Co-operative society is Shin'ichirō Imaoka's chosen English translation of kyōdō shakai (共同社会), a term influenced by the German term gemeinschaft by the 19th-century sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies, which loosely translates to "community."

The Japanese Unitarian (Yuniterian) movement used kyōdō shakai to refer to mutual, close-knit communities, which differs from rieki shakai (利益社会 gesellschaft) or contractual/interest-based communities.

Shin'ichirō Imaoka may have chosen this translation because it was already being used Japanese discussions on community-building after the Second World War.

Prompts

"Co-operative society" is Shin'ichirō Imaoka's chosen English translation of kyōdō shakai.

The Japanese term kyōdō shakai was translated by Shin'ichirō Imaoka into English as co-operative society.

kyōdō shakai equivalent in German :: gemeinschaft

gemeinschaft is a term by the 19th-century sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies.

kyōdō shakai means mutual, close-knit communities.

The opposite of kyōdō shakai. :: rieki shakai

rieki shakai equivalent in German :: gesellschaft

rieki shakai means contractual/interest-based communities.

References

From Andrew James Brown's email dated 2025-06-26:

Remember, my translations are into British English and, here, in the UK, the word "cooperative" is mostly associated with something most people highly value, namely the Co-operative stores/shops. This British institution is, of course, something that comes out of nineteenth-century Christian socialism, i.e. a form of socialism that develops independently of Marxist forms of socialism, even if they end up intertwining by the end of the 19th century.

However, in Japan, the term “kyōdō shakai” (共同社会 “co-operative society”) was particularly influenced by the concept of “Gemeinschaft” (community) that was used by the German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies in the late 19th century. The early Japanese Unitarian movement (better spelt as Yuniterian — see my talk above) used the term “kyōdō shakai” to describe co-operative (or mutual) close-knit communities in contrast with “rieki shakai” (利益社会 “Gesellschaft”) i.e. a community society based on contractual/interest-based relationships. The early Japanese Yuniterian movement was also very closely connected with the Christian Socialist movement, and it is out of this context that the word “kyōdō shakai” comes. George William’s book “Cosmic Sage: Imaoka Shin’ichirō, Prophet of Free Religion” explores this part of early Japanese Yuniterian history well.

In post-war Japan when Imaoka-sensei started his new kind of Kiitsu Kyōkai, the term “kyōdō shakai” was being used in general discussions about community-building, mutual aid, and social organization. For what it's worth, the word "co-operative" was the English word chosen by Imaoka-sensei to translate “kyōdō shakai”.

Anyway, in British English, the word “co-operative” is the one that gently keeps in play the Christian socialist aspect of free-religion’s history and is also able to make the important distinction between “Gemeinschaft” and “Gesellschaft”. Free-religion is always a “Gemeinschaft” and never a “Gesellschaft”!