in opposition of the proposal to rigorously enforce the treaties, the Dai Nihon Kyokai was suddenly designated as a political organization to which the Assembly and Political Association laws applied, and on the same day it was ordered to disband with the attacks on foreigners cited as the reason for the order.

[Original Japanese]