Imperial Rule Assistance Association

Imperial Rule
Assistance
Association
This article may be expanded with text translated from
the corresponding article in JapaneseLearn more.
The Imperial Rule Assistance

Association (Japanese: ⼤政翼贊會/⼤政翼
賛会, Hepburn: Taisei Yokusankai), or
Imperial Aid Association, was the Empire
of Japan's wartime organization created by
Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on October
12, 1940, to promote the goals
of his Shintaisei ("New Order") movement. It
evolved into a "statist" ruling political party
which aimed at removing the sectionalism in
the politics and economics in the Empire of
Japan to create a totalitarian one-party state,
in order to maximize the efficiency of
Japan's total war effort in China.[1] When the
organization was launched officially, Konoe
was hailed as a "political savior" of a nation
in chaos; however, internal divisions soon
appeared.
Imperial Rule Assistance Association

⼤政翼賛会
Taisei Yokusankai
President Fumimaro Konoe
(1940–1941)
Hideki Tojo (1941–
1944)
Kuniaki Koiso (1944–
1945)
Kantarō Suzuki
(1945)
Deputy President Heisuke Yanagawa

(1941)
Kisaburo Ando
(1941–1943)
Fumio Gotō (1943–
1944)
Takekata Ogata
(1944–1945)
Founded 12 October 1940

Dissolved 13 June 1945
Merger of Rikken Seiyūkai,
Rikken Minseitō
Kokumin Dōmei,
Shakai Taishūtō
Headquarters Marunouchi, Chiyoda
Ward,
Tokyo, Empire of
Japan
Newspaper Osamu Tsubasa
Youth wing Great Japan Youth
Party
Women's wing Greater Japan
Women's Association
Paramilitary wing Yokusan Sonendan
Parliamentary group Imperial Rule
Assistance
Political Association
Mobilization Neighborhood program
Association
National militia Volunteer Fighting

Corps
Ideology
Shōwa statism •
Japanese
imperialism •
Japanese
militarism •
Japanese
nationalism •
Monarchism •
National
conservatism
• Social
conservatism •
Pan-Asianism
• State capitalism
• Anti-communism
• Anti-liberalism
Religion State Shintō

Red and
Colours
white
Shūgiin (1942) 381 /
466
Politics of Japan
Political parties
Elections
Origins
Establishment of the Imperial Rule Assistance

Association
Imperial Rule Assistance Association cadres, 1940

Based on recommendations by the
Shōwa Kenkyūkai (Shōwa Research
Association), Konoe originally conceived of
the Imperial Rule Assistance
Association as a reformist political party to
overcome the deep-rooted differences and
political cliques between bureaucrats,
politicians and the military. During the
summer of 1937, Konoe appointed 37
members chosen from a broad political
spectrum to a preparatory committee which
met in Karuizawa, Nagano. The committee
included
Konoe's political colleagues Fumio Gotō,
Count Yoriyasu Arima and ex-syndicalist and
right-wing spokesman Fusanosuke Kuhara.
The socialist and populist left wing was
represented by Kingoro Hashimoto and the
traditionalist military wings by Senjūrō
Hayashi, Heisuke Yanagawa and Nobuyuki
Abe.
Konoe proposed originally that the Imperial

Rule Assistance Association be organized
along national syndicalist lines, with new
members assigned to branches based on
occupation, which would then develop
channels for mass participation of the
common population to "assist with the
Imperial Rule".[2]
However, from the start, there was no

consensus in a common cause, as the
leadership council represented all ends of the
political spectrum, and in the end, the party
was organized along geographic lines,
following the existing political sub-divisions.
Therefore, all local government leaders at
each level of village, town, city and
prefectural government automatically
received the equivalent position within their
local Imperial Rule Assistance Association
branch.[3]
Ideals
Celebrations on founding of the IRAA
Prior to creation of the Imperial Rule

Assistance Association, Konoe had already
passed the National Mobilization Law, which
effectively nationalized strategic industries,
the news media, and labor unions, in
preparation for total war with China.
Labor unions were replaced by the Nation
Service Draft Ordinance, which empowered
the government to draft civilian workers into
critical war industries. Society was mobilized
and indoctrinated through the National
Spiritual Mobilization Movement, which
organized patriotic events and mass rallies,
and promoted slogans such as "Yamato-
damashii" (Japanese spirit) and "Hakkō
ichiu" (All the world under one roof) to
support Japanese militarism. This was urged
to "restore the spirit and virtues of old
Japan".[4]
Some objections to it came on the grounds

that kokutai, imperial polity, already required
all imperial subjects to support imperial rule.
[5]
In addition to drumming up support for the

ongoing wars in China and in the Pacific, the
Imperial Rule Assistance Association helped
maintain public order and provided certain
public services via the tonarigumi
neighborhood association program.[6] It also
played a role in increasing productivity,
monitoring rationing, and organizing civil
defense.
The Imperial Rule Assistance

