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, Aichi, Japan


How was the ethical concern for animals introduced into modern Japan? This presentation is a historiographical analysis which discusses some of the factors that enabled the establishment of the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Japan (henceforth Tokyo SPCA) and shows that it was a complicated process rather than a straightforward adoption of English version of SPCA. The method used for this paper is the textual analysis of publications of the society and articles in newspapers (in Japanese and English) and magazines of the era.

Tokyo SPCA was established in 1902, by Tatsutaro Hiroi and others. Previous studies of this society generally emphasizes the role played by a couple of essays by Hiroi on animal suffering in 1899 and cooperation of a wide range of intellectuals who became aware of animal suffering through those essays. However, a closer look at the contemporary sources reveals different aspects of the process.

First, before Hiroi's papers there were articles on cruelty to animals in English newspapers published in Yokohama, and there is evidence that the Japanese intellectuals were very well aware of such newspaper articles. In the context of international relationships of Japan of that time, such opinions easily functioned as a political pressure to Japan.

Second, analyzing background of people at the center of the Tokyo SPCA, we find a commitment to a particular kind of religious movement that emphasized the integration of Christianity and Buddhism. Cruelty to animals was a convenient issue for such a movement.

Thus, it seems that the establishment of the Tokyo SPCA was a result of complicated religious, social, political factors. This kind of study is important in understanding the process of transformation of the human-animal relationship in the global setting.