Hashira
柱 The Hashira | |
|---|---|
 Four columns are often used to signify the Hashira
| |
| Motto: "Without Pillars, Society will Reduce to Ash" | |
| Type | Political society |
| Membership | Total - 8 (2024, estimated) |
| Establishment | |
• Publication of the Pillars of Society[a] by Shizukesa | March 15, 1968 |
The Hashira are a secretive group of Mizu politicians active from the 1960s to the present day known for their close internal decision making structure and who promoted neo-conservatism within Misumi and around the IDU. Founded by a secretive thinker known only as Shizukesa, translated as "the silent one", the Hashira are said to use their outsized influence in Mizu politics, governance, and judicial affairs to promote their shared ideology. Little is known about their inner workings, and while some eminent figures like former Prime Minister Chiyoko Onishi have confirmed the group's existence and their membership in the group after their political careers, even though many make educated guesses about their current membership roll, there is almost no confirmed information about who is a member.
Key figures[edit | edit source]
Shizukesa[edit | edit source]
Shizukesa is the founding figure of the Hashira, and the organization's founding is often credited to their pamphlet Pillars of Society, which although never saw widespread readership was hugely influential amongst Mizu conservatives. Published shortly after the end of the Great War, the treatise argued that Hesperida was in a uniquely turbulent time, with Haesan and Slokais destroyed, Pharitaya in turmoil, and LOM and Laeral gutted by the massive expense of the war. Shizukesa argued that only Misumi, wealthy and largely insulated from the war, could rightfully rise to a place of influence in the region, and outlined the "Four Pillars"[b] to build "a society of eminence":
- Emboldening corporations to generate the highest possible level of wealth for society.
- Protecting innovation to engender the most technically advanced society.
- Intervening in unstable regimes to ensure a stable world for a stable society.
- Moderating the culture to ensure a refined and elegant society.
Shizukesa would go on to pseudonymously publish seven more pamphlets over the course of their career as a semi-public intellectual, with the last, Stable Regimes for a Stable World, published in 1981. To this day, Shizukesa's identity is unknown.
Chiyoko Onishi[edit | edit source]
Keiichi Ueno[edit | edit source]
Katsuji Yokota[edit | edit source]
Policies[edit | edit source]
The policies of the Hashira continue to follow the outline that Shizukesa outlined in the Pillars of Society. The "Four Pillars" have emerged as touchstones for many conservative politicians in Misumi, regardless of whether they are confirmed to be in the Hashira or not.
Pro-business economics[edit | edit source]
The "Patent Regime"[edit | edit source]
Global interventionism[edit | edit source]
Cultural regulation[edit | edit source]
Organization[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Originally published in Mizu as Shakai no hashira.
- ↑ While later treatises show that Shizukesa was an ardent opponent of Gramontism, they admired its ability to "worm its way into the minds of the masses." As such, many believe that they borrowed the concept of "pillars" from the Gramontist "Five Pillars".