The Culture of Japanese Fascism Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society &EJUPST3FZ$IPX )%)BSPPUVOJBO BOE.BTBP.JZPTIJ the Culture of Japanese Fascism - DocsLib

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The CulTure of Japanese fasCism asia-pacific: culture, politics, and society &EJUPST3FZ$IPX )%)BSPPUVOJBO BOE.BTBP.JZPTIJ The CulTure of Japanese fasCism

&EJUFECZ "MBO5BOTNBO duke university press durham and london

2009 © 2009 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper ♾ Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan Typeset in Quadraat by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges the support of Columbia University, which provided funds toward the production of this book. Contents

Marilyn Ivy Foreword: Fascism, Yet? vii

Alan Tansman Introduction: The Culture of Japanese Fascism 1

Part I: Theories of Japanese Fascism

Kevin M. Doak Fascism Seen and Unseen: Fascism as a Problem in Cultural Representation 31

Richard Torrance The People’s Library: The Spirit of Prose Literature versus Fascism 56

Harry Harootunian Constitutive Ambiguities: The Persistence of Modernism and Fascism in Japan’s Modern History 80

Part II: Fascism and Daily Life

Kim Brandt The Beauty of Labor: Imagining Factory Girls in Japan’s New Order 115

Noriko Aso Mediating the Masses: Yanagi Sōetsu and Fascism 138

Aaron Skabelund Fascism’s Furry Friends: Dogs, National Identity, and Purity of Blood in 1930s Japan 155

Part III: Exhibiting Fascism

Aaron Gerow Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema: The Case of Japanese Prewar Film 185

Michael Baskett All Beautiful Fascists?: Axis Film Culture in Imperial Japan 212

Akiko Takenaka Architecture for Mass-Mobilization: The Chūreitō Memorial Construction Movement, 1939–1945 235 Jonathan M. Reynolds Japan’s Imperial Diet Building in the Debate over Construction of a National Identity 254

Angus Lockyer Expo Fascism?: Ideology, Representation, Economy 276

Ellen Schattschneider The Work of Sacrifice in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: Bride Dolls and Ritual Appropriation at Yasukuni Shrine 296

Part IV: Literary Fascism

Nina Cornyetz Fascist Aesthetics and the Politics of Representation in Kawabata Yasunari 321

Jim Reichert Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque in Edogawa Ranpo’s Demon of the Lonely Isle 355

Keith Vincent Hamaosociality: Narrative and Fascism in Hamao Shirō’s The Devil’s Disciple 381

James Dorsey Literary Tropes, Rhetorical Looping, and the Nine Gods of War: “Fascist Proclivities” Made Real 409

Part V: Concluding Essay

Alejandro Yarza The Spanish Perspective: Romancero Marroquí and the Francoist Kitsch Politics of Time 435

Contributors 451 Index 455 Marilyn Marilyn Foreword: Fascism, Yet? I vy

Last week as I was waiting for the subway at Times Square station, I noticed a woman as she was coming off the train, fixed as I was by the enormous purple button pinned to her coat. In large white letters it asked, “Is It Fascism Yet?” I exchanged a knowing glance with a fellow passenger as we pushed into the car. “It’s getting there,” he said wanly as we pulled away. Fascism—as name, idea, political system, worldview, culture—seems ever to produce the difficulty of knowing whether or not it has arrived, yet. Historically referencing Germany and Italy circa 1930, ever beholden to particular European times and places, fascism provokes uncertainties about its reach, metaphorical and otherwise. How will we know when it’s fascism? Just like the question “Are we having fun yet?” the question “Is it fascism yet?” spurs us to wonder “Well, is it?” (“Well, are we?”). Or, alternatively, of course, with the barb already embedded in the question, we feel sure of the implied irony: we know that it is fascism, already. How much fascism is necessary before one can answer the question in the affirmative? When do we know fascism is fascism? viii Marilyn Ivy that that has a theoretical and reflective afterlifethat can allow usto think about one reference, historical its outstrips that notion a is fascism that is close after the always fact. late, momentmy What on the subway othersand dis- time when balance and stasis will be or can be reached. Capitalism utterly utterly reached. Capitalism be orcan be will stasis and balance when time however, that the excessiveness of capitalism is its normal state; there is no regulate the dangerous excesses of capitalism. It is important to remember, perhaps, isthe offascism. core vocation relations—that, property existing place in keeping while divisions these transcends that community organic an as nation the by to appealingsions unrest, of revolution—and the trains would run on time. To erase class divi- and all its implications. It would be a without the capitalism terror of labor division class of specter the without capitalism a be would It capitalism.” be capitalism without excess? It would, in a sense, be a “capitalism without would imbalance .”1What structural its causes that antagonism the ‘excess,’without have to simply is dream fascist “The states, he As you. your capitalism and eat it, too, at the same time as it most assuredly devours have capitalism—to without capitalism have to attempt an describes cism producibility. re- technological its and culture mass of spectacle the through productive made both archaism, bloody and technology gleaming of twins uncanny the through limits those overcome to attempt the with capital, of limits the do with to everything has and had fascism them, ForBloch. Ernst also but course, of theorists—notably, Benjamin, Walter critical related other, their and Adorno Theodor and remainders indomains seemingly from ofthe political. that distant and culture of fascism, is known by its aftereffects and signs, itstraces and the of arrival as fascism, theseand othersthe essays reveal, seek fantasy to was); ever it (if unbroken longer no is Japan. consensus That to applicable term the that “consensus” a was there mid-1980s the by volume, this to introduction his in Tansmanshows Alan as Indeed, state. just one more fact that would allow us to claim that Japan, say, was a fascist verify and find to search constant anxiety,a frenzy and comparative erates comparative , modernity concepts— for example—the notion of fascism gen- other Like otherwise. thinkable aren’t, weren’t, that problems of range a As many have remarked, most vividly Slavoj Žižek in recent years, fas- years, recent in Žižek Slavoj vividly most remarked, have many As Fascism—or perhaps, if we prefer, the fascist fantasy—comes in to to in fantasy—comes fascist the prefer, we if perhaps, Fascism—or Horkheimer Max about thinking without fascism about think can’t I One possible answer is that we know fascism is fascism when it’s too too it’s when fascism is fascism know we that is answer possible One Dialectic of Enlightenment of Dialectic capitalism without its without capitalism and the legacy of legacy the and fascism was not was Fascism, Yet? ix of an always effect apan, the emperor occupied this position of Master, although not in although not occupied this position of Master, emperor the apan, The“corporatist temptation,” the temptation to return to unmediated In J communal communal identification, is infact the“necessary reverse of capitalism,” that this narrative does not engage the question of how the West, for example, entered and perturbed the existing communal space of Japan; Ger- the But well. as reference, to oppression of memories their had fascists man question remains as to how these antagonisms constitutive to capitalism in Japan.) were occluded sion sion of emperorship in Japan).4 What disturbs this organicism was dis- allowed—modernity itself (although not technology as such)—and could in developed as war, total toward drive the by eliminated definitively be only writings the of Japanese ideologues of and the philosophers period. (Note that which can’t be contained within the corporatist fantasy of a commu- of embrace the in (here, beings fraternalized as participate all which nityin the emperor). The idea that an “individual can directly, irrespective of his or her place within the social organism, participate in the universal” (for Such anathema.2 rights) thus was human of idea the in upheld as example, this was it thus, modernity; Western stigmataof the is universalityabstract organicallyan of uni- name modernity the in toovercome thatout be cried Instead of ceaseless of nation-culture.3 fied the displacement capitalism, a formation in which everyone would know his own place was theorized to Organic community encompass a was globalrestored the hierarchy. under gaze of the who Master, also became the effect of the gaze of thenational masses Fujitani(Takashi is to be thanked here elucidating for this dimen- the same modality as Hitler or Mussolini. The emperor, placed at The the point emperor, the same modality or as Mussolini. Hitler existing nation, notwithstanding—or perhaps because of—the reality of thus both wasthe emperor figure of The image. his distanced and deferred assigned purged, was Excess object. and subject both projection, and origin capi- of source the as West, the as outside the foreign: the as outside, the to talist excess, of decadent modernity—or the foreign within: Koreans and communists, most notably. The aversionand fear of this excess universality, wasabstract embodies not which that of but such as foreign the of only of origin, also became the projected, mass-mediated depends depends on unevenness, and its state of normalcy is one of hysterical, ex- Leader—of or Master the of discourse a why is that And production. cessive the Subject presumed to know—emerges repeatedly to regulate excess, to get rid of social antagonisms. At the same time, this dangerous excess is social the placed outside body. Marilyn Ivy of capitalist of democracy.5capitalist That is why Horkheimer and Adorno, generalizing “ its as completes, fact in fascism democracy, In of seeming negation its liberal, capitalist external of reversal. cessity this in Žižek’s words. Capital always already inscribes the possibility and the the non-contemporaneous contemporaneity of the country and the city, the and country the of contemporaneity non-contemporaneous across the of ghostliness reinscription a similar find we Japan, interwar of revivals archaic the In mobilize.8 not could left the that pleasures tions, identifica- fascist in had be to pleasures the understood He them. hecalled as dreams,” “old of repetitions spooky the to and nationalism, loric folk- of fascism, of intoxication the to attuned also was He synchronicity. non-synchronous called he what emerge: then that temporality of forms to the capitalism, antagonisms that cannot be sutured, and to the different unevenness. capitalist global It is a fantasy that emerges with the placing of Japan within the narrative of this split position is a fundamental armature of the fascist fantasy in Japan. and technology), and capital of powers the without attained be not could the that of Westface the in (aunity unity national a form to attempts nese Japa- by historically ordained virtually was position split culture. This and spirit, the Japanese Eastern versionamalgam thetechnology of of German West and the East and the resolution that called for Western technology and by the spatial bifurcation (one indeed instituted by colonial relations) of the andsingular the codified andto norms of ment” Japanese beauty.7 demandsthe subordinated aesthetic to in turn of the duction, “mass orna- pro- cultural mass of technologies and techniques the through stylized was domain ideological-political the while domain, to the ideological-political be subordinated to had economy the Thus, intact. production of relations capitalist keep to working still while place, his knew everyone is,asthe obversethat offascism. democracy, of think we if naive ever are Wecommunism). sense, classic the (in occur must else something negation, the negate to capitalism; of negation internal the is Fascism democracy. liberal American fascism: of obverse the be to presume many which that of midst the in consumer the theabout industry,fascismof culture virtual talk American thethey of can analysis their why,in is that And calamity.”6 triumphant with radiant . . . entwinement of myth and enlightenment, of the “wholly enlightened earth from Auschwitz to the entire Enlightenment project, speak of the dialectical Er W where world a institute to strove that?) it call we (can fascism Japanese e see here the contours of a reactionary modernism that was enabled was that modernism reactionary a of contours the here see e nst Bloch was profoundly attuned dimension this in to of unevenness negation,” the truth truth thenegation,” internal ne- Fascism, Yet? xi (Dur- (Berkeley: also works Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Frag- Overcome by Modernity: History, Culture and Com- and Culture History, Modernity: by Overcome The MassWeimar Ornament: Essays (Cambridge, Mass.: Har- Splendid Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan Tarrying with Tarrying the Negative: Kant, Hegel, and the Critique of Ideology , 210. Negative with the Tarrying . Elizabeth Wright and Edmond Wright, eds. (Malden, (Malden, eds. Wright, Edmond and Wright Elizabeth . Reader Žižek The we think of the fascist fantasy as an integral part of the structure of (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Stanford Press, 2002), 1. Calif.: (Stanford, ments Slavoj Žižek, University of California Press, 1996).of California University Slavoj Žižek, Slavoj Žižek, Slavoj 138. 1999), Blackwell Publishers, Mass.: magisterial HarryHarootunian’s See (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University (Princeton, Press, 2001). Interwar Japan in N.J.: munity See Siegfried Kracauer, Takashi Takashi Fujitani, Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, ham: Duke University Press, 1993), 210. Emphasis in the original. in the Duke 210. Emphasis Universityham: Press, 1993), If

. . 1. 7 3 5. 6. 2.

4.

the the traumas of capitalism (the commodity form itself ). While we can in- the aesthetic, an most awareness broadly, voke of “culture” tothis signify, other nomination of culture is an crucial attempt for to bring together the With what fascism, is revealednotions of culture and fascism. is what was fascistic about culture to begin with (think of the invocations of “German culture” or “Japanese culture”). Attention to the fascistic potential in the modern notion of culture itself, such that the culture of fascism can also imply the fascism of culture; attention to fascism as the internal negation of capitalism; and attention to the synchronous non-synchronicity of the threeare these collapse:tofantasiesstrive temporalities competing fascist forms of attention that will help us determine whether it really is fascism now. or elsewhere, then or yet, in Japan Notes capitalism, as a constitutive moment in some- the with permeated as Japan dialectic of think to illegitimate of it find enlightenment, won’t we then thing we could call fascism in the interwar years. Nor would we think it strange to ask, “Is It Fascism Yet?” in any existing capitalist nation. That fantasy is always cultural, to the extent that fantasy is symbolic, but more important, it is the of fantasy culture itself that gives shape of to the many sign. fascist the around circulating enterprises philosophical and aesthetic That is, culture—thenotion of culture—emerges as that which the the peasant and the petite bourgeoisie. And we find, as well, machineries of desire that proffered the transferentialpleasures of identification with sacrificesand in the of total emperor guise of the power in the war. precisely to erase the political (that is, class division and unevenness) and

xii Marilyn Ivy

8.

See in particular the essays in Ernst Bloch, Ernst in essays the particular in See (Berkeley: University University of California Press,1996). (Berkeley: National Aesthetic Pincus, Leslie see times, fascist in aesthetics Japanese of place the2005). On Press, University vard versity versity of California Press,1996). Autheticating Culture in Interwar Japan: Kuki Shūzō and the Rise of a of Rise the and Shūzō Kuki Japan: Interwar in Culture Autheticating TheUni- Heritage Our of Times(Berkeley: A

lan lan Introduction: The Culture of Japanese Fascism T ans m an

The essays in this volume examine the relationship between culture and fascism in Japan in the decades preceding the end of the Pacific War in 1945. Gathering the evidence of a culture of fascism that was not always so named, the authors are more concerned with the diffusion of fascism as ideology and representation than with its origins and consequences as a political movement or regime. Though a number of essays offer definitions of fascism and explore how Japanese culture and thought in the interwar years can profitably be understood as fascist, the volume as a whole does not present a unified definition of “fascism,” or even a uniform picture of Japan in these years. Indeed, some contributors resist applying the term and concept to Japan, even as they find areas of congruence with fascist states and cultural forms elsewhere. As a whole, however, the volume does argue for the presence of a fascist culture in Japan and for the presence of fascistic ways of healing the crisis of interwar modernity. It is an assumption of most of the essays, and of the conception of the volume itself, that to understand the Japanese inflection of fascism, we would benefit more from observing its marks on culture than from comparing political details in the hope of finding a kind Alan Tansman because, because, having lived through the 1930s, many of them knew in their bones ered fascist, Japanese scholars have applied the term more freely—perhaps Japanconsid-should be not that scholarsasserted have tently American as the eventual control of political institutions andideology. institutions ofpolitical control the eventual toward step first the as culture in intervene to sought that ideology an as but system, political established an as 1930snot the in fascism examining by tone the sets them.”1 behind Doak prescriptions Kevin ideological mon com- the “obscures policies of content actual the focusingon us, reminds of fascism that fits a generic definition acrosssocieties. As Mark Neocleous from that of Italy and Germany in its intellectual roots and in its having its in and roots intellectual its in Germany and Italy of that from otherfascisms thein with kind world.5havediffered JapanFascismin may sic qualities, and somethat with differences in itsinflection Japan was of a laborers. Tosaka argued that there was no ideal form of fascism with intrin- and farmers, bourgeoisie, petite the politicians, students, including lines, class and educational across not, or knowingly people, of breadth great a by experienced and accepted generally life, daily and culture, politics, ing suffus- capitalism, of thecontradictions Japanese responsea fascismas to described He Japan. in politics to culture fascist of relationship the of lyst ( Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the terms sphere ofcultureandlanguage.4 nalists, and writers who lived through fascism and who were attuned to the jour- scholars, such by established was fascist as Japan of understanding forthis groundwork The regimes.3 other from differed regime the how have hadafascist culture).2 of examining its cultural manifestations (if Japan wasn’t fascist, it couldn’t also but fascist), wasn’t it Italy,then and Germany like fascistwasn’t it (if many were?) dampened the possibility not only of analyzing Japan’s fascism (was the Japanese itfascist to the state bility of the term Italy and Ger- way applica- very the over scholars these among debates The manifestations. side Japan and out, the generally question treated of fascism in its political over. was Japan in fascism of existence the over debate the 1937 in TosakaJun, Japan’s social, and political, cultural realities.” For the Marxist philosopher were “supported by a that body seemed theory of to correspond political to ), and fuassho), Th Tosaka was perhaps the most penetrating and sustained prewar ana- prewar sustained and penetrating most the perhaps was Tosaka of time the by volume, this in essay Torrance’s Richard to According Until fairly recently, scholars of Japanese history and culture, both in- both culture, and history Japanese of scholars recently, fairly Until ere have been exceptions to this rule, of course. It seems that as insis ( fascsistization ) had already been in circulation and circulation in been already had fuasshoka) fascism ( fuashizumu), fascist - The Culture of Japanese Fascism

people’s front people’s )” that rejected positivism and logic and then then and logic and positivismrejected that )” bungakushugi ), problems of language had reached the level of and law, a theory Tosaka’s understanding of the relationship of culture to fascism was pre- was fascism to culture of relationship the of understanding Tosaka’s kokutai social thought, had worked its way back to society through the realm of lit- of realm the societytothrough back way its worked had thought, social erature, which could accommodateeasily its mythmaking capacity. Litera- ture camethus to serve authorities the as a “troop of trumpeters” unifying ideology. Tosaka called these literary intellectuals “critics writing in the palatable fascism made They devotion).” and hyōronka love (aijōteki of mode to liberal-thinking people who did not like fascism as a “mode” of being or thinking but found it attractivewhen associated with words like “love,” “tradition.”8 or “art,” was being done so, because literary ideas, he argued, easily became “ideolo- became easily argued, he literaryideas, because so, done being was ( literature of gies served up aesthetic models for the social world. Thefruit of such literary meant the ideology of Japanese Tosaka by which was thinking “Japanism,” fascism. Tosaka saw that “Japanism,” first laughed away in the realmof the the economic, political, social, cultural, and class conflicts that wracked Japanese society. To Tosaka, it was no coincidence that such ideological it that dangerous particularlywas it and literature,by done being was work Japan’s fascism, he argued, was the worship of beauty and the government beautyof the and worship the was argued, he fascism, Japan’s ban on critique.7 At the heart of fascism, that is, lay the manipulation of movements only not thatwhen noted Tosaka representationlanguage. and such as the antifascist Jinmin Sensen (People’s Front), treated extensively term the of use the also but volume, this in Torrance Richard by nese case too “special,” he argued, could result in losing the sense in which in sense the losing in result could argued, he “special,” toocase nese of global fascism.6 part it was indeed likened he (1937), Arts” the of Control Nazi the “Against essay his In scient. to Central Germany. Nazi in that to Japan in thought critical of silencing the been imposed from above rather than associated with a mass movement from but below, even those differences werefast disappearing asfascism The gained term momentum. itself wasTosaka important because to it al- Japa- the call to fascism; European to kinship Japan’s on insist to him lowed essencenational the becauseto theyseendamage banned were were itself, ( of grammar had become a theory of political control. In “Nihonshugisha culture the on took Tosaka Literature)”(1937), (Japanisminto bungakka no consid- Tosaka thinker of kind the Hideo, Kobayashi ) hyōronka (bungei critic ered fundamental to the functioning of fascism, and whom Harry Haroo- tunian in this volume reveals to have attempted to mystifyeveryday life by the appeal of the auratic, timeless, fascist moment. Dominating Japanese toover smoothing work their lent critics Kobayashi as such 1936, in letters Alan Tansman uct uct of an atmosphere seeded by purveyors of culture and also of the inculca- threat of punishment, to the words of the state. Fascism was thethus the prod- and inculcation, censorship, of force combined the through bound, hold gradually, as military, political, and bureaucratic forces were stimu- were forces bureaucratic and political, military, as gradually, hold took it that was fascism European from fascism Japanese differentiated what Japanese of Japanesethat analyst argued fascism, postwar influential most the Maruyama, movement. a as but structure state a as not fascism ing on Tosaka, Maruyama Masao began in the late 1940s to analyze Japanese through this atmosphere. This was a possibility for years left behind. Build- an“epiphanic here calls of.distance.” abolition Lockyer violent, undifferentiated, but liberating moment of violence,a or what to Angus or order absolute to either submission complete a for calling itself, modernity of conflicts the resolve to attempted aesthetics death.11Fascist surrender,glorifies description, glamorizes mindlessness, and tag’s exalts Son-Susan in that, doing aesthetic the “fascistthe of workaesthetic”—an be to volume this in reveals Cornyetz NinaYasunari, Kawabata which elist modernity—a mythic space evoked, for example, in the writings of theby nov- untouched space artistic timeless, harmonious, a into life daily tured munity and offered of wholeness cultural by poeticizing a restoration frac- com- anchorof an as culture timeless a to appealed harmony of discourse dreadful consequences of mass consumption thenand commodification, a the and uncertainty, economic and strife civil of threats industrialization, and urbanization increased from resulting abstraction social meant nity moder- If uniformity. timeless to variety messy reduced aesthetic,”which “bind.” to is which the “fascist meaningoriginal word,That understand us helps the of etymology the preserves version transliterated its in 1930s term the of use general fascism.The of dimension aesthetic (discussed byRichardTorrance) guardagainst. theirreaders to warned prose” of spirit “the of writers antifascist the 1930s—that the in Suekichi opaquemachine,” giant a of Aonogears the“like thecritic thein of words ( atmosphere “creating by “naturally” accepted ideology have to )” atsuryoku pressure ( onewhat censor “tacit a too all Itemployed well. called those who created it.9 The government understood howto work atmosphere deniedby if Tosakaeven sensed, atmosphere,be like was, to argued,there tion of that atmosphere through official channels. The “culture of fascism,” kūkizukuri In Tosaka was describing a situation in which private languages became became languages private which in situation a describing was Tosaka oaa u’ wr i te 90 poie oe osblt fr seeing for possibility one provided 1930s the in work Jun’s Tosaka the 1930s, Tosaka Jun was already well on his way to discerning the discerning to way his on well already was 1930s,TosakaJun the ).”10 It was this spell of the atmosphere of fascism—functioning in the in fascism mugonno The Culture of Japanese Fascism ).”14 ).”14 tennōsei fashizumu )” or “emperor-system fascism ( By 1960, Japanese scholars easily used the word, but more as a talis- By seeing fascism in Japan through the prism of European fascisms, To Maruyama, these outbursts from below, inaugurated by intellectuals Maruyama, these outbursts below, from To state through internal psychological inculcation and external For force.15 Irokawa Daikichi, the emperor system was a “spiritual structure” control- that led to war was first articulated by Maruyama and others in the postwar the in others and Maruyama articulated by first was war to led that years. The emperor system, it was argued, monolithically imposed obei- of product the was It cause. national of mythology the of name the in sance the of decades last the in machinations, ideological government’s Meiji the mystify to century, twentieth the of decades first the and centurynineteenth the of goals the to submissive people the made it and state, the of nature the manic signifier of the bad recentpast than as an analytic term. Emphasis “Japanese-styleto fascism fascism, Japan’s of particularity the to given was (nihongata fasshizumu mobilization mass the behind force the as system” “emperor the of Analysis stage for its later conceptual dismissal, even as his emphasis on fascism as a movement suggests a to shift the tocultural sphere, the realm of consciousness and belief and, by extension, to as representation.Yet much as Maruyama helps us move in this direction, he does not take us enough far phenome- cultural global, a of inflection local a as fascism Japan’s seeing in had uncovered. what Tosaka non—precisely a failed coup by imperial loyalists in 1936, fueled by the thinking of Kita the restoring by Japan of reformation spiritual a effect to intended and Ikki of government.13 Imperial Way and by localizing it in radical fascist groups, Maruyama may have set the ally resulting in assassinations and attempted assassinations of government of assassinations attempted and assassinations in resulting ally Yet, Maruyama argued,idealismthe of fascism Japanese al- officials. never lowed it to develop into a large-scale party capable of concrete action and it came politicalto an control. end As radicalin for below,” fascism “from lated from below by outbursts of radical fascism. Thefascist movement from below was then absorbed into the totalitarian transformation that was taking place above, until, finally, the internationalsituation required unity. absolute such as Kitaconstructing Ikki, a who revolutionizedcalled for were Japan, What Maru- word.”12 close to“movements in truefascism the of sense the Incident Manchurian the becameactive after called yama fascism” “radical in 1931—the unauthorized attack on and seizing of a Chinese garrison by the Japanese field army, leading to the conquest andpacification of Man- Manchukuo—eventu-state, puppet Japanese the of creation the and churia Alan Tansman were unable see to hemmedwhat itwasthat themin.”16 people the darkness, the in obscured box the of corners the confines, its lingfrom people perfectlya functioning within, ideology, for “once within individual.21the modern of fragmentation and alienation the counters that unity and immediacy of mies. The “core myth” of fascism provides the possibility for anexperience indoctrination, repression, and terror directed at internal and external ene- propaganda, through consensus creating and lives people’s regimenting by anomie and malaise to cure this-worldly a providing of means a as but nostalgia, of act an in merely not past, the from inspiration its draws It purpose. passionate into despair cultural converts Griffin’sRoger phrase, in Fascism, well. as Japan, for work to come fascism European describe inthe face ofa fracturingcommunity mass cultureofconsumption.20 and culture timeless a to appealing by and order social harmonious a of by myth lifeofferingthe everyday poeticizing at aimed discourse aesthetic This fissures. social heal to order in culture of state spiritual a recover to attempted and harmony and renewal of language a fueled that 1930s the in temperament” “fascist a described has Harootunian Harry discourse.” cultural in turn “fascist a noted has Pincus Leslie Japan, in years interwar mon than it once was. Making a link between regime and culture during the recent years, analyzing fascism in its cultural form has become less uncom- in the fact that it demands obedience and sacrifice fortheir own sake.”19 In appeal, formalits void,character of utterly the in weakness: greatest its as critics leftist or liberal by perceived was featurewhich the in precisely lies ideological power. As Slavoj Žižek writes, “The ideological power of fascism of the two world wars.18 This is because culture is where fascism gathers its ends the between years the in nations fascist modern, numberof a of one global ofa Japan, seeing ratherthan itasaninflection phenomenon. for category particular a alike) non-Marxists and Marxists (among served pre- has It ideology. global more a of workings the understand to which use of the figure ofthe emperor system displaced fascism as a lensthrough colonialism.17and the repressionfact, Japan’sof In past signifying merely unanalyzed, relatively remained fascism the while phrase,the of side emperor to given was emphasis greater fact in idiom, own its through it ing understandingfascism Japanof inflect- global while of havingas partaken W huh h aayi o te meo sse wud em o implyan to seem would system emperor the of analysis the Though Once one’s eyes are adjusted by the lens of culture, the terms used to to used terms the culture, of lens the by adjusted are eyes one’s Once as seen be to Japan allows that sphere cultural the of analysis an is It e can add to this core myth Neocleous’s analysis of the common ide common the of analysis Neocleous’s myth core this to add can e - The Culture of Japanese Fascism ascism a found solution to alienation and exploitation not in a radical ascism was, then, an ideology and the masses controlling molding for ciety in which individuality could be both exalted and sublated by the In Japan as well as in Germany or Italy or France, one of the central goals central the of one France, or Italy or Germany in as well as Japan In of fascist thinkers and policymakers was to create a beautiful new so- F F Association), analyzed here by Kim ThoughBrandt. published in1941 and never realized, the proposal was, according to Brandt, an exemplary and “recognizably fascist effort to employaesthetics as ameans of increasing industrial productivity total for war”: change change in economic systems, but also in policies and rhetoric ostensibly lay effort an everyday Such and workplace, life. the work, beautifyto meant behind the school proposal reforming dormitoryfor largest by life Japan’s and most influentialfolk artorganization, the MingeiKyōkai (Folk-Craft it evoked beauty. In his essay in this volume, Harry Harootunian argues that argues HarootunianHarry volume, this in essay his In beauty. evoked it the cultural critic Kobayashi Hideo partook of the language of fascism by replacing the lived time of history and politics with the timeless space of eternal beauty. rational positivism.22 rather than ideas, sentiments rather than rational thoughts. It called for a unity that like is “natural,” a family’s, in which individuals might gain a entity powerful more a to relationship their of grasp intuitive spontaneous, and a feeling for their calling to a higher spiritual unity. Fascism elevated the will to an ideal, praising the intuitive act over the intellectually self- reflective act. In this way, it was an assaulton Enlightenment values of the First World War. In particular, it was a reactionIn particular, to the threat of moder- War. the First World nity in its political Marxism whether or liberalism.forms, Based on earlier an fascism promised end toevok-romantic class division philosophies, by people its of bonds natural the by unified nation a stateand a mythof a ing through their blood and spirit. Fascism wanted cohesion and offered it in a language of faith that appealed, through images and myths, to feelings ology of fascism that runs through Italian, German, and Spanish fascisms, fascisms, Spanish and German, Italian,through runs that fascism of ology despite local differences, and that applies toJapan, as well.According to Neocleous, fascism emerged as a reaction to the threats of social and political divisions created in the crisis of capitalism in the years following to nationalize them—or to nationalize them to mold and control them—in control and mold to them nationalize to them—or nationalize to of a myththe name of nature—of a “natural” nation with no history but is timeless, like myth, made of individuals connected through bonds of na- In place ture.23 of fascism history, nature; emphasized in place of politics, Alan Tansman ideal of and communitarianism a rhetoric of that called authenticity for re- of the losing freethe a political integrity to individualground were already In the 1930s, the 1920s ideology of liberalism cosmopolitan and its ideal of Japan’s and Fascist Mobilization ofModernity Crisis abroad,bloodline made Japan one among other fascist nations. poorer of peoples of domination the of name the in home, at coercion by backed lineage, or nation, state, the to individual the of sacrifice and tion demandedand devo- blood of bonds natural extolled thinkingthat mythic of imposition state’s the through solutions, the and Japan, by shared also were fascism European to birth gave that conditions cultural and nomic, underpinned that organicist thoughtandrhetoric fascism. The eco- social, the fueled they letters, European and traditions local with combined and, Europe in and Japan in fluently spoken lingua franca the were fascism and Modernism thought. political and philosophical of traditions Japanese than— more as—often much as philosophy and literature European ern mod- encompassed Japanese educated any of background the 1920s, the in the 1920s were as as likely know to much European texts as Japanese. By maturing intellectuals Japanese and Europe’s, with coeval was modernity traditions. own its to according rhetoric of styles and mechanisms ideological ferent dif- employed each though fascism, Italian with Nazism aligned Europe ideas—across fascist and modernist ideas—both of exchange An ernism. mod- from separated be cannot thus Fascism Spain. in Caballero ménez and Gabriele d’Annunzio in Italy, Gi- Georges Sorel and Ernesto in France, England, and Germany, in Gottfried States Benn UnitedF. the T. Marinetti modern and modernist writers such as Ezra Pound and in Wyndham Lewis encompassing boundaries, national across reached that branches lectual

tive revolutionary tradition, with tradition, roots in Nietzsche tive and revolutionary Bergson and intel- Japan was part of the same conversation. Japan’s confrontation with with confrontation Japan’s conversation. same the of part was Japan Ult aswellofvirtue andstrength. gratification, of aesthetic often quoted slogans of Japanwartime put it, was presented as a source ideal of “one hundred million hearts beating as one,” as one of the most labor and privation, but it was also held out as an end in and of itself. The concrete uses in mobilizing national subjects and resources for wartime very had vision This sacrifice. and unity national of discipline exquisite imately, fascism, argues Neocleous, is the culmination of a conserva - The Culture of Japanese Fascism Dostoevsky —the —the emo- Malaise ).” ).” fuan ).” The rhetoric of “emergency” of rhetoric The ).” hijōji (1903), which sold thousands of copies copies of thousands sold which (1903), )” and “malaise ( kindai kindai no chōkoku The earthquake thatdestroyed Tokyo in1923 left in its wake dramatic This sense of crisis laid the groundwork for a “politics of despair,” which despair,” of “politics a for groundwork the laid crisis of sense This tional correlative of the politicaleveryday“emergency”—entered the of correlativetional language as a result of translationthe 1934 into Japanese of Lev Shestov’s eliminate dissent at home.28 Germany. in fascism of growth the to fundamental as described Stern Fritz “overcoming phrases catch the encapsulated by was times the of mood The the modern ( meant meant to “overcome the as modern,” the 1941 symposium of intellectuals was a named, tone of on, thiscrisis. From 1932 was termed by the govern- ( emergency of “state a media and ment transformed Japan into a place of eternal crisis, thus providing the atmospheric backing needed, in the name of national survival, to increase the power of the military, rationalize Japanese hegemony over East Asia, and Tragedy of Philosophy The Nietzsche: and statement of a it in saw who intellectuals by essays of flurry a provoked and Kiyo-Miki philosopher the 1933, In anxiety. and owndisillusionment their shi had associated Shestov with the word which “malaise,” to him meant a vague sense of crisis. Miki cited Martin as Heidegger the of philosopher ing ing the next decade, unemployment in the cities, fear of starvation in the creationof the countryside,military and assassinations, right-wing coups, a Japanese puppet state in Manchuria suffusedJapanese life, through gov- culture, and withthe media, ernment popular an propaganda, atmosphere of imminent, dramatic transformation that lent various new ideologies to be overcome.26 toThe revoltbe overcome.26 against modernity registered by writers was a revolt of writers betrayed by modernity’s promise. physical evidence of the power of destruction, particularly of the fragility of the modern metropolis, feeding both the anxiety and the hope that the city and culture that had been destroyed could be invented anew.27 Dur- and the state became idealized as the sources of meaningful action and identity. Intellectuals critiqued modernity as an insufficient vehicleeither national for or personal identity: it had led to a dead end that needed storing a sense of true “Japaneseness.”24 Intellectuals argued for the aban- the Intellectualsfor argued of true a sense “Japaneseness.”24 storing donment of the belief in individuality—an abstract, modern notion that festered at the core of the crisis—and searched for an identity grounded in native culture and life or mediated through absolute identification with the “people (minzoku)” and the state.25 The individual was viewednot only “people” the while meaning, of source inadequate an as also but selfish, as 10 Alan Tansman the binding together of all things: “the musical condition of Futurism de- Futurism of condition musical “the things: all togetherof binding the moment wholenesstheof form and musical a of take would ingHirato, to F. accord- of 1921. translator cure, in The Manifesto Futurist T. Marinetti’s blindnessand life,” cultural of despaired Renkichi Hirato (1893–1922), the the EuropeofHeideggerovertook and AndreGide.29 that one the Manchuria—to of conquest the with 1931 in begun had said he Japan—which in crisis spiritual the likened and excellence par malaise critic Kobayashicritic Hideo often referred asanassault against to abstraction. organic community, apotheosizing the “folk,” and waging what the cultural an imagining by life social and history aestheticized that practices artistic were laid out in arguments, or of evocations, timeless communities, arts, or fragmentation modernity’s of crisis the to cures Such experiencing. was society contemporary that fragmentation disunity,and division, the come over- to was task the argued, has Harootunian Harry as left, the and right ing of abstraction language as writers. were For neo-traditionalist both the increas- the by disturbed as were artists Futurist and Avant-garde culture. response to cultural crisis took place across the spectrum of participants in “fascist” the that us remind to but fascism and aesthetics their between open when the fireisin one’sown storehouse.”31 only eyes one’s that pity great a is It castle. bourgeois rotting the moved, re- helmets surrender, better might One pathetic. more even is methods absurd and base through tide the Stemming age. new the of instincts the of thought surges upon us and is greedily sucked up by the fresh minds and currents the of flow the along, rushes age “the repair: beyond was culture idols.”“changingof a To than more nothingJapanese Tsuji,were all tion” na- the freedom, society,humanity, Buddhas, “Gods, values. aesthetic or binds allthings together inanorganic relationship.”30 that allows all things to flow into one another, afreedom magnificent orchestra that a skies, the and spirit the of symphony absolute an into velops any sense of authority any sense of authority outside the self, ethical and thus any set of objective lost had Tsujialienation, modern from escape an envision still could rato Hi- please.”Whereas they as do just all should class-consciousness—they to awakened literature dramas, Romantic poems, Symbolist novels, ralist pressionism, Dada—it makes my head ache just hearing their names. Natu- Ex- proletariat, bourgeoisie, socialism, human Romanticism, Naturalism, despair:“Realism, feelingcreative a of expressed Tsuji(1885–1944) ist Jun O I E ight years after Hirato made his pronouncement, the Japanese Dada Japanese the pronouncement, his made Hirato after years ight quote a Futurist and a Dadaist not to imply any necessary connection connection necessary any imply to not Dadaist a and Futurist a quote nly nly a drastic cure could heal the “confusion life, of theeveryday futility - The Culture of Japanese Fascism 11 messhi messhi ),” ),” whose kokka sōdōin seisen)” under the ban- e ideological underpinnings of inculcation were kept abstract enough enough abstract kept were inculcation of underpinnings ideological e The government attempted to rationalize all aspects of life.How one The government mobilized collectivism, war, and expansion andpro- Th The assault wasfelt in theshocks of economicdepression, military ex- the the directives of centralized Thematerial organizations. side of was life to localorganiza- in controlnation, the throughout restrictedfocused be and nurtured the spirit (in worship), trained the body (in exercise), celebrated life’s progress (in weddings), created one’s image (through clothing or hairstyles, which would match the national spirit and essence), and nur- reflect would arts) the (in senses and sport) and food (with body one’s tured to be flexible—Japanese ideologues could fill fascism with a wide variety of content.The reach of the state extended throughout the realms of education, cultural expression, entertainment, and the media, casting an op- and actionexpression through over pall surveillance,pressive propa- mass repression.34 and backed by police ganda, and censorship, moted a new culture it deemed befittingJapan’s history and ethnicity.A combination of restrictive laws and the creation of local organizations set orches- was scale mass a on values inculcatestateand dissent repress to up trated by the government’s “National Mobilization ( ( state the toservice through oneself “extinguish to was goal ultimate hōkō).”33

