The Development of Military Pension in Prewar Japan

センゼンキ　ニホン　ノ　グンジン　オンキュウ　セイド

イマジョウ, トオル

Imajoh, Toru

The Economic Society of Osaka University

オオサカ　ダイガク　ケイザイ　ガッカイ

恩給法

普通恩給

増加恩給

実質恩給額

Military Pension Act

Pension Act

permanent pensions for retired or profoundly disabled soldiers

real price of pension

This article focuses on the military pension from 1875 to 1937 in Japan, and makes clear how this system supported daily life of veterans and their bereaved families. The military pension started in 1875 as financial assistances for army soldiers who became a severely disabled after suffering serious injuries during wars and bereaved families of fallen soldiers. Permanent or temporary pensions for retired or profoundly disabled soldiers and financial assistances for bereaved families got start from 1876, when the prototype of Japanese military pension system was created in. But the real price of pension was decreasing due to inflation during the latter half of Meiji era and World War I. The Japanese government revised the Military Pension Act several times from 1917 to 1922, and enacted the Pension Act in 1923 as the fundamental law of pension for civil service including military in order to avoid making life quality of retired soldiers and their bereaved families worse. These actions taken by the government raised the real price of pension substantially from around 1920 to 1932. In particular, the quality of life of lower rank soldiers and their bereaved families improved dramatically. But rapid increase of pension pressed fiscal policy, and there was a practice of promotion just before retirement to upgrade an amount of money received in the army. The aim of the amendment of the Pension Act in 1933 was to control pension in fiscal scale by extending a duration of employment to need to get pension right and restricting the practice, and the Japanese government had some success to accomplish their goals. Soldiers and their bereaved families who received some kind of pensions kept same level of living standard during 1920s to early 1930s.