Description
Book SynopsisViolence and democracy may seem fundamentally incompatible, but the two have often been intimately and inextricably linked. In Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists, Eiko Maruko Siniawer argues that violence has been embedded in the practice of modern Japanese politics from the very inception of the country''s experiment with democracy. As soon as the parliament opened its doors in 1890, brawls, fistfights, vandalism, threats, and intimidation quickly became a fixture in Japanese politics, from campaigns and elections to legislative debates. Most of this physical force was wielded by what Siniawer calls violence specialists: ruffians and yakuza. Their systemic and enduring political violence-in the streets, in the halls of parliament, during popular protests, and amid labor strife-ultimately compromised party politics in Japan and contributed to the rise of militarism in the 1930s.
For the post-World War II years, Siniawer illustrates how the Japanese developed a preference fo
Trade Review
Gamblers, ruffians, thugs, and yakuza have left a major imprint on contemporary Japanese politics and political style, and Siniawer tells their story well.
* Journal of Asian Studies *
In this important work, Eiko Maruko Siniawer argues very convincingly that violence, especially political violence, was a pervasive, highly influential, and nearly continuous force in Japan between the late Tokugawa age and the 1960s.
* Japanese Studies *
Siniawer's essential contention—that violence was a systemic, continuous feature of politics, which exerted a major impact on the nature of Japanese democracy—is demonstrated convincingly. Scholars inclined to emphasize the 'brighter side’ of Japan’s modern history may find this work troublesome. And that is a good thing.
* Pacific Affairs *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Political Violence in Historiographical Perspective
Violence, Violence Specialists, and Politics
Violence and Democracy
Approaches to Comparative HistoryChapter 1. Patriots and Gamblers: Violence and the Formation of the Meiji State
Shishi: Assassins, Rebels, Patriots
Shishi Legacies in the Early Meiji Period
Bakuto: Outlaws, Robin Hoods, Local Leaders
Bakuto and the Meiji Restoration
Bakuto as Political Violence Specialists: The Freedom and People's Rights MovementChapter 2. Violent Democracy: Ruffians and the Birth of Parliamentary Politics
From Activist to Ruffian: Soshi in the 1880s
Exporting Violence: Nationalist Tairiku Ronin across Borders
Parliamentary Politics and the Professionalization of Soshi
State Violence and the Second General ElectionChapter 3. Institutionalized Ruffianism and a Culture of Political Violence
The Jiyuto Ingaidan and Its Bosses
The Seiyukai Ingaidan in Party Politics
Cultures of Violence: Yakuza Bosses in Diet PoliticsChapter 4. Fascist Violence: Ideology and Power in Prewar Japan
Fascist Ideologies
Fascist Violence
The Nationalist Nexus in the Metropole and Beyond
Violence in the Decline of the Political PartiesChapter 5. Democracy Reconstructed: Violence Specialists in the Postwar Period
The Decline of Soshi and the Remaking of Ingaidan Violence
Violence as a Political and Discursive Weapon in Diet Politics
"Boryokudan" Redux: Yakuza and the Conservative Nexus
1960: The Apogee of Postwar Violence Specialists
Coda: Political Violence after 1960Afterword
Violence and Democracy
Violence, Fascism, Militarism
Violence Specialists and History
A Contemporary Perspective on Violent DemocracyGlossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
