Sadao Araki (MSH)

Sadao Araki, was a former commander of the Japanese expedition against Vladivostok.He had served as Japanese military attache to Petrograd in 1917, and seen the October Revolution first hand. He had a fanatic hatred of Communism, and studied some of the works of American Fundamentalists which claimed that Mao was the anti-Christ. Araki had been defeated by Mao in Siberia, and believed Japan had the sacred task of protecting the world from the Red Demon. He authored the Japanese Bible: Shinmin no Michi 臣民の道 ,"The Path of Subjects". One of the main theme of the book dwelled on the direct descent of Emperor Shōwa from goddess Amaterasu and the religious characterization of the Kokutai which was identified as a "theocracy" in which "the way of the subject is to be loyal to the Emperor in disregard of self, thereby supporting the Imperial Throne coextensive with the Heavens and with Earth." Emperor Shōwa and his war (seisen) were described as "holy". The virtues he embodied were unique and immutable.

Regarding the "holy" war in China:

"the country was contaminated by perverted thinking and our sacred duty is to clean this and to return to the virtuous customs of our ancestors. It is by working with harmony and cooperation and making manifest our national dignity that the Heavenly Spirits of our Ancestors should be obeyed in a dutiful manner, which, by working in harmony with others, is for the greater glory of the Throne".

Araki collaborated with Seigō Nakano founder of the Japanese Tōhōkai Settler Party. In January 1929, Nakano gave a speech on the need for a Settlerist Japan. He argued against those who "say that neither Settlerism nor Imperialism are appropriate for our nation." He then distinguished between old-style, conservative, despotism, and a "Settlerism… based on essentials." Arguing against majority rule (as the majority "is the precise cause of contemporary decadence") and "an individualism which shows no concern for others", he calls for a "government going beyond democracy" giving consideration to "the essence of human beings." With organic unification of individuals "sharing common ideals and a common way of feeling," there can be formed "a perfect national organization."