A Defiant-Spirited Journalist Fought Authority Using Parody

MIYATAKE Gaikotsu

The media has a great responsibility to be aware of the age they are in, however they are often utilized by, or accommodate themselves, to influential politicians and religious people. And as history proves, doing so sometimes leads to war. In Japan, there was a man who used parody to fight the authorities. His name was MIYATAKE Gaikotsu (1867 ~ 1955). Gaikotsu was born to a farmer in Kagawa prefecture. "Gaikotsu" has the same pronunciation as 'skeleton' in Japanese.

Gaikotsu founded "Tonchi Kyoukai Zassi" (Wit Association Magazine) in 1887 when he was 20 years old. In 1889, he created a satire about the constitution of the Empire of Japan which was far from being a democratic constitution. He published a "Wit Constitution Declaration Ceremony" illustration which is a parody of the Constitution Declaration Ceremony picture. It was a sarcastic illustration in which he drew a skeleton in place of the Emperor. In addition, he published a series of satirical 'articles' parodying the real Articles that make up the Constitution.

At that time, criticizing the Emperor was a dangerous act. Gaikotsu was accused of dishonoring the Emperor, and sentenced to three years in prison, charged a 100 yen fine and given a one year probation. However, he did not give up. In 1901 after his release, Gikotsu published the "Kokkei Shimbun" (Humor Newspaper) in Osaka. He used humor to point out the essence of key issues of the day including the tyranny of politicians and bureaucrats, the mass media that flatter them, and the people who support war. He received praise from the people.

Accused society with humor and satire
While he criticized the injustices of police chiefs and dishonest businessmen over a long period in his paper, he made a point of attacking journalists who were acting in the interests of these people by calling them "blackmail journalists." He was also severe on his relatives. As Gaikotsu implied, he was born to a tribe that was discriminated against. Gaikotsu was blamed by his relatives for being a great annoyance, but he refuted their claims by saying that their attitude was discrimination.

Gaikotsu, who continued his spirit of defiance, was fined 16 times and ordered to stop printing and selling the "Humor Newspaper" more than 20 times during its life. After eight years, due to the many penalties imposed by the authorities, Gaikotsu voluntarily stopped publishing the paper. In the last issue, he proudly joked sarcastically about the authorities. He named this issue the "Suicide issue."

In the last issue Gaikotsu announced the following: "It is said it is more humiliating than dying if we fail to die when it is the time to die. Newspapers and magazines have the same destiny as human beings. As we found that it is the best time for "Humor Newspaper" to die now, we commit suicide manly. The reason to select now as a good opportunity to commit suicide is because the paper's circulation has been increasing since the first issue and it is in full boom now if you compare it to flowers." Gaikotsu was imprisoned four times and fined and prohibited from selling his newspaper 29 times until he died at the age of 88 years old.

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