Shō Fukao

Back row, from left: Shō Fukao, Kanson Arahata, Masatarō Watanabe, at a welcome party for Keir Hardie

Shō Fukao (深尾 韶 Fukao Shō, 12 November 1880 – 8 November 1963) was a Japanese socialist and educator. He was a pioneer in Japanese socialism and was a pioneer in the early Boy Scout movement in Japan.

Life and career

Early life

Fukao was born on the estate of a hatamoto samurai within Sunpu Castle (in the modern city of Shizuoka) on 12 november 1880. His father Nobushirō^{[lower-alpha 1]} was a retainer in Sunpu Domain who worked as a tax collector and teacher. After graduating from elementary school, his father encouraged Fukao to go to a normal school, but he declined as he disliked the duties and obligations.^[1] As a youth he often submitted articles to arts magazines.^[2] He worked at the Shizuoka prison and Numazu local court before becoming a substitute teacher at Sodeshi Jinjō Elementary School in 1897. He was issued a teacher's assistant's licence in 1898 and thereafter worked for seven schools in Shizuoka and the northern island-prefecture Hokkaido.^[1]

Socialism

In 1901, Fukao took part in the inauguration of the Shizuoka branch of the social reform group Risōdan^{[lower-alpha 2]} ("Band of Idealists").^[3]

Beginning in his time as a teacher, Fukao contributed to the weekly libertarian-socialist newspaper Heimin Shimbun.^[4] He aimed at establishing an elementary teachers' labour union in Hokkaido, but his parents demanded his return to Shizuoka in July 1904 after the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.^[1]

In 1905, Fukao and fellow Shizuokans Masatarō Watanabe (1873–1918) and Genshi Moto (1880–1933) devised the Dendō Gyōshō^{[lower-alpha 3]} to proseletize socialism. They had planned to set out from Tokyo that April to travel around Hokkaido, but Watanabe withdrew, and on the advice of Kanson Arahata changed their destination to the closer Kōfu area. The left the offices of Heiminsha, the publishers of Heimin Shimbun, on 10 April. On 13 April they were investigated by the local police, who took their promotional material into custody, so the pair returned to the Heiminsha offices the next day. That May they began doing land clearing work in Hokkaido as the Heimin Nōjō^{[lower-alpha 4]} ("Commoners' Farm"). Administrating the farm was exceedingly difficult; in August Fukao left it to Genshi to manage and went back to Tokyo, never to return. He joined the Yūbunsha^{[lower-alpha 5]}, an organization made up of former members of Heiminsha after its dissolution, and took part in editing the magazine Katei Zasshi.^{[lower-alpha 6][4]}

Scouting

While undergoing medical treatment in the spring of 1909 Fukao obtained Boy Scouts founder Baden-Powell's handbook Scouting for Boys, which he had learned about from an English-language newspaper. He began researching the Scouting movement with his uncle, the editor of Shōnen Jihō,^{[lower-alpha 7]} the results of which appeared in Shōnen Jihō that year with a call for the foundation of a "Boys' Army Corps".^{[lower-alpha 8]} They began to put such a corps together in 1910 in cooperation with Colonel Yoshinori Shirakawa, who was the Infantry Regiment Commander of Shizuoka, but the plans were scuttled soon after when Shirakawa was transferred.^[5] Fukao went to Tokyo in 1910 and took the position of secretary for Shidōkai, and on the stipend he received lobbied to establish a Boy Scouts movement. In 1912 he visited Nogi Maresuke at the Gakushūin to stress the importance of the Boy Scouts movement, and thereafter made repeated visits to Nogi.^[1] He also visited military authorities such as Tanaka Giichi and educators such as Yoshiharu Tadokoro to gain cooperation in the establishment of a boys' army corps.^[5] In 1913 he hosted meetings such as one for elementary school principals in Shiba Ward about the establishment of a boys' army corps, but as some questioned Fukao's personal history, the plans failed to reach fruition.^[6]

From 1914 to 1916 Fukao worked as a reporter for the Shizuoka Shinpō newspaper. During this time, he gained the friendship of Yoshinori Futara, the head of school affairs for Shizuoka Prefecture. Futara introduced Fukao to Motojirō Ozaki, a member of the Diet. The Shizuoka Shōnen Gundan^{[lower-alpha 9]} ("Shizuoka Boys' Army Corps") was formed in June 1913 with Ozaki as leader and Fukao and Keijirō Takasugi^{[lower-alpha 10]} as directors. 111 members took part in the enrollment ceremony at Sengen Shrine.^[7] Takasugi wanted Fukao removed for his previous activity as a socialist, but Ozaki supported Fukao.^[1]

Fukao moved in 1916 to Okitsu (now part of Shimizu Ward in Shizuoka), and the Shizuoka Shōnen Gundan had to dissolve. He returned to Shizuoka in 1918 as a reporter for the Yorozuchōhō newspaper and formed the Shizuoka Shōnendan^{[lower-alpha 11]} ("Shizuoka Boy Scouts") with Ozaki and Reiichi Okamoto.^{[lower-alpha 12][7]}

The Scout Association of Japan recognized Fukao for his contributions at a annual general meeting on 20 June 1953 and awarded him the Golden Eagle Award for merit in 1957.^[7]

List of works

• 1905 Shakai-shugi no Hanashi 『社会主義の話』 (prohibited the same day)
• 1907 Shafu Shokun ni Mōsu 『車夫諸君に申す』 (prohibited)
• 1915 Shōnen Gundan Kyōhon 『少年軍団教範』 Chūō Hōtokukai
• 1925 Sukauto Dokuhon 『スカウト読本』 Shōnendan Nihon Renmei

Notes

References

Works cited