ner of harmony and order at home and expansion and control abroad. This at and home expansion and control and of abroad. harmonyorder ner reached a climax in Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro’s outline of a “New Order” in 1940, which, through the Imperial AssistanceRule Association, glorified thenational body and calledfor militaryhegemony and the creation of an autarchic economic The empire. intellectuals inKonoe’sbrain trust, the Shōwa Kenkyūkai (Shōwa Research Center),32 spoke a language close to that of European fascist thinkers and promoted a political structure akin to that in found attempting Italytoand Germany, take charge of “the unite to striving and life cultural and political, economic, of aspects all case, this (in figure quasi-divine one reverencefor of attitude an in masses” intellectuals,fascistThese like counterparts their in Europe, emperor). the control saw and societyin crisis a of ills the societyheal tonew a for argued higher a won be would throughcontrol thatfor of cure, part as freedom of of freedom. form mobilization for what the state called a “holy war ( pansion, repressive government intervention in social conflicts (between the of fear and malaise, cultural terror, right-wing management), and labor Anglo-American powers; these provided the context for state-controlled 1 2 Alan Tansman health ( health modify the “people’s lifestyle (kokumin seikatsu)” to invigorate the “people’s tions and centralizing forces such as the draft.35 Appeals would be made to as experienced in Japan.” The Hachikō phenomenonthe struck liberal antifascism of culture the in role prominent a “played argues, he Hachikō, of then used that dog as a tool of indoctrination. The myth and representation dog, Japanese the onto purity Japanese of notions projected enthusiasts, asaspiritual venture in novelsplayed ofthe time.)38 manager with the emperor as one mind and one spirit.37 (Even baseball was and worker fusing purpose, of unity ideal an to fusion,”referring capital figuration of labor organizations, organizedthrough the concept of “labor– it: andresists asitexposes binding even fascist of demands the for desire a displays that paranoia of narrative ing novel detective the of amination Keithex- ideals. fascist Vincent’s of transgression mess’s threatening that and nonsensical, and grotesque, erotic, the of pleasure the against mess, modern the against stay a represented purity and homogeneity to impulse of the detective fiction of Edogawa Ranpo, James Reichertexplores howthis time for play was over, except, perhaps, for spiritual play. Through a reading terial comfort and pleasure—the end, that is, of the fun of urban life.36 The National mobilization meant the beginning of the end of the pursuit of ma- reach of the state into the realm of the spirit was manifest in the new new manifestthecon- was in spirit the of realm the into state the of reach was reality to come through the of elevation spiritual values. The attempted material of harshness and messiness the for “cure” the level, state the At Aaron Aaron Skabelund shows how Japanese bureaucrats, with the help of private summed up by the phrase “erotic grotesque nonsense ( nonsense grotesque “erotic phrase the by up summed Havin cure itself through the production ofincreasinglyimplausible the through production fictions. cure itself a to culture of fascismof so and seeks are to resistances that symptoms do to suppress. refusal principled to or work Theirfailure chronic tions fic- legal and detective most that knowledge a is fantasy a is it that fact tasies of modernity. In a culture of fascism it becomes an obsession. The bring a novel to a single closural point is among the most cherished fan- to and laws of system a to “complete” laws.” writing written of use The tenance of the national order through a complete ( famously by Hirabayashi [Hatsunosuke] in an earlier essay as “the main- describedfound anotherbe impossibleproject, in to is precondition its indispensable, closure clean such finds novel detective modern the If kokumin kenkō kokumin g a Japanese spirit meant having the authority of Japanese purity. Japanese of authority the having meant spirit Japanese a g ),” and to limit the more frivolous pleasures of life, of pleasures frivolous more the limit to and ),” The Devil’s Disciple Devil’s The (1929) examines a dizzy- a (1929)examines kansei kansei sareta eroguronansensu ) system of ).” The Culture of Japanese Fascism 3 1 Beginning Beginning in 1937, and increasingly after 1941, popular songs uplift- sors assumed that, when censoring songs, they were to focus not on lyrical on not focus to theywere songs, censoring when that, assumed sors content but on singing style.41 In 1936, for example, the pop tune “Wa- and language.40 and Thelanguage.40 hand ofpropaganda went sofar as to reach into the imagination itself. ing the spirit of national unity were promoted, while those that did not were controlled. Sensitive to the affective power ofaesthetic form, cen- the the mid-1930s it went even further toward creating an expressive vacuum. After 1937, the producers of newspapers, radio broadcasts, magazines, books, songs, comic books, films, andphotographs were all subjected to strict codes, or subjected themselves, out of pragmatic necessity, to self- squelched, were journals and politicalorganizations Left-wing censorship. and language thought to deter from the war effort and the unity of a citi- were language of kinds certain As review. harsh under came it behind zenry responsible organizations National up. pumped were kinds other out, shut popular of style and content the for or information of dissemination the for entertainment, such as the Jōhō Iinkai (Information Committee), formed in 1931, worked with the industries themselves in the censorship of ideas filled.The culturalwork of fascism wasformed in this representational vacuum. It was through censorship codes that was language mediated for Japanese listeners, viewers, and readers. Although censorship of all media began as early as the beginnings of the modern state in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, with a tradition going back two centuries, in Fascism converted cultural despair into passionate purpose, a cure providing to malaise and anomie by regimenting people’s lives and creating consensus through propaganda, indoctrination, repression, and terror directed at internal and external Theenemies.39 state’s control of language, thought, and behavior created a vacuum that the cultural work of fascism nally explain. This tendency, Hasegawaworried, “might result in similar about delusions weightier social and political issues with more dangerous over Hachikō.” than those createdconsequences fervor by the Vacuum Representational The fascist fascist critic Hasegawa Nyozekan (1875–1969) in 1935 as sentimentalism gone awry and as an example of “fascism from below”; the public, “influenced by a swirl of rumor, sensational media reports, and theories,” had entered a collective “self-hypnotic, psychotic” trance that allowed them to believe things that they had not experienced and that theycould not ratio- 1 4 Alan Tansman of suppressed, tantalizing, erotic decadence. erotic of suppressed, tantalizing, whole world a it with singer—andalong the of body sexualized the visible rendered when skillfully, could, “yo!” too all make exclamatory song’s The phrase. title’s the in note final the on lingering lascivious singer’s the of because dangerous considered was Me!)” Forget (Don’t yo! iya suretewa they had goals in common, “including an obsession with the discourse of discourse the with obsession an “including common, in goals had they lead to the successful creation of a collective ‘fascist’ identity,” even though the Axis powers led to imperfect and sometimes failed results and “did not among interaction cultural the that shows example, for Baskett, Michael thought. languageand of matters examine that those than “fascist” lation that treat the visual work of fascist aesthetics are less at ease with the appel- volume this in essays the that coincidenceSpain.45 no many,is It even and ganda policies never attained theof elaboration level had they in Italy, Ger- heroism, whatTsurumi creating a“halo ofsanctity.”44 Kazukocalls xenophobic.was The language and race new and images conjured of blood or on simply thelied, news of and front.casualties Language prevaricated, ( roof one theunder world of corners “eight as such phrases in propaganda of guage ( ideas of “war a dubbed was effort war as conditions dire continued.43in stoically This be persevere willingto forms. expression weresqueezed state-imposed andmolded fitinto to and thought all that say to exaggeration no be would it that watching and listening, reading, by absorbed languages the were propaganda mulated neseideograms.42 of and truths for- twisted theSo suffused of marks with Japa- to changed be now would words foreign transliterate transparently could that script phonetic the in written once words Loan pressure. cal expressions. Words themselves thewere to subject force of direct ideologi- thought to corrupt the national language ( songs popular of lyrics the to extended Control propaganda. state new to extreme, opposite the on as, well as lifestyles, foreign of fantasies for and under, an audience primed for the “decadent” messages of popular culture and fifteen were moviegoers total the of percent 35 as many percent—as 60 by increased example, for audience, film the 1934, and 1926 Between audience. growing ever an to access medium’s the to proportion direct coup by imperial loyalists in 1936, imperial thought dominated the lan- the dominated thought imperial 1936, in loyalists imperial by coup Th As interventionist as they were, it is worth noting that artistic propa- artistic that noting worth is it were, they as interventionist As in intensified censorship media, other the in as industry, film the In e administration e of administration aesthetics meant to make people support war and ).” From 1937 on, catch phrases like this one replaced one this like phrases catch on, 1937).”ichiu From hakkō shisōsen ) kokugo with foreign phrases and ).” From the time of the failed the of time the From ).” The Culture of Japanese Fascism 5 1 is confined to the visual expressions of fascist culture;project, however, helped create political theconsensus through its process chūreitō In her discussion of the national state-sponsored competitions to In the case of architecture, Jonathon Reynolds concurs with Baskett’s The chūreitō [lit., “tower to the loyal spirits”] functioned like an icon in icon an functioned like chūreitō [lit., loyal “towerspirits”] The to the the civic religion of fascism, which, according to George Mosse, draws argument Mosse’s . . . consensus.” present already an from strength “its choose the best memorial designs tabletsfor war commemorating Japan’s concurs with dead, Takenaka that Akiko Reynolds was there no distinctive the and itself, design the that show to on goes Takenaka But design. fascist successful building and dissemination of actual statues, were less important in the creation of a national aestheticvery than was the process of the competition itself: was disrupted by the divisive issue of what Japaneseness meant, the avail- materials, of and abilitybuilding arguments over the relationship between style and national identity: “the building was unable to meet the unrealis- tic demands placed Theupon Dietit. asfrom war building an emerged the unhappy reminder of failed military adventurism and ineffectual political leadership.” ing ing urban space on a grand scale.46 The state wasnot very interestedarchitecture in and, lacked moreover, materials to execute it on a large scale. Reynolds argues that any political message the Diet building could carry the state’s unwillingness to nationalize (or lack of interest in nationalizing) in interest of lack (or nationalize to unwillingness state’s the entertainment.mass Tokyo in building Diet The style. fascist a of existence the against argument shared design elements with those of non-fascist states, and, more to the point, architecture and design were not used in Japan as they were in Italy Japan and neverGermany. built monumental works capable of transform- there was “a discursive framework for the production of stylistically of production fascis- the for framework discursive “a was there cinematicnationala everaudience nor cinema nationala neither tictexts,” developed that could effectively“contribute to theformation of common expression aesthetic effective the to or not, or fascist imaginaries, Japanese In of part, the he nation.” argues, this was because of very the hybridityof and resources material limitationson of because part in and film, Japanese racial purity and imperialist expansionism, as well as a belief in the ability of the medium of film to create(or destroy) national prestige on amass level.” Aaron Gerow argues that, although the Japanese did produce films meant to inculcate a citizenry with the ideals of the state, and although 1 6 Alan Tansman where.” Yanagi made explicitly antifascist arguments: “recently there has there “recently arguments: antifascist explicitly made where.”Yanagi every- people, forlifeall of way . . . beautiful a of message“spreading the humanist cosmopolitan a was Aso, Noriko by discussed Sōetsu, Yanagi theorist fascism. their own The folk-art disavow overtly or even discourses antifascist non-fascistand of partake can discourses fascist which in ways the are fascism of vision our occluding potentially Also forms. aesthetic or discursive its in fascism seeing occlude may regimes of works the to relationship its in only fascism seeing on insisting that imply effect. They political a had that themselves objects aesthetic the than “fascist”—more call volume this in some project—which aestheticizing national forgea to onemanating aunifiedvision thefrom state. depend necessarily not did consent which in Japanese, the with resonates time. situation Spanishof Yarza’s the of politics description its and kitsch Francoist calls he what by effected was which consent, such forgingfulof power- the prevent not did fascisms national various the of policies tural personal film projects;the innerthat contradictions weighed downthe cul- project but through diverse means, includingstate the dissemination totalizing of Franco’s a by not forged was Spain in consent fascist that argues inJapan, however.”spectacle a such find to hard is “it lacking: was Japan Lockyer, to according regard, this In politics.” fascist to culture fascist connect to which at point “one is therefore, Spectacle, regime.” to subject yoke to attempt an in tropes these rehearsing state, the of work the became culture of production the which to extent the by distinguished “were regimes fascist that suggests can explain how and why aesthetics and ideology could become regime and offs, accounting,isin interested andhow interest.”fascist culture Lockyer trade- of world the entered exhibition the . . . experience, of lessons the aesthetic program could be produced, because as the planning “confronted dredth year of the Imperial Era, planned for 1940) and findsthat no unified hun- six thousand two the commemorate to Exhibition WorldJapan (the Angus Lockyer Angusalso examines an Lockyer aborted attempt at aesthetic management F In strated strated not by the physical appearance of the memorials, but by individu- demon- was and emperor the to death through sacrifice one’s on value ultimate placed culture, mass and education through fostered sensus, appearance. actual its through than moreso con- That even creation, of als working throughouttheofdesign process andconstruction. or Takenaka, Baskett, and Gerow, it was the process very of attempting his response paper included at the end of the volume, Alejandro Yarza The Culture of Japanese Fascism 17 - that under- systemthat signifying ). It is disconcerting disconcerting is It ). fuashisto success as evidenceits as of completesuccess ). How pitiful that even lovers of the the of lovers eventhat pitiful How ). fuassho slippage, and slippage, the fact that fascism need not be so named to do its gnizant of such slippage, we can be aware of the appearance of fas Japanese Japanese nationalists, Yanagi goes so far as to say, have been a cancer Such Co a regime’s) work—fascist or otherwise. As Hannah Arendt remarked, “It concrete and unambiguous of evidence might sufficiently prove its pres- While ence.49 reading the evidence given in this volume for the fascism of cautionkeep should we years,interwar the in thought and culture Japanese of ideology’slack an interpreting against weak effect. Imperfect penetration isno guard against a (or culture’s even cultural—or political—work, may account for the political and cognitive which plays of fascism, disavowal an important fascist the motivations for structural role in the working of fascism itself and in the postwar forgetting of fascist Japan’s Thispast. forgetting has been aided by the assump- most the only ideologythat an imposing particularly so is fascism that tion Yasunari, Yasunari, Nina Cornyetz writes, “I would go so far as to argue that, even were there no texts by Kawabata that literally voiced support for Japan’s the theoreticalof analysis the Asia, in ‘mission’ and various the by reveal shared will aspects . . . aesthetics Kawabata’s pins fascism.” political forms of different to other provinces, where its effectmay be exciting and but transforming, where its consequences may be fallacious in theory and ruinous in practice.”48 of articulation between mid-twentieth century humanist and fascist Japa- dis- many for easy too all other the to one from slipping made that courses cultural of work the behind lay slippage Such time.” the at intellectuals nese part fatal more a played have things “Few words, Berlin’s Isaiah In fascism. in the history of human thought and action than great imaginative analo- valid, and applicable is principle particular a which in sphere, one from gies claims, antifascist his despite Nevertheless, troubles. recent for responsible Yanagi’s aesthetics could be inflected fascistically.47 Aso finds “striking similarities . . . between his folk-craft discourse and fascistic aesthetics of points ambiguities suggest his “discursive broadly, More wartime era.” the been a trend to imitate fascism ( fascism imitateto trend a been one nation) has No must a (aikokushugisha learnWest. greater the from un- ( fascists Japanese the than sensibility patriotic of patriotism Mussolini.” learnthat Japanese meaning from the cism in cultural political)(or work that does not name. speak In fascism’s fiction beautiful aesthetics Kawabatathe of of fascist the of discussion her 1 8 Alan Tansman The essays in this volume are arranged according to broad generic cate- generic broad to according arranged are volume this in essays The nor fromignorance brainwashing.”50 from neither comes totalitarianism forsupport mass that obvious quite is mation of a national cinema. Michael Baskett shows the difficulties—both of a cinema. national Michael mation shows Baskett the difficulties—both for- very the over conflicts the by limited was cinema fascist a of mation for- the how describes Gerow Aaron Film,” Prewar Japanese of Case The Cinema: a of “ExhibitingFascism.” Nation-ality “Narratingthe In III, part essence. and national purity of racial the symbol of a loyal dog acquired pedagogic force for promulgating values National Identity, and Purity of Blood in 1930s Japan,” which describes how is shown also Skabelund’sin purity Aaron “Fascism’s Friends: Dogs, Furry and lifebeauty daily of an effortsto instill Theideology with government’s humanist discourse of daily-life amelioration bled a into fascist aesthetics. “Mediating the Masses: Yanagi Sōetsu and Fascism,” analyzes how Yanagi’s Aso’sNoriko practices; and objects Asian preindustrial of beauty the with infused life daily of culture a create to Movement Folk-Craft Japanese the of ideas the of use government’s Japanese the behind lay effort an such Japan’sin Girls Order,”NewImagining Factory how Brandtdiscusses Kim Labor: of Beauty “The In life. everyday and workplace, the work, beautify to efforts in found was exploitation and alienation to solution fascism’s years. postwar the and 1930s the both for everyday the of re-enchanter fascist master a as emerges here Kobayashi representation.” of aporias resulting the and revealing their differing solutionsto the “issues ofcapitalist modernization Tosakatheof Kobayashiin Hideo,writings and Jun everyday the of course dis- the analyzes Harootunian History,” Harry Modern Japan’s in Fascism and Modernism of Persistence The Ambiguities: “Constitutive In fascism. of theorization the to culture of centrality the focus in keep essays Both journal the on centered group literary antifascist the of perspective the from discussion this Torrance continues Library “The People’s In Tsugimaro. Imanaka Christian liberal the and Jun Tosaka Marxist the Representation,” Cultural in Problem Kevin M. Doak discusses two a early influentialtheorists of Japanese fascism: as Fascism Unseen: and Seen “Fascism In 1930s. the in Japan in understood was fascism how examine that essays two with Fascism,” opens Japanese of “Theories I, Part gories. Daily Daily life was molded by public entertainment and spectacle, the focus of The essays in part II, “Fascism and Daily Life,” II, Daily “Fascism in and part The essays reinforcethat the notion : The Spirit of Prose Literature versus Fascism,” Literature versus Richard Prose of Spirit The : (The People’s Library). Library). People’s (The bunko Jinmin The Culture of Japanese Fascism 19 ,” Reichert readsReichert ,” the Demon of the Lonely Isle ,” a novel that reveals,” The Devil’s Discipline the the the essays on visual of the forms argue displayheuristicfor limits, or If While we are interested in how aesthetics of Japanese fascism worked workings of, and against, the drive toward the and against, fascism. of, workings within texts and artifacts, we also want to know how they penetrated real life. James Dorsey’s “Literary Tropes, Rhetorical Looping, and the Nine Gods of War: ‘Fascist Proclivities’ Made makes Real,” the connection between culture (as rhetoric) and life (as violence) explicit by showing how true stories about Japanese submariners circulated around various modes of mass entertainment and became a model of action for flesh-and-blood young men hoping to turn hero within a culture of Theirfascism. deaths, toward homogeneity and purity represented a resistance to the threatening the resistanceto a purity represented and homogeneitytoward Vincent Keith what to belonged threats Such culture. modern of confusions Narrative “Hamaosociality: in explores he which paranoia, of culture a calls and Fascism in Hamao Shirō’s in the work of language. In “Fascist Aesthetics and ThePolitics ofRep- resentation in Kawabata Nina Yasunari,” Cornyetz analyzes the aesthetic discourse of timeless harmony and its relationship to a fascist politics of violence in the writing of Kawabata Yasunari. In “Disciplining the Erotic- Grotesque in Edogawa Ranpo’s detective fiction of EdogawaRampo to explorehow thefascist impulse complications, of the concept of fascism for the Japanese case, the essays in essays the case, Japanese the for fascism of concept the of complications, aesthetic fascist the locating difficulty little have “LiteraryFascism,” IV, part ther ther in “Expo Fascism? in Ideology, Representation, which Economy,” he qualities some displaying exhibition,while 1940 a for plans the that argues of a fascist aesthetic, Ellen could not in the end fascist.be deemed Finally, Repro- Mechanical of Age the in Sacrifice of Work “The in Schattschneider, reveals duction:Dolls Bride and Shrine,” Ritual at Appropriation Yasukuni a newly renovatedhow military might be read as historyTokyo museum in resistanceto a of example an as also but aesthetics fascist illustrationof an such an aesthetics. in Akiko Takenaka’s “Architecture for Mass-Mobilization: TheChūreitō Memorial Design Competition,and in 1939–1945,” Imperial “Japan’s Diet Building in the Debate over Construction of a National Identity,” where Jonathan M. Reynolds argues that the Diet Building’s symbolic value fell of what could be calledshort Lockyer fascistic. Angus takes this point fur- ideological and commercial—involved in Japan’s forming a unified filmic aesthetic with the other Axis powers, in Beautiful “All Fascists? Axis Film fas- singular a of creation the on check same The Japan.” Imperial in Culture cist aesthetic can be seen in the memorial design competitions discussed 20 Alan Tansman

of the cultural sphere even more than a unified propogandistic assault.51 propogandistic unified a than more even sphere cultural the of myth.” The process of securingthat myth required a variegated “saturation” communal the consumers—in passive as sometimes and producers active as participation—sometimes the through rehearsed “been had writes, he Notes asitmarkedworks various ofJapanese sign culture. that to shape the suggest to attempt an represents volume This sign.” fascist many andphilosophicalof the aesthetic circulatingaroundthe enterprises to shape gives that itself culture of fantasy the is “it cultural,”and always “is writes, she fantasy, fascist The fascism. of work cultural the on point hegemony.” ways contradictory in which fascist regimes attempted to secure ideological laxed” Francoist film policy in Spain illuminatesthe “hybrid and apparently “re- a volume, this of essay concluding the in argues Yarza Alejandro As 2. 1.

In the trenchant foreword that opens the volume, puts Marilyn Ivy a fine them, it was clear that “the hazards of using the fascist paradigm as an analytical system.”To political ‘fascist’ a as 1930s the in Japan of speak to meaningless is it that European] the [to dissimilar so is case Japanese the conclusion: obvious most the to on “passed had Japan in fascism of concept the of discussion anced United States, Peter Duus and Daniel I. Okimoto argued that even in the most nu- ship. See Abe Hirozumi, censor- mass and mobilization mass of beginning the 1936, in with regularized Manchuria, and the formation of radical right-wing organizations—and became in takeover violent the coups, military attempted 1931—with in hold took cism Japan’s that fas- stating by study his opensapplicability,he precise yet its about parsing closely of debatesfascismJapan over in nohefinal conclusionat arrives pages hundred four After 1930s. the in Japan discussing in debate of term a as usage common its exemplifies 1975 book his in term the of use Hirozumi’s Abe 69. Preston, Paul 9; 1997), Press, The theSelf: FascistPolitical Inter-War Culture of Italy cist, and thereby to be seen as less morally distasteful. See Mabel Berezin, fas- been having not as understood be to regime the allows Spain to fascism of definition strict a applying that cautions Preston Paul Spain, in Franco’sregime Concerning consent. of assurance the and mechanisms” “conversion regard cal impulse and political institution and has elided questions of culture, which culture, of questions elided has and institution political and impulse cal politi- and state, and ideology regimes, and movements between distinguish to failed has fascism European on writing much that out points Berezin Mabel 76. See Mark Neocleous, Fascism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), Fuashizumu hihan no jōsetsu (London: HarperCollins, 1995), HarperCollins, Biography (London: A Franco: (Ithaca, N.Y.: (Ithaca, University Cornell (Tokyo: Miraisha, 1975). In the Making The Culture of Japanese Fascism 1 2 , - [The , expanded ed., (New York: Vin- (New York: , vol. 5 (Tokyo: Keisō Shōwa Bunka 1925–1945 (November (November AsianStudies of Journal Nihon fasshizumu no kateiNihon hatten fasshizumu Tosaka Jun zenshū, vol. 2 Keisō Tosaka (Tokyo: Tosaka Jun Tosaka zenshū, vol. 3 (Tokyo: Keisō “must not be applied to Japan” toJapan” applied be not “must fascism Under Under the Sign of Saturn Tosaka Tosaka Jun zenshū Nihon , Nihon ideorogiiron in Thought and Behaviourin Modern JapanesePolitics Shobō, 1966),Shobō, 434. Andrew Fraser, in Minami Minami Hiroshi and Shakai Shinri Kenkyūjo, eds. (Tokyo: Keisō Shobō, 1987), 364. Susan Sontag, in “Fascinating Fascism,” tage 91. Books, 1972), gaard, and Heidegger came to Japan not as fascist thought but as philosophies of philosophies as but thought fascist as not Japan to came Heidegger and gaard, cultural see, freedom: 82. 1967), Shobō, Ibid., 86. Ibid., 42–45. Process of Development of Japanese Fascism] (Tokyo: Asano Shoten, 1932), 106– 1932), Shoten, Asano (Tokyo: Fascism] Japanese of Development of Process 10. in Jun, Tōwa,” Tosaka “Gendai Tetsugaku 213–14. 1934–37), Shobō, variety, variety, it had no dictator. Sassa’s brave essay is riddled with Xs marking the power of the state—made either by the hand of the censor or by his own self- censoring pen. One can easily imagine that these marks of power, which must have forced Sasa to feel the pressure of the state on his language, allowed him to see the salience of the control of representation to an analysis of fascism. Through the haze created by the censors,he managed toplead with his readers to notice what was happening. “Dear reader, do you feel the rush of the times, the down pressing of its force?”: Sassa Hirō, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), Oxford 10. (Oxford: Present, Future Past, Fascism: queur, States and Japan. See Peter Duus and Daniel Okimoto, “Fascism and the His- Concept,” a of Failure The Japan: Prewar of tory Walter Laqueur says this about Europeans living under fascism: see Walter La tool are likely to offset itsDuus’s benefits.” and Okimoto’s argument seems to have been an effectiveone. By the mid-1980s, the consensus among American term thatbeenthe toseemshave scholars United analytically the both become in had useless it for 1941, and between1930 65–76.1979): Maruyama Masao, “The Ideology and Dynamics ofJapanese Fascism,” trans. Minami Minami Hiroshi, “Senden—Senji no taishū sōsa,” in Idem, Idem, “Nihonshugi no bungakka,” in Tosaka Tosaka makes the interesting comment that the lineage of Nietzsche, Kierke- On On one of the earliest of such analyses, Sassa incipient Hirō argued that Japan’s fascism was a response to the economic and social crises of capitalism and, as in Europe, had led to imperialist violence. Sassa hoped to distinguish Japanese to not strip fascism, of itsinflectionof it fascist forms pre- but to Western from on descriptionbased general a in unrecognized going from fascism Japan’s vent a foreign model. But for him, Japanese fascism belonged to a global phenomenon. And as in Europe, in it Japan evenwas unstoppable, unlike its if, European

. . 7. 3 8. 9. 5. 6. 4 11. 12. 10.

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14. 13.

See, e.g., Komatsu Shigeo, “Nihongata fasshizumu—Sono taishūteki kisoku,” taishūteki fasshizumu—Sono “Nihongata Shigeo, Komatsu e.g., See, erature on fascism has been prolific, but in the 1930s only a few valiantly faced valiantly few a only 1930s the in but prolific, been has fascism on erature lit- Marxist 1950s,the the Since lexicon. the entered not had the itself and word at ease with the term. In the 1920s, there were no analyses of fascism in Japanese, more far been have scholars Japanese that is Japan in fascism historiographyof Sōgoro, in Shillony,Ben-Ami see bers of the Kwantung Army and were instrumental in the takeover of Manchuria: mem- became involved those of army. Many the by secret kept and aborted and ( Incident May the and dismissed); were involved those (all Manchuria in made gains consolidate and politics, tary parliamen- eliminate cabinet, the of head as Sadao General install to attempted 1931: the Incident October ( central ideologue Kita Ikki, were executed. The failed coup followedtwo others in the including nineteen, and suicide, committed Twodispersed. soldiers the of tial law was declared, and by February 29, the coup had been put down, and most opposed by others and vehemently by the emperor himself. On February 27, mar- dence of the prime minister. Though supported by some inthe military,they were resi- the attacked and military the generalof inspector the and Seal, Privy the of the emperor seized central Tokyo and killed the finance minister,the of Lord name Keeper the in acting officers army junior by led troops 1,400 26, February On University of California Press,1988), 193.ley: Andrew Barshay, the 1950s.institutions. in Maruyama by popularized was see This Hasegawa, On describe fascism born without violent upheaval but through existing government see ibid., 26–27. Hasegawa Nyozekan coined the phrase “cool fascism” in 1932 to ruling coalition with the bureaucracy, monopoly capital, and the political parties: a created above, from fascism supporting military, the which in period, mation consum- the and governance; national of core the occupy to came that power military with linked concretely became civilians among movement a which in 1936,of Incident maturity,of February thefrom1931; 1931period dentin the to Inci- Manchurian the until WarWorld First the after from period, preparatory of the fascist stages movement in Japan: three nialism. Maruyama discerned the from peoples WesternAsian colo- of emancipation the of rhetoric a and anism, is its emphasis on the thenation as a prominentfamily-state, of position agrari- of spirituality and idealism. What differentiates Japanese fascism, for Maruyama, jection of class warfare, a struggle against Marxism, and an ideological language re- a buildup, military of glorification the expansion, foreign of promotion the politics, parliamentary to opposition an liberalism, individualistic of rejection a including counterparts, European its with much shared fascism Japanese that argued Maruyama 65. 1969), Press, University Oxford (Oxford: Morris Ivan ed. Kōdansha, 1983), 250. Kindai Nihon shisō kōza Nihonfashizumushi (Tokyo: Kawade Shobō, 1960). My reading own theof State and Intellectual in Imperial Japan: The Public Man in Crisis The , vol. 5 (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1960), 277–326; Tanaka Kōdansha Encyclopedia of Japanese History Japanese of Encyclopedia Kōdansha jūgatsu jikken), in which field ultranationalist officers ), whose plans were exposed exposed were plans whose jikken), sanjūgatsu , vol. 5 (Tokyo: 5 vol. , (Berke- The Culture of Japanese Fascism 23 Japan’s Japan’s (Princeton, N.J.: to identify Japan’s Japan’s identify to Bulletin Bulletin of Concerned 47, no. 3 (1997): 305– fascism 2 (February 1996): 79–84, Parallax , trans. Marius B. Jansen (Princeton, Jansen B. Marius trans. , Nihon fashizumu Nihon kyoshiron fashizumu (Tokyo: Akashi (Tokyo: Nihonhyōronsha, 1978); Ban Bō, Philosophy Philosophy East and West )” became, in Irokawa’s view, an un-self-consciousan view, Irokawa’s in became, )” kokutai Authenticating Authenticating Culture in Imperial Japan: Kuki Shūzō and the Rise of The Culture of the Meiji Period Meiji the of Culture The (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 247. See also (London: Verso, 1989), 82. 1989), (London: Object of Ideology Verso, Sublime The Japan’s Japan’s Modern Myths: Ideology in the Meiji Period Nihon fasshizumu no keisei See Leslie Pincus, By the 1980s, Japanese scholars had come to use the term the use to come had scholars Japanese 1980s, the By This“mythic core” can “unleash strong affectiveenergies” through a vision of possesses it because that,decay stateof a in nation organic an positing realityby National National Aesthetics Harry Harootunian, “Overcoming Modernity: Fantasizing Everyday Life and the Discourse on the Social in Interwar Japan,” 88. Keiichi, Keiichi, ed., 29–31. 1989), Shuppan, Rokkō no kōbō (Tokyo: fasshizumu Nihon Kyoto School, and the Political,” 36. See Slavoj Žižek, (Tokyo: (Tokyo: Fashizumu Nihon Bō, Ban e.g., See, imperialism. and repression of history Ōgetsu Shoten, 1981); Nagahama Isao, Shoten, 1984). Thisbrand offascism consisted of a system imposedfrom the top by an Army leadership that was loyal to the emperor. It was anticommunist controlling by freedoms political and civic liberal eliminated, then restricted, and cause whose war imperialist an of name the in life cultural and social, economic, it trumpeted through jingoistic and nativistic rhetoric: see the essays in Eguchi covered up by the gentler side”: ibid., 122. Carol Gluck has argued that what tennōsei signified wasnot as monolithic as has been often argued. “In what ways tennōsei ideology moved prewar Japanese to act as the statewould have them act and in what ways it prevented them from acting differently arequestions Gluck, that period.” Shōwa the in process ideological the of asked be still must component of popular thinking. Irokawa has argued that the people could indeed indeed could people the that argued has Irokawa thinking. popular of component im- it when knew well government the as system, emperor the of power the resist emperor “the that argued has Irokawa 245. state: ibid., police a through it posed structure—the power the of side external hard, the that so organized was system special higher police, the military police, the Peace Preservation Law, and the used to intimidateforces other classes—was and discriminate lower the against , 285. Modern Myths Irokawa Daikichi, Irokawa N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985), 246. The term itselfled described wasit coined world in the and the ideology between discrepancy increased an as 1930s processThis to began of greaterit. enforcement ideological rigidity and harsher its shift into high gear after the of Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905, after which ( essence “national the the the topic: see Gavan McCormack, Japan: Fascist?” in “1930’s Princeton 4–6. University 1985), Press, Asian Scholars 20–33. 1982): 14, 2 (April–June no. Carol Gluck, A strong dissent against this is in Graham Parkes, “The PutativeFascism of the

8. 17. 19. 15. 21. 16. 1 20.

24 Alan Tansman

24 28. 26. 2 2 2 27. 5. 2. 3. .

tempt to break through the through had break led aporia theto to Japanese.tempt which modernity The at period’s the up summed symposium Modernity” “Overcoming the 1942, In ing back to a medieval ideal of community and the Italians to a corporate ancient Although the German inflection may differ from theItalian—the Germans hark bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,1991), 8–13. University bridge, Mass.: Harvard Seidensticker, Edward see shikaku (Tokyo:ichi Kōdansha, 1989). Hiromatsu Wataru, See belief: political of spectrum the across critics cultural and literary and thinkers, phers,political symposium was attended by a select few, but the argument was joined by philoso- of Japanese Studies 22, 77–103. no. 1(1996): “Ethnic Nationalism and Romanticism in Early Twentieth-Century Japan,” 1930s.translates theHe in issue pressing a became and Japan early-twentieth-century of discourse political the Kevin M. Doak provides an overview of how and ethnicity nationalism in evolved 1989). Japan of clopedia Century,”Twentiethin the in Critique Cultural and Political See Harry Harootunian and Tetsuo Najita, “The Japanese Revolt againstthe West: nies: ibid., 69. colo- administer and control to and war, execute technologically,to modernize to capital for beingindustrial capital it needs condemns nonproductive, finance it as much As it. notdestroy capitalism, conserve to seeks it that in conservative (materialism,freedom, fascismbut is liberal thelife theintellect), of modernity by caused ills by the curingman of spirit and being the very alter to and politics transform to promise its in revolutionary be may Fascism spiritual. and natural maskedas is power whose nation, the within but self the foundwithin dom not a free- is fascism in freedom individual’s An deified. now nation, unified a into vanced future to meld disputing masses, political parties, and economic interests mind. Fascism dips pasta into mythic while marching a into technologically ad- fractured its and body modern ill an of out spirit human healthy a develops and body healthy a forges that violence philosophyof a in grounded are and war of cause the in cohesion national demand fascisms) all (and group—both porate cor- by Italians the and species or race by bonds forging Germans the Rome; FascismNeocleous, , 38. see premises: basic socialism’s of shorn revolution anti-materialistic of guage it Marxism, Like is also an assault on materialism; fascism uses the socialist lan 3–8. greatness: see Roger Griffin, ed., them bring will that destiny a for themselves sacrifice to individuals to pealing ap- psyche, group a of manipulation the through revitalized be can lifecycle, a “Hijōji,” in Edward Seidensticker traces much of the anxiety and hope of the age to the event: Nihonkingendaishiji (Tokyo: Tōyōkeizaishinpōsha, 1978), 573. The lan- , vol. 6, ed. Peter Duus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, University Cambridge (Cambridge: Duus Peter ed. 6, vol. , Tokyo Rising: The City since the Great Earthquake Great the since City The Rising: Tokyo as “ethnic nation”: see Kevin M. Doak, Doak, M. Kevin nation”:see “ethnic as minzoku Fascism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), “Kindai no chōkoku” ron: Showa shisōshi e no e shisōshi Showa ron: chōkoku” “Kindaino The Cambridge Ency- Cambridge The (Cam- Journal Journal - - - The Culture of Japanese Fascism 25 , - yu- (Chi- , vol. , 5 vol. , 15. Gavan ( deadlock Dreams of Difference: Difference: of Dreams The Other Modernism: Kōza Shōwa shi Bungaku Miki Kiyoshi zenshū Miki Kiyoshi Gendai bungaku no hakken— no bungaku Gendai War and War National Reinvention: , vol. 1 (Tokyo: Gakugeishorin, A Time of Crisis: Japan, the Great De- Great the Japan, Crisis: of Time A (Berkeley:of Califor- University , no. 1 (1998). By the 1930s, Japan had Japan 1930s, the By (1998). 1 no. , The Culture of the MeijiPeriod (Berkeley: University of California Press, Dreams and Nightmares: Utopian Visions in Mod-Visions in Utopian Dreams and Nightmares: ), jikyoku was used throughout the culture, even (Cambridge, Mass.: (Cambridge, Harvard University Asia Cen- (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Mass.: University(Cambridge, Asian Cen- Gendai Gendai bungaku no hakken Social Science Japan Journal ScienceSocialJapan (Tokyo: Gakugeishorin, 1968), 204. Marjorie Perloff argues that argues 204.MarjoriePerloff 1968), Gakugeishorin, (Tokyo: national national emergency ( ) and The FuturistThe Avant-garde,Avant Moment: Guerre, and the Rupture of Language Rōyama Masamichi (1895–1945), Ryū Shōtarō (1900–67), and Miki Kiyoshi penalty for seditious activities: Irokawa, McCormackfrom Japan in surveyexcellent gives an fascism about arguments of Tsuji Tsuji Jun, in “Despera,” Fletcher, F. Valerie (1895–1945): see were arrested in one crackdown), the law was amended to include the death F. T. T. Marinetti’s F. Futurist Fiction of Power 1996). 8, 18, 123. 1967), 156. 3, Institution Smithsonian Press, 1983), D.C.: ern Art. (Washington, The Japan Romantic Romantic School Japan Crisis of Modernity and The the in to jikko,” miraishugi no “Watashi HiratoRenkichi, nia Press, 1994), 90–95. xx–xxi, shōtotsu no Saisho Futurism can, but does not lend necessarily, itself to fascism: see Marjorie Per- loff, cago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 30; Cinzia Blum, wara Osamu, “‘Haikyo’ in to fuan,” ‘Fuan’—Shestovteki Doak, M. Kevin also See 124–35. 1988), Yūseido, (Tokyo: 2 vol. new European ideas that have no grounding in Japanese conditions; he then recognizes that Japan is, indeed, approaching those conditions: see ibid., esp. 285–86. Kakiwara Osamu discusses the “boom” in essays by the Marxists and non-Marxists Miki Kiyoshi, Kobayashi Hideo, Masamune Hakuchō, Yokomitsu Ryūichi, Aono Suekichi, Tosaka Jun, Kamei Katsuichirō, and others: see Kaki- developments of the 1930s “should not be considered more than immediate cata- immediate than more considered be not “should 1930s the of developments lysts to renewed aggression”: Frederick Dickinson, 1914–19 Great War, the in Japan 247–48. 1999), ter, in See no Miki Shisō toKiyoshi, “Fuan sono chōkoku,” (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1985), 285–309. Miki critiques the easyacceptance by fascinationwitha of example anxietyof another as language the of Japanese the guage of national emergency, which included popular words such as such words popular included which emergency, national of guage in advertising. On the language of crisis, see Sandra Wilson, “Bureaucrats and Japan,” in Villages in crisis the but collapse, and socialchange rapid experiencedperiodsof already Smith, Kerry see pitch: higher a at was 1930s the pression, and Revitalization Rural ter, ter, 2001), 2–5, 379. Frederick Dickinson rightly insists on seeing the events of War (World Great “The 1930s. the before history beginning a having as 1930s the writes, he “offers I),” telling cluesWar of subsequent and theevents,” dramatic kizumari sition to the government; in 1928 (the year 1,600 communists or sympathizers Beginning in 1925, the Peace Preservation Law gave legal leverage to crush oppo crush toleverage legal gave PreservationLawPeace the 1925, in Beginning

3. 31. 3 32. 30. 29.

26 Alan Tansman

4

34 45. 42. 40. 38. 3 4 3 3 37. 41. 4. 5. 9. 6. 3. .

from these leaders’ speeches and from iconic texts such as Hitler’s Hitler’s as such texts iconic from and speeches leaders’ these from such ists as as Marinetti) was Mussolini. The mesmerizingthat rhetoricemerges (Futur- literature of men by influenced directly so was none and Hitler; was as nor was any so influenced by and immersed inthe arts of music and architecture No Japanese leader ever wrote a script and had a film made from it, as did Franco; opinion: see Ben-Ami Shillony, ate a propaganda network more effectivethan Goebbels’sown in shaping public Japanese government—was neither fascist nor if even totalitarian, Japan did cre- ministrative mass mobilization has led to the view that it—and, by extension, the pulling the strings of government but what one scholar describes as a tool of ad- party political a not was Association Assistance Rule Imperial the that fact The Film in Postwar Japan, 1950–1983” (University of California, Berkeley, 2004), 2004), Berkeley, California, of (University 1950–1983” Japan, Postwar in Film and Literature of Trials Censorship Great “The dissertation, Cather’s Kirsten peror, though the artistry of imperial pageantry diffusionmass through the and pageantry imperial of peror,artistry the though em- the of mouth the from emanate not did autobiographies Mussolini’s and , 355–83.and Shakai, ShōwaBunka 1925–1945 Minami also See 120. 1970), Press, University N.J.:Princeton (Princeton, II War Kasuko Tsurumi, censorsshows alsofunctioned that critics. ascultural , 313,Shakai, ShōwaBunka 315, 331. 1925–1945 and Minami codes: censorship through is, state—that the through mediated was News truth. of form the in listeners to places actual from radio of medium transparent the through given not were course, of reports, front. These war the from reports hear would listeners of thousands of Hundreds control. ernment Minami andShakai, 1997), 5–13. Japanese Minds: The State in EverydayLife Garon, Sheldon also See 259. 327–28, 237, 1991), Press, California of 1931–36,” 286–90. 19 (1984): ofContemporary Journal History Japanesetheon Right, Perspective Kasza,“Fascism Comparative A from Below? WorldPeopleand nese War II Havens, H. R. Thomas 3–12; 1981), Press, University Analysis Social cism?” (1981): 20–30. Fas- Japan: “Nineteen-Thirties McCormack, Gavan see 1970s: the to 1930s the Minami andShakai, Minami andShakai, 1994). Political Criticism, and the Public Sphere the phraseI take from Richard Burt, ed., Griffin, See Gordon, Andrew 66–78. Ibid., From its inception, radio was tied to state power and under the aegis of gov- of aegis the under and power state to tied was radio inception, its From Fascism, 3–8. Labor JapaninImperialPrewar Democracy and Labor Social Social Change and the Individual: Japan before and after Defeat in World , 131–34, 83., 131–34, Shōwa Bunka 1925–1945 , 517–24. Shōwa Bunka 1925–1945 , 190, 315,Shōwa Bunka 399. 1925–1945 (New (New York: W. W. Gregory 197; Norton,72–79, 1978), Politics and Culture in Wartime Japan (Oxford: Oxford (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, The Administration of Aesthetics: Censorship, The AdministrationAesthetics: of Valley of Darkness: The Japa- The Darkness: of Valley (Berkeley: University University (Berkeley: Kampf Mein Molding The Culture of Japanese Fascism 27 messhi messhi Senjika (London: Splendid Splendid Monar- Yanagi Muneyoshi Muneyoshi Yanagi , vol. 17 (Tokyo: (Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shup- Daigaku Tokyo (Tokyo: Yanagi Muneyoshi Yanagi zenshū (Berkeley: University of California Press, )” and “extinguish oneself through service to the state ( The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas of History the in Chapters Humanity: of Timber Crooked The seisen Kusa no ne no fashizumu: Nihon minshū no sensō taiken sensō no minshū Nihon fashizumu: no ne no Kusa John Murray, 1990), 197. 1990), Murray, John In diaries, and surveys reveals that the language of ideology shifted according to the practical exigencies of daily life, and its reception depended on a multitude 95. 95. As the war progressed, exhaustion set in, and surrender soon became the most desirable option. Some were transformed from peace-loving to violently anti-Chinese; others felt empathy with the Chinese on the battlefront as fellow as the bearers of or a farmers great civilization,could though thisfeeling fellow strengthen one’s belief in role as Japan’s the protector of Asia: ibid., 39, 41, 52, 63. At home, many may have felt joy in work the being done in Manchuria, ren- theft of one as there project the of propaganda and censorship by unaware dered and violence: ibid., 110. Indeed, the goodwill of believers in as war the and holy seeing preventedmay have from Asia them of liberatorand protector as Japan in the more complicated truth reading of of hundreds of Yoshimi’s events.letters, zenshū 8, 224., vol. the as such clichés propagandistic that suggests Yoshiaki Yoshimi 1987), pankai, “holy war ( women and men Japanese of thoughts and language the infiltrating while hōkō),” struggling through their everyday lives during the war years, only imperfectly for support passionate expressed who men young penetrated Some their minds. who some after; onlyexpressed visceraldrafted war” fear being “holy the before felt regret, or sadness even, for not being drafted at all quickly were relieved of their sentiments that by fear the set in withwar: 92, ibid., realitythe to of going Chikuma Chikuma Shobō, 1980), 597. Yanagi also argued against the government’s attempt to standardize Okinawan dialects in 1940, out of his desire in to preserve kachi,” bunkateki no “Chihōsei his See differences. provincial chy: and Power Pageantry in Modern Japan political1996), leaders did, 24,Japan’s of course, 236. make but speeches, their The Europe. in was it as effort centralpropaganda as tothe not was speechifying Joseph like propaganda of servicesgenius employ statea the not of did Japanese phi- a of space, physical totransform Albert Speer architectlike an of Goebbels, filmmaker a of or arts, the of shape the change to Rosenberg Albert like losopher small numbers of people who saw the plans exhibited: Inoue Shōichi, 88– 1–16, 1995), Asahi Sensho, no kenchikuka: kitchu,Nihon Ato, (Tokyo: japanesuku 94, 128. Yanagi Muneyoshi, “Nihon o in aisuru,” like Leni Riefenstahl to make those newly designed artistic spaces available to audiences. mass Plans a for sublime capital in Japanese-occupied Manchuria, example, for were called for but never executed, and the power of design was to be limited to the media of the emperor’s sanctified image did indeed transform him into a “visible a into him transform indeed did image sanctified emperor’s the of media symbol” representing the national totality: seeFujitani, Takashi Isaiah Berlin, Isaiah

. 47 48. 46. 49.

