Misai South Islands High Government
Misai South Islands High Government 美西南島高等政府 Misai Nantōshima Kōtōseifu | |||||||||
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| 1920–1922 | |||||||||
 Flag
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| Anthem: Kokumin no uta "National Song" (de facto)  | |||||||||
 Territory controlled by the MSIHG | |||||||||
| Capital | Gokuminami | ||||||||
| Common languages | Hananese (de facto) | ||||||||
| Government | Provisional government | ||||||||
| Head of the HGMSI | |||||||||
• 1920-1922 | Atakome Shinaimate | ||||||||
| Daimyo of Chūkanshima | |||||||||
• 1892-1921 | Ryukasei Tasane | ||||||||
| Legislature | Inner Council | ||||||||
| Historical era | 20th century | ||||||||
| 13 March 1920 | |||||||||
| 26 May 1922 | |||||||||
| 4 June 1922 | |||||||||
| Currency | Misai Do | ||||||||
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The Misai South Islands High Government (Hananese: 美西南島高等政府, Misai Nantōshima Kōtōseifu) was the transitional government of the southern island and Savai holdings of the Kingdom of Misai from March 13 1920 folowing the Ebiwan Revolution until its annexation into the Republic of Misai on June 4 1922. It was formed in response to the civil unrest on the main island. The MSIHG consisted of both local nobility and republican activists until the expulsion of the daimyo from the MSIHG. Following the expulsion of the daimyo, the MSIHG held the Misai South Islands referendum which ended in the decisive victory of the Republic of Misai. The Kingdom of Misai denied the results from the referendum and continued to assert its claims on the southern island and Savai holdings of Misai.
Formation
The Misai South Islands High Government was established on March 13 1920 from the orders of the daimyo of Chūkanshima, Ryukasei Tasane, in Gokuminami following public unrest on the island resulting from pro-republican activists. Originally the MSIHG was formed exclusively of the daimyo ruling the southern provinces with the daimyo of Chūkanshima, the largest of the south island provinces, being the leader in the MSIHG. Republican activists in Chūkanshima took up arms in response and threatened violence if they were to be unrepresented in the MSIHG. In order to preserve social harmony, prominent republican activists were invited to the Inner Council of the MSIHG. It was later agreed that the Inner Council of the MSIHG would be compromised of 42 positions with each side beaing alotted 21 to fill in their chosen manner. In exchange the prominent leaders of the republican movement in Chūkanshima agreed to disown any violent solution. Atakome Shinaimate, a prominent pro-republic activist and a radical Socialist, was named as the Head of the HGMSI, while Daimyo of Chūkanshima, Ryukasei Tasane, was given powers equal to that of the head of the MSIHG.
Daimyo Faction
The Daimyo Faction (Hananese: 大名派, Daimyō-ha) was led by Daimyo Ryukasei Tasane. Initially it was the only faction in power. It was in favour of remaining in the Kingdom of Misai and opposed the democratic ideals of the Ebiwan Revolution and the republic that followed it. The faction was completely made up of local nobility. Although the ruling daimyo of the southern provinces held most say in the faction, family members of said daimyo and lesser nobility held some notably lesser sway in the faction. The Daimyo Faction was signifcantly better armed but also numreically smaller than their republican counterparts.
Due to the general unpopularity of the daimyo in the southern provinces, the daimyo faction engaged in a tactic of delay where it attempted to slow down any moves the Republican Faction engaged in by making the faction go through a mire of bureaucracy when any proposal was made. Tasane believed that with time, the republican forces on the mainland would fizzle out and that the kingdom's forces would prove victorious. Key to the Daimyo Faction's strategy was to deprive the republican forces from any support from the southern islands. This also meant in turn that the kingdom could also not receive southern aid. The Daimyo Faction opposed the Misai South Islands Referendum because of the popular support the Republican Faction enjoyed in southern Misai even prior to the revolution.
