Kōhei Akagi
Akagi Kohei, formerly Akagi was a Japanese critic and politician. He was the first person to write a biography of Natsume Sōseki and gained fame in the Taishō period for his campaign against so-called "dissipated literature". He served three terms as a member of the House of Representatives, being elected in the 19th, 20th, and 21st general elections.
Early life and education
Akagi was born in Manzai Village, Atetsu District, Okayama Prefecture. His father, Tatsusaburō Akagi, worked in surveying for the Mitsubishi-affiliated Yoshioka Copper Mine but resigned after clashing with the company and attempted to start his own mining development. However, he went bankrupt when Kohei was 18. After graduating from the former Okayama Prefectural Takahashi Junior High School, Akagi attended the Sixth Higher School before entering the Faculty of Law at Tokyo Imperial University.While still a student at the Sixth Higher School, he was adopted into the family of hosiery businessman Kozaburō Ikezaki of Shijō Village in Kitakawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, on the condition that his tuition be paid. He published a critique of Suzuki Miekichi in the school magazine, and in 1912, through Miekichi’s mediation, he published Shin Jidai no Shohanbun.
Literary career
After enrolling at Tokyo Imperial University’s Faculty of Law in 1913, Akagi joined the literary circle of Natsume Sōseki through Miekichi’s introduction and began writing literary criticism under the pen name “Akagi Kohei,” which was given to him by Sōseki. He was among the first critics to positively evaluate the Shirakaba school.One of his most famous works was the article “The Eradication of 'Dissipated Literature’”, published in the Yomiuri Shimbun from August 6 to 8, 1916, and later included in Artistic Idealism in October. In this critique, Akagi attacked novels set in the pleasure quarters, particularly the Jōwa Shinshū series, labeling them as "dissipated literature." His main target was Chikamatsu Shūkō, but others including Osada Mikihiko, Yoshi Ikō, Kubota Mantaro, and Gotō Sueo were also criticized.
The piece sparked a major controversy. Critics pointed out that Kubota and Gotō had not written much about the pleasure quarters, and Osanai Kaoru, a key figure in non-Sōseki circles at Tokyo Imperial University, questioned why he and Nagai Kafū had not been targeted. Tanizaki Jun’ichirō also escaped criticism, which led to speculation that Akagi refrained due to personal ties—he was close to Tanizaki at the time and respectful toward Kafū, Tanizaki’s patron. Some retorted that only Sōseki and Ogawa Mimei could be said to write literature entirely devoid of "dissipated" content.
Journalistic career
After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1917, Akagi joined the Yorozu Chōhō newspaper as an editorial writer. Though his adoptive parents opposed his marriage to their eldest daughter, the couple registered their marriage in 1918 after she became pregnant, and their son Shūkichi was born. Akagi left the newspaper following a scandal involving an actress from the Imperial Theater and returned to Osaka, where he took over the family hosiery business.Lacking business acumen, he nevertheless forged connections in the Kansai business community, befriending notable figures such as poet and Sumitomo executive Jun Kawada, Hatsujiro Yamamoto, and Ryūji Tanabe, Yamamoto and Tanabe share the same alma mater: Takahashi High School.
In 1929, after his public lecture was praised by Kodama Hamago, an executive of the Nomura conglomerate, Akagi published the lecture transcript America Is Nothing to Fear under his real name Ikezaki Tadayoshi. It became a bestseller and launched his prolific career as a writer advocating the inevitability of war with the United States.
Political career
In 1932, he ran unsuccessfully in the 18th general election for the House of Representatives. However, he was elected in the 19th election in 1936, representing Osaka’s 3rd district. In 1937, during the first Konoe Cabinet, he served as a Ministry of Education advisor and had frequent contact with Kido Kōichi during the second Konoe Cabinet. He also played a key role in the 1943 founding of the Greater Japan Student Aid Foundation.Arrest and later life
On December 2, 1945, the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ) ordered the Japanese government to arrest Akagi as one of the 59 individuals on its third list of war crimes suspects. He was detained at Sugamo Prison on suspicion of being a Class-A war criminal. He resigned from the House of Representatives on December 6, 1945. Although he was later released due to illness, he was purged from public office and died in obscurity.Works
As Kohei Akagi
Geijutsujō no Risōshugi, Rakuyōdō, 1916Natsume Sōseki, Shinchosha, 1917Kindai Kokoro no Shozō, Oranda Shobō, 1917Takayama Chogyū as a Man and Thinker, Shinchosha, 1918Taishi Shogyōsan, Ōmura Shoten, 1921As Tadayoshi Ikezaki
America Need Not Be Feared, Senshinsha, 1929Japanese Submarines: Pacific Operations and Submarine Warfare, Senshinsha, 1929Americanism as a Global Threat, Tenjinsha, 1930A Farewell to My Late Friend Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Tenjinsha, 1930The Fall of the British Empire Has Come, Senshinsha, 1931Can a 60% Navy Fight?: Continuation of "America Need Not Be Feared", Senshinsha, 1931A Proper Understanding of the Manchurian-Mongolian Problem, Tenjinsha, 1931Theory on the Present State of Britain and America: The Rise of the U.S. and the Fall of the U.K., Senshinsha, 1932The Inevitable U.S.-Japan War, Senshinsha, 1932Pacific Strategy Theory, Senshinsha, 1932The Rise of the Genius Empire Japan, Shinkōsha, 1933Recent Studies on Military Issues, Ōmura Shoten, 1936From the Perspective of National Defense, Shōshinsha, 1936Japan Standing in the World, Kon'nichi no Mondai-sha, 1937Will Britain Dare to Challenge?, Daiichi Shuppansha, 1937Keep Watch on the Soviet Union, Daiichi Shuppansha, 1937Memoirs of the World War, Daiichi Shuppansha, 1938New China Theory, Modern Japan Company, 1938New China and the New Life Movement, Meguro Shoten, 1939Singapore as a Strategic Base: Britain’s Far East Strategy, Daiichi Shuppansha, 1939Recent Japanese Foreign Policy: A Study, Daiichi Shuppansha, 1939If the U.S.-Japan War Comes: The Theory and Practice of the Pacific War, Shinchosha, February 1941A Brief Account of Ishida Mitsunari, Okakura Shobō, 1942Certain Victory in a Prolonged War, Shinchosha, 1942Praise of Prince Shōtoku, Okakura Shobō, 1943Thus the World Fought: Reflections on the Global War, Shinsendō, 1943Biography
- Takumi Satō. The Light and Shadow of Tadayoshi Ikezaki: A Cultured Elitist in Mass Politics, Sōgensha, 2023