The multiple factors that influenced the establishment of the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Japan Tetsuji ISEDA Nagoya University,

The multiple factors that influenced the establishment of the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals in Japan

Tetsuji ISEDA

Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan, [email protected]

Outline

• Foundation of Tokyo SPCA

• Research questions

• Previous studies

• Factors: personal efforts, Buddhism reformation and intellectuals

• Background conditions

• Discussion

Foundation of Tokyo SPCA

• 1899 An article by Tatsutaro Hiroi “Does anybody shed his tears over cattle and horses?”, in Taiyo (a magazine for general readers)

• The article pointed out the miserable status of cattle and horses for carts and coach in Tokyo and calls for action.


• 1902 Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tokyo SPCA) was founded in Tokyo by Tatstutaro Hiroi, Seiran Ohuchi and others

• Over 60 intellectuals signed the prospectus of the society.

• It was the first animal protection organization in Japan.


• Activities– monthly meetings– publications– roadside policing (was not legally authorized)– pleas to the municipal office of Tokyo– protests to Ueno Zoo

• Contemporary newspapers referred to Tokyo SPCA without explanation, which suggests that the existence and purpose of the society was well-known to the public then.

Research Questions

• Why did the SPCA founded then?

• What are the factors that prepared the foundation?

• relevant to a more general question: what are the factors to take into account in thinking about animal ethics in a multicultural setting.

Previous Studies

• There are a few previous studies of this society. – Yoshida 1964 and Nakamura 2005 discusses Tokyo SPCA a

s a part of Buddhism reformation movement.

– Ozaki et al 1982 emphasizes the individual effort of Hiroi (all the studies agree on this) and response of intellectuals

– Imagawa 1996 regard it as a movement by intellectuals to civilize general public

– Chikamori 2000 regard it as a result of institutionalization of care for pain, introduced from England.

Previous Studies

• Are these studies valid?

• Are these factors compatible?

• Is there not something missing?

Factor 1: Hiroi’s personal efforts

• Hiroi was a pastor of Lutherian church at the time of his paper, but converted to Unitarian after the establishment of Tokyo SPCA.

• He was a dog lover and came across the idea of SPCA by finding a report by Boston Humane Society in the library.

• He was the only person who kept being active throughout the four decades of Tokyo SPCA.

• There are many evidence and testimonies that he was essential to the establishment and maintenance of the society

Factor 2:Buddhism reformation movement

• Hiroi was a poor 24 years old with no connection; he would have not been able to launch a movement without help

• Seiran Ohuchi was a leader of Buddhism reformation movement, and he played a key role in bringing intellectuals from various fields (religious activists, educators, journalists, university professors) into the SPCA movement.

• Other than Ohuchi, Gicho Sakurai (Buddhist monk and editor of Chuo-Koron) and Beiho Takashima (Buddism activist and writer) were also key figures in Tokyo SPCA.

Factor 3: response of intellectuals

• If Buddhism reformers were the only people involved in the SPCA, it would have been a much less significant movement.

• The success and publicity of the society was insured by attracting intellectuals from various fields (religion, academism, journalism, education etc.)

But is this the whole story?

• So what the studies say seems to be valid partial stories.

• remaining questions• But why did Buddhists suddenly become intereste

d in animals?• Why were the intellectuals anxious to join the Tok

yo SPCA? Does the “institutionalization of care for pain” explain?

=>We need another look at background motives...

Backgrounds of Buddhism reformers

• Buddhism generally tell people not to kill animals, but Buddhism is not a commandment based religion like Christianity, especially for general followers.

• Buddhism in Japan has become so-called “funeral Buddhism”: monks do almost nothing other than funerals and related rituals (protection by the feudal government of Edo era)


• After the modernization of Japan since 1860s, Buddhism lost governmental supports and needed revitalization for survival.

• Buddhist monks themselves got dissatisfied with the status of Buddism as “funeral buddhism”

=> Buddhism reformation movement


• Animal protection movement had some obvious attractiveness for the reformers

• Non-killing of animals is supposed to be an important precept of Buddhism; no Buddhist could disagree with animal protection.

• Reformers come from various sects, and often worked with Christians (especially Unitarians), advocating “New Buddhism”. sect-specific or religion-specific issues were not suitable for their movement.

Backgrounds for intellectuals

• There were reasons for Japanese ruling class to launch animal protection measures.

• One urgent issue was the pressure from resident aliens (mainly merchants at Yokohama and Kobe, two major international ports of the time)


• English newspapers issued in Yokohama, such as Japan Weekly Mail, repeatedly accused Japanese of ill-treatments of animals

• Especially the treatment of cattle and horses in urban area shocked foreigners, resulting in many correspondences on English newspapers.

Japan Weekly Mail, May 2nd, 1891, (vol. 15, no. 18) p.515-516 "cruelty to animals in Japan"

• "but if the cruelty practised towards horses in Tokyo be not characteristic of Japanese methods, there is surely all the more reason to correct it, since it not only offends Japanese feeling, but will certainly earn for the country an evil reputation. Foreigners judge the disposition of the nation by the evidences most plainly thrust upon their attention, and will naturally conclude that if a remedy the efficacy of which has been amply proved by European experience is not employed in Japan, the reason must be that Japan has no consciousness of the disease."


• There are evidence that these papers were widely read by Japanese intellectuals and governmental officers.

• The most important international issue at that time for Japanese government was the revision of disadvantageous treaties; one key issue was to let other countries recognize that Japan has been civilized.


• With such backgrounds, accusation of cruelty to animals could be a serious threat for Japanese government and intellectuals.

• A Japanese newspaper reported that after an article in Japan Weekly Mail on coach horses Tokyo city police soon issued an order to companies to take more care of horses. (Yomiuri Shinbun, 1890, May 5)

Limitation of the movement

• Thus, it seems that the motive of the movement was not compassion with animals for most of the participants.

=> this explains the limited nature of their movement• The movement did not spread much further than

its original members.


• Tokyo SPCA supported meat-eating strongly. vivisection was never taken up as an issue (as far as we can tell from their publications)

=> this also supports the view that the purpose of movement was not helping animals but to be recognized as a civilized country; meat-eating and experimental science were symbols of civilization, rather than the opposite.


• Tokyo SPCA was criticized for its ineffectiveness from resident aliens (newspapers of Yokohama and Kobe)

• Resident aliens finally decided to form their own society;

• Japan Human Society in Tokyo (1914)

• There were also organizations mainly run by foreigners in Yokohama and Kobe

Discussion

• No simple story does the justice to the process of how Japanese people started to care for animals; it seems to be a result of a complex combination of religious and political background conditions.

• It even had an aspect of cultural invasion from “civilized” countries. (pressure from the outside)

Discussion

• Still, it introduced a new common sense into Japan that it is not appropriate to show cruelty to animals in public.

=> had a substantive effect on people’s perception on human-animal relationship.

Concluding remarks

• To understand the change in human-animal relationships, sometimes we need to take into account wider context. Otherwise we misunderstand the nature of the change.

• Establishment of Tokyo SPCA is a good case to the point.

The multiple factors that influenced the establishment of the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Japan Tetsuji ISEDA Nagoya University,

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