西園寺公望
The "Kokuhonsha" was founded in 1924 by conservative Minister of Justice and President of the House of Peers, Kiichirō Hiranuma. It called on Japanese patriots to reject the various foreign political “-isms” (such as socialism, communism, Marxism, anarchism, etc.) in favor of a rather vaguely defined “Japanese national spirit” ("kokutai"). The name “"kokuhon"” was selected as an antithesis to the word “"minpon"”, from "minpon shugi", the commonly used translation for the word “democracy”, and the society was openly supportive of totalitarian ideology. The elder statesman Saionji Kinmochi publicly criticized the organization of promoting Japanese fascism.