The Life of Ito Noe: Feminism and Anarchism in Imperial Japan

Happy Women's History Month! In keeping with my last March video, I decided to cover the life of a female Anarchist from Japan. Itō Noe was a Japanese Anarchist and Feminist who lived in the early 20th century. She was a prominent writer for the Magazine Seito, and eventually its editor and chief. Through her work, she advocated for women's rights, individual rights, and an abolition of hierarchy. She underwent an interesting ideological development as she shifted from Individualist Anarchism to Anarcho-Communism, heavily influenced by the work of American Anarchist Emma Goldman. Her life was subject to many scandals, as she published controversial opinions and was involved in a polyamorous relationship with fellow Anarchist Ōsugi Sakae, who was also involved with two other women at the time. Drama! Intrigue! We've got it all here, folks, right up until the Amakasu Incident.
Twitter: / somas_academy

[@polasamierwahsh421]

Rights that come easy go easy , it's important to remember those who fought for hard earned rights

[@TheSandurz20]

I love to see more non Euro/American anarchist history, thanks for putting these out!

[@SomasAcademy]

Thank you for watching! I have more videos on Anarchist history in East Asia planned for the future, so stay tuned!

[@PierreThomasAI]

we have two french rapper that made a song about her, the first rap the title is : Euphonik - Itô noé And the second is : Phosphore - Fred Hampton ( in this one he talked about Fred Hampton and Itô Noé )

[@SomasAcademy]

I stumbled upon the Euphonik one while researching for this video lmao, I'll have to check out the other one.

[@schrodingersmoose]

Wow that ending is tragic, it really seemed like you were just scratching the surface.

[@thejapanarchocommunist]

Nice to see a vid on one of my fave anarchists; it's a shame the Japanese anarchist scene isn't as well known outside of really niche circles.

[@SomasAcademy]

Agreed! I also have a video on Kanno Sugako and plan on posting one about Fumiko Kaneko in March, if you're interested.

[@thejapanarchocommunist]

@@SomasAcademy Niiiiice!! I have a small zine (I scored it from an infoshop I frequent in Shinjuku, "Irregular Rhythm Asylum) called "Because I Wanted To" that was basically Fumiko Kaneko's explanation on why she wanted to off the emperor that she gave during her interrogation. It's an interesting look into her way of thinking.

[@SomasAcademy]

@@thejapanarchocommunist Neat!

[@lop2167]

This was so good. I can't believe it only has 700 views

[@SomasAcademy]

Thank you! Please feel free to share it around if you want to help increase those views lmao, videos on niche topics from small channels like mine don't get promoted all that much by the algorithm.

[@redspiritmask]

I consider myself an anarchist but I haven't spent a lot of time looking into the history it. Great video.

[@SomasAcademy]

Cool, thanks for checking out the video! I also have an older video on earlier Japanese Anarchist Kanno Sugako, and a more recent one on the Chinese Anarchist movement (with plans to make a longer video covering the same topic in more depth) if you want to check those out!

[@lyn_shallash]

Came from the economics explained vid. first impression: oh nice prob queer creator second impression: oh wow good research lets look what else they have ... third impression: i think i struck gold here

[@wisteria6656]

thanks, Im a brazilian student, japanese descendent. Im curently studying art nouveau in japanese feminism magazine 青鞜.

[@ikarus6819]

Foda

[@gunterhunerbein9510]

The narrationstyle kinda reminds me of Overly Sarcastic Productions.

[@phanetronics]

Hey, Soma!!! Great video :) Is it okay if I use this video as a source for a video essay I am making about Weebs, Anime, Imperal Japan, and American cultural appropriation.

[@SomasAcademy]

Thanks! And for sure, just send me a link to the finished product lol

[@wisteria6656]

Is there a Possibility you write a video about Seitou? Im stuggling to find resources. Only online library seems to require a card to acces Seitou's archive. Its a shame. Im seriously thinking about buying Seitou from japan, cause web of science and z library dont have it

[@SomasAcademy]

I'm not sure I'll have any more luck than you in finding resources, but I'll do some digging and put it on my list of video topics if anything interesting comes up.

[@thefrenchkiwi9435]

Do you know by any chance what was the Japanese reaction to the Spanish Civil War? It's something I've never asked myself before watching this video.

[@SomasAcademy]

Thus far I haven't really looked into any Japanese Anarchist history from between the early 1920s and the mid 1960s, so I'm afraid the period of the Spanish Civil War is a gap in my knowledge! It's something I can imagine Japanese leftists commenting on if they were still able to at the time (which they may not have been, as Japan was becoming increasingly repressive toward the left over this period), considering how they commented on or were aware of many prominent events in European revolutionary movements (Noe and Sakae knew enough about Anarchist Ukraine to name their child after Nestor Makhno lmao), but I don't know any specifics. I also don't know if there was any reaction by the Japanese authorities at the time, as they were kind of busy with their own Imperial ventures.

[@valuelight]

kinda feel bad for sakae’s wives ngl

[@teenageriot8251]

Great

[@alwaysblue9514]

hey twin