was a Japanese economist. He served as the Minister of Education under Prime Minister

Tetsu Katayama was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1947 to 1948. He was the first socialist to serve as Japanese prime minister, and the last non-member of the Liberal Democratic Party or its forerunners to serve until 1993. ...

, and was the first president of

Hiroshima University is a Japanese national research university located in Higashihiroshima and Hiroshima, Japan. Established in 1929, it was chartered as a university in 1949 following the merge of a number of national educational institutions. Its abbreviated f ...

Early life and education

Morito was born in what is now

Fukuyama Fukuyama may refer to: People * Francis Fukuyama, Japanese-American philosopher and political economist * Fukuyama (surname), other people with the name Places *Fukuyama, Hiroshima, city in Japan *Fukuyama, Kagoshima was a town located in Aira D ...

, Hiroshima, Japan on December 23, 1888. He attended , where he was influenced by

Nitobe Inazo Nitobe is the surname of a Japanese Samurai family and refers to: * Nitobe Inazō ** '' Nitobe Bunka College'', named after Inazō ** ''Nitobe Memorial Garden'', named after Inazō * Nitobe Jūjirō * Nitobe Koretami * Nitobe Tsutō See also: ...

. He then went on to study at the

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

, where he studied under Takano Iwasaburo. He graduated in 1914, but became an assistant professor there in 1919.

Career

Morito incident

Morito was a member of the university's newly created economics department, and was a member of a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

study group.

Ōuchi Hyōei was a Japanese economist. Early life and education Ōuchi was born on August 29, 1888, in what is now Minaminawaji, Hyogo, Japan. After graduating from schools in Hyogo and Kumamoto, and earned a degree from Tokyo Imperial University. Caree ...

, another member of the study group, became the editor of the department's new research journal, and published an article that Morito had submitted. The article was a discussion of

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...

's theories and a criticism of Japan's political systems. The

Home Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a Ministry (government department), government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law e ...

made them stop distributing the journal on December 27, 1919, on the grounds that Morito's article advocated for

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. Morito refused to apologize for writing the article, so the economics department faculty voted to suspend both Morito and Ouchi in January 1920. The Home Ministry also took them to court. Despite protests from hundreds of university students, Morito was sentenced to three months in jail. Ouchi was sentenced to a year of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

. After serving his sentence, Morito followed Takano to the .

After the incident

Morito worked at the Ohara Institute until he ran for office in 1946 as a member of the

Japan Socialist Party The was a major socialist and progressive political party in Japan which existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was the primary representative of the Japanese left and main opponent of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party for most of its ex ...

. He was elected, and served as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. He became the Minister of Education under Tetsu Katayama in May 1947, and served in that capacity until October 1948. He became the first president of

from 1950 to 1963. He also served as the head of the and the Central Council for Education from 1963 to 1971, the head of the

Japan Library Association The Japan Library Association (JLA) () is a professional organization for librarians in Japan. Its mission is to promote libraries and librarian education throughout Japan. It is also a member of the International Federation of Library Associatio ...

from 1964 to 1979, and the . He was awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

, first class, in 1964, the

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honour which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of ...

in 1971, and the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

in 1974. Morito died on May 28, 1984.

References

External links

Morito Tatsuo collection at Hiroshima University
1888 births 1984 deaths Japanese economists People from Fukuyama, Hiroshima University of Tokyo alumni Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Japanese politicians {{DEFAULTSORT:Morito, Tatsuo Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun