Fumiko Kaneko (1903 - 1926) was a Japanese female anarchist who was arrested and convicted for conspiring against the Meiji emperor of Japan.
Kaneko was born to a former policeman and a laborer, and spent the first nine years of her life as an unregistered child. This status impeded Kaneko from receiving formal education and recognition in society. Still, Kaneko was able to attend classes thanks to the pleas of her mother.
After Kaneko's mother failed to sell her daughter to a brothel, Kaneko was sent to her paternal grandmother's in Korea when she turned nine. A wealthy woman, Kaneko's grandmother registered Fumiko Kaneko as her own daughter and promised her a proper education. Kaneko was a cunning child interested in pursuing an education comparable--both in depth and breadth--to that of her male classmates. But Kaneko's grandmother disapproved her granddaughter's attitude and promptly began oppression her through child abuse.
Kaneko's maternal family learned of this mistreatment and had her sent back home in Japan.
She followed the philosophy of nihilistic egotism. After the Kanto Earthquake of 1923 the government took advantage of the situation to arrest or murder hundreds of Chinese, thousands of Koreans and many anti-government activists. She was arrested during this time, along with her partner, Pak Yeol, who led a small group of nihilists and anarchists, primarily Korean, known as the Futeisha.
She was sentenced to death for conspiring to transport bombs to blow up the royal family. Her sentence was later commuted to life inprisonment. She said, however, that the government would have no say regarding her life or death, so she killed herself by hanging in her cell.
She was buried first at Pallyeong-ni, Mungyeong-eup, moved in Nov 2003 to Maseong-myeon, Mungyeong-shi and reburied in back of Park Yeol’s birthplace.
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