28 Alan Tansman

50. 51.

Hannah Arendt, See Claudia Koonz, Claudia See Press, 2003), 271. Harcourt Brace, 1979 5. [1968]), lives: ibid., 1–17. their daily on effects its of terms in thewar view to tended and pragmatic more “holya prospectof war,” were fragilemore economica condition in those while ever, those with a measure of material comfort had the luxury to be thrilled at the How- locale. gender,and age, education, class, economic including factors, of Totalitarianism: Part Three of The Nazi Conscience Nazi The (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University University Harvard Mass.: (Cambridge,

The Origins of Totalitarianism (San Diego: T

PART I o heories f Ja p anese Fas anese c is m

Kevin M. Doa M. Kevin Fascism Seen and Unseen: Fascism as a Problem in Cultural Representation k k

Just as romanticism was the illusion of the nineteenth century, fascism is the illusion of our time. —Imanaka Tsugimaro, Fuashizumu undō ron, 78–79.

Retrospection has advantages, but it also has its risks. No- where is this more so than in the never-ending debate over whether, when, and how Japan was fascist. Unlike Mussolini’s Italy, where fascism was un- deniable, or Hitler’s Germany, where (with a bit of conceptual revision) National Socialism could be made to play the role of a “fascist” revolution, wartime Japan never experienced an overthrow of the monarchical constitutional order established in the late nineteenth century. Nonetheless, the rise of militarist influences with the escalation of war on the Asian continent, Japan’s joining with fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in the anti-Comintern pact in 1936, then the Tripartite Pact in 1940 all have given postwar historians cause to lump Japan in the same “fascist” category as its wartime allies. The fascist label has been particularly appealing for two broad groups of critics: Marxists, who could draw from their wartime comrades who considered Japan’s wartime crackdown on communism as “fascist”; and postwar nationalists (both Japanese as well as citizens of Japan’s wartime enemy states), who simply use the term to excoriate anything connected with wartime Japan.1 Often lost in the recriminations and political posturings over Japanese “fascism” are serious and troubling questions. Was the dominant 32 Kevin M. Doak “fascist”? be to forms cultural and political own their consider they did extent what to and be, to fascism understand time the at Japanese did portant—what im- most believe, I Finally—and, imperialism? Japanese with reconciled fascism was How to? refer “fascism” this does what so, if And “fascist”? really Japan wartime of tendencies, cultural the or even structure, political the early 1930s:the early sures of fascism when he described the “typhoon” swept up that in writers Japan. Maruyama identified a double response in literary cultureto the pres- wartime in intersected culture and fascism which in ways precise the ture cap- to trying in point starting important an are intellectuals among cism fas- of impact the on reflections His theory. political comparative in work his continue to struggling while period the through lived having Japan, in culture of litical wartime Japan. He was also fascisma witness to historical po- the on commentators Japan’s important postwar most of only onenot in determining the place of fascist culture in wartime Japan. Maruyama was addedon value for site takes fascistculture key a as emphasisliterature on Japan. inwartime how fascism andcultureintersected relationship to fascism in particular seems especially fruitful in identifying historical literature’s about point Laqueur’s aside, style fascist universal a identify to failure This style. cultural fascist or Nazi specific a identify to tion about culture, it is not at all surprising that Laqueur finds it impossible assump- this Given creativity. human of undefinable—field even perhaps broad— a as culture of understanding liberal the is interrogation queur’s La- underlying Moreover, sense. this in culture, of theory fascist single a identify to end the in possible be not may It Italy.2 fascist Mussolini’s in shared not was arts visual the in monumentalism for preference Hitler’s even notes, Further, Laqueur realism.’” ‘Socialist to comparable literature in style Nazi no was there prohibitions; to limited whole,the on was, ture felt in literature and the visual in arts. cul- indoctrination . political . . [yet] Fascism: Past, Present and Future authoritative his in out points WalterLaqueur As style. culture “fascist” a not a simple one. Complicating the question is the difficulty indetermining Th continental policy which followed from the establishment of Manchu- of establishment the from followed which policy continental ing politics and literature. This was of coursethe development of Japan’s There was another important shift inthe basic surround- circumstances Wh e problem of identifying how fascism works as a cultural ideology is ideology cultural a as works fascism how identifying of problem e en joined by the postwar reflections of Maruyama Masao, Laqueur’s Masao, Maruyama of reflections postwar the by joined en , the fascist “cultural malaise was most acutely Fascism Seen and Unseen 33 ) and the minzoku )” once again front and center into literature. kokusei emperor the ir-rationality [sic] which had been rejected in the previous They very tried hard burnto up politics.” of supremacy “the over clamor their literary in selves totalitythe of irrationality which was flipthe side totalityof the of rationality.3 . . . One group among the tenkō writers folded their earlier image of movement—into a them for been had politics—whatwith pace keeping politicshas Lookrevisionfar anyall. without “politics”how new at this what of direction the was (This behind! left be not must literature come, was called state-policy literature, continental or another literature.) Yet group discovered in the myth of ethnic nationality ( kuo and the escalation into all-out war between Japan and China that occurred as its historical consequence. This brought the problem of “national trends ( Two Two of the most influential critics fascismof who wroteduring the a lasting impact on the debate over Japanese fascism today. Most important, as we shall see, their works reveal how many postwar retrospectives provide provide an important illumination on how fascism was seen, and subse- had has signification that shifting of process complex “unseen”—a quently between fascist movements and workers’ movements, while Tosaka em- ideologyan as tofascism linked capitalism intellectu-liberalphasized and theyYet als. shared a deep concern about the rise of fascism in Japan and believed that the foundations for fascism stemmed from transformations fascism on writings their together, Read War. World First the followed that Jun Tosaka and (1893–1980) Tsugimaro Imanaka were 1940s early and 1930s (1900–45).These twomen might be seen as a study in contrasts. Imanaka University Imperial Kyushu at post his resigned who Christian liberal a was was in 1942 to takeTosaka a wartimeposition government, whereas in the war. the of end the at prison in died and 1938 in arrested was who Marxist a Moreover, Imanaka’s studies drew attention to the historical connections tention has been given to literary texts, where fascist views were often espoused in terms of a return to ethnic national culture. In short, what is needed today is a different approach that, instead of uncritically ingesting postwar assumptions about Japanese fascism as the characteristic mode of wartime state power, seeks to uncover the place of fascism within and against dominant retrospectiveviews by turning back what to was actually toap-began fascism when time the itscriticsby during fascism about said in Japan. as a cultural movement pear Together, Together, Laqueur’s and Maruyama’s analyses suggest that too little at- 34 Kevin M. Doak a new ideology of ethnic national culture whose contemporary adherents contemporary whose culture national ethnic of ideology new a legitimate to served has fascism historical of unseeing postwar this note, will I As elites. social and state the by driven ideology top-down a as cism of national cultural identity ( came to “unsee” fascism by discounting the of centrality an ethnic concept naka’s focus on the crisis of 1914 led him to confront the relationship of relationship the confront to him led 1914 of crisis the on focus naka’s universal conditions for the rise of fascism as a general phenomenon.6 Ima- the Waras World First the of dislocations cultural and economic, social, the emphasized 1921) after Fascism Party and 1919; of Fascism Combative 1914; of Fascism (Revolutionary stages three in Italy in fascism of ment develop- historical the of analysis His movements. fascist all to common conceptual analysis that tried to isolate those elements of a fascism that through were second and Italy in origins movement’s the of reading torical on howhe offascism conceived asageneral problem. Japanese, and other fascist movements. And whether he could do so rested fascism that could suture the differences in Italian, German, French, Swiss, cance for Japan.”5 At issue was whether Imanaka could articulate a theory of signifi- political contemporary [fascism’s] its about thinking been have I work was to focus on fascist movements rather than fascist states, “because the in objective major his that added he second, And Italy. in fascism the as same” the essentially be to Hitler’s consideredlike he“movements that noted he First, qualifications. important two added he but Italy, in ment move- fascist exclusively thefocus on would book the that stated Imanaka fascism. of theory universal any within differences particular of problem on fascism, work major first Japan.4his in In fascism of dangersthe of warnings early very as served and 1930s the during Japan in fascism on works important most the among are studies Imanaka’swartime fascism, Japanese on ture litera- English the in known widely not Although Japan. in fascism tural Imanaka cul- reconsiderationof a begin Tsugimaro to rewardingplace a is and Tosaka Jun’s Wartime Theories on Fascism the Imanaka Future: to Back Tsugimaro Japanese state. of the wartime but state may extend even to the postwar liberal-democratic adopt a position political whose ultimate target is not limited to the ghosts often claim to be the most virulent critics of wartime “fascism” even as they Im anaka arrived at a universal understanding of fascism first from a his On the Fascist Movement (February 1932), Imanaka confronted the minzoku) and instead represented Japanese fas- - Fascism Seen and Unseen 35 ) centered on an ethnic appropriation of minzokushugi or Imanaka’s theory of fascism, the most significantmost the fascism, theoryof about these point Imanaka’s or The key to grasping theapparently paradoxical nature offascism was F dreams of approximating the upper class—quickly disappearing. Fascism arose as a recognition by middle-class people in these “fragile” capital- dislocationscapitalismimperialistof First the around that,was beginning World War, it was the middle class in countries where capitalism had a afflicted.were the most seriously In thosethe who economies, base fragile middle class found its relative advantage over the working class—and its talist states with a interwareconomic “fragile” base (e.g., Italy), the influx of capital advanced from capitalist“sound” economies England, (e.g., the Ima- threata as seentosurvival.8 nationalis their Germany) States, United theoreticallymust fascism understand to attempt any that was point naka’s theorya really was what or internationalpower, of relationsthese consider of global imperialism, in addition to of domestic oppression. issues political structures seemed incapable of resolving: the oppression suffered suffered oppression the resolving: politicalof incapable structures seemed by “weak” capitalist economies at the hands of the stronger established pre- Imanaka backwardness, historical of theory a Skirting states.capitalist termsof between inequalitiesin nations economic these todescribe ferred whether their economic base was “fragile” or In “sound.” advanced capi- to recognize thathad unleashed the War a First historicallyWorld specific of form nationalism ( to growing numbers of people, especially but not exclusively among the middle class, who turned to ethnic nationalism to address what existing “fascism “fascism thought of itself as a movement of cultural revolution.”7 What they shared was a sense that fascism aimed at revolution, a breaking out of the restraints of constitutional politics to something entirely new and revolution?fascist what And revolution of the was kind what But different. disloca- socialeconomic the and play addressing culture did in any, if role, War? World First from tions thatthe flowed appealed nations ethnic of culture the as culture Defining identity. cultural cists whose revolutionary beliefs had been honed within socialist movements. The implications for cultural ideology were significant. Fascism was both revolutionary and reactionary, both a middle-class ideology and ultimatelyclass, betraying middle beyondmiddle- the far went that force a class hopes. Here, Imanaka was quite close Laqueur’s Walter to point that fascism to the middle class and, especially, to understand the historical and historical the understand to especially, and, class middle the to fascism theoretical tiesconcluded He between movements. communist and fascist “revo- a senses some in also “reactionary”but a merely not was fascism that fas- by self-articulations in found were origins whose lutionary” movement 36 Kevin M. Doak imagined) hopes for a social solution that would overcome capitalism capitalism overcome itself. sense,In this Imanaka concluded “fascism that is not a concept that would that solution social a for hopes imagined) seduced by fascism’s promise of a “third way,” imaginative (and thoroughly easily were they and them, failed had methods capitalist that countries ist of minzoku,or nationality.ethnic butinthe mass-based subjectivity likethe proletariat, a class-boundentity movement againstbut subject not it capitalism, in sought its revolutionary Central Party’s Committee. Fascism, like communism, was a revolutionary Sano Manabu and Nabeyama Sadachika, members of the Japan Communist by year following the socialism national to conversions the of light the in by the “social mass.”11 His conclusionson take a prophetic tone when read revolution a into class middle nationalist the by transferred class working the of sentiment revolutionary the of extension an but reaction, of logic the simply not was fascism that concluded Imanaka reason, this For tion. that turned to the to shorestate up the fragilebase of capitalist its own na- class middle endangered an from but supreme, already was that state a of naka’s underlying point was that fascism arose not as an ideology for, by, or Ima- state. the to turned increasingly they education, nationalistic their to due proletariat international an with identify to unable and, endangered was class middle a as position own their meant capitalism international of crisis the socialists, national became and Forthose did who movement. reality that socialists middle-class eventually turned against the communist the reflecting simply force were “reactionary” a fascism labeled who ment shugi ( “nationalism of influence longstanding the to instead pointing movement, communist the of leaders by mistake” “strategic a merely was to explain this fact.”10 Imanaka the rejected notion that the turn to fascism how is] problem real [the but ignore, to difficult fact a is communism and capitalism. As Imanaka put it, “The parallel direction inthe force of fascism formsanti- as fascismof and communism between relationship historical nature. anti-capitalist its was Imanaka, for fascism, of feature defining One tics. poli- national in players organized as success less much enjoyed had nists commu- and socialists where States, United the and France, England, in was it than politics socialist active with countries in influential more was fascism that paradox the noting Germany, and Italy both in movements working-class in fascism’sorigins to pointed he Indeed, movement.”9 ary reaction- capitalist a of category the under subsumed completely be can Thus, a major problem confronting anyglobal theory of fascism wasthe )” among the Italian intellectual class. intellectual among)” Italian the the move- communist in Those minzoku- Fascism Seen and Unseen 37 ), displacing the ) that had emerged around kokka shakaishugi minzokushugi ) that emerges in the pages of Ima- of pages the in emerges that minzoku) On National Socialism (June 1932), he rendered the concept Imanaka’s Imanaka’s disavowal of the significance of cultural representation is Revolutionary fascism, then, had to involve cultural considerations and only for Imanaka’s subsequent disavowal of ethno-cultural elements in fas- in ethno-culturalelements of disavowal subsequent Imanaka’s for only cism, but also for the ways this contemporary perception of fascism has given way to postwar emphases on statism. In their postwar “unseeing” so-national rendered have fascism Japanese of historians most fascism, of cialism with an emphasis on the state ( ( nation of sense ethnic populist, cul- core the locatedcontemporarytheorists how to witness a as text naka’s existing against up rose that movements ethnic in fascism of ideologytural of “nation” in both the Italian Partito Nationale Fascista and the German Nationalsozialistische movement as “minzoku.”13 Imanaka thereby captured the ethno-cultural nationalism that he believed linked both movements together in their fascism. This conceptualization is revealing,not what to importantmost understanding the perhaps approach his legacyof fascism is. It was an ironic disavowal, given that Imanaka implicitly recognized the ethnic cultural ideology at the core of the fascist movements he described. In to explain how socialists, middle-class professionals, and especially the young were being enticed to join a movement that he argued would never serve of some their form culturalist real ideologyinterests. Surely, was the key. But in the end, Imanaka retreated from the cultural implications of his work, concluding only that the source could power of not fascism’s be found in any theory, cultural Fascism was or otherwise.12 merely a “movement” and could only be studied as such. the First World War and that had transformed socialistaround movements transformed thathad and War World First the the world. One might have expected Imanaka to develop a cultural theory of rise the on monograph a offered he later, months few a when, fascism of mid-1932 in that movement a Germany, in movement socialistnational the was a striking example of “bottom-up” fascism rather than “top-down” fascism growing out of a state.was a Here opportunityprime Imanaka for conceived as the embodiment of the ethno-cultural nation. Why should the the should Why ethno-cultural the nation. of embodiment the as conceived Ima- question, this On national terms? ethnic in signified be socialmasses naka’s comparative theory of fascism faltered. He did not sufficiently ex- the culturalplore implications of except fascism, toof this note the power revolutionary ethnic nationalism ( should not be merely reduced to an analysis of political institutions. Some theory of cultural identity was necessary to account for the dynamics that mass” “social a of favor in class-consciousnessreject to class middle the led 38 Kevin M. Doak fascism in the anti-imperialist ethnic nationalism of the First World WarWorld First the of nationalism ethnic anti-imperialist the in fascism of origins historical the located it fascism: of rise the understanding to contributions two makes theory Imanaka’sideology, cultural fascism’s in element key the as nationalism ethnic of revelation indirect this In states. as well as Ratzer’s concept of “territory.” Having dissimulated the concepts Gumplowicz’s concepts of “race,” Walter Bagehot’s concept of nationality, and Gobineau’s render to “nation” of concept this applying leap, ceptual con- a made Imanaka trod, he ground the to oblivious ahead, Marching from formsand constitutional tinct the both of state modern nationality.17 ( identity tional na- of concept ethnological an with minzoku equated that nationality on discourse theoretical specific of body a on implicitly drawing fact in was that Imanaka clear it made discussion his “nation”).16 Yet as definition straightforward rather own, his it gave he science”(although political in word “the that measure safe littleof are concepts and valueunderstandingin fascism before adding for of concept “the on discussion his began He anti-theory. in exercise an than more little was discussion tire en- study.The his of object the for account to adequate theory cultural a from retreat his understanding for site important most the is fascism to minzoku. called identity ethno-cultural of form emergent newly this define to how of tion return to one of the issuescentral of discourse: thepolitical interwar ques- to Imanaka required culture, national formsof ethnic to turn interwar the of part as than rather race, biological of terms in (German)fascism see to Europeans (notably absent from the list were Italians).15 This determination non-Jewish white, all almost encompass to identity German ethnic yond ( sciousness con- racial biological of form a as ideology cultural Nazi off wrote simply Imanaka mode. determinist biologically crudest the in racism of theory a-cultural an on settled Imanaka culture, national on make nationalism of forms ethnic claims the revealing of Instead on. stumbled had fascism of study Imanaka’s that nationality ethnic of problem the by up opened theory cultural the of completion a precluded parliament to democracy 1932.14 PrimeInukai assassinate inMay Minister even to nese state, Japanese fascists commit of to againstacts terrorism Japa- the multiethnic mobilized had fervor nationalist bottom-up how suggested it and period, Im U nfortunately, an institutional bias that reduced the question of liberal liberal of question the reduced that nfortunately,bias institutional an anaka’s discussion of the problem ( of nationality jinshuishiki nasci ) that posited the ethnic group as a natural body, dis- body, natural a as group ethnic the posited that ) ) and racial passion ( passion racial and ) has yet to be given a precise concept concept precise a given be to yet has minzoku ” with a statement that theories theories that statement a with minzoku” ) that extended be- extended that jinshukanjō) minzoku) in relation Fascism Seen and Unseen 39 ), especially as a as especially minzoku), ), language, religion, and life envi- life and religion, language, ), jinshu minzoku-teki) concepts that exist in a different (Imanaka’s amalgamation of these two only reveals his failure to the the core of fascist social ideology, minzoku now signified race in a What ultimately underwrote this disavowal of the repressive cultural As Volk turn instead to a reductive definition of biological race. Or perhaps one can one perhaps Or race. biological of definition reductive a to instead turn reconfigure to him led that culture national for affinity liberal his was it say strictly biological mode (even though, as Imanaka admitted, fascists them- fascists admitted, Imanaka as though, (even mode biologicalstrictly selves often hotly rejected the suggestion that their understanding of the dis- when But race).21 of biologicalcoterminousconceptwith a nationwas be to had minzoku fascists, be to not thought those of hands the in covered put under some conceptual “other heading”—an implicit theory of ethnic ethnicity before culturalbecametheory. explicitin concept an long culture more as culture consider to failure Imanaka’s was it Stalin,with as yet, And him caused that base determined economically an for superstructure a than to overlook the oppressive cultural features of ethnic nationalism and to relationship to the ethnic concep-nation-state other (minzoku kokka) under tual headings. For example, forms of social community that spring from ( racetribe, clan, as identities such short, In (minzoku).”20 nationalityethnic than other something are ronment utilitarian toethnicwhile nationalism approach Stalin’s followed Imanaka at the same time trying to exempt the cultural elements of ethnic nationality consideration. from zoku zoku for progressive purposes, it was necessary to sever, however disin- nation the that position Stalin’s Citing racism. to connection its genuously, was a product of history rather than culture, Imanaka concluded, “I think it is best toethnic put other ( functions inherent in ethnic nationalism was Stalin’s economic argument in of favor a utilitarian embrace of this revolutionary (ethnic) nationalism in the struggle against But imperialism.19 to redeem this concept of min- grasp what Renan was arguing against);was arguing Harry what Renan grasp Elmore Barnes’s concept of of concept Marxism’s of school “orthodox the and consciousness; national nation.”18 Recent allegations by some theorists of Japanese culture about the “multivalence” of the concept of minzoku notwithstanding, it is clear that all three of these traditions were really concerned with the same sub- ( nation the of problem the understandto ject:how of minzoku and nation by applying them inconsistently across nineteenth- across inconsistently them applying nation by and minzoku of century European discourses, Imanaka then turned to what he called the three dominant understandings of minzoku in his day: the cultural identity referred to by both Renan’s concept of nation and Herder’s concept of question of ethno-cultural identity. 40 Kevin M. Doak deed, after demonstrating the centrality of minzoku ideology in European European in ideology minzoku of centrality theafter deed,demonstrating in- And racialism. biological this with affiliated not was it as long as cism in this racial lens, Japanese minzoku ideology could be exempted from fas- identifieditasbeing.earlier had he that nationalism ethnic of mode informed culturally specific, cally histori- the than rather racism of form a as fascism of minzokushugi the approaches that followed Imanaka by exempting ethnic culture from ex- from culture ethnic exempting by Imanaka followed that approaches later for foundations the laid fascism of Imanaka’stheory from culture of exemption elsewhere.23This and Japan in both movements, fascist of rise tions of the nation—could be dispensed with as insignificant factors inthe inflec- cultural culture—and that conviction his determined culture, over political dictatorship, along with his tendency to emphasize biological race of formmerely a was fascism that conclusion Imanaka’s end, ultimate the closer to the Japanese state at the height of the war, as I will discuss later. In draw personally to Imanaka encouraging in consequences important had the fascist agenda. of implications broader cultural the of argument his divested had he race, reduced the problem of nationalism ethnic simply to a matter of biological having and perspective, socioeconomic his from fascism of issue the ing approach- in But Japan. in movement labor and socialist the and fascists these between connection the about wrong he was Nor ideals. fascist by inspired indeed were groups their and men these mistaken: not was naka Ima- Group.”22 Study Problems “Economic his and YasaburōShimonaka especially Party, Social National Japan the and ōmotokyō; as such groups religious populist in supporters its and Party Production Japan Great the socialism; state by TakabatakeinspiredMotoyuki’s group Socialism Japan the movements: fascist three of declarations and platforms the to tention at- careful gave then He officers. military and bureaucrats of coalition a rise of fascism back to longstanding tensions between party politicians and Novemberin Hamaguchi 1930,the Minister Prime on Imanakatraced tack at- the with democracy parliamentary to below.the blow noting first After from revolution at effort an was movements, Mussolini’s and Hitler’s like that, movement a as fascism Japanese of history detailed his is which of least the not reasons, other several for interesting remains fascism nese Japa- of analysis Imanaka’s nationality.”Still, “ethnic or “race” as ceived identity, social whether minzoku this con- of influence the referenceto no with Japan in movements fascist of rise the explained Imanaka fascism, O This nce the minzoku of Hitler’s and Mussolini’s nationalism was arrested Mussolini’sarrested and was Hitler’s theminzokunationalism of nce disavowal of the ethno-culturalism inherent in the fascist agenda fascist the in inherent ethno-culturalism the of disavowal Fascism Seen and Unseen 41 - - Nippon Nippon (1932) and the prominent discus- ).27 In contrast to Imanaka, whose liberal- whose Imanaka, tocontrast In ).27 )” that former proletarian writers such as Before Before the Dawn bungei bungei fukkō )” fukko of the past, an impulse that inevitably saw in the contrast to Imanaka’s institutional Tosaka Jun’s approach, theoreti osaka made a osaka substantial made theory over improvement Imanaka’s in iden T In past a family system that was the essence of the Japanese ethnic way of life of life way system a family past ethnic that essence Japanese of the was the honshitsu no seikatsu minzoku (nihon visible in his day. He found the core of core thisthe culturalist ideology found He “cul- in the in his day. visible tural renaissance ( this placed Tosaka early1930s. the in proclaimed loudly had Fusao Hayashi desire fascistic a of context broader the in renaissance” “cultural ostensible for “restoration ( by ethnicnationalism progressive a of toretainculturalism sought the ism not not be explained without attention to these cultural developments, and he the crippling was that fascism of ideologyculturalist the identify to sought Marxist movement. tifying the cultural ideology of fascism that was increasingly becoming foundation of a new beginning for Japanese national identity.25 In addition, In identity.25 national Japanese for beginning new a of foundation of “conversions” the following Party Communist the from exodus mass the com- the thatclear it made 1933 in Sadachika Nabeyama and Manabu Sano munist movement in Japan was in way no immune to the seductive appeal concerned increasingly grew Tosaka period, this Throughout minzoku.26 of could fascism toward turn the and left political the of abandonment the that the the year 1935 was a turning point in Japanese cultural discourse.24 In that Yokomitsu year, Riichi’s call for a “return to minzoku” by literary writers School, Romantic Japan the of formation the in echoed simultaneously was while Shimazaki Tōson’s the as minzoku toward move the reinforced press Japanese the in it on sions ideorogii (revised edition, 1936) but stemmed from essays written between 1929 and 1934. The timing is significant.Whereas Imanaka’s theories of fascism reflected influentialevents ofthe early1930s (military actions in Manchuria and the fall of party government at was Tosaka home), able to reflecton the cultural and literary movements that had begun to change national discourse by the mid-1930s. As Watanabe Kazutami has noted, cal approach emphasized fascism as a specificform of cultural ideology. Tosaka’s cultural critique of Japanese fascism was presented in planations planations of fascism and substituting ethnic for national culture notions of biological race or by dismissing the question of fascism entirely, since Japan as did the not Dietfascist,” “go functioned and throughout war, the neverJapan operated concentration campscase, did. In as either the Nazis the result was a theoretical failure to identify the place and power of ethnicity in nationalist ideology. 42 Kevin M. Doak ideological relations between fascism and liberalism. His characterization characterization His liberalism. and fascism between relations ideological cultural the outlining in was concern Tosaka’s writers. major and liberals Japanese by favored often identity national of expressions ethno-cultural the ideological functions of fascism that were centrally concerned with the “race,”Tosakaemphasized and dictatorship political to fascism reducing ) that Tosaka bemoaned for displacing the rising potential of Tosaka forthat potential risingbemoaned (minzoku) displacingthe ality to be Japanese.”31 Theto key this “Japanism” was atheory ofethnic nation- nature and, thereby, fix, fortimesto all come, the essence of what it meant into times archaic in moment fixed a at culture transmute to effort this of has pointed out, “Tosaka saw in contemporary Japanism . . . representations was often with fascismassociated during the 1930s. Harootunian As Harry ture. Here, he came closer than most graspingto that the cultural ideology cul- of approximation idealist its by defined ultimately was that Japanism a of terms in fascism of ideology cultural the describe to him ism—led those who hadwrapped themselves inthe mantle of“liberalism.” for reserved especially was ire his and movement, populist the abandoned had who those condemn to writing really was Tosaka Marx, Like ism.”30 “Japan- called he that essence national of ideology idealist romantic, a to own Marx’s cited explicitly He 1850s. Japan in parallels thebetween 1930simagined historical and Europe in the he and movement, proletarian the of oppression “top-down” a as fascism world. Tosakathe saw around democracy parliamentary destabilizing was Imanaka saw nakafascism is illustrative. as a “bottom-up” movement that Ima- to contrast the Again, movement. Marxist thefrom desertions ber of num- a by hastened been had death its and dead was movement cultural proletarian mid-1930s,the the by that, frustration of sense a from writing Tosaka that was awareness an with begin Tosaka’smust fascism of theory of assessment fair any Indeed, fascism. with Marxist not was that work cultural or idea, group, any equate to easy too all it circles), Tosakafound was at best only a weak liberal influence in Japanese intellectual and culture wasnot divided culturethat a national along classlines.29 anyone and “fascism,”invokedliberals who characterize to heused term a called he what of expression direct most the was identity class by defined the ethnic entire nation.28 For Tosaka, the belief in a literature that was not by and of literature new a for Yokomitsu’scall of refutation direct a was literature” pure of “renaissance a merely as renaissance” “cultural the of oaas prahtruh axs rtqe f hlspia ideal- philosophical of critique Marx’s approach—through Tosaka’s there noted, be should it (when, moment the of pressures the Under , and like Marx, he traced the repression of the masses the of repression the traced he Marx, like and Nipponideorogii, German Ideology German as the inspiration of his of inspiration the as Fascism Seen and Unseen 43 - by recognizing these unions as factors within the Nippon Nippon ideorogii ut Tosaka was not merely a foe of fascism: he wrote equally vitriolic at vitriolic equally wrote he fascism: of foe a merely not was Tosaka ut The divergent fortunes of Tosaka andfortunes ImanakaThe of divergent at heightthe of wartime B tacks on liberalism. Tosaka’s fate must be considered alongside that of Ima- of that alongside considered be must fate Tosaka’s liberalism. on tacks naka, also an implacable foe of fascism but a supporter of constitutional improved as his Imanaka found fortunes liberalism. In contrastTosaka, to the war intensified. Even after1942, when Imanaka accepted a position in the government under the supervision of the Cabinet Planning Board, no- to belong. Tosaka understood better than most the viciousness of ethnic identity as culture. posing Japan offers a seductive, if superficial, way tosort outMarxists on crackdown the major a valuein arrested was ofTosaka their fascism. on theories back sent was he releasedand 1940. in However, bail on 1938 November in before just year, following the illness from died he 1944, in where prison to those for material powerful provides end tragic Tosaka’s war. the of end the who would validate his theories by appealing to the notion of martyrdom (if not by outright accusing the capitalist Occupation forces of complicity with his “fascist executioners”). His imprisonment and death in jail seem one if especially fascist, was Japan wartime that conclusions his out bear to his antifascism. for was imprisoned accepts that he the possibility that socialism and National Socialism might have something something have might Socialism National and socialism that possibility the Imanaka than sensitive more far was Tosaka time, same the At common. in to the cultural theory behind Japanese fascism, an effort to supplant class sepa- would that identity single a projecting of interest the ethnicityin with on ethnicwere deemed, grounds, not ratewho “true”those from Japanese as a form of idealism that sought to restrict the meaning of being Japanese Japanese being of meaning torestrict the sought that idealism of form a as address toperspectivethis from unable was he Yet ethno-culturalin terms. the fascism of the “right-wing nationalist although labor Tosaka unions,” closed fascist movement.33 Whereas Imanaka had identified the historical links accept to unable was Tosaka Europe, in groups fascist and socialist between the the following years it was in fact the progressive wing, not the idealists, was Tosaka his credit, who came toTo dominate the Japanist movement.32 able to capture the contributions many liberals had made in making fascism seem acceptable through his approach, which emphasized fascism a proletarian culture. But the deployment of a bifurcated logic of idealism and materialism to represent the cultures of fascism and progressivism, from recognizing precluded the Tosaka respectively, role played by leftists Japanist the 1935, and 1934 Betweenmovement. fascist Japanese the within and in betweenhad split movement “idealists” the and “progressives,” the 44 Kevin M. Doak The Ambivalent Legacies of Legacies as TheFascism Cultural Ideology Ambivalent torender groundsipsoit facto issufficient “fascist.”state the 1930s,34 it is not clear that the anticommunism of the wartime Japanese and fascism socialism in Japan of Imanaka,eral between and the close ties lib- ofthe antifascist reception warm its butgiven communists, suspected body accused him of sympathy for fascism. The wartime state did persecute plains his decision to join the Tōjō government better than any latent fascist government, and his sense that constitutional government faced a crisis ex- constitutional of defender strong a time same the at was fascism, of foe threat to the Meiji constitutional order were at risk.35 Imanaka, a consistent a pose to deemed anyone practically and fascists, rightists, extreme that reveals right, political his to further even enemies his against Hideki Tōjō Minister Prime by use their to particularly and Police, Higher Special the whether the imperial state was “fascist.” Careful attention to the of history questioning for room of plenty however, is, conservative. There and tarian economies. and capitalist amongcialists those who sought overthrow to governments constitutional a fine and not always distinct line separating communists from national so- vate property. And as Imanaka’s writings had madealready clear, there was pri- of rights the and system Japan’s overthrowing political espoused who those targeted which Law, Preservation Peace 1925 the violating of picion sus- was 1938 in arrest original his for reason official the Rather, Japan. of Imperial officials offended what was antifascism his that concluding Tosaka’s that clear all notat Imanaka,is as it such imprisonment warrants antifascists liberal of reception warm state’s wartime the Given politics. and culture between relationship the “fascism”and of impact cultural the careful consideration to the different ways Tosaka and Imanaka understood give first must We partisan. overly not if premature, is conclusion a such fascism, and liberalism of complicity the illustrate only fortunes wartime Imanaka’sTosaka’s with that defendersconclude to tempting be would it While antifascist. Christian liberal, leading a Imanaka, of embrace state’s wartime the also but death, Tosaka’s and only imprisonmentnot recall to important is it fascist, as Japan wartime assessing In “fascist.” time this at Japan call to means it what clear not is it then not, do they If state. time war- the of hands the at fascism of critics two these of diver- experiences thegent for account to need “fascist” as Japan wartime of Assertions There is no question that wartime Japan turned increasingly authori- increasingly turned Japan wartime that question no is There Fascism Seen and Unseen 45 - or Imanaka’s career, the key career, camemoment in March 1941.or Imanaka’s In what be Conceding Conceding that the political system in wartime Japan never fully em- F braced fascism still does not answer the more troubling question: Was the grasped quickly He Japan. 1930s in culture fascist of scope and presence political significance of the cultural renaissance that was being conducted under the sign of although “minzoku,” tragically he was less capable, or less willing, to recognize the inroads this ethnic cultural also made among socialist leaders and movements, ideologymany of transforming had them towas he practicallynational Yet socialism.alone in connecting this ethnic national ideologyefforts to iden- with liberalism Tosaka’s in Japan. tify cultural when read“Japanism,” focus alongside Imanaka’s on fascism Japanese politicalJapanese structure seems a veryapt one.36 there fascist culture in we Japan and, understandif do so, what how it was the to guide sure one provides Tosaka strongly? most operated it where and cated his effortsduring the war todefending constitutional government, of and reform the capitalist his suggestions for economy were designed to capitalism.of foes fascist the of extreme light In more proposals the avoid of these facts, Gregory Kasza’s application of Stanley Payne’s characterization of “conservative authoritarian” rather than fascist to the wartime terial to understanding the manner in which fascism and communism were communism and fascism which in manner the understanding to terial seen Wada wasby andwartime The charge the his thatgovernment. group were members of the “reform bureaucrats” whose national-socialist ten- ulti- Party’s Communist Japanese the of realization the in aid would dencies mate objective Thus,of it overthrowing is the signifi-constitutional order. cant that Imanaka joined the East Asia Institute (which had been founded in Board) Planning Cabinet the supervisionof the under placed and 1938 in socialist national remove to effort Tōjō’s Minister Prime of part as 1942 July remained Imanaka bureaucracy. government the (“fascist”)from elements he that convinced 1945, June until Institute Asia East the for analyst policy a was best able to resist fascist movements from that official post. He dedi- were arrested on suspicion of violating the Peace Preservation Law—the suspected not were They Tosaka. leveled against been had that charge same of being communists themselves, but the rationale for their arrest is ma- proclivities on his part. Like conservative authoritarians in Germany (Paul cabinet had Tōjō’s turned the against Heinrich Brüning), Hindenburg, von Association and Research Shōwa rejectingpopulists, and Konoe’s idealists groups. openly fascist bureaucrats” and other “reform the purging came known as the “Cabinet Planning Board Hiroo,Wada Incident,” Kat- sumada Seiichi, and fifteen othermembers of the Cabinet Planning Board 46 Kevin M. Doak visible by simply rendering political oppression as a function of the wartime in- minzoku of ideology cultural fascist the render can Japan wartime of culture political the explain to “fascism” on reliance a heavy too note: ary caution- important an below,”“from raises movement revolutionary a as image of a totalitarian, militarist state, but the cost of this state-centered state-centered this of cost the but state, the militarist totalitarian, a on of image focused been have Japan in fascism of accounts historical Most dosoatallcosts. itsought to Revolution. But mostimportant, sought to complete the democratic national vision unleashed by the French fascism was not a of rejection but modernity a kind of that hypermodernity cultural, and the eventually political, franchise of the masses. In this sense, the expanding to key the be to Worldethnicity First Wartook the that and after emerged had that identity national of revision ethnic the from drew see how fascism was both a populist movement and a cultural ideology that us helps approach dynamic complex, This Japan.39 wartime in fascism of “grassroots” the uncovered has that research historical postwar by ported sup- also is but accurate historically only not is institutions democratic liberal- from excluded were that classes lower the within from arising as Japan in fascism of origins social the of identification His elsewhere. or with suggestions for any effortto rethink fascism, past or present, in Japan rich is analysis representation.38for emperor theircultural Karatani’s own those left out of representation to parliamentary turn to the transcendental leaving representation, political from strata social (lower) some excluded “representatives” its how and system parliamentary prewar the in Japan in representation of rejection this of origins the locates He resentation. as a theory,cultural negate rep- to seeks that especially as a theory cultural focus ison fascism Kōjin.Karatani’s Karatani by the leading critic cultural invisible through a single-minded pursuit of the fascist state has been made left. political the on always not are add, to important is it which, ideologies, anti-state Japan postwar who have found it a useful means for their legitimating own in many to appealed has “fascism” Condemning destruction.”37 and feat Japan’scausing responsiblein foragentthebeing de- state the of wartime denunciation widespread generally “a by possiblemade was years postwar narrativization of wartime fascism by both liberals and Marxists in the early re- the out, pointed has Harootunian As 1918. after gather to began that movements cultural and social specific of result the as than rather state with regard to Japan has significant implications fortheory.40 implications cultural significant has Japan to regard with cism Kar An important important caution against this postwar rendering of cultural fascism atani’s caution about the widespread use and abuse of the term term the of abuse and use widespreadthe about caution atani’s fas- Fascism Seen and Unseen 47 (organic community). But as Karatani’s analysis sug- analysis Karatani’s as But community). (organic Gemeinschaft In the face of this new ideology that renders fascism unseen while effect- while unseen fascism renders that ideology new this of face the In In contemporary Japan, this anti-representational stance serves to re- empire. wartime Japanese of the periphery, ationist of the ideologies terms—that the challenged politics of the while the center, lib-informing er ism, we must confront the possibility that fascism has found a new pur- the degree that debates over pose and To a newin postwarmeaning Japan. wartime Japan as fascist have been indebted to the theoretical influence of militarypoliticaland insti-in fascism of pursuit single-minded a Imanaka, broader the attentioncritical from exempt to historians allowed has tutions social and cultural forces—especially those expressed in ethnic national cept for understanding wartime Japan. Such a question is simply unanswer- simply is question a Such Japan. wartime understanding for cept informs that essentialism cultural of logic the addressing first without able “Japan” whether of question the in manifested as (e.g., sensibilities fascist essential- cultural of kind this of risks generic the Beyondnot). or fascist is ing an ersatz image of fascism in the militarist state, we can no longer be con- a as usefulness its outlived has fascism whether ask to merely satisfied lish lish lines of historical continuity that do not exist and erasing historical discontinuities that have occurred. Advocates of what must remain an unseen and unnamed fascism often themselves return to fascism’s modern, populist origins while simultaneously and, most shifting importantly, the source of fascist violence the from violence symbolic of cultural totality to the presumed physical violence of the constitutional state. In the process, centralfascism’s cultural theory of an ethnically cleansed social totality is given a new lease on life as a form of resistance to the presumed cultural totalized equally colonization of (an representation ofWest.” ) “the gests, this cultural theoryof ethnic social totality merely negates a host of other internal efforts at social representation while ultimately serving as a violence.”41 of what Pierre calls Bourdieu form “symbolic habilitate fascism, not openly by name, but through a more sophisticated estab- to trying while unseen it rendering by fascism displaces that ideology theory of cultural representation centered on the ethnic collective lies at the the at lies collective ethnic the on centered representation cultural of theory heart of many fascist or national socialist cultural theories. Ethnic nationalism is often couched in terms of resistance to darker forces, frequently extinguish would that outside, the from coming as imagined always not but ethnic the approach to fascism often has been to overlook fascism as a cultural theorycultural a as fascism overlook to been has often fascism to approach of anti-representation. This isnot to say thatfascist cultural theory has not offeredits own peculiar theoryof cultural representation. Whether in Hitler’s version or that of Japanese fascists such as Kamei Kan’ichirō, a 48 Kevin M. Doak culture of denial about the broader influence ofthe ethnic nationalismthat a perpetuates Rather,it past. the of misrepresentation a simply not is ogy national-socialist of functions destabilizing the distorted have they or from remote Japanesebest generalof at a remain theory fascism, they that terms particular culturally such in Japanism discussed either have many) it is the continuity of a discourse on ethnic culture that connects the period of the “reform bureaucrats,” or militarism in postwar Japan’s armed forces, more than continuities between the wartime and postwar state, the survival Far Japanese.”42 the of essence’ ‘ethnic presumed the in inherent ments heavily rely both is that on primordial senti- neo-Nihonjinron and postwar Nihonjinron the wartime to common is “What noted, Befuhas Harumi As era. postwar the in flourished have that theories cultural ethnic the is it nuities is not “fascism” as understood in these narrow frameworks. Rather, fascist ofthe movements to andlater. period wartime has from been to exempt legacy ideology attention given ethnic the critical Imanaka’s fascism, of interpretation top-down a overemphasize to tend Tosakafollow who historians While fascism. of Tosaka’s representations Imanaka’sand of weight combined the of result a as part, in least at seen, been may denial of culture this Ironically, Japan. postwar and wartime in movements repressive other and national-socialist, fascist, the underlay society. postwar the for legacies its and Japan wartime of dynamics the capturing in point cept “fascism” as the cultural politics of the state would be a useful starting con- overwrought this with obsession less and culture ethnic of ideology the to attention More twist. new a with but Japan, in fascism of question cultural fascism is long overdue. Then wecan recoverthe significance of the on reflection deeper perhaps nationalism), ethnic and socialism national (includingfascism of agency ultimate the is state the that assumption this it that is an power.expression of state If we so are deeplystill enmeshed in fascism, only be consideredand culture can a fascist problem the to extent ments). In these eyes, the capitalist state remains the ultimate barometer of conveniently excusing the cultural fascism of leftist (thus ethnic state nationalist move- (capitalist) the to conjoined is it if only but fascism, of kind a model of Italian fascism. At best, they concede ethnic nationalism could be Japan wartime by in movements the state-supremacy themwith conflating T Yet, alternatively, theorists following Tosaka (and there have not been been not have there (andTosaka following theorists alternatively,Yet, e wa i ms srkn aot atm ad ota ilbrl conti- illiberal postwar and wartime about striking most is what Yet o continue this disavowalof the oppression ideol this culturalist o continue ofethnic - Fascism Seen and Unseen 49 These are some of the reasons that those who wish to adopt a critical theoretical framework within which to think about similar responses to modernity in such divergent nation-states as Japan, the United States, the of China, and People’s SovietRepublic the Union. (former) Nishikawa has opened up a new line of inquiry with respect to the problem of cultural nationalism in contemporary as Japan, well, particularly in his provocative suggestion that while emancipation from the “state” has proceeded quite nationality “ethnic of concept the from emancipation Japan, postwar in far (minzoku)” has Bynot.45 exploring the relationship of culture and fascism, that cultural theory apparent thisof minzoku become underlying it should escapedhas largely critical attention of under the cover an obsessive focus evils the on state. of the be allowed not to should do so any It longer. concerns that often have been left unaddressed in the visible discourse on fascism. Nishikawa Nagao is one leader in this critical effort tomake the Japan whether over debate tired the to alternative his and again, seen unseen is/was/will again be fascist is worthy of serious consideration. For Nishi- kawa, the problem of culture and political extremism in pre-1945 Japan is of issue broader reflectionthe of a than fascism Japanese of function a less modern nation-state formation and its impact on cultural identity.44 One cul- of problem the situating by that, is approach Nishikawa’s of advantage fas- torelation in merely of insteadnation-state of termsformation in ture cism, it avoids the cultural particularism that often seeps into attempts to describe Japanese fascism. advantage Another is that it provides a broader perspective on culture in Japan must take a viewbroader that incorporates concerns over the relationship between culture and national formation, to extract themselves from the seductions of ethnic national culture and remain deeply enmeshed in the appeal of ethnic nationalism as the best hope of an anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist social revolution.43 For them, continuing the focus on fascism within its received modes of representa- ethnic own their preventing of means useful a state”)is capitalist (“the tion account- held being from thus and visible rendered being from nationalism and after. war the both various acts during of oppression, for able of “historical fascism” to our present. In other words, it is the specific form specific the is it words, other In present. our to fascism” “historical of presents that minzoku the of imaginarysocial a in anchored nationalism of culture democraticpracticepoliticsand of the to danger pressing most the in contemporaryethnic Yet Japan. nationalism has largely escaped critical yet have on left the becauseattentionfascism on Japanese in debates many 50 Kevin M. Doak

Notes

4. 2. 9. 8. 5. 6. 3. 7 1. .

