Singer: Humanity and Mentu - The Spread of Trust and Socialism in the Perfumed Society of the 1920s

Singer: Humanity and Mentu - The Spread of Trust and Socialism in the Perfumed Society of the 1920s

In the 1920s, a custom of self-introduction known as "mentsuu" existed in the Kakushi society. This practice is descended from the same lineage of "ningi" used among the lower class workers, a culture in which those who could not read well communicated their status and backgrounds orally. In the world of the kaguishi, castaways also exchanged mentsuu at their first meeting to confirm their trust and build a sense of community. This custom was an important device for the castaways, who were constantly on the move and had no stable place to stay, to bond with each other.

At the time, Japan was experiencing a rapid increase in the number of people engaged in precarious livelihoods, such as day laborers and vendors, due to the progress of urbanization and the exhaustion of rural communities. These people lacked institutional security and had no choice but to depend on each other's connections. The mentsuu in the Kagushi society functioned as a grassroots solidarity mechanism that did not rely on power or the market, and was a survival strategy for the lower strata of society itself.

This culture was also utilized in the socialist movement. During the Taisho Democracy era, labor movements and peasant disputes flourished, but their spread did not necessarily depend on the print media alone. For those who did not have access to newspapers and magazines, verbal self-introductions and exchanges of goodwill were an effective means of communicating ideas. The practice of mentsuu, in which members confirmed each other's positions at speeches and rallies, also served as a flexible mechanism for accepting those outside the organization.

In this way, "benevolence" and "mentsuu" were not only a sign of trust for the craftsmen and lower-level workers, but also a practical means of spreading socialist ideology. The informal oral culture served as an intermediary between the lives of the common people and political mobilization, and symbolized the social dynamism of the era.