When the stalemate on the main island drew on and on, it became ever more evident that the Republic of Misai would begin to interfere in the southern provinces. Tasane attempted to organize the arrival of northen aid in the guise of international aid to the islands in order to weaken the Republican Faction's popularity and the Republic of Misai's economic hold on the island. The Daimyo Faction ultimately failed in their strategy of delay and were kicked out from the MSIHG resulting from the Red Ribbon Plot. Although most daimyo either fled from the southern provinces or retired into their province, some continued their resistance against the republican movement by organizing anti-socialist rallies and increasing ethnic tensions between minority groups and the Hananese majority.
Republican Faction
The Republican Faction (Hananese: 共和党派, Kyōwatō-ha) was originally a coalition of loosely connected pro-republic groups. Following the formation of the MSIHG, the first group to respond was the Chūkanshima Province New Misai Society (Hananese:中間島府新美西協会, Chūkanshimafu Shin Misai Kyōkai) led by Atakome Shinaimate. Due to its quick response and close proximity to the MSIHG, Shinaimate's group became the leading pro-republic movement within in the southern provinces. With an increase in membership and an ever-increasing web of informal alliances with other pro-republic groups, Atakome Shinaimate consolidated his position making himself the face of the Republican Faction in the southern provinces. Atakome Shinaimate was a very controversial figure even among the Republican Movement as he was a Radical Socialist who advocated not only for an end to the feudal system but also opposed Capitalism as well as being a fervant supporter of the Left Republican Movement (Hananese: 左共和党運動, Hidari Kyōwatō Undō). Despite his controversies, Shinaimate became the uncontested leader of the Republican Faction in the southern provinces.
Among the first actions of the recently-united Republican Faction was to arm its membership in anticipation for a possible violent takeover. Arming its membership proved difficult as most modern weapons and ammunitions were in the hands of the Daimyo Faction. This led the faction to use older weaponry such as swords. The Republican Faction received some modern weapons from the main island but even with this aid, the republicans could only arm around a fourth of their membership with actual guns. Despite their inferior firepower, the republicans had a great numerical advantage which prompted Sinaimate to threaten the Daimyo Faction with violence. The move was initially unpopular within certain groups, yet Shinaimate's threats worked.
The second controversial action from Shinaimate was the decision not to elect the 21 positions given to the Republican Faction democratically. Instead, Shinaimate gave the positions to the leaders of the larger pro-republic groups as well as to other socialist activists. As a result, the Republican Faction quickly became increasingly socialist in its demands and rhetoric. The Republican Faction quickly realised that the Daimyo Faction would not allow for it to pass any meaningful legislation through the MSIHG, nor was the faction willing to support the creation any kind of democratic process. With the stalemate on the main island and the Daimyo Faction's opposition to democracy, the Republican Faction alongside Shinaimate grew in popularity. Fearing the possibility of a northern victory, the Republican Faction began to gather arms in secret.
Discontent towards the stalemate on the main island as well as the stalemate in the MSIHG led the Republican Faction to come up with and carry out the Red Ribbon Plot. Due to the stalement, the Republic of Misai began to redirect many of its resources towards the Republican Faction so much so that the Republican Faction quickly became better armed than their Daimyo counterparts. Following the execution of the Red Ribbon Plot, the Daimyo Faction lost its ability to delay the Republican Faction's plans in the MSIHG resulting in the expulsion of the daimyo and lesser nobility from the MSIHG. Finding itself as the only faction in power, the Republican Faction began to set up the legislative and practical framework needed to hold a nation-wide referendum on whether to join the Republic of Misai or to remain in the Kingdom of Misai. It also passed provisional laws that in practice disarmed the local nobility. Following the disarmament of the daimyo, the sothern provinces came under the total control of the Republican Faction and the de facto control of the Republic of Misai.
Red Ribbon Plot
The Red Ribbon Plot (Hananese: 赤印綬陰謀, Aka Inju Inbō) was a conspiracy to remove the Daimyo Faction in the Misai Southern Islands High Government. It was carried out by the radical wing of the Republican Faction with the consent of its leader, Atakome Shinaimate. The core idea of the plot was to deprive the Daimyo Faction of the ability to hinder pro-republic activity in the southern provinces by reducing the number of pro-kingdom legislators in the MSIHG through kidnapping and extorsion. The problem with the plot was that neither side's positions within the transitional government had any term limits or rquirement meaning that both factions could appoint new members on the spot. The radical wing of the Republican Faction resolved to solve the problem by orchestrating a myriad of provincial-wide riots to distract Daimyo Faction and to have an emergency session called.