1981), xi. Imanaka Tsugimaro, atr auu, Fsit utr, in Culture,” “Fascist Laqueur, Walter auaa aa, Kna nhn hs t bnau (91, in (1961), bungaku” to shisō nihon “Kindai Masao, Maruyama ITs, 3:74. , 3:68–70. Imanaka’s inclusion of Germany on the side of “sound” advanced advanced “sound” of side the on Germany of Imanaka’sinclusion ITs3:68–70. , printed inITsprinted , 3:83–271. Re- 1932.) Shoten, Ōhata Tokyo:Series]. Dictatorship Political on [Essays sōsho Minzoku-teki shakaishugi ron led him to immediately address the problem of German fascism in his next book, fascism control to ability Germany’s about optimism misplaced this course, Of for fascism:potential Germany’s over ibid.,80–81). ambivalence thetime see at of Italian fascists to the German Banca Commerciale Italiana) and his theoretical capitalist nations reflects hiscareful historical research(he pointsto the reaction Laqueur, 71–86. Hirozumi, Abe See 1940–45. cism, fas- of fall and establishment the and 1936–40; period, formative the 1931–36; period, Japan:fascismin of transitional therise theapplied approach has the to fascism has been adopted by postwar scholars, most notably Abe Hirozumi, who with a onsection the of essence of fascism. Imanaka’s three-stage-development cf. stages: these of each detail in analyze “Kankō no kotoba,” inITs, 2,(Tokyo: Shobō, Ochanomizu 1978), iii. as the sources onmost important fascism in Japanese: see Tanaka Hiroshi et al., Imanaka’s works are ranked along with Hasegawa Nyozekan’s and Ōyama Ikuo’s (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2000),105–6. 62–63. Oxford Press,1996), University what kindofJapanese “fascism” left hasbeen scholarship. unseen bythis later,on develop I which perspective, new a up opens it distinction, analytic an Westernlanguages.As and Japanese in both fascism, Japanese on literature the cability. But in broad terms, it does thecapture main postures and in limitations range scholarshipof entire the cover equalappli- askedto with be category lytic ana- such any Norcan camp). later the in him puts society democratic postwar a for foundation the as nation kokumin the to appeal Maruyama’s (although Japanese to writers distinction analytic this say,restricting not Needlessto am I epigraphand Imanaka from Hiroshi, eds., 3:1–81, pp. 78–79. shi, TakeharaHiroshi, Yoshifumi, Takamaro,Matsutomi Hanzawa Seishū, Yasu 1932.) Reprinted in sōsho seijiron sai Epigraph: The heart of Imanaka’s of heart The Fascism, 60. Fuashizumu undō ron undō Fuashizumu [Essays on Political Dictatorship Series]. Tokyo: Ōhata Shoten, Ōhata Tokyo: Series]. Dictatorship Political on [Essays Imanaka Tsugimaro seijigaku ronshū , in ron, Fuashizumuundō Fuashizumu undō ron undō Fuashizumu . (Originally published as volume four in . (Originally published as volume three in three volume as published (Originally . Nihon fuashizumuNihon ron acs: at Peet ad Future and Present, Past, Fascism: , 3:12–64. concludesthen The work ITs3:12–64. , is composed of three chapters that that chapters three of composed is , 3, (Tokyo: Ochanomizu Shobō, Ochanomizu (Tokyo: ITs3, , (hereafter: (Tokyo: Eishobō, 1996), 1996), Eishobō, (Tokyo: ITs ), Tanaka Hiro- Dokusai Dokusai seijiron io n shisō no Nihon (Oxford: Doku-

Fascism Seen and Unseen 51

: , ITs Probleme Probleme des Minzoku-teki Ōyama Ōyama Ikuo Zenshū in Nazi ide- Nazi in minzoku Minzoku fuashisuta seitō fuashisuta Minzoku (1923), in and jinshu : see ibid., 2:92–93. His insistence His 2:92–93. ibid., see : Volk (On Ethnic-National Socialism), which is (New York: Alfred A. 1924), Knopf, 189.York: (New Ima- Seiji no shakai-teki kiso Minzoku-teki shakaishugi ron Minzoku-teki shakaishugi ron, 3:229. Minzoku-teki shakaishugi Minzoku-teki shakaishugi rōdō tō, see ibid., 123. Also consider the title of Sociology and Political Theoryand Political Sociology Ibid., 76–77. Imanaka’s emphasis on the “social masses” as the agent of the Imanaka Imanaka drew explicitly from Lenin’s “Ursprunglicher Entwurf der Thesen zur Ibid., 69–70. For two contemporary sources that largely parallel Imanaka’s theory Imanaka’s parallel largely that sources contemporary two 69–70.For Ibid., Ibid., 75. Leninismus and “Marxism and the National-Colonial which Question,” had been translated into Japanese as “Marukusushugi to minzoku mondai” and was in- important impact of the First World War on national consciousness: see HarryE. see consciousness: national on War World First the of impact important Barnes, nationalen und kolonialen Frage” and “Die sozialistische Revolution und das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Nationen.” From Stalin, he drew on of minzoku, see Ōyama Ikuo, (Chūō Kōronsha, 1947), vol. 1, 217–37; Yanaihara Tadao, “Minzoku to kokka” 18, 278–79. vol. 1965), Shoten, Iwanami zenshū (Tokyo: Tadao in Yanaihara (1937), ality “as psychic and cultural rather than a political fact” and emphasized the One need not merely surmise connection. merely the introductionnot his need In One to For brief Imanaka’s reduction of Nazi cultural policy to biological race, see Ibid., 2:69. “Henry” misidentifies him as naka Barnes. on on a general theory of fascism that subsumed these differences required more attention of how to to understand problem as discussed later. the minzoku, the the book, recognized times at himself Imanaka movement. Nazi German the on exclusively this fundamental difference betweenItalian rejectionfascism’s of apurely biological racial concept of the nation and German national socialism’s emphasis national “racialized,” or ethnicized, an on explicitly Imanaka ron, 85, raises catastrophethe shakaishugi of assassinationthe of Prime Minister Inukai as evidence that the fascist movements had he worried and threatening constitutional in Japan government. force were gaining about concepts the of of 2:93–96,confusion His 3:246. Imanaka, Imanaka, fascist revolution, and his concern over the terrorism that connected revolution-connected that terrorism the over concern his revolution,and fascist ary fascism and revolutionary socialism are best appreciated when seen in light of the development of fascism and revolutionary terrorism in Japan. Consider, nationalism populist revolutionaryand of socialismconnection the example, for the in terrorism of acts violent on impact its and followers his and KitawithIkki as 1930s, well as the close relationship between many self-avowed fascists such in 1932. founded Social and the Masses Party, Kan’ichirō as Kamei ology is more explicit earlier (on 3:106–108), and he argues that Nazi ideology was trans-ethnic, transnational, and truly 3:257). racial (on Cf. Imanaka’s translation PartitoFascistaof as Nationale Imanaka’s Cf. , ITs 3:11, 37–64. For his translation of Hitler’s Nationalsozialistische Arbeiter- partei as , 2:71. ITs Barnes, of a sociologyprofessor at Smith College, understood nation-

3. 5. 8. 11. 17. 1 19. 1 10. 12. 16. 1 14.

52 Kevin M. Doak

24 28. 26. 20. 29. 30. 22. 25. 2 27. 31. 21. 3. .

naka’s entire approach to the problem of fascism, which Imanaka then saw in saw then Imanaka which fascism, of problem the to approach entire naka’s Schmitt’s important. is fascism and democracy See See Seiji M. Lippit, Harootunian, “The Postwar Genealogy of Fascism and Cri and Jun’s Prewar Fascism Tosaka of Genealogy Postwar “The Harootunian, NI, 255, 392–424. (Tokyo: 316–67. Keisō 310–11, Shobō, 1966), ibid., 12. conclusion “minzokuthat is none other thethan majority, is, that the laborers”: their in explicit most is socialism national Nabeyama’s and Sano’s1–37. 1, vol. ka”(1933), Manabueds.,Sanochosakushū kankōkai, in thinking, see their jointly written For of evidence the of centrality minzoku nationalism in Sano’s and Nabeyama’s 2000). zengo nen 10 shōwa no shisōBungaku chisei: to yumeno Kindai eds., konwakai, Bungakushisō see Japanese, In 199–228. esp. 2002), Press, sity no. 1–24. 9(November54, 1986): megutte,” tenkō no Tatsuo Hayashi zengo:“1935 Kazutami, Watanabe discourse. Schmitt Japanese on prewar political Carl of influence the to testimony own ProfessorTakanohis source. added this for Faculty Professor thank Law 1939.TakanoI Konan by of University Kiyohiro liography on which 216–85, lists many of Schmitt’s works in Japanese translation Yamashita Takeshi, wide-ranging see influencetheorists, among and legal Japaneseprewar political of religion and dictatorship will have to await another opportunity. On Schmitt’s Imanaka does come close to a cultural theory. A where discussion topic of Imanaka’s a theories religion, to fascism of relationship the of interpretation naka’s name of a populist dictator: see the in democracy parliamentary uproot to movement middle-class a of terms 2:69–95. toward a Marxist definition of nationality by OttoBauer and Karl Kautsky: see themajor Masao,eds. (Tokyo: Sha,1930).contributions Kaizō reviewed Healso the of 14 volume in cluded Ibid., 367.Ibid., 81. Ibid., of hisday. “liberals” theamong identity ethnic of centrality the writings and thought time ism and the darling of the “fascism equals militarism” camp, exposes in his war- defender notable a Kawai, Taishō of liberal- 398–400. ibid., collectivist see text: Tosaka’s unstinting critique of Kawai Eijirō is particularly in important this con 93.Ibid., See ImanakaSee Tsugimaro, “Waga kunino fuashizumu undō,” in Here, some attention to the influence of Carl SchmittImanaka’s Carl on of influence the to to approach Here, some attention Tosaka Jun, Tosaka Nippon ideorogii ron ideorogii Nippon Topographies of Japanese Modernism Kāru Shumitto Kāru (Tokyo:Kenkyū Nansōesp. bib- the Sha,1986), Sutārin Buhārin chosakushū Buhārin Sutārin (1936; hereafter (1936; ITs, 2:3–10. Schmitt’s influenceextended to Ima- tenkō declaration “Yo wa naze ni kyōsantō o satta (1927) framed Ima- framed(1927) Diktatur Die NI (New York: Columbia Univer- ), in ), , Sano Manabu and Nishi and Manabu Sano , (Tokyo: Kanrin Shobō, Kanrin (Tokyo: Tosaka Jun zenshū Jun Tosaka Sano Manabu chosakushū Sano ITs, 2:288–307. Bungaku , vol. 2 vol. , ITs, - - , Fascism Seen and Unseen 53 - , ed. , Shōwa minzoku- Nihon no uchi to uchi no Nihon (Tokyo: Kōdansha, Kōdansha, (Tokyo: )” faction were noted were faction shinpo-teki)” 2 (1995): 108. As Harootunian notes, (Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 2001), esp. 266–313, esp. 2001), Kōronsha, Chūō (Tokyo: (Tokyo: Fūma Shobō, 1997). The differences differences The be- 1997). Shobō, Fūma (Tokyo: Matsumae Shigeyoshi waga jinsei waga Shigeyoshi Matsumae 19, no. 4 (1984): 613–14. Kasza also points out Journal of Pacific Asia Shōwa Japan: Political, Economic, and Social History, 1926–1989 History, Social and Economic, Political, Japan: Shōwa Nihon no uchi to soto to uchi no Nihon (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 2001), 65–66. Kōdansha, (Tokyo: ‘Senzen’ no shikō Karatani Kōjin, in 1941. On the relationship between Tōjō and Ishiwara, see Miyazawa Eriko, to Kenkokuminzoku kyōwa daigaku soto Shōwaki, and Itō, . no seiji of the Socialist Party while remaining founder and president of Tokai Univer- Shigeyoshi, sity:Matsumae see 1980), 115–131, 140–63. Also, Yojūrō, Yasuda a foe of Marxists and liberals (as Richard notes Torrance in this volume), was constantly harassed by the Special Higher Police. Tōjō was scornful also of the ethnic idealism of Ishiwara Kanji, deactivatedmilitary was status Ishiwara’s until clashed frequently he whom with Takashi, Itō in treatment detailed given are Konoe and Tōjō tween , Japan 253), but this dissent was not always from Marxists or liberals. Consider Nakano Seigō, a self-avowed admirer of Mussolini who committed suicide in Police. his criticism Higher Special by the after 1943 of Tōjō led to his hounding Nakano’s friend Matsumae Shigeyoshi, head of the general affairs division of the Imperial AssistanceRule Association and a of supporter believedKonoe, he was persecuted Tōjō by for his support of New Konoe’s Order in East Asia. Sig- Matsumaenificantly, was elected to the postwar Diet as a (right-wing) member It It was well known that Tōjō “made excessive use of the police to curb dissent” (Stephen S. Large, “Emperor Hirohito and Early Shōwa in Japan,” idem, ment foreshadows the division Tōyama Shigeki would draw early would Tōyama drawShigeki in the postwar the division foreshadows ment periodbetween “reactionary” nationalism: Japanese of forms “progressive” and see Kevin M. Doak, “Ethnic Nationalism and Romanticism in Early Twentieth- in CenturyJapan,” the and Tōyama 300–301.both 1998), For Large (London:S. Routledge, Stephen progressive Japanists, the expression of preferred this nationalism was nationalism). (ethnic shugi at the time by bureaucrats in the Home Ministry’s Criminal Bureau,Affairs who were in charge of monitoring the fascist movement: see Gregory Kasza, “Fas- 1931–1936,” Right, Japanese the on Perspective Comparative A Below? from cism Journal of Contemporary History that the progressives were more directly influenced byfascist ideas than were the idealists. Thesplit between idealist andprogressives in theJapanist move- tique of Liberalism,” one of the key sites where Tosaka saw this fixation occuring was in“folkism,” . of minzokushugi rendering Harootunian’s , 437. NI Takashi, Itō See 451. Kasza, “Fascism from Below?” 624. from “Fascism Kasza, Harootunian, “ThePostwar Genealogy ofFascismTosaka Prewar Jun’s and Cri tique of Liberalism,” 95. tique of Liberalism,” The split in Japanism and rise of the “progressive ( “progressive the of rise and Japanism in split The . 3. 8. 5. 6. 3 37. 3 3 32. 3 34

54 Kevin M. Doak

44. 45. 40. 42. 39. 43. 4 1.

kawa Nagao Hideharu (Tokyo: andMatsumiya Shin’yokusha, 1995), 3–42. 1987). Idem, “Two Interpretations of Japanese Culture,” trans. Mikiko Murata and Gavan Karatani Karatani has been one victim of this freewheeling use of “fascism” as an invective See Nishikawa Nagao, “Nihon-gata kokumin kokka no keisei: Hikakushi-teki keisei: no kokka kokumin “Nihon-gata Nagao, Nishikawa See 6A. The editorial was responding to the reorganization of the Japanese national national Japanese the of reorganization the to responding was editorial 6A. The see “Bureaucrats Must Change Attitudes” editorial, state”: no is there but ministries, are “there and ministries” before come reaus “bu- as phrases such in describedoften are attitudes bureaucrats’ Japanese that to those working for the state. An editorial from 2001 in the able, strong sentiment anti-state among the Japanese public, and it extends even an undeni- infact is there But accept. to difficult first at be may Japan postwar in completed largely been has state the from emancipation an that assertion (New eds., al., York:Nishikawa’s et 1997),Press, 247–48. University Cambridge in McCormack, shiten kara,”shiten in 1990). suru,”tenbō o in right of unification ofthe minzokushugi movements), “Uyoku minzoku-ha undō 1–19;(2001): Amino Yoshihiko, Beyond,” and Japan Postwar Early Nation: the of Representations“Progressive Gayle, Anderson Curtis 288–309; 1997): (April Japan,” Twentieth-Century in Imagination Ethnic the and Narratives National Belongs? Who and Nation a Is “What Doak, 1992). Japan Modern in ibid., 250).violence”: symbolic legitimate of monopoly (“the state the on emphasis Weberiandieu’s Bour- overplay to not careful be should one however, Japan, in fascism cultural to violence” “symbolic of concept Bourdieu’s applying In 112–41. 1993), Press, See Pierre Bourdieu, (Tokyo: Shop, Editor 2001). Hisamoto organization:see Yoshiko, Movement (NAM) tionist Associa- New his and Karatani against grievances personal settle to fascism of theory “dictatorship” this uses indeed, and, “dictatorship” of Imanaka’stheory beyond see to self.the inability of example prime a is The diatribe authorthis of that contemporary cultural fascism in Japan is best represented by Karatani him- to hurl against one’s opponents. A “live report” called “Cultural Fascism” argues Harumi Befu, “Symbols of Nationalism and Nihonjinron,”and Befu,Nationalism“Symbols of Harumi in Cf. YoshimiYoshiaki, On the leftist supporters of ethnic national culture in postwar Japan, see Kevin M. and right-wing minzokushugi movements, see Ino Kenji (a proponent from thefrom proponent(aKenji Ino see movements, minzokushugi right-wing and esp.2000), School, 13–55.tor theleft-wing Onthestrange partnership between , ed. Roger Goodman and Kirsten Refsing (London: Routledge, Refsing(London: Kirsten and Goodman Roger ed. , Bakumatsu meijiki no kokumin kokka keisei to bunka hen’yōbunka to keisei kokuminBakumatsukokka no meijiki utclua Jpn Plelti t Post-modern to Palaeolithic Japan: Multicultural , ed. Ino Kenji (Tokyo: Nijūisseki Shoin, Nijūisseki (Tokyo:KenjiIno ed. sōran , minzoku-ha Uyoku The Field of Cultural Production Kusa no ne no fuashizumuTokyono of Press, (Tokyo:ne University no Kusa Rekishi to shiteto Rekishi sengono shigaku American Historical Review Historical American 4, no. 1 no. 4, Journal Japan Science Social (New York: Columbia University Daily Yomiuri, January 7, 2001, Daily Yomiuri reported (Tokyo: Nihon Edi- , Donald Denoon, Denoon, Donald , Ideology Practice and Bunka Fuashizumu , ed. Nishi- ed. , 102, no. 3 no. 102, Fascism Seen and Unseen 55 mitments to international peacekeeping operations. The problem of a weak state, weak a of problem The operations. peacekeeping international to mitments rather than a strong state, coexists strangely in Japanese public opinion with a antigovernment, broad even anti-statist, populism. political system on January 6, 2001, under Prime Minister Mori, especially the creation of a new Cabinet Office andthe reduction ofthe number of ministries and agencies from twenty-two to twelve, a step widely recognized as part of an to state buildeffort a stronger forcesthat ofcould bureau- resist centrifugal the cratic infighting. While some might like to see this reorganization aspart of a process larger a of part as it neo-statistunderstandcommentators most agenda, special and bureaucrats of powers the curtailing by democracy secure totrying of abilityinterest groups Japan’s toand enhancing com- thereby make meaningful R i

c The People’s Library: har The Spirit of Prose Literature versus Fascism d

T orran c e

In 1936, in the literary journal Bungakkai (Literary World), Takeda Rintarō declared, “Our primary obligation is to take action in opposition [to fascism].”1 He was already in the process of establishing Jinmin bunko (The People’s Library), a monthly literary journal that was funded by his own, not inconsiderable earnings for works appearing in more popular publications. Although Takeda maintained ultimate editorial control, the managing editor was Honjō Mutsuo, a secret member of the by then clan- destine Communist Party. Almost all of the fifty or so contributors were leftists who had been arrested for their political activities. “We are the leftist survivors,” Naka Kōhei, a regular contributor, declared.2 In a public reply to a letter from Jean-Richard Bloch, secretary of the International Association of Writers for the Defense of Culture, Takeda formally aligned the journal, in July 1936 with the International Popular Front against Fascism (JB 1:7:2– 3).3 This alliance of the group with the international antifascist movement was formally accepted in a letter signed by the secretaries of the Interna- tional Association of Writers for the Defense of Culture: Louis Aragon, An- dré Malraux, André Chamson, and Jean-Richard Bloch (JB 1:9:2–4). The People’s Library 57

from Bungei Bungei Konwakai in March 1936 until in March 1936 ceased to be used in ThePeople’s Library fascism The People’sThe Library—in a fight with The People’s The Library With few exceptions, after 1938, the term From From the time of the first issue of media, media, and it and its variants came to be used as a weapon by remnants of those associated the left—notably, with any sort of critical and way, consideration of Japanese ultranationalism in the 1930s as one manifestation of an international movement to the right would have towait until after 1945, when the existence of a “Japanese fas- What be should borne in mind could once cism” again be discussed freely. ill-defined seems fascism of concept the if that is discussion ensuing the in in the mid-1930s when used to characterize the political opponents of the left, this is in part due to increased political repression that did not allow for the same sustained critique of Japanese society carried out by intellec- fined for the intelligentsia was next taken up by the mass media, which used which media, mass the by up taken next was intelligentsia the for fined politi- military and within alliances and cliques specific to refer toterm the cal circles and to literary and political associations that identified them- ofThird, liberal as became repression ideas and leftist withselves fascism. more intense from the mid-1930s on, the term, which had generally been used in a derogatory or patronizing manner, fell out of use in the mass an increasingly sophisticated respectable and ultranationalism.” “new nalists first conceptualized in theoretical terms the possibility of a Japanese Japanese a of possibility the terms theoretical in conceptualized first nalists fascism in periodicals and books oriented toward a liberal intelligentsia. They wereparticularly acute in descriptionstheir of the affinities between political, social, and cultural trends in Japan and those in Italy and other nations that had strong fascist The movements. concept offascism asde- One can discern three broad phases in the development of the discussion of discussion the of development the in phases broad three discern can One jour- Writers and literary Japanese by figures. 1930s the of Japan in fascism cism. Instead, one reads attacks on concrete targets: the (Literary Harmonious Discussion Society), those associated with the neo- understand To fiction. historical of writers popular or movement, romantic what fascism meant for the writers and readers of its demise in January 1938, the journal served as Japan’s most articulate, the of pages the Yet fascism.4 to oppositionliterary popular and organized, fas- of formulations theoretical or definitions sustained containno journal sig- fascism necessary of first review concept is to it the what 1938, to 1936 in itsJapan historicalnified in context. People’s The Library Conceptualizations before of Fascism 58 Richard Torrance becoming, a fascist country was extensively debated among Japanese jour- amongJapanese extensively debated was country fascist a becoming, defined been theearly 1930s. in hadalready referring that aterm to were critics and writers later because also is it 1930s,but early the in tuals the bourgeoisie.”8 of “internationally, namebecomeanotherfor has dictatorship fascismthe wrote, “Thus,” he leftists. particularly enemies, internal against and mies ternal protest by channeling it into external aggression against foreign ene- to capitalism make the economy function. On the other hand, it deflects in- On the one hand, when the fascist regime gains power, it needs large-scale oftheprocess formation ofthe fascist dictatorship.”7 the of non qua sine the violence is too so ‘dictatorship,’ socialistic the of requisite a is violence as “just dictatorship: of establishment the to gard nonetheless incorporated the methods of the communists, especially in re- Though fascists saw international socialism astheir implacable enemy, they motor of the fascist movement is middle class violence,” Hasegawa wrote.6 the that fact the is “Generally own: overlooked its of violence and nization orga- with proletariat the of violence and organization the counters which class, middle the of movement a is fascism capital, small and middling of interests the represents politics Japan, in as Italy, in Since democracy. in large-scale bourgeois capitalism and its institutions, primarily bourgeois gin. It arose because of economic depression, when confidence was shaken developed capitalism in countries where the modern state was of recent ori- tively Japanese conditions.5 Hasegawa saw fascism as the product of under- distinc- to of fascism applyto conceptualization he a first thebecause was also but phenomenon international dangerous a as fascism recognize to Japan in liberals non-communist first the of one was Hasegawa because only not remarkable is series This fascism. Japanese a of prospect the of warning articles of series a publishing began Nyozekan Hasegawa nalist if not absurd. formerly had remote, seemed that possibility Japan,a fascismin of sibility throughout the school system—and they began to speculate about the pos- ship, a high degree of central control based on dogmatic morality enforced censor- severe increasingly association, and assembly of freedom of sion suppres- violent brutality, Europe—police in ultranationalism of power growing the and Japan in trends between analogies perceived particular in nalists, academics, writers, and literary critics. Japanese liberal intellectuals Fascism, however, argued Hasegawa, tends to legitimize itself over time. From In March 1931, in the journal 1931 until 1935 or so, the question of whether Japan was, or was or was, Japan whether of question the so, or 1935 until 1931 Hihan (Thethe Critique), novelist and jour- The People’s Library 59 - - shokugyō-teki ) were ) fuasshoka ( fascistization ), and ), fuassho ( fascist ), fuashizumu ( fascism ralegal violence aimed at the suppression of the proletariat and dis apan apan also withconformed the model in having an essentially reaction By the time of the Manchurian Incident of September 1931, then, the Hasegawa Hasegawa next speculated on whether fascism was possible in Japan. Ext J sent in general, according to Hasegawa, was directed by “Japan’s bourgeois bourgeois “Japan’s by directed was Hasegawa, to according general, in sent Prime Prime Ministers Hamaguchi and Inugai, former Finance Minister Inoue, Eijirō, of and others a continued number to refine and expand the concept in the light of Japan’s continued militarization. the Subsequently, notion that Japan was becoming “fascist” began to dominate the mass media. A new term was toneeded the describe series and of dismal shocking events the right-wing assassinations thatof occurred in the early 1930s—namely, terms already in circulation and were supported by a body of that seemed political to correspond theoryto Japan’s social, political, and cultural realities. Such political philosophers as Tosaka Jun, Miki Kiyoshi, and Kawai politicians who control numerous gangs of professional thugs ( thugs professional of gangs numerous control who politicians bōryoku dan), thugs who are the advance troops of In fascism.”11 addition, more of memberships with twenty-five associations least at cites Hasegawa of reactionaryextensions these that argues He million. half a and four than middle-class morality—slavish faith in religion, unquestioning loyalty to traditionalabstractions—nationalist other of host a in belief emperor, the for numbers termsof in support organizational enough than more provide fascism.12 a Japanese the the political parties must adopt bureaucratic, that is to say, middle class State.”10 a fascist is essentiallysocial In this Japan sense, policies. fascism.’”9 the public employ, including military officers, bureaucrats, and others in ideology of middle classnot wasThe the that vast state the sector in Japan. class, middle the of votes the garner to order “in capitalism: laissez-faire of Japan was also prone to fascism in respect to the persistence of a feudal ide- feudal a of persistence the to respect in fascism to prone also was Japan ology: ideological “the concepts positions economic of small based the on and medium capital are essentially reactionary—racialism, nationalism, feudal morality, and so on. In other words, these constitute the ‘spirit of In terms of the economic conditions that give rise to fascism, Hasegawa maintained that Japan fit the model. Ironically,he believed that, in terms of of the underdevelopment its capitalist system, to was more prone Japan base. industrial developed highly more a had which Germany, than fascism ary middle class. Given the weakness of the capitalist system in Japan, its middle class was dominated by small and middling capital and people in 60 Richard Torrance written written extensively on Kropotkin and who was accused by Hatoyama Ichirō, had professorwho law TakigawaUniversity of Kyoto dismissal Yukitoki,a was begun in 1933 with nationwide student and faculty protests against the , Japan’s authoritative English-language newspaper, would argue on argue would newspaper,English-language authoritative Japan’sTimes , the example, for 1932, In on. so and Takiji;Kobayashi writer the of coups tary the d’état; mass arrests of leftists; the police torture and murder mili- at attempts failed several the Dan Takuma; financier Mitsui the and of Yomiuri Shimbun inforced when the following 1932, appeared in 4, article the February issue re- was fascism with fiction samurai popular of identification trol.16The for strengthening feudal values that led to fascist tendencies and con- state fiction, samurai especially culture, popular condemning in world literary the of consensus the express to seemed culture, popular to sympathetic never was who critic literary and novelist respected a Hasegawa, fascism. of culture the of analyses with crowded were newspapers of pages literary the and periodicals literary 1932 in that surprising not is it 1930s, the of bythe endof1938.15 suppressedhad been bythe state opposed fascism in Japan. Thesecannot be enumerated here, but almost all explicitly or implicitly members, of thousands with groups, political and Freedom in Academic Research and the Arts, numerous scholarly, religious, for Alliance the of creation the following years the In 1935. in disbanded it ordered government the that effective so was group the and hundred, four to rose Membershippresident. as Tokudachosen novelist was Shūsei Freedom in Academic Research and the In Arts). 1933,July the well-known formed the Itaru Nii and Kiyoshi, Miki kan, Nyoze- Hasegawa by led intellectuals and Japanese prominent writers fifty hundred two burnings, Nazibook the and censorship, of arbitrariness the severe repression of leftist cultural organizations and the Communist Party, increasingly autonomy,the university’s the of violation blatant ernment’s then minister of education, of supporting communism. Alarmed by the gov- Fascism.”14 ( Convert and RenounceCommunism Nabeyama, and SanoParty, a headline in Manabu and Nabeyama Sadachika in June 1933 were described as follows in Sano of prison in conversions ideological the again, Or achieved.”13 tives objec- certain yet and funda- preserved be may Empire the the of institutions mental whereby medium a contributes “Fascism page, editorial its Organizat Given the centrality of literature to all cultural endeavors in the Japan the in endeavors cultural all to literature of centrality the Given ions soon formed ionssoon oppose fascismJapan. in to Onethefirst of Yomiuri Shimbun : : “The Leading Figuresthe of Two Communist (Alliance for (Alliance DōmeiJiyū Gakugei ) to to tenkō) Japan The People’s Library 61 - is still popular even in even popular still is )” mentioned in this article, and the Miyamoto Musashi Miyamoto fuassho fuassho bunshi Yomiuri , Yomiuri Shimbun Mikami Otokichi, the author of a fa- As the political situation becomes daily more severe, the patriotic t seems to have been the general consensus that this group, and its sub its and group, this that consensus general the been have to seems t wing wing forces in the literary world, namely Naoki Sanjūrō, Kume Masao, advocateto come have Hachirō, Satō and Kyōji, Shirai Otokichi, Mikami literature.”17 of Fascist realization“the strengthening and COOPERATION WITH THE MILITARY/FASCIST LITERATURE MOVEMENT/ LITERATURE MILITARY/FASCIST THE WITH COOPERATION FIFTH FIVE THE RIGHT-WING MEETING ON TOWRITERS HOLD fervor and energy of people has swelled forth as a wave. . . . In touch with the intellectual tempo of the times, those generals of the right- I The“fascist literati ( sequent sequent incarnations, which came to include such participants as Kikuchi famous the Haruo, Satō entrepreneur; literary successful most Japan’s Kan, at self-promotion by opportunistic novelists whose books were not sell- Takeshi) Shiyō Fuwa (Osatake in of the early1932, spring Writing well. ing consisted it First, literary characterizedthisearlybest “fascist movement.” of novelists of popular historical fiction who viewed Hitler asabout the same as Kiyokawa Hachirō, the heroic but temperamental Restoration-era as- Restoration and then of the enemies assassinated first who swordsman In addition,sassinated were writers enemies there those Tokugawa. of the poet; and Yoshikawa Eiji, whose epic epic whose Eiji, Yoshikawa and poet; uni- in withmen meal a toshare thanexcursions more little America,were have to said was fascism Their military technology. latest the view and form been have ultranationalism, to vague a than other ideology effective no had incapable of inspiring radical action, and to have been merely an attempt awakened awakened to the magnificence of theJapanese spirit andsmall- had Japan’s concluded bring could Marxism nor capitalism present the “neither that scale farming villages to life.” He hoped only to contribute to “bringing about a new racial and national movement in society and to live under a literarycelebrated a whom for man the Sanjūrō, Naoki socialorder.”18 new as Fascism” Declarationof “My titledseries a began named, later was prize the during that . . . declare hereby I world, the of nations the all “to follows: fascism, my of year this During . . . fascist. a am I 1933, to 1932 from period Attack all leftists. on and I’ll cut you down.”19 war I am waging other other writers who participated in later fascist literary groups, were almost all novelists of popular historical fiction.Their political views seemed to reflect the romantic and combative content of their fiction. Inthe Janu- ary 7, 1932, issue of been had he that declared assassin, samurai transvestite a about novel mous

62 Richard Torrance naga Sunao, for example, accused his rival Inuta Shigeru and his agrarian agrarian his and Shigeru Inuta rival his accused forexample, Sunao, naga writer Toku- proletariat The complicated. more became term the using in works.20literary their sell to advertisement an as fascism used and popularity lost had who nation and guiding thought in healthy, patriotic directions. It was an age an was It directions. healthy,patriotic in thought guiding and nation ment of Academy” a that all would “Literary writers co-opt into serving the establish- the for basis the as them use to state the by attempts with tion coopera- enthusiastic their but ideas, political pedestrian their or officers, sinister was not what they wrote, or their innocuous meetings with military particularly appear writers fascist self-proclaimed the made What values. traditional and emperor, thefamily, of love stressed it and valor, martial heroic of full and romantic, nationalistic, was It audience. mass a toward directed newspapers and magazines of pages more and more occupying were that literature of genres popular toward attitudes writers’ the from ofromanticism.”22erature lit- the as appear first [would] literature fascist “a that predicted fascism, on commentators female few the of one Junko, Iwasaki traditionalism.” Japanese with itself align must it popular, become to is literature fascist if [but] , . . . individual the of freedom the recognize not does ditionalism alism is the majorof fascism.sense,artery ideological tra- In this a certain “tradition- that maintained day, the of critic modernist leading a Kameo, philosophy.” its and policy social ethnocentric Chiba ultranationalistic, an on based government dictatorial as up summed be can it end, the in but following definition: “it is saidthat fascism has noetymology, only results, the offered movement, fascist the with associated writer popular a Kyōji, was fascism clique.”by military “despotic rule a Japaneseas Shirai most by that understood stated fiction, autobiographical of writer a as known primarily Masao, Kume literature. fascist and fascism toward critics and literature.21proletariat the of to vapidity antidote welcomeprovideliterature a fascistwould A all. at these with dealt not had literature Japanese modern yet emperor; the to nese people, according to Nakamura, were their love of and country loyalty wrong with a fascist literature in Japan. The most splendidtraits ofthe Japa- nothing saw decade, a forabout left the with battle running a on carrying been had who critic and editor well-known a Murao, Nakamura ment.” move- reactionary and fascistic a as reborn “being of movement literary As the discussion of fascism in the literary press progressed, motivations Individ A roundtable discussion held in 1932 reveals other attitudes by writers writers by attitudes other reveals 1932 in held discussion roundtable ual definitions of a fascist literature appear to havedifferedto little appear literature definitions a ual of fascist The People’s Library 63 - (Japan Cul- Nihon Nihon Bunka Chūō Renmei ) rather than serve long prison terms. Having decimated the the decimated Having terms. prison long serve than rather ) tenkō sing the already formed organizations of the “fascist literati” core a “fascist as the of organizations already formed the sing akeda Rintarō was one of the more important writers on the left, but he he but left, the on writers important more the of one was Rintarō akeda In 1932, Matsumoto Manabu, former governor of Kagoshima Prefecture, Prefecture, Kagoshima of governor former Manabu, Matsumoto 1932, In T U membership, Chief Matsumoto began the groundwork to establish a state-a establish to groundwork the began Matsumoto Chief membership, of form preliminary the took project This Literature.of Academy sponsored the Literary Harmonious Discussion Society. For the next decade, writers struggled against this and other state-sponsored attempts to bring litera- 400 leftist cultural activists.24 400 leftist cal dissidents, mostly on the left: 6,124 in 1930; 10,422 in 1931; and approxi and 1931; in 10,422 1930; in 6,124 left: the on mostly dissidents, cal Almost all matelythose 18,000 put on in trial1933. renounced their politi- ( beliefs cal political left with mass arrests, the Ministry of Home Affairs then began approximately arrested 1932 in and organizations cultural on concentrating ture and the arts under control. In the end, of course, the early presenti- literary people—proved for least fascism—at Japanese a concerning ments valid. By 1940, in imitation of models adapted from fascist Italy and Ger- all writersJapanese many, who wished to continue working professionally to join a varietywere forced of state organizations. People’s LiteraryThe Library and the to Fascism Resistance politi- of arrests escalating of wake the in established was Library People’s The for a radical, antidemocratic,for in transformation In fascist society. addition Matsumoto ideas,” legislation to“dangerous repressive control todrafting under the auspices of the nationalist to, groups cultural organizing for talent prodigious a League),showed ture in his words, “promote domestic enterprises fostering the Japanese spirit and internationally to shine the light of the spirit Japanese throughout the The activitiesworld.” Matsumotopromoted outside the Ministry of Home corporations by Mitsuithe funded and Mitsubishi.23 were Affairs threatening to writers of progressive fiction,writers essays. and of progressive threatening to poetry, was appointed the chief of the Criminal AffairsBureau in the Ministry of Home Affairs, an office with direct jurisdiction overthought control. He was firmly allied with the so-callednew bureaucrats, the reformfaction of the bureaucracy with close ties to the elements in the military calling when a number of new technological means for the control and motivationand control the for means technologicalnew of number a when of the masses were coming into existence, and attempts by government authorities to bring these media—radio, movies, mass-circulation entertainment magazines, and popular fiction—under state guidance seemed 64 Richard Torrance ous points ous in points the life of the journal. Takeda thewanted magazine appeal to little ruckus.” The magazine he founded soon reached acirculation of about a “raise to resolved he and world, literary chastened the in compromise of mood the with dissatisfied grew soon He Japan. to return his on ground undergoing less or more and Manchuria to fleeing by arrest avoided had cism in the arts that came to the fore in the mid-1930s: the denigration of denigration mid-1930s:the the in forethe to came that arts the in cism of popular literature. In addition, there were other two clear aspects of fas- the reification of a unique Japanese spiritthrough government sponsorship and Italy; in production steel and movie of cartels creating was fascism as much arts, the encourage and homogenize, control, to attempts ernment gov- left;forcible the the suppressionof world: literary the in trends three concretely most described newspapers and journals literary of pages the magazine asanunwavering voiceofopposition: ( existence” for reason primary is our fiction that prose the position firm adopted has journal “This sisted, ( life” everyday their of part a as fiction forread satisfy and to enjoyment a desire for culture, those who proseread who those villages, farming in people young and city the in “workers to nal inJapan” ( Takeda could declare, “At present, we are the most widely read jour- literary point, one At periodical. the of support in establishedSapporo—were and fivethousand. Groupsthroughout the in country—notably Osaka, Nagoya,

