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Chapter 21 Education and Scholarship under Fascism (1935–1937) During the New Year’s holiday of 1935, Nishida gave his customary series of lectures to the members of the Shinano Philosophical Society on the “logical structure of the actual world.”1 He then began a two months’s stay in Kamakura on January 21. He agreed to an interview on February 26 with a journalist from Kaizösha that was published as “Beruguson, Shesutofu, sono ta—ujitsu zatsudan” [Bergson, Shestov, and so forth—conversations on a rainy day].2 In March he wrote a preface to Köyama Iwao’s Nishida Tetsugaku [Nishidan philosophy], a book that explained his philosophical system, which was published by Iwanami on April 25, 1935.3 Around this time, ultranationalistic factions sharpened their attack on progressive thinkers, resulting in an incident involving Minobe Tatsukichi, a professor of law at Tokyo Imperial University.4 Minobe advocated a theory of constitutional monarchy, known as the “organ theory” (kikan-setsu), that placed the emperor within the framework of the constitution of Japan. Kikuchi Takeo, an army general, attacked this theory in the House of Peers on February 18, arguing that it was blasphemous to call the “divine emperor” the “organ” of the state.5 The road for the indictment of Minobe had already been paved two years earlier in 1933, when Minoda Muneki launched his attack in the October issue of Genri Nippon. Minoda assailed Minobe’s theory as “that which goes against the emperor system” (han-kokutai).6 The Association of Retired Veterans backed Kikuchi and circulated pamphlets that vilified Minobe’s theory. On February 25, Minobe, himself a member of the House of Peers, eloquently defended his position, but this only fueled irrational sentiments among the ultranationalists. The head of the Seiyü Party, Suzuki Kisaburö, saw this as a perfect Education and Scholarship under Fascism (1935–1937) opportunity to overthrow the ruling party. Suzuki was able to put proposals concerning the “renovation of politics and education” and a “declaration on the national essence” on the agendas of the House of Peers and the House of Representatives, respectively. These resolutions were passed unanimously by both houses with the demand that the government “clarify the nature of the emperor system (kokutai).” Harada Kumao, criticizing the Seiyü Party’s foolish act, lamented that “the political parties are braiding their own rope to tie themselves to the point of disability; they are digging their own graves.”7 Out of petty self-interest, the Seiyü Party precipitated the dismantling of the parliamentary system. The Minobe incident marked the beginning of a period when “the opinion of the military swayed the spheres of politics and education,”8 and dealt a decisive blow to the independence of academic and scienti fic study. Nishida, concerned with the repercussions of the Minobe incident, wrote to Hori: “I feel very sorry for Mr. Minobe. From now on, we may not be able to study civil law or carry out an objective study of the history of our country.”9 He also confided to Harada: “According to the newspapers, the military is involved in the Minobe incident. I worry about how the case will be resolved. If everything is to be handled this way, I have great apprehension about the future of our country .”10 On April 9, home minister Gotö Fumio banned Minobe’s books on the constitution. Iwanami, the publisher of Minobe’s works, respected Minobe’s scholarship and submitted a letter of protest to the Tokyo Asahi Newspaper . In this letter, Iwanami praised Minobe as a man and a scholar and argued that “there should be ample room for various kinds of patriotism within the expansive imperial spirit,” and that “the real and most dangerous trend of thought is one that takes a narrow view of the kokutai and denounces groups of people as unpatriotic by accusing them of holding onto a skewed loyalty.” Because this letter was potentially injurious to Iwanami and his business, Kobayashi Isamu, assistant to Iwanami, and Tsutsumi Tsune, manager of the company, took the extraordinary step of requesting the Asahi Newspaper Company to return Iwanami’s letter to them.11 Ruffians began to hang out around Iwanami’s store, and he confessed to his close friends that he was “actually afraid . . . it would be no fun to be assaulted by them.” According to Iwanami, “when rabid dogs are prowling the streets, those who can kill them should do so, but those who cannot must lock themselves...

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