Cataclysmic Properties Of Rice: The Rice Riots Of 1918
Imagine if rice, a global commodity held as a staple in numerous cultures and diets, became too expensive for the regular citizen to afford. That’s exactly what happened in the early 20th century in Japan. On July 22, 1918, ten to twenty fishermen's wives in Toyama, Japan, took part in a “murakata ikki,” a traditional peaceful village protest, against the high prices of grain.
Poverty and dire living conditions were already a key characteristic of working-class Japanese lives in the late 19th to early 20th century, with “food accounted for seven-tenths of the average household budget but consisted of little more than rice or gruel,” per Kyoto Journal. However, with Japan’s involvement in the World War, rice, a necessity in many struggling households, was becoming a costly delectable. In general, economic disparity deepened, along with growing resentment and resolution to change the difficulty of living. The Toyama incident was the first recorded protest against the climbing grain prices that would later turn into the Rice Riots of 1918.
​Although the expensive rice prices did not cause famine in Japan, the Rice Riots were a tool to express unhappiness in Japan’s economic climate alongside unrest in the coal, shipyard, and factory industries. Wartime profiteers abused the livelihood of the workers. According to AAS, “Middle-class pundits sneered that the poor “will work no more than they absolutely must.” Workers were facing “longer working hours [and] increased intensity of labour,” and with the higher prices of goods, like rice, wages were lowering, per The Rice Riots and The Social Problems, Thus, the rich became richer and the poor became poorer.
​However, not one factor can account for the events that occured. Firstly, war inflation caused commodity prices to rise by 200-250 percent until the 1920s, per Encyclopedia. Wartime freight ship shortage decreased transport capacity and unfavorable weather reduced yields. Consequently, failing agricultural production under parasitic landlords could not supply newly proliferating urban populations under the rapid development of capitalist industry. Additionally, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Japan’s anticipation of the Siberian Expedition was manipulated by merchants who bought all the rice to sell to the Japanese government. In short, the Rice Riots were caused by the complete and total obliteration of the supply and demand balance.
So, for 2 months, 10 million angered citizens in 33 cities, 104 towns, 97 villages, and 36 prefectures caused mass cataclysm in Japan by participating in the Rice Riots. Protests began like the Toyama incident, where working-class citizens enforced boycotts of grain loading, attacks on rice merchants, and sit-ins.
These uprisings became increasingly violent rebellions where unorganized, unplanned militias used “dynamite and incendiarism,” to “destroy the property of the wealthy,” per NYT. “Geisha,” hostesses who entertained the wealthy, “[were] stoned in automobiles” per libcom, rice depots were raided, and government offices like the Ministry of the Interior were [attacked] per NYT. Eventually, the Terachi cabinet, the administration at the time, was held liable for the Rice Riots and removed from office. The new administration allowed 5,000,000 yen for “purchasing stores of rice for distribution,” the emperor “contributed 3,000,000 yen to the national rice fund,” and numerous wealthy individuals donated their fortunes, per NYT. Nevertheless, the effects of this catastrophic event rippled throughout Japan. Following the Rice Riots, people began drawing more attention to social issues with the class conflict, labour, and the capital. Labour unions, which were declared criminal activity before, were now proliferating. By 1920, 273 labour unions were documented and socialist ideologies were gaining increasing popularity. In conclusion, the small complaint, or “oops,” of the fishermen’s wives began a chain of events that would shed light upon greater issues that masses of Japan faced. The Rice Riots were a match that lit an ever growing flame for equality in Japan, and its importance should not be undermined.