Th accomplish them. ( quality, and we have all exerted of our meager strength in attempting to high of fiction narrative of popularization the and culture of protection ism, the flourishing of prose—suchcan objectives be summed up asthe Harmonious ary Discussion Society, the development of legitimate real- Liter- the of denunciation determination. The our from waver not shall we that confidence with declare can we so and difficulties, the foresaw project.difficult a We been has for year magazine thea managementof but splendidly, doing are we seem might it outsiders, Toto us.” protect authority in one no us, behind money “no of tradition the within act novelistic lifethe to bringliterature. of to We determined dition are broadly,more also, but tra- universal Japaneseliterature the only not of tradition the in is this believe we but often, quite repeat we words are We have no big money behind us, no one in authority to protect us. These As e objectives of e objectives we have seen, at this point the widespread use of the term term the of use widespreadthe point this at seen, have we JB 1:3:140). TheLibrary weremade by explicit People’s Takeda atvari- JB 2:4:1) 2:9:152). Takeda further envisioned the 2:9:152).envisionedTakeda further JB 1:5:160). JB Toend, this Takedain- in fascism The People’s Library 65 - ThePeople’s and elsewhere, there were frequent appeals to the tra- en reading the literary the en reading critics cannot but be im one of fascism, help position to fascism took the following forms. First, in the pages of 1935, 1935, Aono Suekichi, a leftist critic closely affiliated with cism does not explicitly reveal itself; instead arrives in stealth? . . . If writers, maintaining as do theytheir instinctive antifascism, were to be drawn into the gears of a gigantic opaque fascist machine, what a calamity it would be!26 Wh firm ideological positions,many are opposed tofascism because of a thiscoun- in literatureup of built independence traditionalthe of spirit try over a number of years. One can assume that if faced with the clear writers most of antifascism instinctive the fascism, of threat present and would come to the fore, and there would be a great deal of resistance. For example, almost every writer in Japan expressed anger and dismay over the book burnings by the Nazis. But what if it is the case that fas- In Op Japan in novelists no probably are there writers, popular few a for Except today who are not opposed to fascism. Even among those who hold no

cal trends seemed to conform to those sweeping much of the rest of the world, yet the authors of a Japanese-style fascism vehemently denied they ThePeople’s Library dition of the independence of the Japanese literary world, a tradition to of obligations or support from freedom maintaining work, their in writers, Literary state,the moneyed church, interests.Next, large and Harmonious Discussion Society was the object Third,of unflagginghostility. a running with starting Fourth, School. Romantic Japan the with on carried was battle realism Japanese native a of value the (1642–93), Saikaku Ihara of works the was advocated, and realistic prose fiction served as journal’smainstay. the as an Finally, alternative to the mainstream press, the pages of the journal were opened up to a variety of progressive, democratic, and antimilitaris- tic “elementsThese causes. of resistance” will be discussed in moredetail later. Japan’s tradition of realism neo-romantic and the Japan’s exaltation poetics of the of the past, especially in regard to a glorification of theaesthetics ofhero and death.25 worship Library, argued: pressed pressed by how sensitive they were to contemporarytheir societyand how clearly they foresaw what was coming. In the political story be-unfolding perversity amorphous of kind a new, something recognized they them, fore objectiveby which historicalJapan’s situation and contemporary ideologi- 66 Richard Torrance new gods, the modern state and the modern concept of race ( ofrace concept andthe modern state the modern gods, new tion of the Japanese people, and yet those gods were subordinate to the two founda-the as Japanese fascisminvokedShintōthegods that argued kichi followedstate.27 the Similarly, morality that but AonoSue- morality lowed fol- “god,”was thestate thestate notthat meant morality national his and Hiranuma, forconcluded, Hasegawa However, morality. national of ment Home Affairs, had declaredthat his goal was not fascism butthe establish- of Ministry the in bureaucrats new the leader of Kiichirō, Hiranuma cism, clared they were not fascist. Even that personification of Japanese-style fas- de- had everyone bureaucrats, the military, the organizations, reactionary the parties, political the society, of areas all in head its raising be to said were fascist. As Hasegawa Nyozekan observed in 1932, though fascism was ing Matsumoto’s years.30 plans, for atleast several pressuretent by exerted Nazi the of cent in attemptinga control and mannerto organize reminis- cultural activities was Manabu Matsumoto that clear become has It justified. undoubtedly picions of government intentions to bring the arts under state control were challenge to the Harmonious [Literary Discussion Society]” ( conscience?” ( Have nothey Harmonious Discussion commonSociety]. sense or [Literary the defending are critics and writers younger even that heard have “I as, ( Society sion Discus- Harmonious Literary the with associated were writers female no 1:3:98). Kosaka Takiko wrote of the pride she felt as a woman in seeing that ( wealthy” the and bureaucrats the to tradition literary Japan’spure out selling and scene literary the “poisoning of society the joined who writers was the Society shame of Japanese literature ( Discussion Harmonious Literary the that effect the to Takeowrote Ueno structure.29 power the with cooperation in acted that or officials ernment gov- by created movements literary disrupt to attempt and oppose to was of goal main a that idea the reinforced writers these of all almost numberoccasions, Society. a of OnDiscussion Harmonious ary Liter- Manabu’s Matsumoto with battle ongoing journal’s the in effective particularly been have to appears This institutions. outside from support without state, modern the to opposition in developed had that world ary liter- Japanese modern a of tradition the invoke to was machine” fascist opaque “gigantic this resist to again and again adopted critics and writers As we have seen in essays by Takeda and Aono, one rhetorical the strategy 1:1:119). Letters from readers contained comments such comments contained readers from Letters 1:1:119). JB JB 1:5:3). Or, “I am in full support of (Chamber of Authors). The consis- Authors). The Reichsschrifttumskammer(Chamberof TheLibrary People’s was probably a factor in disrupt- JB 1:1:119). Nitta Jun accused The People’sLibrary The People’s Library People’s The JB 1:8:9). Sus- minzoku).28 ’s bold JB

The People’s Library 67 The The ’s writers, the fas- the writers, ’s perceived in the Japan JB 1:9:83), but social realism The People’s People’s Library The 1:9:84). The progress of this this of progress evolution The 1:9:84).JB ThePeople’s Library was the spirit of resistance to all authori- 1:9:71). “Human experience is a vast, fas- vast, a experienceis “Human 1:9:71). JB People’s People’s Library prose group activelydefended Sanbun Sanbun seishin originated in a 1924 debate between Arishima debate 1924 a in originated seishin sanbun and neo-romantic writers, politicized: prose narrative open felt the literature of prose narrative supported narrativesupported prose literatureof the People’s felt Library The JB The1:9:84).proper subject of thenovel was the disorderly lives of Takeda Takeda Rintarō understood the “spirit of prose literature” in terms of Thefascism that writers for By the mid-1930s, what had been a debate over aesthetics became, for for became, aesthetics over debate a been had what mid-1930s, the By relatives”; that “war is just and beautiful even if it is one of aggression”; and aggression”; of one is it if even beautiful and just is “war that relatives”; that “war is the greatest performance of poetic lyricism.”31 This “wartime of perspective the from aesthetic”—or, Romantic School was as much aesthetic and philosophical as it was political. This wasnatural enough, since theneo-romantics, led byYasuda confuted Yojūrō, these categories, arguing that “poetry and war are blood ordinary people. a politically effective ideology, it had succumbed to the seductions of theory of seductions the to succumbed had it ideology, effective politically a tooabstract ( become had and a native tradition of realistic prose fiction inJapanese history.He traced this tradition from its origin with Ihara Saikaku to Japanese naturalism to contemporaryhis ( realismsocial experience this make to attempts and Takeda, to according novel,” cinating conform to narrow ideological or generic constructs were counterproduc- tive ( People’s People’s Library to extra-literary diversity was either unaesthetic democratic, or while high poetic art forms were symbols of the nation’s beauty, or reactionary. The writersfor while democracy, the obtuse literary criticism and classical and neoclassical poetry that occupied the pages of the Japan School’s Romantic journal authoritarian. (Japan School) Rōman-ha were inherently Nihon Romantic corresponded to the rise of the bourgeoisie ( establish to haste the in because literature prose of spirit the frustrated had

denigrated Japanese realism. Unfurling the banner of the “spirit of prose the literature ),” (sanbun seishin realism in the context of the Japanese literary tradition and opposed the nationalistic aesthetic of death being formulated by the Japanese roman- phrase The tics. who argued Takeo, that artists who devoted themselves wholly to art their and life, of petty matters distractedthe were by who thoseto superior were Hirotsu Kazuo, who countered that the of “spirit prose literature” was the immediate, common, most the was it becauseprecisely art of form highest and relevant existence.32 to human cist aesthetic, which the Japan Romantic School was constructing from 1936 1936 from constructing was School Romantic Japan the which aesthetic, cist and tradition Japanese classical unique a of spirit” “poetic the on—elevated 68 Richard Torrance romanticism.33by with aligned critics spirit of prose literature,” fiction occupied most of the pages of the maga-the of pages the of most occupied literature,” prose of spiritfiction vituperative in the literary world during the years 1936 and 1937. In a con- a 1937.1936In and years the during world literary the in vituperative The writers for School.Romantic Japan the to anathema was literature of idea say, this to discourses, tarian but especially to those propagated by the Needlessstate. one of the most influential novels of the mid-1930s, was serialized in part in serialized was mid-1930s, the of novels influential most the of one Jun’s kami 1930s. the Ta- of part latter the of poetry and fiction important more the of some published Jinminsha, company, parent its and journal The zine. derives, more or less,from the ideology ofJapanism” ( selves to be following a fascist them- line, but, consider objectively, not the power do of their probably ideas times ancient of revival a advocate who ( amorality and tatorship, implicitly approving of Japan’s aggressive war, hero worship leading to dic- of chauvinism, cultural of School Romantic Japan the accused He . Library in theJapanserialized of Romantic critique essays his in School ( blood” nese beauty of Japanese traditional culture and unique enthusiasm for thethe purity of Japa-with “intoxication an was there whom for things,” Japanese “uniquely and “Japanism” for cheerleaders fascist of appearance the and ( politics and culture, religion, of unity of policy its with ment, Kimio noted the congruence between the formation of the Hayashi govern- Izu issue, 1937 June the In fascism. represented School Romantic Japan Kamei Shōichirō: of member a Jun, Nitta between School staged by the between frontation Th Nitta Almost all of the writers of writers the of all Almost In Nitta Kamei e ensuing debate between the two groups was the sharpest and most and sharpest the was groups two the ensuingbetween debatee keeping with the by position taken : :

: This issomething worth defending. conclusion? alogical this isn’treasoning, your follow we If loss. great without destroyed be can culture today’s that follows it then culture, temporary Yeah, fascism!34 that’s con- in protecting nothingworth is there that Since believe you Yes. On the other hand, there are people who share our views. views. our share who people are there hand, other the Yes.On Kokyū wasureubeki Kokyū 2:7:32–36).35 Shibukawa Gyō offered the most sustained sustained most the offered Gyō 2:7:32–36).35Shibukawa JB TheLibrary People’s Hōchi Hōchi Shimbun in June 1937, there is the following exchange People’s Library People’s JB (Let Old Acquaintance Be Forgot; 1935–36), Forgot; Be Acquaintance Old (Let 2:6:150–54). Yoshisawa Gen wrote, “Those wrote, Gen Yoshisawa 2:6:150–54). The People’s Library People’s The were labeled proponents of “shit realism” The People’s Library People’s The group and the Japanese Romantic Japanese the and group The Library concerningPeople’s “the were convinced that the that convinced were , and the neo-romantic neo-romantic the and , JB 1:7:136). saisei itchi saisei The People’s ), The People’s Library 69 JB (Sharks; (Sharks; Same (1936–37) was well received when it first ap- it first was well received when (1936–37) Aragane (Ore; 1937–38), which describes in detail and later as published a book The novel by Jinminsha. JB 1:3:124–25) Ottosei (A Seal; 1937), two poems fiercely critical of the sterility, hinohara thought this was odd. Sawamura gave up on politics, lived lived politics, on up gave Sawamura odd. was this thought hinohara S self, self, a self of “ideas,” disappeared and was replaced by a new self, an ( “ignoble” self. in utter despair, in and utter despair, just when there was light at the end of the tunnel, he committed suicide. Still, Shinohara also thought he understood. . . . When Sawamura suddenly found a secure life, he lost the self that was struggling to survive. His old self died and a new self was born. His old one one painful humiliation after another. Finally, he severed his ties with politics and found a good job at a race track. Before that, he eked out a miserable existence as a temporary clerk at the administrative court. with a guy a Imagine house. coffee a in cook a as worked that,he Before cook. a as Universityworking Imperial Tokyo from economics in degree Then, toput just itbluntly, when he found a job that would let him live killed himself. he being, like a human Mamiya Mosuke’s A Seal breath,Smelly The The oftime our our politicalfor for Sawamura, was indeed involvement day the came Then for. live to most the had we when period a generation, of reckoning. During the fiveyears after his arrest, Sawamura suffered The People’sThe Library Thenovel is a chronicle of thedestroyed lives left in the wake of political and early late of the 1920s 1930s. repressions the lives of miners, is now considered a classic of Japanese social realism. SaikakuRintarō’s Ihara Takeda Jinmin- works. finest his of one as reputation a gained since has and peared Mitsuharu’s Kaneko form book in publish to first the was sha 1937) 1937) and violence, and homogenization of everyday life in a militaristic society ( 2:10:1). Sawamura Minoru, has recently committed suicide, and the group gathered to mourn has his death. Shinohara Tatsuya, a former activist turned pleasure seeker, speculates on the reason why Sawamura took his life: own in concerns a group of former student radicals who were active as labor orga- activelabor were as radicals who student former of groupconcerns a subsequently were and movement left-wing the of height the during nizers comrades, former the of One politicalbeliefs. their renounced and arrested 70 Richard Torrance 1:7:34–51]) concerns discrimination against and police persecution of of persecution police and against discrimination concerns 1:7:34–51]) paid for theirwriting. were contributors the noneof since magazine,the with solidarity of sense a of or another.37 out point one so at did They journal the in poetry or tion expressed. One reader wrote, “There are any number of Diet members Diet of number any are “There wrote, reader One expressed. often was policies government with Dissatisfaction readers. from letters in carried often quite was and specific very be to tended trends political contemporary of Criticism causes. progressive of variety a to open were featured prominently. also others—were several and Tsuseko,Yada Fujiko, Ōtani Yuriko, moto Miya- Ineko, Sata Fumiko, Taiko, Hayashi women—Hirabayashi by works son union between leaders and strikers on the line ( liai- a as former a prostitute serves of who torture, suicide,afterthepolice concerns that realism social and fiction, spy sado-eroticism, of spiredmix in- an is Hyōgo, Hirabayashi by 1936), Flesh; the of (Sins tsumi no Nikutai War( Sino-Japanese Second the of outbreak the with China the value of his years of labor and frugality after his son is drafted to fight in doubting leftalone, man old wealthy a to War;about Goes 1937),is which expressed in Hotta Shōichi’s Japan’sis theme by youngboy. aanti-war perceived KoreanAn as minority Katsuei’s Yuasa writers. unknown relatively

Th In addition to socially the socially pagesto committedIn addition fiction, of A longedI have always for the oppositedirection.36 Pushed aside bythe fishy nauseating crowd. Huge balls. Pock marks mar theirskin: Mediocre! How conceited! rubber.Pitiful Sluggish resilience, Ponderous air-filledbags. Bodies— What adisgusting life! It makes me sick, Slimy skin, likeatomb. Steaming. lmost every major writer with a commitment to realism published realism commitmentto fic a with major writer every lmost e most politically e most politically daringto seems havefiction been by created young, Yanushi no musuko shusseisu Tabako 1:4:24–63). Literary Literary JB 1:4:24–63). Tbco 13 [ 1936 (Tobacco; (TheLandlord’s Son TheLibrary People’s 2:14:2–18). 2:14:2–18). JB JB -

The People’s Library 71 JB JB 2:9). 1:6–8). Working women— Working 1:6–8).JB 2:12:3). The titles of roundtable dis- roundtable of titles The 2:12:3). JB JB 2:10:47) 2:7:9). Another stated, “Rents charged our ten- our charged stated,“Rents Another 2:7:9). JB JB 2:6) and “Workers Speak Out about Their Lives” ( idea idea of modern warfare. A rudimentary knowledge of modern science be sufficient wars should to understand pastthe the and in that warfare of the present and future are completely differentorganisms. Everyone would acknowledge that it is foolish to equate a whale and a sardine because they both swim in the sea. A few military men have explained conceptiontheir of modern chemical warfare. It is a horror beyond the imaginations ( of novelists. candle. Outside there is the noise of exploding gunpowder, and over- the through walk I When propellers. airplane of racket constant the head neighborhood, everyone is dressed in khaki. Everywhere I go, I seem to be scolded about something. . . . This is the overcastgloomy, mood of is inimical and it fascism, to literature.39 the about journalists of part the on ignorance levelof the at shocked I’m However, because of the increasingly severe censorship around the For For the first time inmany years, I am writing this under the light of a Again, shortly after the China Incident of 1937, he wrote: he of 1937, Incident China the after Again, shortly time of the China Incident of 1937, antimilitary sentiment generally had to be expressed euphemistically through historical and literary allusion. the timeof the drawnbetweenand were parallels example, present the For opposition “The conclude, would Gyō Shibukawa and War, Russo-Japanese is thanit stronger much periodmilitaristicwas Meiji to the the of ideology on—formed the discussion “This Is How Working Women View Things” ( Things” View Women Working How Is “This discussion the on—formed 2:1). men were Working-class the main participants in “Ordinary Life and Literature” ( Clearly, then, the journal was attempting to provide liberal, democratic, and progressive alternatives to the dominant political ideology of the day. the and wars” “imperialistic opposing of history long a had Rintarō Takeda wrote in 1933: example, he For militarization society.38 of Japanese Aono Suekichi, Akita Ujaku, and Eguchi Kan ( Kan Eguchi and Ujaku, Akita Suekichi, Aono a secretary, farmer, reporter, café waitress, textile factory worker, and so speechifying speechifying about the exhaustion of our farming villages, but I wonder ( care?” really many how ant are farmers world. the More in highest than the 50 percent of the total ( landowner” the by taken is harvest cussions provide a good indication of the editorial direction of the magazine. “The Emergence ofSocialist Literature in wasJapan” made up of the “old men” of the left-wing literary movement, writers and critics such as 72 Richard Torrance profitexpanded intervened. andhad publishing book the into state until successful.remarkably a turning be was to company provedThe policy rial with the ideas expressed in the periodical, and this open, democratic edito- eo osi a cnoiat o h mltrzto o Jpns society. Japanese of militarization the to concomitant as worship hero ( pose it” op- to popular determination firm the to rise given also has tendency this time same the at but war, for preparation full on intent fascism a toward cial situation since the beginning of 1937 has undergone a strong tendency so- “the Kimio: Izu followingby censors—forthe the example, through it ( today” and February 1938. In the first of these mass arrests, called the “People’s the called arrests, mass these of first the In 1938. February and 1937 December in out carried were Japan in front popular the establish to als, and the non-communist left. Roundups of people suspected of working intellectu- to arrests and supervision expandedtheir police the threat, this 1935 WorldSeventh International. Communist Congressthe of To counter proval, called for popular fronts of progressive forces against fascism at the forwarded Dimitrov, by Georgi Stalin’s and strategy cultural who, with ap- on the verge ofdisintegration. Japanaj (KOPF)—were Organizoj Kultur Proletaj de Federacio prominently,the Party—most nist and repeated arrests, the cultural organizations affiliated with the Commu- arts the of politicization extreme the over dissension internal of because 1934, by that recognized these and agencies, relevant other and ministry the within authorities among circulated were reports Secret them. ported intellectuals; literary, arts, and academic journals; and the groups that sup- fairs was keeping close watch over the ideological dispositions of individual Af- Home of Ministry the in Bureau Affairs Criminal fascism.The against front popular a of idea the out stamp to effort their overall from stemmed forced upon them” ( heroes by manipulated being in delight take now heroism, of sense own their of stripped been have who people, “the dominant: cultural the come be- had power which in affairs of state a reflected society contemporary his in worshiphero all-pervasive the that argued Gyō Shibukawa 2:7:36). race,’ arguments which forwardedare repeatedly ( by the fascist literati” our of characteristics unique ‘the and things’ Japanese ‘uniquely on based arguments oppose and analyze we that imperative is “It wrote, Kimio Izu Th The efforts of the authorities to eliminate eliminate to authorities the of efforts The Library People’s The However, the authorities were newly worried by the idea of a political political a of idea the by worried newly were authorities the However, e management and editing of editing and management e 2:6:153). Here and there, an explicitly antiwar statement made statement antiwar explicitly an there, and Here 2:6:153). JB JB 2:8:97). writers also saw claims of Japanese uniqueness and uniqueness Japanese of claims saw also writers JB 1:5:121). The People’s Library People’s The The People’s Library People’s The remained consistent remained probably JB The People’s Library 73

ThePeople’s Library The People’s People’s Library. The was systematically driven out of ),” ),” four hundred persons were arrested, ThePeople’s Library , which is recorded briefly in1938 in police records as Jinmin Jinmin Sensen jiken national policy, and they do not express their ideology as they did before. before. did they as ideology their express not do they and policy, national Because they appear to have adopted a basic tone of culturalism, it is difficult to distinguishthem from ordinary This cultural means groups. we must go to great to cases.40 these prosecute lengths People’sThe Library Due to the pressures of the times and the increased arrests by the police, police, the by arrests increased the and times the of pressures the to Due cultural organizations have adopted an attitude that they are following While it was easy for the authorities to detect the “danger” of left-of- In the end, though,

existence by government authorities. Police insisted on being present at years earlier. Finally, the editors of and contributors to withwayscame creative up to express political the “spirit advancing ideas: as toopposed neo-romanticism; as history presenting literature,” of prose views the of socialists active from the Meiji period; and group discussions factory and female of male “lifestyles” the concerning workers. Front Front Against Fascism, it carried this notice and other potentially controversial notices and editorial decisions in small print at the bottom of the page. the Moreover, journal carried many contributions from leftists once associated with KOPF, but editorial policy insisted that its primary focus was literary, and editors refused to carry literary theory or the formulaic political slogans and plots common to the proletariat literature of a few a proletariat magazine that had failed, survived as long at it did first because the authorities did not perceive the threat of the Popular Front until 1936 or so and were then busy prosecuting the more obvious figureson the left. Theyonly laterproceeded to the more difficult proveto cultural of editors the of craftiness the was there Second, cases.41 Although the journal clearly aligned itself with the International Popular center ideas in the realms of politics and economics, it seems that in the one from To quote case of literature, officialsthe hadmore difficulta task. secret in 1938: report as Ōuchi Hyōe, Arisawa Hiromi, and Wakimura Yoshitaōr of Tokyo Imperial Tokyo of Yoshitaōr Wakimura and Hiromi, Arisawa Hyōe, Ōuchi as University; Minobe Ryōkichi and Abe Yūichi of Hōsei University; and Uno University. Kōzō of Hokkaido Front Front Incident ( among them the leaders of the Japan Proletariat and the Socialist Masses parties and the political theorists Yamakawa Hitoshi, Ōmori Gitarō, Ino- secondThe Front People’s saw Incident and Sakisaka Itsurō. Tsunao, mata arreststhe suchof eliteforty-five academic including persons, economists 74 Richard Torrance harassed and arrested both individually and when they met in groups. Thein met they when and individually both arrested and harassed repeatedly were magazine the to Regularcontributors debts. huge curred banned. 1937,issue was Takedaafterof issuein- months later the In zine. maga- the of support in events nationwide at and discussions roundtable support of the emperor state; unprecedented extremism in calls for a return lence and in irrationality the propaganda composed by writers and artists in arts, mass media, and the economy under state control; unprecedented vio- the bring to attempts unprecedented abroad; aggression military dented unprece- home; at dissidents political leftist of repression unprecedented eral public used the term control. social total toward trends 1930s, the of trends political dominant the to and critics had to expose. Japanese fascism was identified bythose opposed within which they were working. Fascism was a social dynamic that writers genre universal the recognizing not on intent were exceptions, few with machine,” in Aono Suekichi’s words. Those who were creatingthis fascism, opaque giant a of gears “the like level, subconscious a at functioning cess taken together, described and analyzed a social structure and historical pro- gendered deal ofresistance. agreat of evolution fascism identified by writers and critics duringthis decade en- gradual The crisis. international and domestic of state continual a in was cade before the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, Japan de- fora that fact the ignores it But 1945. to 1941 from designates, Keene period the for true be may This publishing.”42 from refrained who , . . . no resistance to the militarists save for the negative actions of a few authors was “There written, has War,KeeneAsian Donald East Greater the during government the to relation in writers Japanese of actions the Concerning Conclusion immediateor aftermath. inits Takeo,Kishi and Gen, Furusawa Asian perishedEast during Great the War cluding Takeda Hirabayashi Hyōgo, Rintarō, Yada Tsuseko, Honjō Mutsuo, in- writers, antifascist determined most journal’s the of number A 1938. he felt as though his child had died and wrote nothing after of significance journal was forced to cease publication in January 1938. Takeda declared that Intellectuals, political activists, writers, and writers, a activists, large segmentpolitical Intellectuals, of the gen F ascism ascism in a Japanese context consisted of a set of generic markers that, fascism from 1931 to 1938 to resist what they saw as - The People’s Library 75 The The was forced to cease publication, a variety of gov- toceasepublication,varietyof a forced was . Clearly, the term before the war was war the termbefore the Clearly, People’s Library. The JB 2:8:113). Until the late 1930s, writers and critics resisted writers had feared. It was also in 1938 that the discussion 1938 to1938 1945, Japanese literarydiscourse lost as its autonomy, The People’s Library The ter From Af The more fruitful question to ask is how and why the concept of fascism was fascism of concept the why and how is ask to question fruitful more The used so widely in Japanese contexts and whether those contexts are relevant to our present. As we have seen, the possibilityof the emergence and development of fascism served as a cautionary tale by writers and critics fact potential the The of threat literary relativelytoa extinguish free world. that this cautionary tale came true, despite such valiant efforts toprevent substantiality the termit, givesfascism the Japanese of experience. Japan? Close enough, one is tempted to say, at least from the perspectives of perspectives the from least at say, to tempted is one enough, Close Japan? of writers young the People’s People’s Library and critique of fascism in public discourse was systematically suppressed by the state, a time when the term was perhaps the most relevant to the description of contemporary But did exist fascism reallysocialin trends.44 ultranationalist oppose and identify to Japan in contexts of varietya in used political, social, and cultural trends that ultimately resulted in the loss not of only academic and literary freedom but also of tens of millions of lives. literary societies with the objective of making writers fully aware of their re- their of aware fully writers making of objective the with literarysocieties sponsibilities to serve the interests of the state, the nation through defend their art, and formulate and accomplish the cultural mission of the Japa- nese empire. As the literary historian Senuma Shigeki has concluded, the state, subserviencethe toliteratureof of one was 1945 to 1938 periodfrom at least in an institutional, sense.43 an individual, if not sent them to the front to report on the Sino-Japanese Two months War. forestryagricultureand of Bungaku initiatedNōmin the minister the later, Konwakai (Agrarian Literature Harmonious Discussion Society). In 1939, the Department of Overseas Affairsorganized Tairiku the Kaitaku Bungei Konwakai (Continental Colonial Development Literary Harmonious Dis- government-sponsored of plethora a with continued it Society). So cussion ernment agencies took up and extended Matsumoto Manabu’s initiative to control literature. In the second half of 1938, the Cabinet Information Bureau organized more than twenty writers into two naval squadrons and to the golden age of Japan’s past; and unprecedented measures taken to mobilize the masses for total sum To war. up, in Rintarō’s Takeda words, “Everyaspect of social is life regulated being coerciveforcefully by control from above” ( this control, many with and at great courage sacrifice. personal 76 Richard Torrance

Notes

10. 12. 11. 4 9. 8. 6. 2. 5. 3 7 1. . . .

sei: Jūgonen sensō no nagare no naka de,”in naka no nagare no sensō Jūgonen sei: “ study excellent Saburō’s Tsujihashi by citations these of Ibid., 249. Ibid., 245–46. Ibid., 241. Ibid., Ibid., 250.Ibid., Ibid., 253.Ibid., Ibid., 254–55.Ibid., Hasegawa, of Fascism, 17. parliamentary or dictatorial, were defined as fascist”:Beetham, post-1928 theory of fascism, according to regimes, which whether“all capitalist Comintern’s the from substantially differed It derivation. mere a it was neither Fascism of Face in Marxists ed., Beetham, David 1928: to 1922 from Europe in proliferated that fascism of did not come out of thin air. Similarities can be found among the various theories fascism of characterization Clearly,Hasegawa’s5:421. 1990), Shoten, Iwanami Sono ‘Kokka hihan’ no gendai-teki igi,” in ‘yomu’: o “NyozekanHasegawa’s Tanakaoriginality,see OnHiroshi, event. the in published Itaru Nii and Shirō Tōyama by articles two of exception the democracy.”“Taishō undergoingWith Japan in concern little of and understood well not was fascism over first, At taken Italy. had government socialist a that conservatives by outrage of were Japan in responses initial the 1922, 30, October on power took Mussolini After setsu,”in bunko sōkan rokujūnen,” ka, ed. Mitsuo Nitta (Tokyo: Yūshōdō Shoten, 1971), 37; Yamazaki Yukio, “ mita kara bunko “Jinmin Kōhei, gakushi o yomikaeru series, vol. 3 (Tokyo: Inpakuto Shuppankai, 1999), 59; Naka to fascism, see Shimahirao Naoshi, “ On 238. 188– 1968), Shobō, (Tokyo:Misuzu Kenkyūjo Kagaku Jinbun Daigaku Dōshisha (hereafter, As quoted inŌtani, Shobō, 1982), 222. ruary 1936),ruary 136–37. See also Kōichi, Ōtani “Bungakkai dōjin zadankai,” roundtable discussion, Parenthetical citations refer to volume, issue, and page numbers of numberspage and issue,volume, to refer citations Parenthetical 14. being almost the last and most effective leftist opposition opposition leftist effective most and last the almost being Library People’s The Jinmin bunko: kaisetsu, sōmokuji, sakuin sōmokuji, kaisetsu, bunko:Jinmin JB Hasegawa Nyozekan shū,5:236. ; reprint ed. [Tokyo: Fuji Shuppan, 1996]). I was guided to many to guided was I 1996]). Shuppan, Fuji [Tokyo: ed. reprint ; Hyōden Takeda Rintarō, 224. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1983). But 1983). Press, University Manchester (Manchester: Hongō-dayori, vol. 24 (May 1996), 1; Odagiri Hideo, “Kai- to wa nani wa to roman-haroman-ha“ Nippon” Nippon,” in Kaizō Jinmin bunko o yomu,” in in 1922, there was not much analysis of analysis much not was there 1922, in Hasegawa Nyozekan shū Hyōden Takeda Rintarō (Tokyo: Fuji Shuppan, 1996), 12, 1996), Shuppan, Fuji (Tokyo: Senjika teikō no kenkyū no teikō Senjika Bungakkai, vol. 3, no. 2 (Feb- Jinmin bunko Jinmin Tenkō no meian, Bun- , 12 vols., (Tokyo: Marxists Marxists in the Face (Tokyo: Kawade Jinminbunko , vol. 2, ed. 2, vol. , no shino Jinmin The People’s Library 77 , - Sen- (Tokyo: (Tokyo: , 2 vols. (Tokyo: ō, vol. 29, ō, Shinch vol. Shinch 3–4 of the Bungaku Puroretaria bungaku shi Senjika no teikō to jiritsu: (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, Shoten, Iwanami (Tokyo: Nihon jinmin sensen undōshi sensen jinmin Nihon Shōwa bungei-in samatsu ki (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1975), Tenkō Tenkō no meian: Shōwa jūnen zengo no ō, Shinch vol. 29, no. 9 (September 1932), (Tokyo: Inpakuto Shuppankai, 2000). An Bundan Bundan uchisoto Kindai Nihon to riberarizumu to Nihon Kindai , vol. 14, no. 3 (March 1969), 29. For another news-another 14,, vol. 3 29. (March 1969), For no. , Shinchō vol. 29, 106.no. 4 (April See 1933), also Nii Senjika teikō no kenkyū: Kirisutosha Jiyūsha no baai (Tokyo: Shakai Hyōronsha, 1989), 309–12. Another ex- ō, Shinch vol. 29, no. 3 (March 1932), 110–15; Chikamatsu Shakai kagaku tōkyū kagaku Shakai (Tokyo: Inpakuto Shuppankai, 1999), and Kimura Kazunobu, ed., , vol. 134, no. 3482 (March 30, 1932), 355. 1932), 30, 3482 (March 134,Nation, vol. no. in The As quoted “Fuassho to“Fuassho fuasshizumu bungei ni roundtable tsuite,” discussion, Matsumoto Manabu, quoted Toshio, in Wada Chikuma Shobō, 1994), 53. For information on the cooperation between the military and writers and on Matsumoto, see ibid., 44–45,35–36, 98–109. For a list of organizations, including the “new bureaucrat” Kokuikai, under the um- Shūkō, “Ankanaru Shūkō, fuassho “Ankanaru bungaku,” tankyū no jijitsu no fuasshoka “Iwayuru Murao, Nakamura 116; 1932), (May 5 no. (April 4 no. 29, vol. ō, Shinch botsuraku,” naru to kanzen puroretaria no bungaku 64–69.1932), (Tokyo: (Tokyo: Misuzu Shobō, 1968–69). Yamada Seizaburō, yugamerareta okeru ni nado zasshi, taishā bungei, “Taishā Nyozekan, Hasegawa ‘taishā,’” 7. 1932), 8 (August 29, no. , vol. Shinchō 6 (June 11, no. , vol. bungaku 37. Nihon 1962), 212. Fuwa Shiyō, jihyō,” “Bungei Itaru, “Bungei jihyō,” 106–108. 134. 131, 126, 1932), 4 (April 29, no. communist-affiliated groups is Inumaru Giichi, Inumaru is groups communist-affiliated 1978). Shoten, Aoki bungaku jika no bungaku: Kakudaisuru sensō kūkan excellent select bibliography of works documenting organized resistance more broadly in society as a whole is in Furihata Setsuo, ed., Sōzōteki sengo e no taidō cellent resistancestudydescribing to fascism by communist-affiliated andnon- Kagaku Kenkyūjo, ed., ortho- the on organizations goodfor a source is 1973), Rironsha, (Tokyo: vols. 2 dox literary left. Select bibliographies of more recent research on the topic of literary resistance to fascism and militarism are in vols. 1994), 309–13. Jinbun Daigaku Dōshisha detailin in resistancedocumentedNon-communist is shi shi o yomikaeru series: Hasegawa Kei, ed., As quoted in Enomoto Takashi, “Bunka no taishā-ka mondai to kokkashugi-teki totaishā-kakokkashugi-teki mondai no “Bunka Takashi, Enomoto in quoted As I,” henkō, paper account of the same meeting, see “Itsuka-kai enki/Bundan-jin to gen’eki 7. , February 1932, Asahi 6, Shimbun undō kengen,” ketsugōshōkō no/Fuassho Tokunaga Tokunaga Sunao, “Nomoto Renmei-ha no fuassho bungaku,” As quoted in Enomoto Takashi, “Bungei Konwakai to taishū sakka no ugoki,” As quoted in Ozaki Hotsuki, As quoted in Tanaka Hiroshi, Hiroshi, Tanaka in quoted As

7. 3. 2. 1 13. 19. 15. 16. 21. 18. 14. 2 2 20.

78 Richard Torrance

24 34. 30. 29. 28. 26. 32. 2 35. 33. 2 31. 5. 7. .

Hirotsu Hirotsu Kazuo, “Sanbun geijutsu no ichi,” Quoted in Tatsumi Kōsei, “Nippon Roman-shugi no ideorogiiron, 2,”ideorogiiron, no Roman-shugi“Nippon Kōsei, Tatsumiin Quoted Tsujihashi, “ Aono Suekichi, “Bungaku minzoku-sei,” to Hasegawa, , ed. Ikeda Hiroshi (Tokyo: Inpakuto Shuppankai, 1998), 72. 1998), Shuppankai, Inpakuto (Tokyo: Hiroshi Ikeda ed. nendai, 20–30 no sha romanteishizumu,”in iu to “‘Taishū’ Hiroshi, Ikeda “Jinmin Bunko/Nippon Roman-ha tōronkai,” roundtable discussion, in discussion, roundtable tōronkai,”Roman-ha Bunko/Nippon “Jinmin Tanaka Hiroshi, 11. Matsumoto Manabu promoted the idea of idea the promoted Manabu Matsumoto Kamiya Kamiya Tadataka, “Shōwa jūnendai no ‘sanbun seishin’ ron,” in our Nation’s ceremonies ( hihyō (Tokyo: Shobō, taikei 1968), 2:416. Banchō hashi, “Jinmin bunko no shisei,” 2:231. Tsuji-102; 1981), (Tokyo:Yūseidō, Kankōkai Shiryō BungakuKenkyū Nihon ed. michi,” Nihon bungaku, vol. 30, no. 1981), 1–4. 12(December no e seishin “Sanbun Yasuyoshi, Sekiguchi 3:262–64; 1954), Shobō, Kawade vol. 1960), 28,no. 78. 5(May their on reflect whoparticipation”( joined the to writers group ignorant politically the causing thus it, opposed ferociously had and Konwakai Bungeithe of agendahidden the sensed had “WritersJapan, of case the in that, writers and critics, and organization and control of the literati who remained was tween Nazi Germany’s book burnings, imprisonment, and expulsion of dissident in commented Gen Furusawa products. and activities cultural all supervised Reichskulturkammer,which the of merchandisingand sub-agency materials.Ita publication, the was of printed writing, the expedite to was purpose ostensible Its media. print the in working tion. Membership was compulsory for all writers, publishers, editors, and others organiza- professional Socialist National a was Reichsschrifttumskammer The nitsuite,”hitsuyō Shinchō, vol. 32, no. 9(September 1935), 106. Japanof Modern (New York: HarperCollins, 2000),280. 226–33; KadokawaHerbert Shoten, 73–81, Bix,1968),12, eds., Tatsurō, Inagaki and Yoshida Seiichi 1977–78); Kōdansha, (Tokyo: daijiten bungaku kindai daijiten “Yonichiroku “Sanichigojiken,”jiken”and 264–78; 1968), Shoten,Aoki bungaku retaria Yamada Seizaburō, bungaku“Puroretaria shōshi,” in ibid., see 55–56,activities, 202–14. support his for financial on and policy thought-control on legislation ingmajor draft- in role Matsumoto’s On 54. ibid., Renmei, see Bunka Nihon the of brella oo ukci “ugk be rn Sip-ei ugksa o esg no ketsugō no bungakusha Shinpo-teki ron: bōei “Bungaku Suekichi, Aono (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1979–97); “Puroretaria bungaku,” “Puroretaria 1979–97); Kōbunkan, Yoshikawa(Tokyo: Hasegawa Nyozekan shū,5:318–19. Jinmin bunko no shisei,” 2:201. , ed. Eguchi Kan, Tsuboi Shigeji, and Yamda Seizaburō (Tokyo: Seizaburō Yamda and Shigeji, Tsuboi Kan, Eguchi ed. , edi o hatate-tachi no Gendai Kindai Nihon to riberarizumu matsuri The People’s Library People’s The ) and government ( Nhn ugk n rksi eis (Tokyo: series rekishi no bungaku Nihon , Gendai bungaku ron taikei (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1993), 309– saisei itchi saisei , vol. 29, no. 7 (July 1932),Shinchō, vol.81. 29,no. 7(July that the major difference be- difference major the that matsurigoto) were one and the saying, “In ancient times, times, ancient “In saying, Meisaku annaiMeisaku Nihon no puro- Taishū no tōjō: Hirō to doku- to Hirō tōjō: Taishūno Hirohitotheand Making Shōwa no bungaku, JB 2:1:6). , 8 vols. (Tokyo: Bungaku, Kokushi Kokushi Shōwa Nihon The People’s Library 79 (Boston: , August 20, , ed. Kurahara Ko- Kurahara ed. , , there was also the Kaneko Mitsuharu Yomiuri Yomiuri Shimbun (Studies in Ma- in (Studies kenkyū Yūbutsuron (Tokyo: Kodansha International, ThePeople’s Library Sensōsensō taisuru ni (Tokyo: Ōfūsha, 1975), 11. 1975), Ōfūsha, nōto (Tokyo: Shōwa bungaku Shōwa shisō shi: Kuraku kagayakeru 1930 , nendai Asahi , the arrest of Tosaka Jun and the other other the and Jun Tosaka of arrest the , hihan Fuashizumu (Tokyo: Tōkō Shoin, 1939), 157–58. The quote The 157–58. 1939), Tōkō Shoin, to seiji (Tokyo: Bunka bunka bunka ).’ undō more . than. Today, . ever, the restoration of the (Tokyo: Tōjusha, 1976), Tōjusha, 37–39. (Tokyo: Kanpon bungaku Shōwa no Appreciations Appreciations of Japanese Culture Kaneko Kaneko Mitsuharu, “A Seal,” trans. James Morita, Donald Keene, Takeda Takeda Rintarō, “Fuassho seishin to bungaku,” In the same year as the suppression of the Ibid., 9. rehito (Tokyo: Nansō Shoin, 1928), the only explicitly antiwarexplicitly 1928), the literaryShoin, only rehitoNansō anthology(Tokyo: was He also published before the famous Second War. for shouting World anti- away rallies with and getting at public it.war slogans Jōji, Hayama Yoshiki, Fujisawa Takeo, Nogami Yaeko, Kataoka Teppei, Hirotsu Sunao, Kazuo, Tokunaga Kawabata Okada Yasunari, Saburō, Shimaki Kensaku, Ozaki Shirō, Sata Ineko, Serizawa Kōjirō, and MiyamotoYuriko, Nakano Shige- haru. contributora was toanthology the Takeda Twayne Publishers, 1980), 63–64. 1980), Publishers, Twayne These includeUno TsubotaTokuda Kōji, Shūsei, Enchi OnoFumiko, Tōzaburō, same. same. . . . Matsuri signifies the movement whole persontoon improve boththe the spiritual and physical plane, and this is exactly what is meant today by ‘cultural movement ( ceremonial is crucial. . . . I advocate the creation of an Imperial Cultural Institute Cultural Imperial an of creation the advocate I . . . crucial. is ceremonial as an organ for the restoration of Matsuri, which is the same thing as culture”: Matsumoto Manabu, , September 1934. shunjū appeared in Bungei originally Senuma Shigeki, Shigeki, Senuma 1971), 300. 1971), 1933, 4. 1933, Saburō, Tsujihashi in As quoted banning of Kawai Eijirō’s Eijirō’s Kawai of banning journal suppressed the with involved academics Arakawa political the As Suekichi. philosopher arrest Aoki of the and terialism), legal in impossible became fascism Japanese of critique the concluded, has Ikuo publications: Arakawa Ikuo, 115. 1989), Asahi Shimbunsha, (Tokyo: 383 series, no. Sensho

