Nakae Chomin

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In this Japanese name, the family name is Nakae.

Nakae Chōmin (中江 兆民 Nakae Chōmin) , a.k.a Nakae Tokusuke (中江 篤介 Nakae Tokusuke) (1847 - 1901) was a Japanese philosopher, born in the Tosa Domain. Nakae studied in France with the radical republican Emile Acollas from 1871 to 1874 as part of the Iwakura mission. Here he also got to know Saionji Kinmochi He translated some of the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau into Japanese, as well as Eugène Véron's L'èsthétique.

Nakae coined the term Minpon shugi (民本主義), "democracy", and was the author of A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government (1887), in which he explored the merits of democracy. He was leader of the radical wing of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. He was often critical of the Meiji government, and this eventually leads to his being exiled in Osaka.

The article incorporates text from OpenHistory.