Sen Katayama
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Sen Katayama | |
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片山 潜 | |
Born | Yabuki Sugatarō 26 December 1859 Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan |
Died | 5 November 1933 (aged 73) |
Resting place | Kremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow |
Education | Oka Juku (preparatory school), Grinnell College, Andover Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School Maryville College |
Occupation(s) | Rice farmer, journalist, teacher, printer's apprentice, newspaper editor |
Known for | Co-founder of the Japanese Communist Party. Early member of the Communist Party USA. |
Criminal charges | Participation in the 1912 Tokyo Streetcar Strike |
Spouses |
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Children | 3 children |
Parent(s) | Kunizo Yabuki, Kichi Yabuki |
Sen Katayama (片山 潜, Katayama Sen, December 26, 1859 – November 5, 1933), born Yabuki Sugataro (藪木 菅太郎, Yabuki Sugatarō), was an early Japanese
Early life and education
Sugataro Yabuki was the second son born to Kunizo and Kichi Yabuki in 1859 in the Hadeki district of what would later become Japan's Okayama Prefecture. He was adopted by the Katayama family at nineteen and took the name Sen Katayama, becoming the Katayamas' "first son" after his birth mother was deserted by her husband. The adoption avoided Katayama's conscription and allowed him to continue his education. In his autobiography, Jiden (自伝), Katayama admitted that he was fortunate not to have been the first born in his birth family, as it saved him from some of the responsibilities that burdened some of his acquaintances.
In 1878, Katayama travelled to
Career
Katayama returned to Japan in 1896 and from 1897 to 1901 edited Labour World (労働世界, Rōdō Sekai), the organ of the Iron Workers' Union (鉄工組合) and Trade Unions' Federation (労働組合期成会) and Japan's first
In 1904, he attended an
He was arrested and jailed for his participation in the Tokyo Streetcar Strike of 1912, and after his release he left for California. Attracted by the success of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917–1918, Katayama became an active communist and an officer for the Communist International. He travelled to Mexico and later to Moscow, where he was hailed as a leader of the Japanese communist movement. He remained in the Soviet Union until his death on November 5, 1933, and his ashes buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Red Square.
Personal life
Katayama had two children by his first wife, Fude, who died in 1903, and another daughter by his second wife, Hari Tama, whom he married in 1907.
Works
- The Labor Movement in Japan. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1918.
- Japan and Soviet Russia, The People's Russian Information Bureau, 1919.
See also
References
- ^ James C. Doherty, Historical Dictionary of Socialism (1997) pp. 140–141.
Further reading
- Kublin, Hyman; Asian Revolutionary: The Life of Sen Katayama, (Princeton University Press, 1964).
- Orii, Kazuhiko and Conroy, Hilary; "Japanese Socialist in Texas: Sen Katayama, 1904–1907", Amerasia Journal 8 (1981).
- Handbook of Texas Short Biography
- Sawada, Mitziko; Tokyo Life, New York Dreams: Urban Japanese Visions of America, 1890–1924, (University of California Press, 1996) chapter