1. 8. 4. 4 37. 36. 43. 39. 3 42. 40. 4

H

arry arry Constitutive Ambiguities: The Persistence of Modernism and

H Fascism in Japan’s Modern History arootunian

The coming extinction of art is prefigured in the increasing

impossibility of representing historical events. —Theodor Adorno, Minima Moralia

The [poet] Masamune Hakuchō said: “Abstract thinking is like ghosts. While there are many people who fear the ghostly, there are as many who conspire with it.” —Kobayashi Hideo, Thought and Real Life

The Specter of Unevenness

Throughout the 1930s in Japan there was widespread agreement among writers and intellectuals that they were living in a time of historical crisis set into motion earlier by the implementation of a program of capitalist modernization that now confronted most of the industrial world and had begun to spill over into its colonial domains. World depression simply supplied the momentary occasion to prompt thoughtful people everywhere to identify the vast social, economic, political, and cultural contradictions capitalist modernity had unleashed but had successfully contained. Discourse privileged the cultural (artistic) domain especially where the lived contradictions were sharply etched into the fabric of Japa- nese life and where the manifest ruptures, discontinuities, and different coexisting temporalities provided the focus for a rigorous assessment and evaluation to define Japan’s modernist moment. This was the recognition of a crisis that put into question a perceived separation between modes of cognition and the real and of the necessity of finding adequate and lasting modes of representation. An earlier tradition of separating the terms of the Constitutive Ambiguities 81 modan owhere owhere were the issues of capitalist modernization and the resulting N the the figure of modernity itself appeared to be whatT. J. Clark has called “a constitutive ambiguity” that was capable of mobilizing and directing their respective efforts to respond to itthe challenge for posedthe finding the was it But representation.1 (artistic) cultural politicaland of verymeans crucial role played by the production of unevenness by capitalist modern- that articulated, perhaps inadvertently, the connections of modernismand of connections the thatarticulated, inadvertently, perhaps fascism through the texts of the critic Kobayashi Hideo con- stilland if as the war, Marxist the after continuation its in and Jun, Tosaka philosopher stituting unfinished business, in the writings ofYukio. Mishima Because both the question of finding lastingforms of representationproved to be an irresolvable problem and the reunion of art and everyday life remained fascism, and modernism for ground shared a constituted fantasy illusive an feudal feudal fetters in a capitalist society and a more liberalist persuasion com- consequences supposed the and development late of effects the of plaining of an incomplete modernity prefigured in earlyMeiji social and economic policies. discussions those in than engaged intensely more representation of aporias reality of Japan’s modernization: Marxists pointing to the persistence of of artistic representations or their dismissals were invariably referred to as the modes of perception and consumption of the new industrial world of work and leisure that we call, depending upon our own politics, either capitalism and commodification or modernity and modern such as Miki Kiyoshi in event,earlythe in 1930s any philosophers ). If, raifu life ( gave coherent expression to this observation in his essay “The Philosophy of Crisis” Shūzō and defined itsKuki content in1937 by warning Japanese that they had not considered the excessively enthusiastic cultural borrow- had 1930s the observersbefore thoughtful many period, Meiji the since ing already designated the existence of vast unevenness as a commonsensical to supply mediation in a socio-historic context marked by the production of production the by marked socio-historiccontext a in mediation supply to new forms of economic and cultural unevenness. As a result, the contents relationship had asked whether it was possible to assess the politics of art- politicsof the toassess possible was it whether asked had relationship works or whether art must serve politics, which in Japan increasingly was op- as literature” “pure and sake art’s for art over controversies in expressed posed to a committed Theart. observation led todemands thatattempted (culture) art into everyday life either making for call a by reunion a secure to art into everyday or With capitalist (politics). life modernization, concepts representation,culture, as such modernityand recruitedincreasingly were 82 Harry Harootunian and its representational dilemma. While it is the purpose of this essay to to essay this of purpose the is it While dilemma. representational its and modernity of crisis the of source principal the become to combined that them but, more establishingimportant, coexisting different temporalities, separating apparently only not realms, political and cultural the in ization nent eclipse, so the world that remained peripheral to the industrial core in perma- its in suppressingcountryside surroundinguniversal, the as jected pro- always is which self-image, own its of sheen and luster the beyond lies what conceals inauguralforms.metropole the as its Just through lived have we that now away wishing it from us prevents also it differences. But divergent explain and places of number a in moment certain a at fascism of appearance the understand to us allows unevenness historical of nition of development realization everywhere. even The of importance this recog- eventual anticipates anxiously which globalization, as incarnated recently ideology, most an of heart the at been has negotiations. presumption This societal forgroundingall even universal a of establishment the to directly leads rarely it emergence, of forms primitive its reflecting representations route. What this simply means is that once capital has been freed from fixed along its encounters it collide counter-histories always with must and rain claims of its logic, moves never capitalism to establish a universal ter- even development.”2 Despite thehas proposed, theof uneven “is history always Amin Samir history,”“Universal condition. normal its as unevenness of production the by defined always was modernization capitalist But plete. spread in the postwar period—that Japan’s modernization was still incom- despotism. Implied in this conclusion was conviction—wide- the unstated feudal of customs the in mired still was reality,which lived of essence the penetrated yet not had imports new the how to pointing began thinkers Fearful of unforeseen consequences caused by superficial borrowing, many culturesounselectively European and uncritically. sessive desire imitate to ob- an of effects the about worried many representation, of forms stable cultural unevenness that promised to undermine the possibility of realizing andindustrializingthe world. industrial no Nihon ), ofas inflection aa broaderlocal phenomenon foundthroughout (in proposedas Tosakahad seen, be must crisis tional representa- the unevenness, of recognition the by played role crucial the and Japan in connected) necessarily not are (they fascism and modernism troubled moment and to draw that out some of the linesin of the kinship between Mishima like writers and Kobayashi and Tosaka like thinkers of dispositions interpretative and epistemological shared often the explore T o add force to the observation that Japan was imperiled by wrenching by imperiled was Japan that observation the to force add o Sekai no ittan to shite to ittan no Sekai Constitutive Ambiguities 83 the the final judgmenton all political attempts tobreak the ironreified social logic existence. Just as modernists sought to find a ofmode repre- of a By the same measure, fascism—Adorno’s “coming to itself of society as such”—defied the task of representation because it, and the subsequent If freedom.6 subjective of elimination the from derived it, of contemplation fascism was an impossible object to represent—and I am clearly referring pronounced manifestationabstraction—its culturalsocial of regime the to tation was condensed in fascism, which itself announced a verdict on all political attempts to break Both the logic mod-of reified social existence.5 represen- of mode a find tryingto of problem the faced fascism and ernism tation capable of mastering the essential abstractness of what really hap- fascismdifficult itself, to represent it increasingly Modernism found pens. object an as historicala as and entity subjecta as and realisticof portrayal. What emerged in the interwar period, the theoretical discourse time of modern of aesthetics—or a cultural modernism,signifier in the was a broadest sense—that aspired to displace a politics embedded in abstract Ultimatelyitsdistrustrepresen- of social nexus. the dominating exchange, of representing a historicaleventsof a set object essentialor representing thatsignify the of with- the witness they time same the at happens really what of abstractness drawal of those fixedforms of representation identified with other, prior of existence.4 modes Modernist Moment The What modernists aimed to realize in their practice in prewar Japan, and everywhere else in the capitalist world, thus attested to the impossibility the the interwar period remained hidden in the long shadow capitalist indus- fascism and modernism both of histories the as But it. over casttrialization uneven-of reality the where regions concealed these in precisely is it show, existencedemon- exposed whose and intensely more lived probably is ness strates the incapacityof capital logic to either veil it contain or its excess.3 of capital’s it is the irreducible and unwantedlogic. remainder In this way, Where capital confronts its so other, to speak, representation becomes an irresolvable problem, since it faces the twin demands of capital’s reason, other the on reference, of culture prior a of claims the and hand, one the on which, like a receding echo, retreats steadily into a remaindered world of irrationality and world discarded ghosts the and But ghosts. of a forgotten past tenaciously refused to remain still and returned as unscheduled reve- nants to destabilize the present by reminding it of what it had repressed. 84 Harry Harootunian politics politics no longer anchored by the representational categories that had pro- “where solid everything melts into air”—so fascism struggled to promote a culture, consumer of regime ever-changing the in new ever well)—the as not logic (asusceptible sentation to capitalist shared vocation by Marxists, of concreteness each was made to command in the contest to eliminate eliminate to contest the in command to made was each concreteness of claim “people,”the the and as the “folk” such the and figures “masses” of best example of this struggle was expressed in the conflictover the identity the Perhaps commonness. of reappearance constant the by marked it) put unmoving history or culture identifiedwith nature (the law as ofhe statics, an of shape the in space, into time collapsing altogether, temporality cal envisaging in the Soviet Union, Kobayashi would strive to spatialize histori- daily routine and recurrence, a veritable chronotope as was Bakhtin already of rhythms the in dimensionlost invariably temporal a of identity the thus and it)9 put he time,”as historical of crystal the of “kernel (the history of ism. While a Tosakasense with supplysought theto space of everydayness been philosophy’s original vocation before it was hijacked by had Platonic ideal- believed, he which, relations, productive existing on founded space everyday of materiality very the to return a Tosakaurged and present, the of world discernable the in embedded clearly was it though even social, life removed fromof and thesensible solitary the concreteness of everyday portrayal the and Kan Kikuchi even and NaoyaShiga like to looked writers Kobayashi like thinkers abstractness, essential an represent to impossible was it Because historically. understood be only could that unevenness of forms specific and vast of presence the by mediated powerfully was but beachhead, a established had capitalism everywhere register same the in already suggested, this was by no means a universalizing process, occurring from banished subject, historical Marx’s proletariat, the poets who had been momentarily century’s nineteenth the of place vacated the replace to come had culture and art since that reassured and convinced was Kobayashi crimination.”8 dis- without emotions “brandishes that type a struggle, class the gotten for- had who realist of kind one being with Hideo Kobayashi critic erary lit- the charged Japan, interwar in fascism to relationship its and culture of category the by enjoyed status privileged the and modernism of culture the both to guide best our perhaps semblance.Tosaka Jun, of conception a effortthe construct and to embracing available,oftenmyth, to which led longer no was that aura an resuscitate to desire the was shared fascism the very political arrangements they had authorized.7 What modernism and transform and overcome to tried they as even attempts previous all pelled were now returning with a vengeance. But as I have I as But vengeance. a with returning now were Capital Constitutive Ambiguities 85 . taishū ) seikatsu 10 Tosaka 10 Tosaka minshū or ),” ),” and the respective claims of life ( jissai this difference involved wasa struggle over the referent. What In the contest to resolve the aporias of representation by appealing to )” genjitsu or “actuality ( ern, whose subject of discussion reflected the experience of everyday life from the prior two decades of accelerated capitalist modernization; and the decade, its centrality had engendered two principal symposia devoted to devoted symposia principal two engendered centralityhad its decade, the mod-the on overcoming their respective conference the claims: endorsing ( was more importantnothing veracitythan history, of representing and the put seriously was or disappeared either had which referent, the of status the into question because of the installation of capital as agency and its cor- regime responding of social thisabstraction. During especially, the 1930s, dispute intoproliferated attempts to resolve the relationship between life, associatedeverydayness,of with domain usually emergent the history, and the narrative While of it the is nation-state.difficult toknow precisely why this theme was so overstated in discourse, it is evident that by the end of endeavored endeavored to reconfigurespace and time in such a way as to restore his- show to chronotope—and a it everyday of space—making world the toryto in a society and transformation everdriven by the of change possibilitythe on its part, fascism had already dismissed all politics as afflicted bythe paradoxically reification, was of mission regime its own same though even committed to stauching capitalism, liberalism it in from and saving short, itself. competing forms of concreteness, often signified by terms like “reality rality altogether to secure a timeless aesthetic free from both historical from torality timelessaltogether a aestheticac- secure free the and rational identity betweenthe an by driven order an and countability real. It should be pointed out that modernism was always concerned with finding a stable ground, sinceit had recognized that everything already corresponded only to the agency of capital and its endless movement. But new in the ever same, while Kobayashi abandoned the regime of tempo- Themasses were intimately linked to thenow of everyday life, while the folk derived from an indeterminate past that was always out there, whose temporality had no specificity andfrozen daily sanctuary remained life the folk the classicism, of conception Kobayashi’s In essence. unchanged its of resembled the unchanging classic of life that folklorists such as Orikuchi calling of native commemorated as the ethnology. Shinobu abstraction. For Tosaka, the abstraction.category Tosaka, For of the “Japanese folk” had no reality whatsoever, since it occluded the lived experience of the “people” or the Kuki, or Watsuji or Kobayashi like others for whereas now, the in “masses” the folk constituted concreteness absent in terms such as 86 Harry Harootunian day day and concerned principally thewith events, great and that extraordinary History, Miki observed, was invariably understood as opposed to the every- be will be incompatible seen to anthropology.12dayness, an historical with every- emphasize to seeks which anthropology, of standpoint original the when surfaces aporia the Accordingly, one. historical a and standpoint” an “actual between confidently, declared he contradiction, no be would former a realm and spare fixedin onevents the of custom. repetition There the eventfulness, of precinct the constituting latter the history, world of tween theliving routines of and everyday the activity of people on the stage tory’s vocation, in the everyday, even though he recognized the distance be- his- action, situating recommended he domains, two between separation Toeverydayness. of the finesse presentation the and representation torical his- of claims contradictory the with unease an conceal to failed struction the situation humans findthemselves living inthe everyday. But Miki’s con- formulation, the actual signifiesthe meaning of everydayness—specifically, ferred to the realm of “actuality ( by the (dasMan). They dominated world a of establishment and historicism to led temporality of nature the of misrecognition this account, powerful Heidegger’s In time. psychological and interior of forms for science) of time the time, (clock profound disjunction, spatial and temporal, between a material everyday- material a between temporal, and spatial disjunction, profound the disclosed and greater been have not could differences Their 1942. in Kyoto in convened were Both history. world in mission Japan’s on rated the conference ( on world history with with and of rejection even a regime based on measurable quantitative, time who, like Heidegger in Lukacs, and Bergson Europe—notably in place taking debatesparallel still the question was to be found in ( “historicality to answer the that convinced was He exchange. abstract and form modity com- the by dominated already world a in “reality” concrete constituted what determining at aimed discussions into drawn was Miki temporaries, con- his of many so history.11 Like of problem the with concerned essays of publication the with 1930s early the in Kiyoshi Miki by conceptualized been already had nation-state) the of domain (the history world and everydayness between problem this of nature aporetic mission. The historic its realize and history world of main do- the enter to poised now philosophers,was Kyoto to according which, nation-state, Japanese developed a and modernization by produced ness Th e logic of Miki’s was intervention driven by conviction that the real re Sein Sein und Zeit jissaiteki Sekaishiteki Sekaishiteki tachiba to Nippon (1926), expressed a growing impatience Rekishi tetsugaku Rekishi ),” implying action ( i),”rekishise echoing prior and (1932) and numerous and (1932) ), which elabo- kōiteki ). In this - Constitutive Ambiguities 87 zeitigen, kai- jijuku, jukusuruji- jijuku, Both Tosaka Both Tosaka Jun and Kobayashi Hideo, fully aware of this disjuncture ).”13 In ).”13 other words, Miki sacrificed the temporality associated with the of temporalities and thus the impossibility of representing history, turned re-to the everyday and resisted its incorporation into the world his- world historical, which sacrificed concretenessfor abstraction in the last instance, Tosaka and Kobayashi discounted historicism (and the kind of philosophic history Miki had enlisted) and the cost of its valorization of an both historical bothered the What was by produced amnesia continuity. interruptive modernity that ultimately induced forgetting the present, as well as a past that had not yet been assimilated to the requirements of a continuity identified with thepresent. At the sameYanagita time, Kunio torical. Prompted by the need to rethink the source of the historical from within the everyday and rejecting Miki’s advice to link everydayness to the theless theless said, opened the path to recognizing the aporia of differingand distinct temporalities belonging to the separate spheres of everydayness and world history and the necessity of pursuing historicality from within everyday.14 precinct of the the illustrating the inevitable maturation of time, its “ripening ( ros sentient claims of everyday life to the higher necessity and abstraction of narrative movement and the final (Hegelian) revelation of history’smean- in categories three the of unity the emplot to decision his of Regardless ing. a the linearachieved representing progression ( “ripening reason, the everyday could never be seen as identical with history, which presumably occurred elsewhere and in a different temporal register. How Miki sought to resolve this knotted contradiction was to link the everyday autho-which historicality,” “originarycalled ground a historyto world and rized the procession of a steadyevolution the first from to the progressing third level.The different and mixed temporalities signaled bythe everyday supposedly succession narrative a intorestructuredhistory were world and never- nation-state),he historical(the world history’sreason—the of kan)” history pointed to the individual and unique, while everydayness was the this For repetition. and routine commonplace, the and averaging of context act on the stage of world history. Thequestion he posed, butnever really the everydaynessto of world eventless the from move to how was answered, the to experience singular the from history, event-filledworld an of register non-experience of the nation, a temporality of the present, mixed and en- plainly Miki destination. specific a for trajectory linearheading a to tangled grasped history as national narrative, whose content differed significantly from the mundane experience of time in the everyday present. Moreover, 88 Harry Harootunian Marxist debate on the nature of capitalism and looked to everyday life forlife everyday to looked and capitalism of nature the on debate Marxist While Tosaka abandoned the powerful available narratives him to from the now.the of experience the re-historicizing for occasion the present the in seeing meant also It representation. and reconstruction than rather such, real—and the modern present promisedand as construction, presentation history—the and practice actual of ground the as everyday the to return to time. decisionYet homogeneous the and chronological naturally a of sage present derivedfrom its identity an earlier, originating moment in the pas- with continuity a past was supposed to prove how the nation in the modern abstract form.”15This chronological merely and naturalized a in past, the with continuity abstract an of “re-establishment the for present historical a of remembrance trades historicism that contemporaries reminding was guity” unleashed by Japan’s capitalist modernity is that it offersit that differentis a unleashed Japan’sby modernity guity” capitalist ambi- “constituent the called has T.J.Clark what of concealment the and Romanha.Nihon the in ism repressed this “continuity” of The importance younger, had passed through a kind of apprenticeship in spiritual essential- discussions of the 1930s and, to a lesser extent, Mishima Yukio who, though heated the in articulated already had he representation of problematic the of understanding an forward carried and 1970s the in Norinaga Motoori on work great his completed who Hideo, Kobayashi by provided was link to findrespective struggles aground stable Infor representation. this fact, their in engage to mission shared their on fascism and modernism sent had war the before that problematic the reaffirmed Japan postwar sions, deci- responsible and informed making of capable and rational was that Despite the promise of social democrats to establish a new political subject Periodizing Forgetfulness past andpresent. between an identity securing unaltered, unchangedand remain, and continue to destined ness common- of sense there—a been already had reinforcingwhat experience historical exemplary and instructive an as present the in up gathered be would past the reflections, Kobayashi’s In come. yet might what and tory his- concealed its reveal to promised operation side.This hidden its from mystery the releasing of capable practice critical a devise to necessary was it form, commodity the like behaved and resembled everyday the because For emotions. Tosaka,and sentiments common most housingthe classics as the site for recalling heritage and unchanging values as embodied in the everyday present the embraced similarly Kobayashi history, of kernel the Constitutive Ambiguities 89 kindaishugisha Since Since the end of the Second Japan’s World historyWar, has been held variously seen as a history of mistakes, a moment historically misunder- and the imperial court and its consequences for the reconfiguration of Japa- of reconfiguration the for consequences its and court imperial the and societynese postwar in the period. hostage to a periodizing scheme that has marked off what came before 1945 from what occurred after with the effect of transmuting war andde- been has Japan prewar result, a As cleft. historical unbridgeable an into feat and petit bourgeoisie. It also explains his modernist decision to educate the country in the proper (liberal) form of political subjectivity, equipped with absent rational in Strangely knowledge responsibility. this informing (Hirohito) emperor restored the of status the was discourse liberal renewed Jun’s earlier critique, which linked fascism to liberalism and its valorization its and liberalism to fascism linked which critique, earlier Jun’s of spiritual Under freedom. these circumstances, it is not hard to see why analysis Maruyama’s of ultranationalism and fascism concentrated on the masses the by played role complicit the and compositionsocial of question history now remembered. Proof of its influence ismanifest in the virtual disappearance of any consideration of Whether fascism. it was the “mod- tothe here enlightenment”(I referring the am of ernistparty grouped around Otsuka war Hisao were after the who in reality modernizers) who saw the postwar as a “second chance” or a diverse group of conservatives theywho felt cut from had off been theirpast andforcibly made toit toforget live a deception in their present, the separation has had pro- socialfound and political thatconsequences have scarcely been perceived, much less evaluated. But this announcement of a “second chance” barely defeat. and war of past recent the forget actually invitationto the concealed Even though principal advocate, Maruyama Masao, early seized the oppor- and “ultranationalism” into drift Japan’s of accounting an provide tunityto the extent to which its fascism fromdiffered the experiences ofNazi Ger- many and Mussolini’s thus Italy, preparing the way for its eventual down- grading, the effect of this strategy was to removeTosaka from contention which defeat and the U.S. Military Occupation put back on track. All of post- the periodizationprivileges a that on agreeto seemed accounts these war epoch over its and predecessor include even the most recent attempts of revisionists to retrace the steps leading to war to minimize role Japan’s to show the postwar as deformed, different,or discontinuousfrom a true perspective on the periodization of modern Japan’s history from accounts that have seen the war as an interruption separating the postwar from the tem- a as war the envisaged persistently have that narratives those or prewar porary “derailing” from the true course of modernization and democracy 90 Harry Harootunian with informed, rational, and responsible political subjects who would be would who subjects political responsible and rational, informed, with now armed democracy, social genuine a and start new a promised ately immedi- postwar the of installation the and defeat,war, modernity; plete incom- an even, and, delayed, derailed, dysfunctional, deformed, stood, ism by appeals to cooperation and community. Both, in fact, repeat, in a in repeat, fact, in Both, community. and cooperation to appeals by ism colonial- and imperialism mask to aimed that arguments prewar recalling ists contest prevailing accounts of Japan’s conduct in the war, they, too, are revision- historical when and representation; of aporias the with struggle its and modernism prewar to inadvertently, perhaps attention was, calling he experience, war the about write could who writer one the as praise for Osamu Dazai out singled Kato Whenhistory. modern Japan’s in time nal semi- but troubled that rememberedof actually have they years—than war pre- past—the the of more repress and forget to permitted were Japanese who busily ists disavow Japan’s depredations inAsia. revision- defeata as historical countless and itself war disfiguration, a and post- the characterized has Norihirō,who Kato as such people of writings decision to cease being Japanese and has echoed down to the present in the a Japan on forced surrender unconditional how recalled repetitiously who Jun, Etō as such critics by sounded early was note This States. United the having allowed themselves to be colonized—spiritually and materially—by for pay to made were they price the and status their defeated of signs only were these that reminded increasingly were Japanese politics, of end the for called literally that efficiency bureaucratic exaggerated of conceits the and growth, economic unlimited living, of standards higher promising pronouncements of din the vanishedin soon subjectivity modern and racy economy headed for global hegemony. While the dreams for democ- social Japan’s moment same the at present endless an into future the collapsed fold into the which timeless politics of the Democratic Liberal Party (LDP), optimism this saw 1960s the after chance,” years “secondthe a as scribed and of signs therenewal hopewith of realizing what Maruyama Masao de- plaints made before the war. If the immediate years after the war were flush of neo-colonialism America’s culture, which strikingly recalls similar com- base and outpost of the American imperium, and still remain captive to the military permanent a into transubstantiated Occupation, American the of weight the under endure still they how 1945, since deception a lived have more recent images of the postwar, Japanese are now reminded of how they the In ending. ever of sign no shows today even that duration terminable the Instead, past. the of sins the avoid to able In their eagerness to restore a truer identity or a more accurate history, accurate more a or identity truer a restore to eagerness their has turned into an in- an into turned has sengo Constitutive Ambiguities 91 . During the Cold War, this his- this War, Cold the During . sengo But But if fascism and modernism were momentarily able to renew their criticism disappeared. By this time the bourgeoisie, like its counterpart in the United States and other industrial had “democracies,” become indis- existed. As a class, according to Roland Barthes, writing about France in for fought bourgeoisie the to wish not be named,” that “did latethe 1950s, an brought apparently War won. and authority cultural of locus specific the end to this struggle, to be sure, and American-sponsored democratization supposedly did the rest. As the specter of class power faded into the maw of mass consumer society, the need for class struggle and the space for the the conviction that the kind of society that had evolved in prewar Japan, one in which the bourgeoisie had struggled for cultural self-definition in the face of a lingering agrarian and “feudal” aristocratic other, no longer leases on life the after war, the advent of a postmodern Japan in the 1970s aimed to bring about its final What overcoming. this entailed wasfulfill- ofthe postmodern unevenness eliminate specter ing to promise the finally that modernism had sought to displace and hide from LDPview. politics, versa, was a “one-party or vice its on the bureaucracy, despite stranglehold democracy” situated to discourage the replication of fascism in the forms was move remarkable this in Implied scene. prewar the dominated had that States had fought a war against a nation identified with a fascistever, if alliance rarely, is fascism postwar the assess to efforts recent most the in and mentioned. In fact, whole generations of readers and students have not been told that the very army that occupied Japan after 1945 to inaugurate fascistnation. a against postwarthe war had first waged and lost to memory in the long night of night long the in memory to lost and torical amnesia reached down to penetrate the lowest levels of consciousness, as exemplified by thefate offascism. While Marxists inJapan continued vigilto by keepincessant appeals and toformulaic emperor-system fascism, the overwhelming attitude in yearsthose was revealed in a steady lessening of interest in the category’s claim to either analytic precision or descriptive accuracy. In time, fascism was seen as simply a parenthesis in twentieth-centurydetermin- constitutiveitsand of history one than rather ing principles inscribed in the social world life of capitalism, the ghost in United the forgot rapidly scholarship Japan, of study the With machine. the more muted register, the complex imbrications of modernism and fascism fascism and modernism of imbrications complex the register, muted more galvanized before the war and the related but mutually exclusive struggle with the crisis of representation Japan’s capitalist modernity had precipi- tated. These battleswere immediately ignored in the postwar effort to set the past right in a new present and were ultimately forgotten (repressed) 92 Harry Harootunian long encounter projects, with myths, revolutionary and challenges to bour- vignette.”16fifteen second a Finally, into . . . modernism’sidea “every turn and them, level distinctions, blur to managed that circuits image moving outside—and languageprocessed its ism of imaginary—an rapidly its into hegemony, rationality, modern- logical robbed instrumental of regime the New,class. middle thetechno- belongedto everyone which in society a of achievement final the proclaim to began intellectuals and leaders political tinguishable from the political classes and bureaucrats. From the 1970s on, its its cultural and political text as a reconfiguration ofthe knottedthat history read believe, I must, we Japan, postwar of spectacle immense the on back the prospect of cultural representation. rather than political When we look people offering fascism with partnership new a and politics of cellation can- a to led (liberalism) modernism ture.18how exactly saw Moreover,he cul- expansive an and limits own its between asymmetry the respects tics politics. and culture poli-effective Tosakaan that others, with recognized, culture to risk forfeiting the productive non-identity or separation between beginning to enlist to its cause meanings from the wider domain of mytho- determining to limited was relations, social practice, just both, as political of stability and stolidity the secure to representation political with fusing order—and geois that society—capitalist the culture of was representation politics. Tosaka Jun observed early that Japan was already a liberal and bour- for also but production cultural for merely not problem a was This form? zation, permanence in the void of the ever changing but similar commodity evaded stabili- that representation of effects those precisely with counter” en- “continual the temporalization—but of modes twin fascism—as and modernism was else what And other?”17 the of condition a as one the or power, by having that power be individual freedom, or its technical rationality, universalize to attempted class ruling certain a which in forms of set that except modernity was what “for Clark: is Heregeography. social the changed actually superiority technological and economic and occupation, military defeat,war, how see to hard is it then war,the after concealment deeper but “positivity” its bourgeoisie, the of invisibility and visibility the to added political), and (cultural/artistic representation of means very the for raised it problem the especially unevenness—and of production less relent- modernity—capitalism’s toward ambiguity” “constitutive a cism upholdingto theorder cultural of things. pledged affirmations reactionary or conservative most the than other tives alterna- political of cancellation a to led it, powered which society, geois If we imagine from the respective projects of both modernism and fas and modernism both of projects respective thefrom imagine we - Constitutive Ambiguities 93 ment of a liberal-democratic order. Whereas Tosaka, like Antonio Gramsci, Gramsci, Antonio like Tosaka, Whereas liberal-democraticorder. a of ment base knowledge the as everyday life in embedded sense common a valorized informed, informed, who, unlike the prewar masses, would possess the capacity to resist voluntary submission to a political leadership promoting an irratio- nal ideology. What they accomplished was simply the reidentification of subjectivity with prewar elitism. If Tosaka envisaged Enlightenment as a capitalismof conditionout a it postwarliberalism,way and thinkersmade for the modernization of Japanese political society and the final achieve- prospect prospect of The postwar disseminating knowledge the for “party”masses. of modernizers, by contrast, clumsily betraying their received distrust for conceittraditionallytotimeconceal the same the at failing and masses the accorded to the intellectual elite, deployed the program of Enlightenment as a means to create a rationally autonomous individual, responsible and that had earlier induced Tosaka and others associated with Yuibutsuron Kenkyūkai (Society for the Study of Materialism) to promote the ideals of science and rationality as a way for the masses to liberate To- themselves. toculturalliberal- constructcritiqueagainst sciencemeans a in a saw saka ism which and alreadyacademic philosophy, were making common cause with fascism in the 1930s by investing in the Enlightenment project, the necessity of forgetting the Enlightenment) who monopolized its conception of rationalityeven as these modernizers managed towater it down to fit the contours of a situationalpragmatism put into the service of liberal democracy and the autonomous political subject. What this “party of the very goals the of inversion an was toaccomplish Enlightenment”managed marked Japan’s entry into capitalist modernity, a continuation of what had entrywhat continuation of a capitalistinto modernity, Japan’s marked postmod- a either than rather experience, prewar the of constitutive so been history—aauthentic an of version crooked and distorted a or departure ern been. have what might Everyday the Present, Re-historicizing the Experiencing was selective amnesia for desire casualtiespostwar the of major the of One Tosaka Jun and his relentlessthe literal criti- ofmemoryeffacement ofthe devotionintellectual an of defense and liberalism, cultural fascism, of cism to the promise of rationality and science for the The masses. irony of this Marxists,as of misrecognitions the by supplemented part (in forgetfulness well) was that it made possible the claim of enlightenmentism by postwar thinkers such as Ōtsuka Hisao, Maruyama Masao, Kawashima Takayoshi, a and time,even, IkutaroShimizu later wrote (who for a the book advising 94 Harry Harootunian racy fated racy to simply reproduce the worst features of its prewar predecessor. (ideology) no longer accessible to a discourse on direct democ- substantive fascism ghostly of occupancy,and repressioncritique of his lands shadow the to program his and him casting past, the from future the and present was thus distended beyond recognition in the postwar effortto shut off the ideals Enlightenment Tosaka’sout. to left commitment remained and not from what counted to be seen and what would be visible as against what was the average as expressed in the principle of consensus that derived its force of theauthority “enlighteners” with it replaced themasses,postwar of was advancing a similar union of scholarship and practicality capable of capable practicality and scholarship of union similar a advancing was YanagitaKunio that connection, this in recall, to living.”20 interesting is It for method “a in resulting life, of principle the as self-criticism social of ( living everyday of method a constitutes way,“learning this Tosaka reasoned, In life. of ideal an with armed be must “roots,”it the uncover to striving practice critical a is ing lifeBut since negotiation. learn- practical of people—is a critical ceaseless society—the because separation” of “condition its discovers it social, the with inquiry. connects of learning Whenobject its other of the to self link other.inevitably that referredformulationrules” to “social were this What object would always enforce a distance between itself and its relation to this ’sexpression of understandingsince self-criticism, the of observing an self an also was hence, criticism, other.Any and self between relationship the Marx, criticism for Tosaka involved inevitably seizing hold of theEchoing “roots” of criticism. of form proper the grasp to seeks it time same the at problem a of identity thesecuring at aims always truthfulness of quisition ac- the measure, same the By truthfulness.”19 of “acquisition the pursue must that “scholarlya practice” to corresponds practice a into growth and ated in the mode of the Kantian dialectic) and proposed that its foundation (negoti- object and method between relationship changing the addressed form. provoked andthe commodity by sentation capitalism repre- of crisis the Japan’s of and effects as modernity fascism and ernism mod- both target would that everyday the of critique a of development the enabled the construction of a (hetheory called it a science) of criticism and capitalist modernization had transformed society. It was this approach that how and modernity Japan’s of nature the understanding to commitment hermeneutic philosophy—what he cultural called liberalism—was its deep academic by authorized archaism perfervid a dissembling to devoted and Yet the importance of Tosaka’s critique, delivered in In an early text on the scientific method written in 1929, Tosaka first 1929, Tosaka in written method scientific the on text early an In )” that constantly demands the exercise exercise the demands constantly that seikatsu)” Nihon ideorogiiron (1935) Constitutive Ambiguities 95 - )” that seikakuteki soko)” and thus open orical reality foregrounds the “practical idea” as the political actu . Where Tosaka differed was in his insistence on the pri- the on insistence his in was differed Tosaka Where minzokugaku. Hist to social science.) Convinced that only the masses were in a position to lib-tobe history’shad science of movement, power immense the shoulder the into put criticism—and of task fetters—the class narrow its from erated service of enlightening the social was Tosaka constituency. clearly calling libratorygreat the as masses subaltern the assisting of capable science a for in “popularization” mere itsthan rather self-transformation of instrument the commodified knowledgepackaged and circulated by journalism. Both an aloof science removed world from the and its vulgarization constituted also a political logic, as well. History’s movement in the present had already had present the in movement History’s well. as logic, political a also introduced the primacyof social relations and class as its content, newin- tensifying the demand for a “massification ofSince science.” science was always class-based, it was now immediately necessaryand proper to refig- also referring was (Tosaka masses. the toward it reorienting by basis its ure and the decisionism demanded by destiny, Tosaka’s formulation was atten- was formulation Tosaka’s destiny, by demanded decisionism the and tive to the chronotope of the and now its “thereness ( to the promise of actualizing a possibility offered by aprocessional and historical present.23 in the moment tion of reflection and the circumstances of Being’s primordial everydaynessprimordial Being’s of circumstances the and reflection of tion ist assumptions and aspirations. The significance of graspinglogic itself as ideological required the arduous labor of “moving upstream until one reached the headwaters”—the social position—that had from distantlyconcealed remained now “pro-history whose but position” logical the duced the present.21 What seemed to interest Tosaka most was determining the identityand location of the all-important “characteristic ( assisting contemporaries to solve everydaycontemporaries to solve assisting voca- principal the as problems of tion of importance the and formulations, Yanagita’s in absent criticism, of macy ideal- their yield to formations ideological force to positioncritical a taking ultimately made logic logical (as it made history historical) and required a full understanding of the Even “problem.” the selection of a problem ap- demanded was it grasping and acknowledged, he problematic, be to peared all-important the hovered problem the of heart historicalthe by At society. identity of the “characteristic”—the “problem of the epoch” itself and its contemporary The conditions. social historical and emblematic specifically the of “problem of the confronted present”moment the now and engaged actuality embedded in the space of everyday life as the entry point into all subsequent Despitereflection.22 its similarity withHeidegger’s identifica- alizationhistory’sof “characteristic” the of logic movement. the Hence, is 96 Harry Harootunian materiality of everyday space as the temporal and spatial focus of all sub- all of focus spatial and temporal the as space everyday of materiality hermeneutic hermeneutic presuppositions. Tosaka the that recognized necessi- critique and epistemological its shared not than often more fascism, political ing as have easily modernism, as targeted well, which, while explicitly eschew- just could practice critical Yet thefascism. against struggle” “cultural the assist to made was criticism ideological of Tosaka’sterialism, conception ofcriticism. thethrough practice rectification required that masses the of name the in made errors fundamental two the sequent reflection. Significantly, he was also recognizing the importance importance the recognizing also was he Significantly, reflection. sequent concrete.26 and immediate recommended installing “common sense” and “science”—the world of the terrain, Tosaka, Gramsci, the like vacated In criticism.”25 “positivistic and ” proof “critical gesture: same the of moments proof—two of verification the and evidence positivist providing of short fell philosophy as events, of criticism daily a supply to purpose ideological its Hence, deserted journalism form. commodity the of dictates the and commercialization of lure the to submit to opinion public to obligation its forswore journalism and meta-discipline, a as function basic philosophy forfeitedits academic capitalism: under contemporary their calling realize to failed Yet had both unification.24 of worldview a to according knowledge integrating of task the with charged meta-discipline a as act to it enabling gesture Kantian a sciences, specialized and disciplinary diverse of culture the to devotion feigned philosophy had academic purpose, political and practical to ment commit- its disclosing events,” “contemporary and movements” “real on report to was journalism of vocation true the If events. contemporary and ness altogether in its aspiration to transcend both the movement of the real life of humans,”the “everyday philosophyacademic of had ignored everyday- basis ideological the of formation the to contributed and “daily” the with bonded had journalism efface.Whereas to conspired had journalism and studies) historical not (if philosophy academic that history repressed a display to and confinement commodified of recesses concealed its from existence.” Its was task to ferret out the hidden and structure social logical and which social existence, historical “narrates the concretely of reflection now had be to grasped as ideology an effectof consciousness derived from Miki resembling also ( power but conceptual of “logic ideas Kiyoshi’s of science a as manifestation century eighteenth- original its in Understood ideology. of reconstitution a tated I In n keeping with the general program of the Society for the theof general program keepingn the Study with Ma of Society appealing to a return to common sense, Tosaka was repositioning the kōsōryoku no riron no kōsōryoku ),” the concept of of concept the ),” - Constitutive Ambiguities 97 and nation-state, especially how the latter constantly tried to assimilate the the assimilate to triedconstantly latter the how nation-state,especially and former to its temporal and spatial matrices, the everyday still offered the occasion constant for re-historicization against the claims of a completed only not everyday—temporality its—the was of mark The history.27 national the of emergence the and relationships socialinvitationnewits perceive to masses, but also its identification of a distinct colonialspace that figured to situation current the on essays timely Tosaka’s of many so in importantly and journalism eachcomplement should other. exemplify how philosophy rality. Everydayness was not only the spatial location of a critical beginning criticalbeginning a locationof spatial the only not Everydaynesswas rality. but also the temporality that, despite its assertion of eternality, signified an instant in history that would forever remain incomplete. Despite the rarely conceded temporal and spatial disjunction separating the everyday unchanging unchanging value guiding the present according to the imperatives of an indeterminate past. But the real importance of his recovery of the everyday was its recognition of the primacy attributed to spatiality in modern capitalist society and its success in suppressing signs of its own tempo- constituting its others modalities. Ultimately, all were reducible to the actu- the to reducible were all Ultimately, modalities. others its constituting ality of everyday space (an obvious glossing of the Husserlian conception pre-a of recalleverydaygeometry in the of signal origins usage)—to the of Socratic ideal first revealed inmaterialist whichphilosophy, had been re- recu- to managed Tosaka as Just idea. the by dominated historya in pressed was he so historyphilosophy, of the materialismfrom repressed perate the cultural of claims contemporary the against critical assault a mount to able theorists who had elevated archaic categories as signposts of timeless and directed the present to act but, rather, the present that authorized its proper proper its authorized that present the rather, but, act to present the directed history. It is interesting to note, in this connection, concep-that Tosaka’s tion of everyday space represented the last moment in a inventorybroader dimensions psychological and mathematical, physical, itself—the space of tion, even though thought and reflectionfrom always actualityderivedthe of everyday life. Because everyday space returned to materiality to form with time a minimal unity of contemporary existence, it was for philosophy to necessaryredirect its task to resuscitating its original vocation of uniting with the quotidian. Hence the everydayand the “now” constituted analy- subsequent all begin to place the and existence concrete of scene the that such, as past, the not was It history. and contemporary“custom” of sis of the immediacy of the now ) (ima and its thereness () soko as an index of historical On more movement.than one occasion, he dismissed most philosophy precisely because it had evacuated the everyday for some form of religious or theological and transcendental and otherworldly preoccupa- 98 Harry Harootunian had located the referent for subsequent analysis and presentation rather presentation and analysis subsequent for referent the located had he believed Tosaka theorists, cultural by envisioned past commemorated hold of the contours of an historicized present against a memorialized and seizing for point starting the as everydayness material a of now the With history, acting as a hidden and unseen ligature that had been able to supply those cultural—spiritual— the name of in summoned signification of programs all empowering and itself spirit authorizing principle linguistic) (and epistemological underlying the was connotation move, circular a In referent.32specific a to appeal an than rather connotation of action the on ( “territory that exclaimed he when meant undoubtedly he what is (this signification formof a on rested view, his theory.In cultural theory and cultural culture of claims the on attack scorching his forunderstanding basis the supplies and the clash he representeddifferent “two between kinds of realists,” and explains that Tosaka’smove this believe, difference Hideofrom Kobayashi I was, It remain. for denotation capacity its and referentthe only thought, the varieties of culture have been subordinated to the mediation of concrete and literature Once articulation. critical its and masses the of experiences lived the mediating space and time everyday of referent the between ship the act of verbal expression, and this meant carefully identifying a relation- appear at a different level.30 The first principle criticismof thereforeentails must concretization “philosophy,” its its thought, of inflection an but is sibility when it relies on literature for its concreteness. Since literature itself found recently which hadonly voice. expression inits rather, linked the to everyday the concrete thinking of the subaltern masses, but, doing, of ethnologists native Konethnographercountless Wajiroand urban the accused he as it, accessorizing things, mere with everyday the filling avoided materiality sense,of Tosaka’s this conception In literature. philosophy and between difference the imperiled less Anything thought.” ( narrative a out flesh desireto the from derived concreteness to claim whose literature, to ness.29Compared everyday- with endowed “plentifully” are that places in universally occurs this “concreteness” in the “original meaning” of the word. In fact, thought first considering without thought on reflect to impossible still is it ings, mean- diverse have abstract and concrete the that acknowledging Despite reflections.”28 speculative its of point starting “historical the everyday the to igi,”delegates gendai no “Tetsugaku in Philosophy,itself. wrote heing life was in always the since everyday process of than representation, show- Tosaka was thus persuaded that abstract thought collapses into irrespon- tochi ) exists nowhere in the world without culture”31—that is, culture”31—that without world the in nowhere exists ) nikutai ), thought must first be be “concrete first must thought ), Constitutive Ambiguities 99 )” Kobayashi had centered as something “lively”—that is to say, Yet Yet Kobayashi managed to fulfill the modernist expectation to distill, tion to see in modernity a living form, despite his endorsement of writers turned Kobayashi criticism, this counter To Kan. Kikuchi and Shiga as such Tosaka, he affirmed an appreciation of the new, to be sure, but departed in to be sure, but appreciation anthe affirmed of new, he Tosaka, his decision to valorize the present, the modern, as the designated stage for enacting living, classic commonness. For Kobayashi, the present was recommen- this But classicism. re-presenting of responsibility the assigned dation risked realigning modernism to the idea of heritage and cultural treasure promoted by historicism and threatened to undermine an ambi- (kyōtsūsei a living form.35 For Tosaka, the “most dynamic content of cultural logic criticismdemands severalof the cultures of reality.”36 With contingent. and transitory merely the from eternal the Baudelaire, like everyday life, because of its “thinness,” he advised the active pursuit of a more intense “experiencing of everyday life,” which meant rescuing the be- the since same the remained have that emotions and feelings of residue culture” “one’s defended Kobayashi against the ginning.34 charges leveled whose conception of criticism toproposed Tosaka, “extract”at him by the abstract from cultural phenomena to lay hold of the very “commonness committed committed to “employing everyday words” in their compositions, but like those earlier for nativists, this act referred only to mobilizing fresh words to describe the affective life and states ofReject- personal emotionality.33 ing the “necessity of history,” which he contrasted to the “necessity” of ceeded time to always express ineffable and eternal values and emotions. If emotions. and values eternal and ineffable express alwaysto time ceeded he envisioned an everydayness in his valorization of writers such as Shiga because life daily of chronotope Tosaka’s from different vastly was it Naoya, where stillness, of space unmoving indeterminate, an represented merely it a sense of commonness always prevailed to mark Japanese literature since its beginnings rather than the instantaneous suddenness of the modern present. In this regard, Kobayashi believed that writers, like poets, were yashi yashi called social Under “statics.” this circumstance, culture never called forth a determinate and historical formation as such; it beckoned only an indefinite imaginary that is alwaysKobayashi out especially there. insisted on the marginal role of denotation, as shown in his dismissal of history and his attempts to assimilate it to a literature that had successfully ex- the the folk with a sense of shared solidarity since the time of While origins. Kuki, and Watsuji as such theorists cultural space, of authority the invoking especially, literally banished time from their considerations to secure the effect of a timeless and unchanging cultural essence—amaneuver Koba- 100 Harry Harootunian “dwells within the recesses of love for the history “dwells theoflovefor recesses within of one’s the history country.” ing in the national polity” adds up to a different form of understandingthat chance “to inhale such things as the idea of “sensible,” or “feeling” embedded without it, therein history; would be no “sentiment,”the to history,” in sensitivity interest “healthymeant a which heplace, recommended its lost.”37Butin got “honest history he observed, progress, inevitable of theory its Japanand in astic welcomingMarxism of enthusi- the ‘historical’.”In the to mundane the from‘life’ of concept the transform to them instructed ideology their that “but wrote, life,”he day terial for “Itfiction. was notthat young had Marxists lostthe feel forevery- ma- as mundane the rejected had writers Marxist how demonstrating to from the mirror” to see genuine reality rather than mere desire.Grasping mere than rather reality genuine see to mirror” the from dust the “polishing of gesture Buddhist the to reference obvious self,”an the of mirror the mightily “polish to position the in stands whoone be to or poet” a of “genius the possess to necessary was it life, of forms during en- and true the grasp to and history materials.”To see “historical ceived re- of hold seizing by it create only but reality” historical see actually not do “men since contingent, and accidental best at fiction, low-grade as it Kobayashi early confessed to to history an altogether allergy and dismissed incompleteness, history’s showing re-historicization of act constant a as present, the in begins that history a grasp to time and space between ship relation- the reconfigure to narratives. YetTosakawhere sought historical of rejection own Kobayashi’s to close came everydayness of principles the ness. In this regard, Tosaka’s conception of historical temporality driven by forgetful- and abstraction unrelieved into sliding saw he which narrative, historical of form superior more a was it shaped—that was it which from concreteness everyday—the of experience the communicate to able better was literature because precisely was It Shiga. than art into life everyday of his present. No writer, he added, was more devoted to transmuting theories in prevail to come had apparition, ghostly a abstraction, how and life day every- real, of complexity the capture to ideas of failurethe of complained reality.”40 Kobayashi everyday of sacrifices habitual the to accordingished It is there that the word ‘tradition’ is established . . . [and] thought is nour- of this contemporaneity occurs in proportion to the depth of sacrifice paid. shades and light [dappled] thought. The in pays life real that sacrifice the life is lodged only in the head of animals. Social order is nothing more than real in sacrifice making pursue to fails that thinking “Anof life:39 act real fromseparated life. real thought is ever There isthinking no separate from In the essay “Thought and Real Life,” he warned that no worthwhile no that warned he Life,” Real and “Thought essay the In .”38kokutai This idea of “breath- Constitutive Ambiguities 101 - “History and Literature,” written just before the war, Kobayashi vig In example was the conviction that historical reality portrayed by historians the the event will be differentfrom how it was experienced. Historical recon- structionwith causes of the a consideration would stop In and conditions. the process, though, meaning will be lost if the event, exemplified by the was it emotion the of recognition a by accompanied not is child, the of loss capable of evoking. And if sentiment and feeling are not accounted (mind’s) the for, before “flicker to infant the of figure the for reason no is there eye as a memory image.”43 What Kobayashi hoped to with emphasize this izing izing commemorative communication, which only literature is in a position to rescue in the present. What is forgotten is particularly the everyday, which, according to Blanchot writing much later, “We cannot help but miss,” because it is not yet information. If, for example, the attitude of a mother whose child has died is considered, the historical reality of orously upheld the contention that historical narrative had lost its relation- its lost had historicalnarrative that contention the upheld orously ship to the present real life. As a form, it could no conveylonger memory the imaging by forgetting modernfor stoodnow and figure ominous an as present present as the culmination of progress. Even though he wished to show commonness of circulation incessant the itself, repeatedhistorynever how historicalrepe-of theorya to closer poetscamegreat of art the in manifest represent to claim history’s best, its At imagined. have might he thantition the narrative of progress vocalized a fiction of unimaginable proportions. was Kobayashi eager Rather, to reinforce a viewof historycompleted long before the present, one that had accompanied the inaugural experience of real-of possibility the forfeits and forgetting race. Modernitythe demands history was elevated to the status of the “classics.”42 What seems most im- most seems What history“classics.”42 elevatedwas the status of the to disappeared time way the was historydiscard to decision this about portant from his considerations and the resulting diminution of political possibility other than one dedicated to affirmingthe “way things are”—that is status the maintaining quo. to say, Only poets like Motoori Norinaga and Kitabatake Chikafusa possessed such possessed Chikafusa Kitabatake and Norinaga Motoori like poets Only powers of direct “intuition” and “insight” with which to penetrate reality or, indeed, the first poets of ancientJapan who were “firmlyembraced by through see toheart” nature’s in enclosed were they as history, of heart the the distorted explanations that concealed true humanity. In this regard, the “true spirit of history” necessitated distinguishing the fixed, unmoving unmoving fixed, the history” of necessitateddistinguishing spirit “true the forms, unseen to the naked eye, the constant recurrence of expressions of commonness, which involved exercising the power of not “recall,” simply as remembering one does a chronologyof events by recorded historians.41 102 Harry Harootunian she still loves it “today,” long after it has died. For this reason alone, it is it alone, reason this For died. has it “today,”after longit loves still she because exist to continues thus child the and meaning, this of source the is mother the of love remembered. The be to event the becomes strangely comes not from the as event, such, but from those who feel its force, which unless it as reality is historical also invested with genuine feeling. Meaning remarked, and she understands that the death of the child will fail to qualify he lesson, this knows mother The experience. forfeiting of expense the at event the of existence the only recorded it because incomplete always was To an exasperated Suzuki, who had already complained that the conference modernity. overcoming on conference the during Shigetaka Suzuki torian Kobayashi in his dialogue more sentiment put assertively this the his- with sign of a common tradition of emotional life derived from the ancient past. the as and eternal and timeless, motionless, appears history which in day restoring the spirit.46 It is this commonness of experience lived in the every- for but of knowledge a acquiringfor not sentiment, and feeling common of everydayness of space indeterminate the precisely is that moves” never history occupies a place that never moves; it is the “mystery of the place that History, Kobayashi“classic,”get. a concluded,is that shows literature and for- to will the and reason by driven history a to opposed as common, the with the that power Kobayashito imagine and recall invested everydayness reason this for was It heart. the in emotions historical fresh creates that life everyday to close experience the do with to nothinghave story this tell progress is only necessary and desired. Causal relationships the brain since invents to unacceptable, inconvenient, be to history in “unreasonable” and contingent the find Contemporaries eyes. its before place taking ence minnows.45way, humantheof misses this In experi- spectacle vast history than more nothing history” of sea “great the from up scoops that basket bamboo large a resembled practice historical reason, to obligations its to Owing reason. communicating of interest the in forget must narrative cal histori- that memory of reservoir the and it lived who those by supplied is life is theboth Everyday setting of daily life?”44 experience whose meaning we being paradoxical,” he asked, “when we talk about things experienced in “Aregenerally accounts. are and fromomittedhistory historical constitute everyday, inhis Thesethings“gut,” hebelieved experienced are whatreally vagueness. and abstraction to only attests historians by made objectivity and consciousness historical of invocation easy the that complained yashi for notrestoring reliable the memory necessary the of orKoba- child. even are facts the thinking, mother’s the In heart. the in child the remember to death of cause the surrounding details the to appeal to necessary not Constitutive Ambiguities 103 , , com- Motoori Norinaga ut in the end, Kobayashi managed only to mystify everyday life, making making everyday life, mystify to only managed Kobayashi end, the in ut In many ways, Kobayashi’s postwar masterpiece, ways, many In Kobayashi’s B ist Motoori (with Bergson standing behind him) who provided him with the the with him provided who him) behind standing Bergson (with Motoori ist form form and repository of enduring value, which had escaped the demands of time. Thiselision of history and culture into what he had earlier called this In Norinaga. Motoori on text the in realized finally was nature” “second text, he returned to an exploration of “seeing” and “vision” and appealed “real- Western contrasted with he which “knowing,” of modes to Buddhist eighteenth-centurygreat nativ- the was it But “observation.” on based ism” and aesthetics from politics and even ethics. But this solution would resolve resolve would solution this But ethics. even and politics from aesthetics and nothing and empty society of everything but consumption rather than the participatory genuinely a of interest the in critique actualizing of possibility be- war the during dismissed already he—Kobayashi—has that one politics, to continued he war, the subject.During the on knowledge no had he cause history cultural carrytimeless to project of naturalize the space on into the pleted the eternalizing argument a for native aesthetic endowment, which historyone in exceeding had miraculously Such succeeded a society, itself. pre- culture of idea served the better by be never towould see, lived Tosaka figuredin Kobayashi’s conception of everydaylife, and its celebrationof eternal core values that promised to transcend past and present (history be- was it perspective, This formation. social itself over culture elevate and ) lieved, that an drove would a arrangement reinforce betweenwedge everyday life and history, removing custom from its conditions of production of common feeling fixed in aspecific space, without time or duration, a complete and completed history. it impenetrable to all but a few who, like poets and artists, could understand the “mystery of the place that never which moves,” required recalling—signifying—the commonness of feeling and emotion. By reidentify- same the at arriving of danger everydayness the ran ing auratic,he the with place contemporary fascist theorists had Tosaka already Whereas reached. everydaynesssaw “anywhere” welded to the larger processes of world his- alternativean it in saw Kobayashi modernity, of temporalizing the and tory to a history, free-floating everydayness always forthcalling the recurrence was avoiding complexity that required abstraction, Kobayashi responded to responded Kobayashi abstraction, required that complexity avoiding was his questioning of an “unchanging history” or statics. “The experience of time no that fact” the teaches folk ordinaryeven by classics the appreciating to able is who artist any of work creative the intervenesin development and stand in the position to experience the “route of the ancients” as a model. everyday.”47 experience is the “It of our 104 Harry Harootunian everyday life, language, and culture that supplied the model for “seeing” for model the supplied that culture and language, life, everyday things, of understanding empathic of Norinaga’s conception experience.”was“direct own It in “thingness” and “spirit” envision to which with means philosophical and methodological not confuse a daily life that walks the path of . . . free emotional expression “should remarked,“People,” hebodies. own their themselves, from them ( language sacralized a of medium the through other each and nature with interacting community a them made had that world the precisely from speakers remove would separation this before him, that in his own time word and thing had been divided, and that Motoori like feared,body.”48 He own our to take we “as wrote, Kobayashi language,” to take “We language. in embodied “spirit” a of exercise the through reached was it But presumably,concrete. and, sentient, mediate, one more fully passive than active, always prepared to receive what was im- history— and politics, social, the of constraints abstract and normative, artificial, fromfreed emotionalism natural a realizing of prospect the was hermeneutic Motoori’s return. Kobayashi apparentlynalto What attracted of fascist temporality already configured in Mircea Eliade’s myth ofthe eter- would be no distinction between present, past, and future—echoing a form there regard, this In received. been has it as present any and givenness cal movement but the primacy of space over time, an acceptance of any histori- are,” things not “way the of affirmation static a thus was produced nition cog- of mode aesthetic this What subject. its as speaker the interpellating of capable was that place particular a to attention called that language a used Japanesespeaker of thewhereby out, carried was known knower and between negotiation where place the on fixing by altogether time repress to promise its was cognition of theory this of appeal great the But ality. emotion- true express to order in confinement escape to way surest the as ideographs) of importation the (beforelanguage spoken the resuscitating of importance the underscore to prompted thus was and Japanese the of life affective natural, the imprisoned actually had that abstraction of sion cognition. Motoori had already dismissed the “Chinese mind” as an expres- against “rational norms” and the domination of abstraction in conduct and stand determinate a invited Motoori by envisaged as emotionality natural this of restoration the Kobayashi, to According knowledge. of principles residues of national life, despite the long dependence on imported and alien sedimentedthe in existed language,Chinese the still by cloudedover been had it before emotionality, Japanese true that certain been had Motoori cognition. of theories other by grasped be not could that “knowing” and mono no aware no mono kotodama . t ol as alienate also would It ). , embedded in native native in embedded , Constitutive Ambiguities 105 Like many of his contemporaries and successors, Mishima was per- spirit national of glimpse a offered aestheticform and thatcultural suaded and against thus the the provided erosions surest inflicteddefense by time mani- was thatform convincedtimeless was he thisregard, In history. and though he was Japan’s most “Western” writer. The backdrop of his anticom- his of backdrop The writer. “Western” most Japan’s was he though of was Culture)” bōeiron“Bunka munist (Essay manifesto, on the Defense state” “super Japanese to of emerging latethe the which, according 1960s, his text, was now compelled to defend culture against its destruction by autho-to socialism of alibi the need really not did Mishima But socialism.51 rize his call to arms, since he was already complaining about his present, the showy of “culturalism” the 1960s that incessantly transformed culture plaints anxious echoed the of cultural critics he of the Often into “things.” 1930s who worried about the loss of spirit to the machine and consumption. Everywhere he saw only “exhausted “ornamentation,” emotionality,” and the “elimination of the Contemporaryreal.” cultural was life counter- from removed and thing revereda as consumption,” mass for “diluted feit, the source of all things and value—the emperor—which had given meaning to all things but had managed to remain free from the alienating and abstracting of commodification.52 world that would center pure form, once more, unmediated by the demands of The modelhistory. he offered of a culturallywhole Japanese distinct order from the history of the “postwar” required a break with the West, even concreteness of timeless living cultural forms in the postwar period preoccupied the writer and would-be activist Mishima With Yukio. Mishima the representational but constitutive aporias faced by modernism and fas- betweenpoliti- a politicsline culturaland a the toblur cametogether cism convic- a from history stemmed postwar of rejection Mishima’s culture. cal holism cultural of theorya rearticulationof a demanded times the that tion this place,” this indistinguishable place,” from its speakers. Language is the same as bodies.”50 our like “most and to us” closest because is “it place Nation the Neo-fascist Spectacle: Transforming MemoryCultural Park of Theme into a The escapefrom adebilitating abstractness and thedesire to resituate the with the way of rationalism (representation).”49 For the “pure power of ex- of power “pure the For (representation).”49 rationalism of way withthe stout-hearted a possible makes language in originally inheres that pression community life for Kobayashi’s us.” conception of language, as the basis of possession “a and endowment unique a only reflected life, communal of 106 Harry Harootunian periods periods of Japan’s history. Theemperor represented a “free subjec- creative form was the emperor, who was always present even when absent in certain autonomy of the continuity,and repetition, of sign tory.53 greatest the But defied his- mere always have years, twenty every Ise at ShrineGrand the of rebuilding punctual the like which, repetitions, and continuities in fested Mishima’s scheme, entailed the Tennō’s joining “absolutistic ethical values” and“makewasfreewillatenterit suddento a outburst time,”in which, in time, political is that time, by unconstrained emperor an But disrupted. been had system political whenthe continuity even theof preservationthe guaranteed fromimpurity separation“having-to-be”; of livingbody the of form degraded and abstract the as seen be to had state The it. from apart remain to had still shiphomogenousthereliediton state, theofexistence body” to demonstrate that, even though the heterological force of emperor- “political the and the Tennō of identity the on fixed had that history cent of pure “having-to-be.” With this understanding, Mishima challenged a re- The Tennōexisted for himself first, before community and nation, as a kind culture. commodity contemporary of world safe and homogenous the to mereutility, the useful, and abstract exchange and presented an alternative incorporated into his person irreducible heterological elements opposed to representing fully the “ideal of cultural continuity.” For Mishima, the Tennō wholeness was the emperor—the Tennō, as Mishima preferred to call him— a form remaining immune to history. Thelynchpin inthis vision of cultural community, imaginary itself an performedas was expenditure, and excess being assimilated to the logic of history, exemplifying a general economy of escaped always surplus whose idea, cultural vast the of womb”“mother’s the Accordingly, destiny.”55 of “continuity the conserve to self-sacrifice and the defense ofanidea cultureasform. oftimeless involvedcrisis porary over a struggle competing claims of conductcultural contem- life.54The everyday contemporary of content the from guishable indistin- was Mishima, to according who, (Hirohito), emperor Shōwa the for realigning culture to form. This image was intendedto directly challenge necessary subjectivity” creative “free and repetition both of principles the only be overcome by appealing to the agency of an emperor, who embodied could it things, of order cultural the in crisis genuine a precipitating life, national into interruption introduced form commodity and consumption transmitting form itself on through its time. endless If itinerary the rule of of capable always was He signification. a to bound not was who but ing who tivity” acted as a transcendental subject that authorized cultural mean- o eed utr mat idn scey f gim n encouraging and egoism of society ridding meant culture defend To Constitutive Ambiguities 107 - )” )” of the “state” Tennō’s with some kokutai dernism dernism and fascism, like modernity itself, were constituted as his Mo but, rather, coeval temporal structures, coexisting temporalizations that seek to find modes of relatingpast, present, andfuture in diverse and dif- waysferent yet also resolve the aporias and ambiguities createdcapital- by ism and its ceaseless production of unevenness.59 What this struggle has underscored has been the singular importance of this critical relationship between politics and time in modern society how and, the especially, central task of politics must always account for the experience of time. But it experience, the mediate forms through which a specific history is lived as the continuous historicization of existence. Through theseforms, we are able also to identify the aporias of representation provoked by the constituent ambiguity produced by capitalism, which has continually marked modernityJapan’s to the present. Peter Osborne has argued that these are not necessarily products of competing totalizations of historical material torical temporalizations through which capitalism gained access to lived ideal, ideal, Mishima staged his last, great spectacle: suicide by ritual decapita- call his follow to -women and countrymen his moving from far which, tion, to action, was simply another commodity that was rapidly consumed and must We acknowledge that forgotten. nearly thirty years after the event of revisited concep-his critic and Kato Norihiro writer the suicide, Mishima’s state,which cultural holistic a of authorization its and emperorship of tion he juxtaposed to the Shōwa emperor, Hirohito, as a reminder of precisely by demanded to forgetfulness lost but gained once had Japan modern what Americanization.58 unguarded and culture commodity and spatial continuity in the performance of rituals and the identity between identity the and rituals of performance the in continuity spatial and eroticism, and anarchism.57 and archaic divine authority political disorder, Yet behind this appeal to imperial intervention in contemporary history from outside of time was also the attempt to articulate the classic reunion one in life into art and art into life making everydaylife—by and art between stroke through the act of divine destruction and creation. achieveTo this combine combine the “national polity ( form of economic order that, more often than not, resembled “capitalism be- proposed already equation classic the property,” private of system a and present.56 postwar the for reformulated now theorists fascist by war the fore Theact, hewas convinced, would reveal theconnection between temporal to an “undifferentiated inclusive culture.” For Mishima, the present was the the was present the Mishima, For culture.” inclusive “undifferentiated an to appointed moment for the emperor to enter time to act decisively in the interest of making culture anew and to enact an age-old repetitive gesture would intervention an Such re-createit. to only culture, destroying at aimed 108 Harry Harootunian time that starts with the everyday. But Tosaka also looked to the political political the to looked Tosakaalso But everyday. the with starts that time historical of register the in possibility political of promise the present the from the modernist project imagined by people like Tosaka Jun, who saw in away moved has Japan contemporary as such society how a illustrates also qualifies to fulfill the older penchant for spectacle manifest in the mass the in manifest spectacle for penchant older the fulfill to qualifies still of bad memory.cultural today But of thebad memory cultural staging park theme vast a into imaginary social the converting to way the opened ralizing has process that endangered altogether of politics the survival and tempo- the forestall to desire obsessive an of sign the believe, I have, we culture, into politics of incorporation steady the and Japan in postwar the alternative temporalizations of history. In the interminable prolongation of and ways distinct politically in present, past, future relating of modes find to seeking than rather itself time of dissolution ecstatic an actualizing of interest the in made is move a such lost; been has what for nostalgia duce different social andorder distant inthe past to continually designated proof a an image of be composed now will configuration new figuration. The the overdetermined infieldhistorical a and less re-emplotted charged con- forcetive will have been removed from the place originally assigned it to in forms coeval of has temporalization probably come to an end. This genera- but alternative generating of capable culture and politics discrepant a for penchant its and modernization capitalist by produced ambiguity stituent con- the circumstances, new these Under productivities. respective their of source the politics—and and temporalizations—culture these divided effectto was eliminatethe both literally that incommensurability had once former.The the metabolize never could latter the of nature restricted the that recognized been had it past the in where politics, and culture crepant dis- a of realignment a seek to was outcome greatest Its present. the with identity its and past reified a representing of act the to itself—gave way of the effortto figure thenow astemporally marked presentation—a showing way, this In coupling. natural a as performance successful of realization the to “essence” cultural cementing on insisted which accountability, cal politi- for well-being economic substitute to desire postwar the in ished to exchange.relationship and value its and We critique this van- that know form commodity mysterious the like makinglook Mishima,risked culture by out acted and Kobayashi by promoted was which temporality, and cess onfixed space. Spatializing core as culture consideringwithout value, pro- dependence consequent its and culture as value core of claims reified the offset to as way a such in positioned critique its and everydayness of now the of understanding an on based formation of culture a of significance Constitutive Ambiguities 109

