‘Taigyaku Jiken’, a 1989 piece by Iri and Toshi Maruki, was inspired by the High Treason Incident of 1910

Kōtoku Incident (幸徳事件, Kōtoku Jiken), was a socialist-anarchist plot to assassinate the Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1910, leading to a mass arrest of leftists, as well as the execution of 12 alleged conspirators in 1911.

Uchiyama Gudō, born on this day in 1874, was a socialist Buddhist priest who opposed Japanese imperialism, oligarchic land ownership, and the rule of the Emperor. He was executed by the state in 1911 during the “High Treason Incident”.

Gudō was ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 1897. In 1904, he became the abbot of Rinsenji temple in a poor area of a rural region of the Hakone Mountains. Village tradition states that every autumn Gudō would invite poor villagers to divide the harvest from the temple’s only two trees equally among themselves.

Gudō was a self-identified socialist and outspoken advocate for redistributive land reform, overturning the Meiji emperor system, encouraging conscripts to desert en masse, and advancing democratic rights for all. He also criticized Zen leaders who claimed that low social position was justified by karma.

One of Gudō’s most widely read and circulated works was a scathing denunciation of the Imperial Japanese government. Contradicting official state doctrine, he argued that the Emperors of the Imperial family were neither divine nor the destined rulers of Japan, and that their ancestors “came forth from a corner of Kyushu, killing and robbing people as they did. They then destroyed their fellow thieves.”

Due to the popularity of Gudō’s subversive publications, he was arrested in May 1909 and charged with violating press and publication laws. When police uncovered an alleged socialist plot to assassinate the Emperor (known as the “High Treason Incident”), Gudō was accused of being a co-conspirator.

In 1911, he, along with eleven other socialists, were convicted and executed. In July 1909, before Gudō’s conviction, officials of the Sōtō Zen sect revoked Gudō’sabbotship.

“When I began reading the Heimin Shimbun at that time [1904], I realized that its principles were identical with my own and therefore I became an anarcho-socialist.”

Uchiyama Gudō

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  • LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    4 days ago

    I haven’t watched a lot of chinese anime so it’s been so weird to watch. All the weird CGI stuff they do, it’s interesting to see how much effort and detail they put into certain things and then the things they skimp on (or do very weirdly, like the water in the port looking like some PS4 cutscene)

    The English voice acting is fucking nuts btw like i hate some of the anachronistic dialogue choices they make but aside from that it’s really high quality

    Watching this and Release That Witch it’s also kinda interesting seeing the difference in pacing decisions, like all western media always has to end every fucking episode on some fucking cliffhanger, but there’s so many episodes in both shows that just kinda end in places that make sense

    • PleasantPeasant [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      4 days ago

      All the weird CGI stuff they do, it’s interesting to see how much effort and detail they put into certain things and then the things they skimp on (or do very weirdly, like the water in the port looking like some PS4 cutscene)

      honestly i dont know if there’s been a single CGI thing in the show ive disliked, although maybe im just biased because of some of the absolutely horrific cgi ive seen in japanese shows making it pale in comparison

      The English voice acting is fucking nuts btw like i hate some of the anachronistic dialogue choices they make but aside from that it’s really high quality

      i wouldnt know, im a sub elitist and make my friends watch everything subbed with me lol

      Release That Witch

      never heard of it, any good in your eyes or?

      • LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        4 days ago

        Yeah and it’s really cool if you like stuff like “oh, magic is real? Im going to use its thermodynamic advantages to make a one person concrete factory and change regional politics”

        But i guess it had fucked up funding issues? Something like tencent wanted it to look more like the manga (which i read looked bad) but they didn’t do that so they pulled the funding with only 8 episodes

        So it ends literally right before anything happens

          • LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
            2·
            4 days ago

            It’s honestly really annoying, like, it ends RIGHT before the local douchebag petty lord decides to attack them, when they’ve got the wall mostly up, a few guns, and a fucking steam engine which i can’t remember if they even elaborated what he planned to do with it before it ended

            What was the plan with the steam engine? A train? Mine carts, pumps to improve mining efficiency? It can’t be electricity since they have exactly none of the infrastructure to use it for anything

            • buckykat [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
              2·
              4 days ago

              A steam engine is the basis for everything in one of these, but I don’t remember what RtW was using it for specifically. I think they were building a concrete ship, last I read. I should go back to it.

              Another web novel in the same subgenre I like is From Londoner to Lord. It’s almost absurdly slow paced and doesn’t have magic, but it’s extremely detailed about things like how much grain and how much timber you need to feed and house a medieval village, and some of the first things the isekai lord does are free all slaves and start arming women. He doesn’t ever use the scary communism words that make Amerikkkans run away, but the stuff he does is all your standard certified Communist bangers: public housing, land reform, literacy program, medical care and research, rapid industrialization.