{{Infobox magazine | title = Shinkigen | editor = Abe Isoo | editor2 = Sen Katayama | editor3 = Kinoshita Naoe | editor4 = Ishikawa Sanshirō | editor_title = <!-- up to |editor_title6= --> | category = {{plainlist| * Christian socialism * Humanism * Social democracy }} | frequency = Monthly | founded = 1905 | firstdate = {{Start date and age|1905|11|10}} | finaldate = {{End date and age|1906|11}} | country = Empire of Japan | based = Tokyo | language = Japanese }}

{{nihongo|'''''Shinkigen'''''|新紀元|Shinjiken|"New Era"}} was a socialist monthly magazine, published in Tokyo, Japan, between November 1905 and November 1906.<ref name="beck"/><ref>Mackie, Vera. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=g7_5Cm8k2MkC&pg=PA258 Feminism in Modern Japan]''. Contemporary Japanese society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 258</ref><ref name="au">''[http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1595142 Shin kigen = New era : a monthly socialist review]''</ref>

==History and profile== ''Shinkigen'' emerged after the October 1905 split in the ''Heiminsha''.<ref name="beck"/><ref name="gen"/> The first issue was published on November 10, 1905.<ref name="how"/> ''Shinkigen'' was the organ of the reformist socialist group, dominated by Christian social democrats. ''Shinkigen'' was edited by personalities such as Abe Isoo, Sen Katayama, Sanshiro Ishikawa, and Naoe Kinoshita.<ref name="beck">Beckmann, George M., and Genji Okubo. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8IarAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3 The Japanese Communist Party 1922-1945]''. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1969. p. 3</ref><ref name="gen">Mackie, Vera C. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=rQzmUjiWedMC&pg=PA47 Creating Socialist Women in Japan: Gender, Labour and Activism, 1900-1937]''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. pp. 47, 232</ref><ref>Masaoka, Naoichi. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=jbUftd9n_T4C&pg=PA113 Japan to America: A Symposium of Papers by Political Leaders and Representative Citizens of Japan on Conditions in Japan and on the Relations between Japan and the United States]''. New York, N.Y.: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1914. p. 113</ref> ''Shinkigen'' argued in favour of universal suffrage and social reform (through parliamentary means).<ref name="beck"/> The first issue of the magazine included an article by Uchimura Kanzō, which stated "Though I am not a socialist, I cannot refrain from the greatest sympathy for this gentemanly work."<ref name="how">Howes, John F. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=BOQEP4rW0LoC&pg=PA137 Japan's Modern Prophet: Uchimura Kanzô, 1861-1930]''. Asian religions and society series. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005. pp. 137, 417</ref>

''Shinkigen'' was characterized by a humanistic worldview.<ref name="beck"/> Its conception of socialism was spiritualistic and highly individualistic. The magazine frequently featured (Christian) religious motifs, with imagery such having an angel or a shining cross depicted on the cover page or with article titles such as 'The Revolutionary Thought of Mother Mary'. The magazine did however also feature criticisms of Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/3968/ubc_1995-0563.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-07-26 |archive-date=2011-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807182725/https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/3968/ubc_1995-0563.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In February 1906 ''Shinkigen'' and the other faction that emerged from ''Heiminsha'', the materialists, founded a political party together, the Japan Socialist Party.<ref name="gen"/>

Like other leftwing and liberal media, ''Shinkigen'' was targeted by government repression.<ref>Strong, Kenneth. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SrmbSG-rfKoC&pg=PA181 Ox against the Storm: A Biography of Tanaka Shozo, Japan's Conservationist Pioneer]''. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1977. p. 181</ref> All in all, thirteen issues of ''Shinkigen'' were published.<ref name="coll">[http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0001/MQ45977.pdf Pioneers of the Women's Movement in Japan: Hiratsuka Raicho and Fukuda Hideko seen through their Journals, Seito and Sekai Fujin]</ref> The Japan Socialist Party survived until February 1907, when it was banned by police following its first party congress.<ref name="gen"/><ref>''[http://en.internationalism.org/ir/114_japan.htm The History of the Workers' Movement in Japan, ii]''</ref>

In 1961, a volume containing the editions of ''Shinkigen'' were reprinted by Meiji Bunken Shiryo Kankokai.<ref name="au"/>

==See also== *Socialist thought in Imperial Japan

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

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Category:1905 establishments in Japan Category:1906 disestablishments in Japan Category:Christian socialist publications Category:Defunct political magazines published in Japan Category:Magazines established in 1905 Category:Magazines disestablished in 1906 Category:Magazines published in Tokyo Category:Monthly magazines published in Japan Category:Socialist magazines Category:Meiji socialism