Association was also militarized, with its
members donning khaki-colored uniforms. In
the last period of the conflict, the
membership received military training and
was projected to integrate with civil militia in
case of the anticipated Allied invasion.
Development
As soon as October 1940, the Imperial Rule
Assistance Association systemized and
formalized the Tonarigumi, a nationwide
system of neighborhood associations. The
November 6, 1940, issue of Shashin Shūhō
(Photographic Weekly Report) explained the
purpose of this infrastructure:
The Taisei Yokusankai movement has

already turned on the switch for
rebuilding a new Japan and
completing a new Great East Asian
order which, writ large, is the
construction of a new world order.
The Taisei Yokusankai is, broadly
speaking, the New Order movement
which will, in a word, place One
Hundred Million into one body under
this new organisation that will
conduct all of our energies and
abilities for the sake of the nation.
Aren't we all mentally prepared to be
members of this new organization
and, as one adult to another, without
holding our superiors in awe or being
preoccupied with the past, cast aside
all private concerns in order to
perform public service? Under the
Taisei Yokusankai are regional town,
village, and tonarigumi; let's convene
council meetings and advance the
activities of this organization.[7]
Imperial Rule Assistance Association election speech,

1942
In February 1942, all women's associations

were merged into the Greater Japan
Women's Association which joined the
Imperial Rule Assistance Association in
May. Every adult woman in Japan, excepting
the under twenty and unmarried, was forced
to join the Association.[8]
Likewise, in June, all youth organizations
were merged into the Greater Japan
Imperial Rule Assistance Youth Corps
(翼賛⻘年団), based on the model of the
German Sturmabteilung (stormtroopers).[9]
In March 1942, Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō

attempted to eliminate the influence of
elected politicians by establishing an
officially sponsored election nomination
commission, which restricted
nongovernment-sanctioned candidates from
the ballot.[10] After the 1942 Japanese
General Election, all members of Diet were
required to join the Yokusan Seijikai
(Imperial Rule Assistance Political
Association), which effectively made
Japan a one-party state. The Imperial Rule
Assistance Association was formally
dissolved on June 13, 1945.
During the Allied occupation of Japan, the
American authorities purged thousands of
government leaders from public life for
having been members of the Association.
Later, many of the leaders of the Imperial

Rule Assistance Association became major
members of the Liberal Democratic Party
and the Social Democratic Party.
Leaders
No. Name Period Image
1 Fumimaro Konoe 1940 – 1941

2 Hideki Tojo 1941 – 1944
3 Kuniaki Koiso 1944 – 1945
4 Kantarō Suzuki 1945 – 1945
Popular support and electoral

results
House of Representatives
Election year Total seat s ±

381 / 466
1942
Notes
1. Wolferen, The Enigma of Japanese
Power: People and Politics in a
Stateless Nation, page 351
2. Sims, Japanese Political History
Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–
2000, p. 220
3. Duus, The Cambridge History of
Japan, page 146
4. Edwin P. Hoyt, Japan's War, p 189
ISBN 0-07-030612-5
5. James L. McClain, Japan: A Modern
History p 454 ISBN 0-393-04156-5
6. Aldus, The Police in Occupation
Japan: Control, Corruption and
Resistance to Reform, page 36
7. David C. Earhart, Certain Victory,
M.E.
Sharpe, 2008, p.142, citing Shashin
Shūhō
8. Modern Japan in archives, the
Yokusan System,
http://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/e/cha4
/description15.html
9. Shillony, Ben-Ami (1981). Politics
and
Culture in Wartime Japan . Oxford
University Press. pp. 23–33, 71–75.
ISBN 0-19-820260-1.
10. Stockwin, Governing Japan: Divided
Politics in a Major Economy, page 22
References
Aldus, Christop (1999). The Police in
Occupation Japan: Control, Corruption
and Resistance to Reform. Routeledge.
ISBN 0-415-14526-0.
Duus, Peter (2001). The Cambridge
History of Japan. Palgrave Macmillan.
ISBN 0-312-23915-7.
Sims, Richard (2001). Japanese
Political History Since the Meiji
Renovation 1868–2000. Palgrave
Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23915-7.
Stockwin, JAA (1990). Governing
Japan: Divided Politics in a Major
Economy. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-728023.
Wolferen, Karel J (1990). The Enigma of
Japanese Power: People and Politics in a
Stateless Nation. Vintage. ISBN 0679-
72802-3.
External links
Media related to Imperial Rule
Assistance Association at Wikimedia
Commons
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Imperial Rule

The Imperial Rule Assistance

Deputy President Heisuke Yanagawa

Founded 12 October 1940

National militia Volunteer Fighting

Religion State Shintō

Establishment of the Imperial Rule Assistance

Imperial Rule Assistance Association cadres, 1940

Konoe proposed originally that the Imperial

However, from the start, there was no

Celebrations on founding of the IRAA

Prior to creation of the Imperial Rule

Some objections to it came on the grounds

In addition to drumming up support for the

The Imperial Rule Assistance

The Taisei Yokusankai movement has

Imperial Rule Assistance Association election speech,

In February 1942, all women's associations

In March 1942, Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō

Later, many of the leaders of the Imperial

1 Fumimaro Konoe 1940 – 1941

3 Kuniaki Koiso 1944 – 1945

4 Kantarō Suzuki 1945 – 1945

Popular support and electoral

Election year Total seat s ±

Last edited 19 days ago by Ryk72

Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless

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