Minseito


Minseito

(mēn'sā`tō), Japanese political party. It is usually called the Liberal party in English. Founded by Shigenobu OkumaOkuma, Shigenobu
, 1838–1922, Japanese statesman. He was an early supporter of the emperor and entered the Meiji government as finance minister in 1869. In 1876 he had the annual stipends of the former feudal aristocracy changed to payments in lump sums, with great saving
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 in 1882 as the Kaishinto, or Progressive party, it was dissolved in 1884, reformed into the Shimpoto, and merged with the Jiyuto (see SeiyukaiSeiyukai
, Japanese political party, founded in 1900. It was derived, via the Kenseito (see Minseito) from the Jiyuto, organized by Taisuke Itagaki in 1881. Under the astute political leadership of Takashi Hara, it was the most powerful party in Japan from 1900 to 1921.
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) in 1898 to form the Kenseito. Okuma later took his group out of the Kenseito and set up the Kenseihonto, which became the Kokuminto in 1910. A faction of the Kokuminto joined Taro Katsura's Doshikai in 1913 and became the nucleus of the Kenseikai. In 1927 the Kenseikai was reorganized as the Minseito. The cabinets of Takaaki Kato (1924–26), Reijiro Wakatsuki (1926–27, 1931), and Osachi Hamaguchi (1929–31) were Kenseikai or Minseito governments. All parties were dissolved in 1940. After World War II, the Minseito reemerged under the leadership of Shigeru Yoshida and Ichiro Hatoyama as the Liberal party, one of the two strong conservative groups in postwar Japan. It merged with the Democrats in 1955 to form the Liberal Democratic partyLiberal Democratic party
(LDP), Japanese political party. It began as the conservative Liberal party, which, under Shigeru Yoshida, became the dominant political force in Japan following World War II. In 1955 the Liberals merged with the newly created Democratic party.
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. The Minseito was traditionally identified with the Mitsubishi financial interests.

Bibliography

See P. Duus, Party Rivalry and Political Change in Taishō Japan (1968).

Minseito

 

(People’s Government Party), Japanese political party of the bourgeoisie and landlords, in existence from June 1, 1927, to Aug. 15, 1940. The party represented the interests of monopoly capital, the major landlords, and the monarchist bureaucracy; its leaders were closely associated with the Mitsubishi cartel. In 1940 the Minseito Party voluntarily disbanded and its members joined the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, a newly created fascist bureaucratic organization.