Background
Ikuo Oyama was born on 20 September 1880 in Japan his family name was originally Fukumoto.
大山 郁夫
Ikuo Oyama was born on 20 September 1880 in Japan his family name was originally Fukumoto.
He graduated from Waseda University in 1905 and the following year became a lecturer there. He went to America and Germany for study in 1910 and in 1914, after his return to Japan, became a professor of Waseda.
He left Waseda in 1917 as a result of a disturbance at the university and became an editorial writer for the Osaka Asahi Shimhun, where he espoused the cause of democracy. When government censorship forced the chief editor of the newspaper to resign in 1918, he left the paper as well. The same year he joined Yoshino Sakuzo and others in forming a society for the advancement of democratic thinking known as the Reimeikai. In 1919 he began publication of a magazine called JVarera in conjunction with Kawakami Hajime, Hasegawa Nyozekan, and others, working to spread democratic ideas. He returned to his position at Waseda University in 1920, where he was idolized by the student body.
In 1930 he was elected to the Lower House of the Diet, but after the Manchurian Incident in 1931, he became fearful of attacks from right-wing elements and in 1932 fled to America, where he lived as a scholar. He returned to Japan in 1947 and resumed his position at Waseda. In 1950 he was elected to the Upper House of the Diet. In his late years, he devoted much of his time to the world peace movement. In 1951 he received the International Stalin Peace Prize.
He was active as a commentator on political affairs.
In 1926 he helped to form the Rôdô Nômintô (Labor Farmer Party) and became chairman of it. As a result, he was advised by the Waseda administration to retire from his teaching position, a suggestion that he complied with, though it brought on a general student strike as a gesture of protest. In 1929 he formed a new political party called the Rônôtô (Labor Farmer Party) with himself as head and was widely referred to as “the shining chairman.”