, ed. Teihon Teihon (Min- Kobayashi Kobayashi Kindai Kindai Nihon shisō taikei Miki Miki Kiyoshi essensu (New Development Unequal (London: Verso, 1995), 140. 1995), Verso, (London: , trans. by E. F. N. Jephcott (Lon- , vol. 29 of New Left Review, March–April, vol. 2, , ed. Matsumoto Kenichi (Tokyo: Fu- (Tokyo: MatsumotoKenichi ed. , ), seclusion and opening the country, country, the opening and seclusion ), Modernity and Modernity Hegemony (Minneapolis: jōi The Politics of Time of Politics The (Minneapolis: University (Minneapolis: Hegemony and Modernism Minima Minima Moralia Kindai no chōkokuno Kindai Kobayashi Kobayashi Hideo shū The Emergence of SocialSpace:Paris and Rimbaud Commune the , 144 Moralia Minima Modernism, 10. and Hegemony Miki Kiyoshi essensu, 211. Kiyoshi Miki Modernism, xxxiv–xxxv. and Hegemony See esp. “Ningengaku to rekishi tetsugaku” (1935), in Uchida, Uchida, Uchida Hiroshi (Tokyo: Kobushi Shobō, 2000), 209–23. Shobō, Kobushi (Tokyo: Hiroshi Uchida (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1977), 312. 1977), Shobō, Chikuma (Tokyo: 101. 3, vol. 1977), Shobō, Keikusa zenshū Jun (Tokyo: Tosaka of Minnesota Press, 1990), xxxiv. See also Samir Amin, of Minnesota Press, 1990), xxxiv. Monthly Review Press, 1978). York: Larsen, Samir Amin, quoted in Larsen,in quoted Amin, Samir University of Minnesota Press, 1990), 6; and Takaaki, ed., Yoshimoto 8. see note no. 221; 1977), Shobō, Chikuma Hideoshū (Tokyo: My thanks to Alan Tansman for his reading and suggestions for revision and an earlier on version. made comments Hyun Ok Park for Epigraphs: Theodore Adorno, 2005), 144. don: Verso, Also, Neil Larsen, T. Clark, J. T. “Origins of the Present Crisis,” 2000, 2000, 88. Theproblem of aporias was raised by anynumber of thinkers during an periodpostwar the In Kiyoshi. Miki philosopher the bv notably and 1930s, the “Kin- in Yoshimi Takeuchi by compiled was modernaporias Japan’s inventoryof in (1959), chōkoku” no dai The list includes the antimonies 338–41.zambo, of1979), restoration and reno- ( xenophobia and loyaltyimperial vation, national essence and civilization East and West. and enlightenment, Yoshimoto Yoshimoto Takaaki, ed., See Kristin Ross, neapolis: University of Minnesota University 88, 129. neapolis: 1988), Press, Clark, “Origins of the Present Crisis,” 88. Clark, “Origins Present Crisis,” of the Ibid., 92–93. Ibid., 229–30. Ibid., 214. Osborne, Peter from is wording The This formulation is the argument of Yanagita Kunio’s “Minkan denshō,” in denshō,” “Minkan Kunio’s Yanagita of argument the is formulation This (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1962–71), Shobō, 25. Chikuma vol. zenshū Kunio (Tokyo: Yanagita See Larsen, Ibid., xxxv. Ibid., 10. Ibid., 6; Adorno,

. . . 1. 7 3 3. 9. 2. 8. 5. 6. 4 11. 17. 1 15. 12. 10. 16. 14.

rallies, pageants, and marches undertaken withfirst appearancefascism’s historicalin the field. Notes

110 Harry Harootunian

44.

54. 24 34 4 26. 50. 29. 40. 42. 45. 48. 46. 30. 28. 20. 3 39. 32. 22. 43. 5 2 3 35. 23. 55. 53. 47. 37. 3 27. 41. 18. 21. 51. 31. 19. 5. 9. 8. 2. 6. 3. . .

See Harry Harootunian, Harootunian, Harry See Tosaka, 1,40. Jun zenshū cism. See See Ibid., 422.Ibid., Ibid., 312,428. Ibid., Mishima Yukio (Tokyo: hyōron zenshū Shinchōsha: 1989), vol. 3, 223–51. “Bi nokokoro,” mitomeru in Takaaki, Kobayashi Hideo, Ibid. Tosaka, vol. Jun 3, zenshū 493. Ibid., 221.Ibid., Ibid., 289. Ibid., 221–23.Ibid., Ibid. 277.Ibid., 288–89. Ibid., Ibid., 275.Ibid., Matsumoto, Matsumoto, 289. Ibid., Ibid., 233.Ibid., 240–48. Ibid., 228–46. Ibid., 233.Ibid., Yoshimoto, 487.Ibid., 488–89. Ibid., 3,Ibid., 80. See ibid.,See 492. Ibid., 485.Ibid., Ross, See Yoshida Masatoshi, Masatoshi, Yoshida See See See Yoshida, Ibid., 125–31.Ibid., N.J.:Interwar Japan Press,2000),145. (Princeton, University Princeton vol. 3, 260–64. alsoTosaka see , vol. Jun 1,36–37.176–76; zenshū lantzas, State, Power, Verso, Socialism (London: 2000),93–122. Pou Nicos of reading Goswami’s Manu to indebted am I observation, this For (London: Routledge, Mulhern, Francis Culture/MetacultureSee (London: 2000),174. See “BungakuSee rekishi,” to inibid., 280. Tosaka, vol. Jun 3, zenshū 483. Yoshida, , vol. 4, 145–61, for a working though of this theory criti- of theory for this of workingthough a 145–61, Tosaka4, vol. , zenshū Jun The Emergence ofSocial Space, 88–89. Yuibutsuron to Nihon ideorogii Nihon to Yuibutsuron Kobayashi Hideoshū,274. , 231.Kindai nochōkoku Yuibutsuron for observation. this toNihon ideorogii, 179–80, Motoori NorinagaMotoori (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1977), 312. Yuibutsuron to Nihon ideorogi Nihon to Yuibutsuron Overcome by Modernity: History, Culture, and Community in Community and Culture, History, Modernity: by Overcome , 177; see also see 177; , Kobayashi Hideoshū,321, 389, (Tokyo: Sekibunsho, 1980), Sekibunsho, (Tokyo: Tosaka Jun zenshū Jun Tosaka , vol. 2, 23; 2, vol. , - Constitutive Ambiguities 111 (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 2000), 376–456, an essay Sengoteki shikō , 200. of Time Politics The See Kato Norihirō, Ibid., 243–45. Ibid., 244. Mishima against Hirohito. against Mishima Osborne, that seeks to show the connection between prewar and postwar by pitting 57. 56. 58. 59.

Fas PART II c is m an d Daily Daily L i f e

Ki

m The Beauty of Labor:

Bran Imagining Factory Girls in Japan’s New Order d t

In early 1941, leading members of Japan’s largest and most influential folk art organization, the Mingei Kyōkai (Folk-Craft Association), published a proposal to reform the dormitory life of female workers at a spinning factory. Much of the March issue of the organization’s magazine Gekkan mingei (Folk-Craft Monthly) was given over to the proposal and to various articles and editorials in connection with it. Yet the factory girl project, which centered on the construction, furnishing, and use of a special dormitory, appears never to have been realized. After the one special issue, there was little further mention of the project or even of the factory in the magazine, or in other association publications. And even in the pages of the special issue itself, the editor, Shikiba Ryūzaburō, expressed doubt that the project would ever be anything more than a “paper plan” (he was quick, however, to add, “We have grasped a truth,” and “I believe the day will come when this material is put to use in some way”).1 Nevertheless, the association’s approach to what it called the “Problem of the Daily Lifestyle of Female Workers” is worth considering in some detail. A recognizably fascist effort to employ aesthetics as a means of increasing industrial productivity for total war, the factory girl project helps to illumi- 11

6 Kim Brandt Not only were fascist politics characterized by the deliberate manipulation manipulation deliberatethe by characterized politics fascistNot were only project. fascist the to central were considerations aesthetic fascism, pean ics in fascist As policymaking. has long in been stressed the study of Euro- by ever, questionofthe assessthe role itremainscrucial played to aesthet- How- literature.2 and ideology fascist of study, also, some been has There policy. economic on or movements and institutions political on focused cist experiment. Most discussions of the question of Japanese fascism have nate important several but as yet under-studied aspects of the Japanese fas- office withinJoy.”5 through“Strength Labor” of “Beauty Speer’s Albert architect the by out marked lines cizing aestheti- the along culture worker of reconstruction thoroughgoing more a of possibility the to attention also was there like, the and choirs, factory trips, hiking events, sporting theatricals, traveling through workers uplift and entertain to initiatives familiar more the to addition in that suggest ( Order New Japan’s within bureaucracy renovationist so-called or folk-craft the of efforts The deavor.4 the or to those of the comparable workers forindustrial programs cultural create to sought cies agen- and officials Japanese which to extent the and 1940s early 1930sand late the during practices and policies labor industrial of dimensions tural cul- the explore to begun labor.scholars have recently factory Only of tion rationaliza- beautiful the through industrialization and by capitalism ated in Nazi Germany, resolve cre- some to ofthe contradictions ofacampaign as wellofvirtue andstrength. gratification, aesthetic of source a as presented was it, put Japan wartime of slogansoften quotedone,” most as the beating of one hearts as million hundred “one of ideal The itself. of and in end an as out held also was it forlaborbut resources wartime privation, and and subjects lizing national mobi- in uses concrete very had vision sacrifice. This and unity national of discipline theexquisite by sublated and exalted both be could individuality which in society new beautiful a create to was policymakers and thinkers fascist of goals central the of one France, or Italy or Germany in as well as Japan terms.3In aesthetic explicitly in framed was state the and society of renovation fascist the but uniforms, and posters, rallies, and festivals mass film, architecture, as such symbols, and forms new spectacular of the interest and support those efforts received from key members of the of members key from received efforts those support and interest the Y Th et et even as the factory girl project highlights the existence of yet another e factory girl project points to the presence within wartime Japan, as Japan, wartime presence within the to points project girl factory e (National Organization of Afterwork) en- Afterwork) of Organization (National Dopolavoro Nazionale Opera German Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) organization mingei activists in particular, and particular, in activists shintaisei ), On the Beauty of Labor 117 , New officialsOrder andtheircollaborators seikatsu bunka One One important aspect of mingei’s appeal to the wartime state is sug-

Commerce and Industry could have ensured the survival of not one but two but one not survival of the ensured have could Industryand Commerce mingei magazines during a period when forced consolidations and even outright dissolution drastically reduced the of number periodical publica- early the during significantly grew Association Mingei the Moreover, tions.7 1940s, establishing its first three regionalbranches in1942 in Tōhoku,or northeastern Japan, with the officialapproval of local branches ofthe na- Assistance (Imperial Association, Rule IRAA). or Yokusankai tional Taisei complex of institutionsmingei and organizations that had developed over the previous decade. Both of the monthly magazines put out by the Min- gei Association were allowed to continue publication without apparent interference until late 1944.official Only complaisance onthe part of such key state organs as the Cabinet Information Bureau and the Ministry of thetic resource that evoked the social harmony of premodern communal forms. It is not surprising, therefore, that the bureaucrats who directed the key agencies of Japan’s New Order from 1940 regarded favorably the what they called sought to adapt fascist practices and ideals to the circumstances peculiar to Japan as a non-Western nation attempting to secure an Asian empire through total war. Factory The Girl Proposal aes- indigenous impeccably an as useful was art folk polities, fascist all For the the Mingei Association’s factory girl proposal, along with the interest it it makes groups,semi-governmental and government various from elicited possible to see that the ideas about managing worker culture put forward spe- their In distinctive. fact in were 1940s early the in planners Japanese by cial emphasis on the aesthetics of a self-sufficient domestic creativity, or cist planners to impose their ideals of managed productivity on Japanese a varietyindustry. For of reasons, the technocrats who dreamed in the late and 1930s early 1940s of rationalizing culture worker had far less scope or capacity to enact their plans than did their counterparts in Italy and especially But in in Germany.6 addition, close study of the particular nature of important set of ideas and programs linking wartime Japan to the fascist regimes of continental Europe, it also offers insight into the distinctive nature of fascism in Japan. Thefact remains,for example, that theFolk- the degree, some To neverrealized. was plan Association’s Mingei or Craft, failure of the factory girl project is emblematic of the larger failure of fas- 11