In the morning of September 23 1921, supporters of the radical wing of the Republican Faction caused a series of public demonctrations all the way from Zuzoku to Tafu demanding a democratic referendum with only two turning into allout riots. The night before a chosen group of radical members conducted the kidnappings of seven lesser nobles sitting in the Inner Council. Originally eleven kidnappings were planned but three of them failed due to bad timing where the target had already left while one was able to escape their kidnappers. Despite this, an emergency session of the Inner Council was held. In the session, members of the Daimyo Faction were initially unsuspecting and it only became clear that something was wrong when eight members of the faction hadn't shown up. The Republican Faction was also missing two members to cover for the plot. After a significant amount of time had passed, Tasane refused to go on any further wih an emergency session which led to the two sides arguing which quickly turned to yelling. Both sides did not participate in violent actions as per their original comrpomise. In the midst of heated argument the Republican faction initiated a vote on whether to hold an emergency session the result of which was 17 in favour and 15 against. Two members of the Anti-Radical Republican Faction that were unaware of the plot voted against holding the emergency session which almost caused the Conspiracy to fail.
Following the vote to hold the session, Atakome Shinaimate brought forth the notion to hold a vote on the expulsion of all Daimyo and lesser nobility from the Inner Council which passed 18 to 14 with only one pro-republic member in the Inner Council dissenting. With the expulsion of the Daimyo, the Inner Council under Shinaimate began to create the legislative groundwork for the referendum. The conspirators were heavily criticized even by pro-republic activists on going back on their word to disown and to discourage any political violence. Atakome Shinaimate commented on the Red Ribbon Plot that his only regret was that he himself couldn't be there to participate himself saying that it was a necessary step in securing the democratization of the southern provinces.
Referendum
The Misai South Islands Referendum resulted in a landslide victory for the Republican Faction. The landslide victory of the Republican Faction was not surprising as the Southern Provinces widely shared pro-republic sentiments alongside a general and clearly-visible public discontent toward the local nobility. Widespread and extensive pro-republic propaganda has also been credited with the high result of the referendum. Following the result the referendum, the Republican Faction went on to expulse the remaining members of the Misai South Islands High Government that were connected to the Daimyo Faction. Both the Daimyo Faction and North Misai would deny the legitimacy of the referendum and decry the Red Ribbon Plot.
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Republican Faction | 1,489,498 | 89.08 |
| Daimyo Faction | 182,592 | 10.92 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 2,112 | – |
| Total | 1 672 090 | 100 |
Resignation
Following the referendum, the Inner Council under Atakome Shinaimate began making preparations for the annexation of the Southern Provinces into the Republic of Misai. On June 2, the Republican Armed Forces stepped onto the southern provinces led by the president of the republic. The president spent two days touring Chūkanshima and meeting the various leaders of pro-republican groups. On June 4 the Misai South Islands High Government officially gave its letter of mass resignation to the president. The Grand Diet of the Republic of Misai unanimously passed the South Provinces Annexation Act on the same day.
Following the MSIHG's resignation the Southern Provinces were officially annexed by the Republic of Misai. Democratic reform was soon enacted within the Southern Provinces where the remaining local nobility were stripped from their special status. Many families of the local nobility would go on to lose their ancestral estates following the land reforms enacted by the republic.
The peaceful annexation of the Southern Provinces was a momentuous occasion for the Republican Movement as it gave much needed legitimacy to its cause. Many leaders of the pro-republican groups would go on to run in southern provincial elections but a select few would go on to get involved in national elections. One of these few would be Atakome Shinaimate whose leadership and central role in the annexation of the Southern Province would cement him as a key figure in the Republican Movement. Shinaimate would use his new-found legitimacy to advocate for racial reparations to the minority groups of South Misai and to support the Left Republican Movement dragging the republic's politics significantly towards the left.