일본 근대불교와 사회주의운동 ― 메이지기(明治期)의 사회주의에 한정하여 ―

Abstract

This research looked into the socialist movements connected with the socialistic activities of Buddhists in the Meiji(明治) period of Japan. The socialist thought introduced into Japan from Western nations in the early Meiji government and the socialist movements are the section which should be studied by researchers in order to understand the politics, society, and thought of modern Japan. The socialist thought was introduced at the height of the Freedom and People's Right Movement in the early Meiji period, and after that the socialist movements took root in Japan through the Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War. After the Sino-Japanese War, labor movements by modern labor unions, the Socialism Research Institute(1898) and Socialism Association(1900) for studying Socialism, the Social Democratic Party(1901) of the first Japanese Socialism Party, the Heiminsha(平民社) and Heimin Weekly News(1903) etc. were in activity. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan Socialist Party(1906) and the Hemin Daily News(1907) were in activity, anarchism was introduced, an act of violence was raised actively. The socialist movements connected with Buddhism was behaved by the new Buddhists of the New Buddhists' Society, the absolute altruism Movement's Itoushiyoushin(伊藤證信) and the Buddhists victimized to the case of high treason. An anarchist Uchiyamakuto(內山愚童), who was implicated in the case of high treason and punished with death, hoped to realize the ideal country of anarchy, trying to square anarchism with Buddhism. Though Buddhists' activities was not given a great deal of weight on the Japanese socialist movements, it has important meanings in the history of the Japanese socialist movements, considering the realities of Buddhism at that time.