Hiroo Horiuchi
Library Counsellor
Reader Services and Collections Department

This is a translation of the article in Japanese of the same title
in NDL Monthly Bulletin No. 626 (May 2013).

On December 14, 1956, the Liberal Democratic Party held an election for a successor to President HATOYAMA Ichiro, and ISHIBASHI Tanzan (Photo 1) defeated KISHI Nobusuke in a runoff vote to become the second president of the party. Ishibashi was designated Prime Minister by both houses of the Diet on December 20, and formed his cabinet on December 23 (Photo 2). In January 1957, Ishibashi started a stumping tour around Japan, during which he vowed to implement five policies, including the enforcement of discipline in political and bureaucratic communities, creation of national social welfare programs, and the realization of peace in the world. Autograph manuscripts of an inauguration address and other speeches are shown in Photo 3. In these speeches, Ishibashi advocated independent peace diplomacy, balanced economic growth, and realization of full employment, together with stabilization and improvement of people’s lives through the implementation of social welfare programs. At the same time, he expressed his own political belief that the fundamentals of democracy are freedom, equality and respect for individuality (Photo 4).

<<Photo 1: Ishibashi Tanzan Tanzan Kaiso (NDL call no.:289.1-I532t)>> <<Photo 2: Ishibashi Tanzan cabinet Provided by the Ishibashi Tanzan Memorial Foundation>>

<<Photo 3: Autograph speech manuscripts ISHIBASHI Tanzan Papers, 1, 560-563>>

<<Photo 4: “Yuzei Enzetsu Genko (lit. “manuscript for stumping tour”)” ISHIBASHI Tanzan Papers, 1, 563>>

A hectic schedule of campaigning and receptions in cold weather took its toll, and Ishibashi, who was more than 70 at the time, ruined his health and fell ill on January 25, two days after a celebratory party at his alma mater, Waseda University (Photo 5). As a result, he and his cabinet resigned with the famous statement “I will follow my political conscience” on February 23, just two months after forming.

ISHIBASHI Tanzan (childhood name: Seizo) was born in Tokyo in 1884 as the first son of SUGITA Tansei, who later became the 81st head Buddhist priest of the Minobu-san Kuonji temple. Ishibashi moved to Kofu city when his father became a priest at the Shofukuji temple in Masuho, Yamanashi Prefecture. After studying in the Yamanashi Prefectural Daiichi Middle School (Kofu Middle School), he graduated from the philosophy department at Waseda University in 1907 and went on to graduate school in religious studies at the same university. He joined the Toyo Keizai Shimpo (Oriental Economic Journal） in 1911 and later served as both chief editor and president. Despite the imperialistic trends of the day, Ishibashi advocated liberalism and “Sho-Nihon Shugi (lit. small Japan principle)” calling for the abandonment of Japan’s colonies and criticizing its territorial expansion. After World War II, he became the Minister of Finance in the first YOSHIDA Shigeru cabinet in 1946 and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1947. As the Minister of Finance, he promoted expansionary fiscal policies and was often at odds with the policies of the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP) to control inflation. He was purged from public life because of his speech during the war but was later rehabilitated and reelected to the House of Representatives. Although expelled from the Liberal Democratic Party twice due to his opposition to Yoshida, he eventually became the Minister of International Trade and Industry in December 1954, as part of the first Hatoyama cabinet and stayed in office until the third Hatoyama cabinet. He then entered the race to succeed Hatoyama.

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After resigning as Prime Minister and despite continuing treatment of his illness, Ishibashi devoted his political career to the pursuit of diplomacy with communist countries, which was a longstanding concern. In September 1959, Ishibashi visited the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and held talks with Premier Zhou Enlai, ultimately releasing a joint statement calling for the promotion of amicable relations between Japanese and Chinese people and the normalization of diplomatic relations between both countries in line with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence of 1954 and the Ten Principles adopted by the Asian-African Conference in Bandung during 1955. Proposing a peace alliance between Japan, the PRC, the US, and the Soviet Union, Ishibashi sought reconciliation of the East and West forces (Photo 6) and visited the Soviet Union in 1964. The normalization of Japan-China relations was an arduous process in the continuing Cold War years, but diplomatic ties were restored during a visit by Prime Minister TANAKA Kakuei to the PRC in September 1972. On the day before going to the PRC, Tanaka visited Ishibashi, who was ill in bed at home, to pay his respects to the forerunner who strove to improve relations between the two countries. Ishibashi passed away in April 1973, at the age of 88.

<<Photo 6: “Tozai wago tenchi ikka no haru (resqest for backup)” ISHIBASHI Tanzan Papers, 1, 737>>

<<Photo 7: “Ishibashi Tanzan Nikki” and “Ishibashi Tanzan Zenshu” (Please see the reference below for bibliographic information.)>>

Note:

• ISHIBASHI Tanzan Papers, part 1, held by the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room were donated by ISHIBASHI Tan’ichi, the first son of Tanzan, in 1993 and have been available to the public since 1994. A total of 1,481 items are available in microfilms (in 33 reels). The contents include letters addressed to Ishibashi, documents from the wartime to the postwar period, etc. The detailed outline of the materials (including catalogs) is available from the following link.
  http://rnavi.ndl.go.jp/kensei/entry/ishibashitannzann.php
• Several items including the material in the photo 4 are released via the Internet in the Online Gallery “Modern Japan in archives.”
  http://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/e/index.html

Reference (only in Japanese):

• Hiroo Horiuchi “Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan Kensei Shiryoshitsu to ‘Ishibashi Tanzan Kankei Bunsho’ ni tsuite – sengo chushin 1,500 ten amari no Tanzan seiji shiryo o koukai” Jiyu Shiso, (117) 2010.3, pp. 26-29. NDL call no.: Z6-1043
• “Tokushu Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan shozo ‘Ishibashi Tanzan Kankei Bunsho,’” 1-5, Jiyu Shiso, (117-119) 2010.3, 2010.5, 2010.8, (122) 2011.5, (128) 2013.2. NDL call no.: Z6-1043
• Ishibashi Tanzan Zenshu (in 16 volumes), Toyo Keizai Shimpo-sha, 1970-1972, 2011. NDL call no.: US21-J60-62/74-76/77-79/83-84/87-91
• Ishibashi Tanzan Nikki (in two volumes), ed. ISHIBASHI Tan’ichi and ITO Takashi, Misuzu Shobo, 2001. NDL call no.: GK62-G68

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