Ikki Kita

Who was Ikki Kita?

Ikki Kita .was a Japanese author, intellectual and a political philosopher who was active in early-Shōwa period Japan. A harsh critic of the Emperor system and the Meiji constitution, he claimed that the Japanese were not the emperor's people, rather the Emperor was the “people´s emperor.” He advocated a complete reconstructing of Japan along the lines of his own version of state socialism. Kita was in contact with many people of the extreme right and wrote pamphlets and books. The government saw Kita´s ideas as disruptive and dangerous, in 1937 he was implicated, although not directly involved in a failed coup attempt and executed. He is still widely read in academic circles in Japan.