8 Kim Brandt that mingei appealed to the renovationist bureaucrats who came to promi- mingei whoto that came bureaucrats the renovationist appealed to under the influence of foreign culture,” the article proposed that, properly culture,”that, of proposed foreign influence article theunderthe center,the developed of has culture thewhich in than regions the in today paper. Declaring that “theof Japanesecorrect tradition culture moreexists ment of Regional Culture,” news- which appeared in early 1941 in the IRAA Establish- the for Policies and “Principles entitled editorial an by gested design.12ern and the possibilities it offered for a uniquely Japaneseto contribution mod- mingei of beauty modern timelessly the about enthusiastic waxed export, for production craft on advise to ministry the by hired Perriand, Charlotte foreign theexperts. Both Brunoarchitect Taut and, especially, the designer modernist of pronouncements the by Industry and Commerce of Ministry the in bureaucrats for credence special lent were modernity and mingei between affinities the 1930s,beauty.11 late true the of In guarantees the as art and craft and to exalt simplicity, functionality, and artisanal community cohort were inspired by handicraftselected insistto objects on the unity of his (1919–33),and Yanagischool design and art Bauhaus the as stitutions in- modernist classic such of founders the Like world. industrialized the modernism, design of throughout orthodoxy aesthetic fastwas which becoming international an that and associates, closest his and Muneyoshi Yanagicritic art the by 1930s and 1920s the during developed as aesthetic, mingei the between affinities strong were there thing, one For ideals.10 and forms social indigenous premodern, with productivity industrial join to hoped fascists” “leftJapan’s that way the in much two, the joined they Indeed, landscape. native the of pastfolkloric preindustrial, the to as well as modernity, international to access offered mingei as identified objects handicraft Japanese The Order. New the of days heady the during nence founded andsoil.9identity on blood a Japanese increasingly state concerned to mobilize a national and imperial by up taken Germany, mingeiwas and Italy in France, orin Vichy agencies official by promoted and celebrated conspicuously were arts folk and ture cul- folk that way the in Much nationalism. and war escalating of context the within way of life gave itspeciallegitimacy inthe Japanese countryside oped.8 It is not surprising that the association of mingei with an indigenous devel- and preserved be to culture regional traditional of aspects those of East Asian culture. Mingei was included as and a separate in category a national brief list new a of basis the form would culture regional developed, Minist B ut there was another, rather different way in which it might be argued be might it which another, in there was ut rather different way ry of Commerce and Industry officials and engineers were clearly clearly and were engineers officials Industry Commerceand of ry On the Beauty of Labor 119 The factory girl project demonstrates very specifically how activists Although the factory girl project was firstmentioned only in October Beginning Beginning in late 1940, the leaders of the Mingei Association eagerly was devoted to the theme “The New Order and Mingei” and Mingei” and Order New “The theme the todevoted was mingei Gekkan and modern machine manufacture. The project reveals, moreover, that Min- that moreover, reveals, project The manufacture. machine modern and gei Association leaders willing towere adapt ideologymingei and practice vious fall, to become a powerful new cultural movement “for the purpose of constructing by a means of cultural new activelyorder, integrating with aspects of present-day society.”17 worked to demonstrate the capacity of tomingei overcome contradictions between the farm village and the industrial city, or premodern handicraft the summer of that same year, possibly during meetings in July with the fac- the with July in meetings during possibly year, same that of summer the 1941, early In initiatives. other eclipsed soon It Sōichirō.16 Ōhara owner tory the special issue devoted to the project opened with a statement declaring that the “problem of the daily lifestyle of laborers” represented female the mingei movement’s firstmajor undertaking since it had begun, thepre- “It is just this sort of problem, of a social nature, that the true mingei move- mingei true the that nature, social a of problem, of sort this just is “It reporter.15 the commented takesment on,” 1940, planning by the Mingei Association leaders seems to have begun in culture and Forestry, Education, Commerce and Industry), was to repre- the of work Association’s recognitionand Mingei expansion the an of sent titled Yanagi by article long a included also issue October The decade.14 past German of discussion a Beauty,” Craft of Question the and Order New “The handicraft organizations by Graf von Dürckheim, and the firstmention of factory, spinning a at workers female of dormitory the life on project new a later. months few a only magazine the of issue special a of subject the be to encourage encourage regional handicrafts. This agency, in which theproposal’s au- participationthors the envisioned of various government ministries (Agri- the early 1940s, that mingei might have other, more practical uses in the dif- the in uses practical more other, have might mingei that 1940s, early the ficultwith agrarian industrialJapaneseness of reconciling modernity. task in Japan—announced by August embraced the premise of for a New Order orga- their promote to opportunity an cabinet—as Konoe formed newly the nization and ideology and to demonstrate mingei’s relevance to Japanese societyand culture in the The broadest possible Octoberterms. 1940 issue of organizationofficial an to of establishment the for proposal witha opened intrigued by the idea that mingei might help to expand export markets in the industrialized West for Japanese consumer But goods.13 itfinally, was the activities of the Mingei Association itself that were most effective in persuading “managerial fascists,” during the latter’s brief ascendancy in 1 20 Kim Brandt association work within the modern factory.18 Perhaps most interesting interesting most Perhaps factory.18 modern the within work association of idea the support to seemed Yanagi even now example, for consumers, and workers both for these with associated lifestyle the and production, industry,massmachine of sharply critical stance earlier Order.an Despite their indegree a to significant efforts to aid in of the construction New fora path development.”22 theirintegrated modern factory culture and traditional farm village culture, and to establish between contact thefor plan to duty urgent our is it Indeed, . . . future. in occur will that lifestyles to confusion intractable and great the see can we under way to disperse urban factories to rural locations, and that “even now kan mingei project noted to thethat a devoted factory national initiative was however. lem, The published openingthe statement in issue of special into small-village farming life.21 This was only part of a larger, related prob- re-entry girls’ factory the of shock presumed the reduce to was therefore, life, dormitory of reform proposed the of goal villages.20One farming in life to return to so done had factory the left had who workers female 359 of findingits the thatstressed importance wellover halfthe of association villages.19 Therural in households farming from percent—came 85 about majority— thevast that fact unsurprising the revealed 1940) in 2,000 over of population worker total a of (outplant the at workingwomen and girls 900 approximately the of half about of association the by conducted vey sur- A Prefecture. Okayama in Kurashiki, of city the in located was pany, association, one of several large factories owned by the Kurashiki Silk Com- the by studied plant nylon-spinning The factory. urban the of culture the ( culture village “farm between conflict potential of that as wellwomen’s roles aswage laborers and aswivesandmothers. leisure, and work and agriculture, and country,industry and city integrate smoothly would that consumption minimal and production maximal of life,” suggest to discipline abeautiful, native away became context, inthis end. “The was culturearguablyultimate of daily that its hyper-productivity managedtheensureJapaneseunderlying society, of idealfascist the to but contradictions basic the resolve to only not proposed Association Mingei the factory,nylon-spinning a at working girls life—forteenage dormitory the cizing and ideologuespolicymakers in the 1930slate 1940s. and By early aestheti- of cept “daily life culture ( thehowever,the insightoffersis it con-project, girl into aboutthefactory D The most immediate concern addressed by the association’s plan was plan association’s the by addressed concern immediate most The ormitory architecture and furnishings provided one obvious point of point obvious one provided furnishings and architecture ormitory —or the objects, architecture, gestures, and routines of routines and gestures, architecture, objects, the seikatsu—or seikatsu bunka),” a forwatchword Japanese fascist )” and bunka)” nōson Gek- On the Beauty of Labor 1 2 1 ) paper for the sliding doors . In what was claimed to claimed was what In . minka ondoru , accessible hiroma immediately from by Serizawa Keisuke’s woodblock prints, woodblock Keisuke’s Serizawa by mingei Gekkan y building y the building dormitory in farmhouse style, and it by withfurnishing ut the mingei aesthetic was to shape not only the housing and furniture furniture and housing the only not shape to was aesthetic mingei the ut B B of the workers’ female after-work lives, but also the way they passed their association planners by imagined life” daily of “culture reformed The time. would integrate not merely the material culture of the Japanese periphery productivityrural intoof rhythms the also but metropolitancenter, its into with noted was it example, For time. factory by created leisure industrial the the the matron’s room; Korean flooring ( of the guest room; and various other items in the “Korean style.”25 Thus, a reformed culture of daily life might serve to integrate not only farm and semi-colony) and metropole. (or but also colony factory, to sit on, to the bowls and plates they used at mealtime, to the altar shelf ) (kamidana in the main room—the association planners expected to instill in workers an appreciation of the of “culture daily life” of rural Japan gen- and erally, of their own, specificfarm villages inparticular. As theyput it, “Thefamily-style dormitory (katei ryō) we have planned chooses its furni- mingei the from items, small other and utensils as well as fittings, and ture now extant in the various regions of want We Japan. thus to establish the facilities and the guidance that will workers, givewhen theyfemale return to their villages and begin their lives there, the knowledge that will enable them to identify the things of own their village comparatively with respect to the mingei of other Japanese regions, and also so that they themselves value of understand It the culture is ownthe of dailyin village.”24 their life regions” included Japanese worth “other thathere noting from the mingei stencil-dyed cloth) Okinawa, from (bingata which was to cushions in cover matron’s room, a guest room, and a bathroom. Most of these, except for the the for except these, of Most bathroom. a and room, guest a room, matron’s were with floor, wooden envisioned a room,was which dining and kitchen of Okayama tatami (the manufacture).23 roomsto (mat-floored) be tatami a broad assortment of mingei objects—from the cushions the girls were integration.The dormitoryplanned by theMingei Association, and hand- in illustrated somely or farmhouse, Okayama the on modeled was a with story, one be to was building the style,Okayama characteristic the be is as “such hedge well-tended a by surrounded be to was it and roof, gabled dormitory—scaled house the to Inside, Prefecture.” Okayama in seen often cen- two around organized be to time—was a at workers ten approximately tral rooms: a main common room, or the earth-floored entrance, and a combined kitchen andThe dining room. rest of the plan was composed of two sleeping rooms workers, for the the 1 22 Kim Brandt out, there still existed in Japanese farm villages a beautiful style of em- of style beautiful a villages farm Japanese in existed still there out, pointed report initial the of authors the favor yet, embroidery.And French-style to tended needlework on time leisure and earnings their of some spend to chose who Kurashikiplant the at girls many the that disapproval became increasingly involved with the Mingei Association during the late late the during Association Mingei the with involved increasingly became who researcher textile and journalist young Tanaka camp. Toshio,a labor industrial an all, after was, what of context the within implications topic dys- more somewhat has household, preindustrial the of harmony orderly the suggest to meant while that, discipline bodily and surveillance of gree de- for a notable is reformers mingei by promoted life daily of culture The useful? be would productivity and discipline mingei-inspired that farm, the on back factory, the leaving after only it Was put. be to was training appropriate the farm household to and increasing self-sufficiency.28 its would receive training at these sites in the “subsidiary industries ( Femalesty. workers pig a and coop, chicken a garden, vegetable a bandry: hus- animal and gardening kitchen for facilities include to were grounds appropriate to their final destinations.Along the same lines,the dormitory hold chores—cooking, cleaning, and so on—in a manner and setting more house- perform to how learn would girls factory where classroom rustic a as serve would dormitory reformed the contrast, By burners.27 electric and lines gas with equipped kitchens in classes cooking after-hours and dormitories Western-style as amenities urban promisingsuch by factories to workers rural attracting of practice common the bemoaned proposal fancies.urban Similarly,and coloredsilks with sources) the of authorsthe re- cash scarce as well (as them diverted that one than productivity,rather farm enhanced that skill a develop would girls factory example, for style, indigenous attractive if austere an in clothes work strengthen and mend to how learning By farmwives. productive useful, more become to them thetrain mingei would but village,to forreacclimation ill their boded that influences foreign and urban the from life dormitory reformed by tected pro- be workers would only Notmingei. of potential integrative as well as educational and disciplinary the advertised proposal Association’s Mingei the Japan, rural of arts homely the for appreciation active an with habits foreign furbelows.26 of art usefulthe in native pleasure take to induced be clothing. The was implication that somehowgirls could factory and should as known broidery Yet there was a certain ambiguity about the ends to which after-hours which to ends the about ambiguity certain a was there Yet By offering to replace decadent, consumerist, Westernized tastes and tastes consumerist, Westernized decadent, replace to offering By , which had developed as a means of reinforcingof means a as developed had which sashiko, rather than in than sashikorather fukugyō)” On the Beauty of Labor 23 1 - ) neso- zadankai Gekkan , mingei wrote up for the special issue the results of an , he expressed concern that those female workers workers female those that concern expressed he , mingei Gekkan hikiba’s hikiba’s questionnaire also included a section dealing with the topics t is unclear whether or not Tanaka was interested in the obvious advan obvious the interestedin was Tanaka not or unclearwhether is t S I of “Romantic and Love,” “Marriage,” The“Menstruation.” questions sub- songs songs might be used in the factory to increase productivity. Noting that “Germany and other ‘musical nations’ are skillfully making use of industrial Shikiba music,” wrote, “I think it would be good if at this factory as well, songs were selected appropriate to the various work stations, and working.”31 listen them or to to them while sing were made [workers] elaborate questionnaire on daily life he and another leading association member had composed and distributed among 362 workers female at the Kurashiki plant in January 1941. In his commentary on the section of the questionnaire withdealing music, Shikiba suggested that radio music and ), she might be reprimanded, and even warned about opening and opening even about and warned reprimanded, be might she ireba), bette shutting Well, doors. I think this is the kind of education in living that is missing in factory dormitories at present, and that would be conducted at family-stylethe dormitory.”30 way they take their coats off, inhow theymake their greetings,how they put down their parcels, how they sit, how they stand up, and in such ways an entire training in daily lifestyle occurs.”29 This was the sort of training that ought to Tanaka asserted, occur, in the reformed, mingei dormitory. might parent her teacup, takea to example for then home, at were girl a “If about teachher or made, was teacup the where about mealtime talkduring whether it was good or bad. Or she would be taught how to hold the tea- and meal, the dryand after it wash to how further and eat,to how and cup, ( about was sprawling eating, if she And then after how to put it away. plant—ordinarily plant—ordinarily spent as as many four hours a dayas they pleased, with- of minority the contrast, by that, imagined observation.He or guidance out workers female who commuted to the factory were never left to their own the open and they as returnsoonhome Instead,“as home. at devices when door, they are monitored in the way they open and close the door, in the 1930s, was one of the chief planners of the factory project and the probable probable the and factoryproject the of planners chief the of one was 1930s, ( discussion roundtable the in and it, In report. initial the of author in published who lived in company dormitories—by far the majority at the Kurashiki tages to factory managers and owners of a workforce under the constant, paternalistic surveillance he admired. But other Mingei Association members were readier to acknowledge the relation between reforms they pro- example, for factory enhanced and Ryūzaburō, posed Shikiba productivity. the editor of 1 24 Kim Brandt model. Female factory workers were a particular node of anxiety in New in anxiety of node particular a were workers factory Female model. social fascist in the inherent conflicts difficult most the of one address to sought also planners association the of some least at that suggest of them, discussion Shikiba’s particularly and categories, these under sumed of concern about their reproductivity. In his commentary on the final sec- final the on commentary his In reproductivity. their about concern of girls’ interest in their own appearance should be understood in this context is something senebanaranai mustbeattended (chūi that to at the age of seventeen, nor even at eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, and this menstruating] be [to yet not as delayed so are twenty-two as many as that dreadfulis it JapaneseButaverage.the to enough close is this and sixteen, “Mostject. of the [firsttheyoung at menstruate] age at girls factory this of sub- the on authority with wrote Shikiba gynecology, in specializing trist psychia- well-known and active An menstruation. of discussion Shikiba’s good.”35 There was further, if implied, criticism ofthe factoryexperience in not is marriage and love indifferent romantic to overly is environmentthat an encouraged, being are marriages early when “Atpresent, it, put he As life.”love “proper a and sex in education forsome need the on insisted he tions. While he regula- conceded the importance of dormitory guarding against factory “immorality,” by imposed sexes the of segregation rigid the on and movies watched girls factory which with infrequency the on (aijō), passionof development thebelated reveal to responses,hewhich believed these blamed partner.34Shikiba marriage ideal an describe to willingness un- or inability their and love romantic of experience girls’ the of paucity (alleged) the on commented he example, For mother. and wife as destiny feminine of fulfillment smooth the compromise might experience labor industrial the that possibility the about worry reveals kiba’squestionnaire bride.33village Shi- a Nevertheless, as fate her of inevitability near the and employment of term girl’s factory average the of years) five (about brevity relative the emphasizingby contradiction the downplayed household, ing farm- a in life productive and contented a for girl factory the training of growing numbers ofmen.32 ever of mobilization military the and war total of context the in ticularly female labor was increasingly indispensable to industrial productivity, par- factory. the Yetin laborers not home, the in mothers and wives be to were short, in Women, reproduction. racial and social of means a as foremost threat they posed to a social that ideology claimed to value women first and Order Japan, were in as Nazithey Germany and fascist Italy, of the because Perhaps Shikiba’s attention to what he considered the low level of factory Th e mingei proposals for reform, dormitory with their explicit intention ).”36 On the Beauty of Labor 25 1 - ).”38 onnarashii nioi onnarashii (youth school). It may be presumed, shōnen gakkō y proposing to aestheticize or the life “daily before and life,” after the ome of the education Shikiba called for to remedy the inadequate femi inadequate the remedy to for called Shikiba education the of ome B S however, however, that like other mingei planners, he expected life in the family- even industrial image of the Mingei Association and its mission, the factory the mission, its and Association Mingei the of image industrial even girl project contributed to its continued survival and even growth in the plaything of urbane antiquarian dilettantes, was an authentically indigenous tool that might serve to help integrate, manage, and finally increase factory production, farm production, and social reproduction. Even if the factory reforms were never realized, therefore, they might be said to have served their true all. purpose By toafter helping publicize activist,a gritty, colorless, colorless, too cold. Shouldn’t there be more color in women?”39 the life of young factory shift, of female industrial workers, Mingei Order New in potential mingei of useful broadly Associationtothe demonstrate hoped leaders TheyJapan. worked toshow that the mingeiaesthetic, far from being the thereby thereby helping to ensure the reconciliation of their labor function with biological function. Shikiba wrote with approval of the sight of workers and had theyworkdayafter had returned to dormitory the end of the at the changed out of their Western-style uniforms and into “colorful” kimono. sense a viewer the giving forth, comes femininitytheir last “At it, put he As of He relief.” added, in conclusion, “The rooms and the uniforms are too style dormitory, with its watchful matron, carefully chosen furnishings, and furnishings, chosen carefully matron, watchful its with dormitory, style pervasive more much a workers give to chores, farmhouse homely of round educational experience. The simple beauty of a reformed culture of daily would life teach workers femininity as well as discipline and productivity, ninity of factory workers was to be provided in the context of classroom instruction. At the Kurashiki factory, workers were supposed to spend an hour most evenings in tion of the questionnaire, which dealt with the issue of clothing, Shikiba deplored the fact that the majority of respondents (sixty-six) there expressed women a for rule, a “As wrote, He dress. particular any for desire of lack sad How women. young for Especially dresses. many too as thing such no is certainlyis clothing in interest diminished A . . . then! is, desire of lack this not a Elsewhere, good in on commenting thing.”37 toresponses questions about the purchase and use of cosmetics, Shikiba expressed similar worry solu- The makeup. in interest of lack unusual an as perceived he what about tion, he opined, was to educate workers on the nature of simple yet femi- yet and plain be important is that[workers] “It concluded, He beauty. nine that they be permitted not to ( lose their womanly flavor 1 26 Kim Brandt Several Several months after the special factory girl issue of project. the of outcome a direct part in least at was agencies semiofficial the Mingei leadership and andofficial between various in Association 1941 collaboration of tempo increasing the Certainly crisis. national of context thefied new ordereach society, in the and that resulted.”44programs fascist systems in Italy, Germany, and Japan, the ascendant ideas that justi- differencescan“we find in to similarities thecontexts the rise historical of fasciststatus.43 Gordonpersuasively,arguedas However,has despite clear disqualified from be to said is it policies, domestic party,genocidal or cist by fas-mass a dictator,takeover charismatic featuresa such Japanas lacks indispensablelist of forcharacteristics “fascism.” To the then, extent, that Germany,a usually generate to cases, European rely on nominalism”; they Japan are vulnerable to for charges of label “an implicit fascist Eurocentrism and an the explicit reject who critics Western the of many has out, Gordon pointed Andrew as Yet Germany.42 and Italy of regimes fascist the from different fundamentally government of form a produced tionalism” “ultrana- or “militarism” Japanese that conclusion the from instead ceed pro- to tended has Japan outside studies Japanese postwar dominates that scholarship American North the fascist, recognizably were Japan wartime in rule of ideology as well as structures central the that assumption the on Japaneseof postwar stream historiography in Japan has generally operated main- the While fascism. Japanese a of idea the dismissing in persisted have scholars American North especially and European decades, someFor EastandWestFascist Leisure, at both.41 duringciation the summer of 1941; government officials were conspicuous Asso- Mingei the by sponsored were culture and housing worker on sions discus- roundtable more Twolaborers.40 factory for lifestyle new a erally, gen- more and, housing worker design to helping in state the aid might the discussion revolved around the possibility that the mingei organization of Most Organization). Patriotic (Industrial Kai Hōkoku Sangyō the and Forestry, and Agriculture of Ministry the IRAA, the of Section Culture the Office, Information the from participants Museum)official in Tokyo, with (Mingei Mingeikan the at held was discussion roundtable a example, for ideas and programs concerning the state’s management of workers’ leisure R ecently, Japanese historians have begun to study one particular set of set particular one study to begun have historians ecently,Japanese Gekkan mingei came out, On the Beauty of Labor 27 1 y the 1930s, a variety of movements had emerged in the United States Beginning Beginning in 1938, the hodgepodge of recreational organizations and B using using their relatively high wartime wages to help create what authorities society. society. There wasspecial worry in the late1930s about theneed to curb excess consumption and frivolity on the part of urban workers, who were movements that had already emerged in some of Japan’s larger cities and factorysports movement, hostel youth the clubs, plants—hiking industrial programs, and so on—were brought together under Kyōkai (Japan the Nihon Recreation Association), Kōsei which had been created newly established Kōseishō (Welfare Ministry).49 by The initial impetus driv- the ing the formation of the Japan Recreation Association (and, the arguably, physi- poor the about militaryMinistryitself the within alarm Welfare was ) combat— to need the and youth conscriptable nation’s the of conditioncal activities—what the outdoorperceivedas and throughexercisewas largely particularly deleterious effects of city life andfactory workon war Japan’s effort in China. As the conflict in China escalated intothe all-consuming total war of the late 1930s and early 1940s, however, the Japan Recreation state-directedseveralwith other Association, along con- became agencies, cerned not only with the physical health of military recruits, but withalso Japanese throughout leisure systematizing and managing of goal larger the

the widespread adoption of the forty-eight-hour work week. However, only However, week. forty-eight-hour work the of adoption widespread the in Mussolini’s Italy, and later in Germany and other European right-wing dictatorships, was the effort to manage leisure first initiated, largely controlled, by the then and state through large agencies designated for that en- to efforts pioneered particular, in Germany, and Italy Fascist purpose.46 hance productivity by means of national, state-directed institutions dedi- Hiro- Takaoka As leisure.47 mass authoritarianof organization catedthe to the was it Japan, recreationin managed of study his in out pointed has yuki Japan in influential particularly become would that model fascist European late the 1930s.48 from and western Europe to organize and manage the leisure time created by that may be argued to provide another link between the wartimeJapanese Associa- Mingei The Europe.45 continental of polities fascist the and system factorytion’s girl project, along with the discussions and proposals about worker housing and culture worker to which it gave rise, evi-gives further fascist specifically a in interest nongovernmental and official both of dence industrial- the of much throughout seen be to come had what to resolution leisure.” of worker “problem as the world ized 1 28 Kim Brandt tions associated with the effort to rationalize factory leisure according to according leisure factory rationalize to effort the with associated tions gei Association in 1941 illustrate some of the problems as well as the attrac- examples.50German and Italian the of emulation by offered possibilities the in interest special was there and cities, the in culture consumer “unhealthy” an considered this way of thinking.” Kamiizumi went on to suggest that the true con- true the that suggest to on went Kamiizumi thinking.” of way this revise must We moment. the in power labor ensure to methods these use and this consider don’t “They ten,” said. or he years, five in or years, three or two forin it we pay that will think I “But entertainment. givingworkers from result to seem that productivity in gains immediate the only see try” the in “officials Minis- that Welfare noting recreation, workerto approach theentertainment of thecriticism with He concurred theIRAA. of Section roundtables was Kamiizumi Hidenobu, the assistant director of the Culture culture ( entertainment them give to simply dangerous very it’s think I workers]? [to unbearable more even become life factory that doesn’t then revue, a perform to girls pretty of bunch a dormitory factory the of existence dull nological put Association, Education it: “when you suddenly bring into the Japan Tech-the from representative a Or,as YamamotoShōzō, danger?”51 a also there isn’t but thing, good very a are groups theatrical that think do I and this, stopped They’ve revue. imitation an performing and voices that the workers decided to put on their own theatrical, [singing] in strange was result Takarazuka.the The from group a in brought they where plant nylon-spinning one of heard “I factories: provincial at performed revues cabaret-style having of practice the of complained dormitory, Kurashiki the of planners chief the of villages.Tanaka Toshio,one rural from agers teen- impressionable presumably were whom of many workers, on terials in the mingei worried, however, roundtables about the impact of such ma- Participants of massvues,modern entertainment. movies, and other types by semiofficial agencies—also reliedheavily ontraveling andtheatricals re- theas later,well as individualplants, programs moredirected coordinated in initiatives earlier the productivity—both and morale improve worker to efforts Japanese tourism. and revues, jazz movies, as such entertainment, mass of forms American-style, even modern, featured prominently ation recre- worker for programs German and Italian The morale. their raise to various entertainments and activities commonly used to divert workers and the of content the concerned difficulty One models. Westernestablished, Y n o te ihs-akn gvrmn bracas rsn a the at present bureaucrats government highest-ranking the of One et et the discussions of worker housing and culture organized by the Min goraku nari bunka strange,), andespecially urbanculture.”52 - On the Beauty of Labor 29 1 )” dōrō bunka ’s views reflected’s position the on culture“work ( ’s comments reveal a more fundamental dissatisfactionwith fundamental reveal more comments a ’s ), that they work in order to eat, and that their work in no way enters way no in work their that and eat, to order in work they that ), Kamiizumi Kamiizumi the the IRAA during the early 1940s was of a new, “healthy” culture actively created thatin a manner by themselves workers would integrate and “clar- Hiroyuki has shown that camethe latter viewTakaoka daily ify” lives. their recreation on previousemphasis the replacing 1940s,early the prevailtoin in factoryworkers guide “specialists” cultural have tocampaign new a with the spontaneous creation of new types of music, or theater, literature that daily life.”55 worker would “renew Office, as distinct from the Welfare Ministry’s Japan Recreation Association Recreation Japan Ministry’s Welfare the from distinct as Office, or the Recreation Section of the Industrial Patriotic Organization. While the latter agencies, which had undertaken to organize and direct worker leisure since the late 1930s, tended to define an appropriate work culture in terms of ordinary forms of recreation and relaxation, the more radical, “renovationist” vision promoted officialsby inthe Information Office and associated more generally with the IRAA and the Cabinet Information to be a pleasure. That isvery different from factoryworkers. Peoplewho work in factories and mines do not think that . way. . . I believe that work was labor industrial farming, Unlike life.”54 daily within integrated be must somehow conducive to a fragmenting of life experience. As a result, fac- betweenlabor, divided existence an leading themselves toryfound workers on the one hand, and “daily life”—or the hours before and after the work shift—on the Theother. goal, Kamiizumi suggested, was to find a way to to comparable manner a in laborers factory for leisure and work reintegrate that workers. of farm of farming people and had only just come to recognize that the culture of factory workers needed to be considered on a separate basis. His characterization of the difference betweenfarm andfactory lives daily worktheir conduct isto order revealing:in work they that think factories in “People (seikatsu into their daily lives. But people in farm villages consider their own work Not Not only were conventional factory-sponsored exotic diversions and decadent, but they disturbingly encouraged workers to find labor hard and recre- worker organized of sort usual the was only not words, other In dull. ation alien, but it was alienating. Kamiizumi noted that until the recently, Culture Section of the IRAA had been preoccupied with the rural culture sequence sequence of the entertainment approach was simply to increase workers’ escapist leisure.53 for desire the the very premise of a separation or opposition between work and leisure. 1 30 Kim Brandt

in Naziin dif-Germany, somewhat a toward there those were gravitated who prized joy communitarian regimented, of sort the produce might that and work, with integrated seamlessly somehow was that leisure managed a of ideal the embraced Japanese as even that, suggest Association Mingei the specifically Italian and German models of leisure management. Yet it is also Western, the from away break to impulse an represented thereby, moted pro- apparently life daily and work between opposition the to and leisure, organizing of cultural events fororganizing workandsoon.57 breaks, events ofcultural designed furniture and decorations for and rooms, therecreation canteens specially of provision the layout, and architecture plant in improvements through itself experience work the aestheticizing to dedicated was which Labor of office, Beauty a showcased theorganization workers’of livesthat to demonstrate Strength through Joy’s commitment to the integrated whole It rather entertainment was than the precisely of ‘elevation personality.’”56 they insisted that “leisure unconnected with work would result in mindless recreation for seeking only to manage workers’ time offthe shop floor, and worker of program Italian the criticized Joy through Strength of directors labor industrial in Germany. out, the points Indeed, as Baranowski Shelley unified daily life was much very a part ofthe National Socialist program for true that the ideal of integrating work and leisure within a more organically pany.59 com- machine a at workers German by experienced was insisted speaker there was animated discussion of the desirability of the joy in work that one roundtable, another At culturally.”58 rational, extremely is that lives daily He concluded, “I think they are giving workers a degree of guidance in their “singing canteen, lines fromhallto songs recreation adrum.” andbeating ational facilities provided and noted with approval that workers marched in recre- and hygiene the on dwelled he Germany; to visit a during barracks the toured Apparently,had Taniguchi system. highway national or bahn, Auto- the on workers for construction Labor of Beauty 1934by in structed con- barracks model the about length enthusiastic at spoke example, for theMingei Association. Taniguchitheof Kichirō TokyoCollege, Industrial by sponsored discussions the throughout scattered were projects, Labor of Beauty to specifically and example, German the to referencesAdmiring Labor. of Beauty of Joy,through particularly and Strength of efforts the by impressed favorably were culture worker managed properly a of question I And n n sne te betos o h rcetoa apoc t worker to approach recreational the to objections the sense, one In t is clear that many of the Japanese who occupied themselves with the with themselves occupied whoJapanese the of many that clear is t yet yet the Kurashiki proposal dormitory and the discussions hosted by On the Beauty of Labor 31 1 - on factoryGekkan mingei girls, Ōhara Sōichirō, e preference among at least some Japanese a for means of managing variety of factors contributed to the failure or unwillingness of Japa A Th workers that focused less on the factory and more on the home may help to help may home the on more and factory the on less focused that workers Strength like anything of development full the saw never Japan why explain through Joy or the Italian National Organization of Afterwork. Recent re- nese policymakers to rationalize worker leisure in the manner of the Euro-of the policymakersnese leisure worker manner in the to rationalize bility for guiding workers’ “healthy daily Ōharalives,” asked rhetorically, systems entrusted all welfare and recreation functions to state agencies, thereby leaving the individual company and its managers little responsi- Strength Strength through Joy revealed the much greater influence of agrarianism in Japanese fascism and the comparativeweakness in Japan of the “demo- was It structure.” fascist the to “prior proletariat the and movement”cratic accumu-capital of degree lesser the to noted, Maruyama as connected, also in- private likelyseemsthatoppositionfrom it Moreover, lationJapan.62 in great too was management labor with interference significant any dustryto for the state bureaucracy In to the overcome.63 roundtable transcript pub- in special of the issue lished pean fascist regimes. The politicalphilosopher Maruyama Masao has argued in a classic essay that the relative absence in Japan of anything like owner of the Kurashiki spinning factory, expressed his own objections to European the that Arguing forcefully. quite Italianmodels and German the Welfare Ministry, along with the Recreation Section of the IndustrialSection Patri- the of Recreation with the along Ministry, Welfare otic Organization, were larger and more effective in their efforts—which ex- German the especially, and, Italian the on modeled explicitly often were amples—than has previously been acknowledged. Nevertheless it remains “work culture”re- tomanaging committed agencies Japanese true thatthe ceived little direct state support and never achieved anything approaching scalethe and influence of Europeantheir counterparts.61 search has shown that the Japan Recreation Association attached to the their workstations. Rather than seeking to integrate leisure or recreation into work, in other words, they sought to integrate productive work into supporters their and Association leaders Mingei example, for Thus, leisure. were primarily interested in the possibilityof “guiding” a new cul- worker dormi- whether housing, worker of furnishing and design the through ture families.60 for homes individual or and women men single tories for ferent ferent model of integration. For some Japanese planners, the emphasis seemed to fall less on the effort toaestheticize the industrial work experi- which by life, daily productive beautifully more a of notion the on than ence they meant the space and time occupied by laborers theywhen were not at

1 32 Kim Brandt ties promoted in “foreign countries,” which involved individual workers’ individual involved which countries,”“foreign in promoted ties be impossible?” Ōhara went on to argue that the nature of the leisure activi- beingwill social company a the as of mission cultural integrated, true, the “Isn’t it the case that if all recreation functions are left to some agency, then Notes of necessity. with the racist West, Japanese fascists made a virtue—or, rather, a beauty— industry modern of associations ambivalent economy,the by trialized and productivity. Faced with the challenge of mobilizing an only partially indus- culture of daily life was that non-Westernboth and modern in managed a its create to transfigured, were they as eclipsed much so not were modes and forms folk preindustrial however, Japan, In cast. modernist tinctively völkisch pre-industrial, on emphasis earlier an eclipsed of efficiency and a cult productivity 1930s, late the during that, show to office Labor of Beauty the which modernwith modes conflicted of production.”65 Rabinbach studied culture of patterns traditional the exorcize to Nazism“was of function cal histori- the that written has Rabinbach G. Anson historian German The non-Western, was as regulated and productive as modern, industrial labor. and native authentically while that, culture life daily a of beauty the on sis empha- an of differently, means somewhat by pursued was it as neglected of leisure in New rationalization Order Japan was not so ormuch thwarted the discussions about worker culture and housing to which it led, is that the dormitories.64tory femaleof majority thegreat of workers,especially, accommodation fac- in the included circumstances” “special whose Japan, for inappropriate was sports,”in engageor theater, the to go or “travel, to company the leaving 2. 1.

B On fascist ideology and literature, see Kevin M. Doak, Prewar Japan Prewar Fletcher,Miles William 1994); Press, California University of (Berkeley: Modernity of theCrisis and RomanticSchool no. 3,146. March1941, aremy ous drafts essay. ofthis own. errorsoffact andinterpretation All and Alan Tansman for their extremely helpful comments and suggestions on vari- Redding,Jones, Mark Sean Hunt, Margaret Ciepiela, Cathy Jordanthank Sand, I Shikiba Ryūzaburō, “Joshi rōmusha no seikatsu chōsa,” seikatsu no rōmusha “Joshi Ryūzaburō, Shikiba ut another possibility suggested by the mingei dormitory project, and project, dormitory mingei the by suggested possibility another ut forms and modes to give mature Nazi ideology and culture a dis- a culture and ideology Nazi mature give to modes and forms (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982): Harry D. Harry 1982): Press, Carolina North of University Hill: (Chapel The Search for a New Order: Intellectuals and Fascism in Fascism and Intellectuals Order: New a for Search The Dreams of Difference: The Japan Gekkan mingei Gekkan , vol. 3, vol. , On the Beauty of Labor 33 1

; Strength Strength The State Journal of , ed. James , vol. 10, Feb- Strength Strength through Joy (Cambridge: Cambridge Cambridge (Cambridge: ) who came to prominence prominence to came who ) Taisei yokusankai kaihō Taisei 7 (2001); “Sōryoku sen to toshi— The Authority of Everyday Objects: A Cultural Cultural A Objects: Everyday of Authority The shin shin kanryō shin shin (Berkeley: University of California Press, (Berkeley: University of California Press, Dilemmas Dilemmas of Growth in Prewar Japan (or (or Fascist Fascist Spectacle: The Aestheticsof Power in Musso- Nihon Nihon shi kenkyū, no. 415, (March 1997). On the Crisis Politics in Prewar Japan: Institutional and Ideo- shin kanryō shin The Culture of Consent, 201–16. Culture The Senjika no senden to bunka (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Farrar, of Sign Saturnthe York: (NewUnder The Culture of Consent: Mass Organization of Leisurein Fascist Italy 11 (1976); Paul Betts, Paul (1976); 11 Overcome by Modernity: History, Culture, and Community in Interwar Japan Interwar in Community and Culture, History, Modernity: by Overcome , chaps. 7–8., chaps. in Japan Mass Media State and the The . a New Order for SearchThe Fletcher, Fletcher, “Chihō bunka kensetsu no rinen to hōsaku,” ruary 19, 1941, The 3. other two categories were traditional customs and rituals theater, as such ), geijutsu (kyōdo artslocal and life communal Japanese expressing dance, and waka, and haiku. song folk Contemporary History Contemporary what he calls “revisionism” and “revisionist bureaucrats” in “TheBureaucracy as a Political Force, 1920–1945”, in idem, also See 1971). Press, University Princeton N.J.: (Princeton,Morley William “Japan’s ‘New Bureaucrats’” in point in this the way. that I frame suggesting for I thank Sean Redding See Kasza, University Press, 2004).On the Italian Opera Dopolavoro Nazionale (OND), see Victoria de Grazia, Anson Rabinbach, “The Aesthetics of Production in the Third Reich,” History of West German Industrial Design to those influential refer I 2004),Bycareer1. “renovationist” chap. bureaucracy, the as known bureaucrats in Japan after 1932, and especially after Robert M. 1937. Spaulding Jr. discusses Press, University Sophia (Tokyo: Wilson M. George ed. 1930s, the in Problems logical 1970). kōsei undō o chūshin in ni—,” German Strength through Joy organization, see Shelley Baranowski, ReichThird the in Tourism Mass and Consumerism Joy: through o chūshin ni—,” in Harootunian, (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000); Gregory J. Kasza, and the Mass Media in Japan, 1918–1945 1988). The classic essayon thefascist aestheticization of politicsWalter is Benjamin’s more Another, (1936). Reproduction” Mechanical of Age the in Art of Work “The recent but also very influential discussion of the topic is SusanSontag, “Fasci- in nating Fascism,” Socialism. National in aesthetics of questions on literature large a is There 1980). See, fascism. Italian in aesthetics on appear to begun have studies recently, More e.g., Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, Fascist Ben-Ghiat, (Berkeley: Ruth Italy 1997); Press, California of lini’s University 1922–1945 (Berkeley: Press, 2001). of California Modernities: Italy, University For For more on the Beauty of Labor office, see, Baranowski, For Italy, see De Grazia, Italy, For See the various publications by the historian Takaoka Hiroyuki,various See publicationsin the particular by Takaoka his the historian katsudō no honbu bunka’—chūō ‘dōrō to hōkokukai sangyō Nippon “Dai essays (Cambridge: Cambridge University Cambridge Press, 1981). (Cambridge:

. 7. 3. 8. 9. 6. 5. 4 10.

1 34 Kim Brandt

24. 28. 29. 30. 20. 26. 22. 2 23. 2 1 1 16. 21. 12. 15. 19. 1 17. 11. 4. 8. 5. 3. 7.

zation. role thein tion’s proposed new play organi-to substantial leadershipa expected Gekkan mingei, vol. 2, no. 10, Presumably, 1940, 2–4. October the Mingei Associa- teian,” taisuru ni sōshiki bunka kōgei sho no “Shintaisei kyōkai, mingei Nihon Nihon mingei kyōkai, “Joshi rōmusha no seikatsu yōshiki no mondai,”no yōshiki seikatsu no rōmusha “Joshi kyōkai, mingei Nihon mondai,”no yōshiki seikatsu no rōmusha “Joshi kyōkai, mingei Nihon dayori,” kyōkai “MingeiToshio, Tanaka Nihon mingei kyōkai, “Joshi rōmusha no seikatsu yōshiki no mondai,”no yōshiki seikatsu no rōmusha “Joshi kyōkai, mingei Nihon mondai,”no yōshiki seikatsu no rōmusha “Joshi kyōkai, mingei Nihon Brandt, Ibid. bunka,”no rōmusha to “Nōson issue special the in lished Yanagi was foran participant, active example, in the discussion roundtable pub Ibid., 13.Ibid., zu,” sekkei “Katei ryō Ibid., 9. Ibid., 4. Ibid., bunka,” Gekkanmingei, vol. 3, no. 3,59. March1941, Statement by Tanaka Toshio in the roundtable discussion “Nōson to rōmusha no 7 Ibid., “Katei ryō sekkei zu,” sekkei “Katei ryō 10. Ibid., shiko asmingei. of subject the on article illustrated long a therefore, contained, issue special mingei, vol. 3, no. 3,7. March1941, mingei, vol. 3, no. 3,2–3. March1941, ibid., 63. we really go much further to consider also the creation of machine-made crafts?”: have come into contact, up to a point, with modern industry; in future, shouldn’t Mingei Association organizers of the project, concluded, “With this [project], we the of Tanakadiscussion, oneToshio, same the In 46–63. 1941), March 3, no. mingei, vol. 3, no. 3,2. March1941, vol. 2,no. 8,August 1940, 33. mingei, vol. 3, no. 3, March 1941, 3; Tanaka Toshio, “Mingei zakki,” 1940, 61. RoutledgeOrientalism (London: chap. 2. Curzon, 2004), Kikuchi, in Yuko discussed also is This 4. chap. 2007), Press, University Duke (Durham: See Kim Brandt, N.J.: Press,1978). University Princeton Campbell, Frank Whitford, Frank Nihon mingei kyōkai, “Joshi rōmusha no seikatsu yōshiki no mondai,” 7.Themondai,” no yōshiki seikatsu no rōmusha “Joshi kyōkai, mingei Nihon Kingdom ofBeauty. Japanese Modernisation and Mingei Theory: Cultural Nationalism and Oriental and Nationalism Cultural Theory: Mingei and Modernisation Japanese (Princeton, (Princeton, Arts Applied the in Reform of German Politics The The Werkbund: Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folkin Art Imperial Japan Bauhaus Gekkan mingei , vol. 3, no. 3,12–17. March1941, Gekkan mingei , vol. 3, no. 3,12–18. March1941, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1984). See also Joan also See 1984). Hudson, and Thames (London: ekn mingei Gekkan , vol. 2, no. 10, October October 10, no. 2, vol. , , vol. 3, vol. mingei, Gekkan Gekkan mingei, Gekkan Gekkan Gekkan Gekkan sa- -

On the Beauty of Labor 35 1 , - Gek- Gekkan , vol. 3, 3, vol. , , vol. 3, Bulletin of Concernedof Bulletin Gekkan mingei Gekkan (New York: Monthly York: (New Gekkan Gekkan mingei ) person” (17), no re- How How Fascism Ruled Women: majime , vol. 3, no. 3, March 1941, , no. 29, August August 29, no. , mingei Gekkan Recreating Recreating Japanese Women, 1600–1945 Gekkan mingei ) person” (10). One respondent wished for “a silent“a respondent One wishedfor (10).person” ) yasashii Gekkan mingei included an article, translated from German, on female factory Nihon Nihon mingei kyōkai, “Joshi rōmusha no seikatsu yōshiki no mondai,” 1941, 40–60. Asian Scholars 2–33. 1982): 14, 2 (April–June no. McCormack, “Nineteen-Thirties Japan: Fascism?” both in the the in both Fascism?” McCormack,Japan: “Nineteen-Thirties , vol. 3, no. 5, June 1941, 5, June 2–21. no. 3, , vol. kan mingei kataru,” o bunka “Dōrō 10–30,and 1941, July 6, no. For critiques of the North American and, the especially, U.S. resistance to con ‘Emperor-System “Rethinking Bix, Herbert see fascist, as Japan wartime sidering Fascism’: Ruptures and Continuities in Modern Japanese and History,” Gavan Ibid., 140. A transcript of the discussion appeared as “Seikatsu bunka to shomondai,” “Joshi rōmusha no seikatsu chōsa,” 127–29. Ibid., 127–28. Ibid. Ibid., 140. by the responses concern was Shikiba’s elicited,Ibid., 140, presumably, 136–37. top you buy?” The “What cosmeticstwo responses question: do to following the pointed Shikiba as Cream, (69). cosmetics” buy don’t “I and (192) “cream” were: out, referred to hand cream, which was actually so necessary to work at a spin- company. by the factory be supplied it should ning felt that some love. Shikiba was inclined to believe this figure, as the questionnaire was anony- questionnaire was believethe inclinedto as figure, this wasShikiba love. question,marry?”persontolikethewouldyouofgave “Whatsort 136 To mous. nextThe most common answers were“a variantsknow.” “Idon’t oftheanswer, healthy person” (29), “a soldier” (25), “an earnest ( , vol. 3, no. 3, March 1941, March 3, 3–4. no. 3, , vol. mingei kindsponse(15),( “a person,” and another ventured to say that she did not want to marry: Shikiba, ment ment in Japan in the 1930s and 1940s,” in ed. Gail Lee Bernstein (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), 267–95. Atina Bridenthal, and Grossman, Marionsee Kaplan, Renate eds., On Germany, Germany Nazi and Weimar in Women Destiny: Became Biology When Review Press, 1984). On Italy, see Victoria de Grazia, issue special The 1922–1945 1992). (Berkeley:Press, California of University Italy, of and productive their reconciling of importance the and Germany Nazi in workers reproductive roles. no. 3, March 1941, 3, 121. no. “Doubling Miyake, Yoshiko see Japan, in dilemma this of discussion useful a For Expectations: Motherhood and Women’s Factory Work under State Manage- Transcripts were published as “Dōrōsha no jūtaku ni tsuite,” tsuite,” ni jūtaku no “Dōrōsha as published were Transcripts Only 11 out of 362 respondents were willing to claim experience of romantic Shikiba Shikiba Ryūzaburō, “Joshi rōmusha no seikatsu chōsa,”

9. 31. 41. 33. 37. 35. 36. 32. 3 38. 42. 40. 34.

1 36 Kim Brandt

4 54. 49. 48. 46. 50. 45. 58. 43. 5 5 55. 53. 57 47 51. 4. 2. 6. . .

11 (1976). See also chap. 1 of Paul Betts, Betts, Paul of 1 chap. also See (1976). 11 History temporary the in TheirdReich,” Production of Aesthetics Rabinbach,“The in See ibid., chap. 3. An important earlier discussion of the Beauty of Labor office is The term term The Takaoka, toshi,” sento “Sōryoku 151–54. Statement by Yamamoto Shōzō in “Dōrō bunka o kataru,” o bunka “Dōrō in Shōzō Yamamotoby Statement Takaoka discusses key government officials’ admiration for and emulation of emulation and for admiration officials’ government key discusses Takaoka Takaoka, “Sōryoku sen to toshi—kōsei undō o chūshin ni—,”chūshin o undō toshi—kōsei to sen “Sōryoku Takaoka, of Labor, received the contract thanks to his close relationship to Hitler,whose to relationship close his to thanks contract the received Labor, of Baranowski, in discussed is Autobahn the for barracks model 9. The 1941, June 5, no. 3, vol. shomondai,” to by Taniguchibunka “SeikatsuStatement Kichirō, California Press,2004). Design Industrial German West of History Cultural A Objects: Baranowski, 1943 infavor “recreation.” to of areturn notes that the effortto worker“reconstruct” culture was largely abandoned after work culture in “Dai Nippon sangyō hōkokukai to ‘dōrō 52–61. bunka,’” Takaoka 49. Ibid., 50. August 1941, Popular University of California Press,1998). Culture in Japan Modern (Berkeley: played by female performers: see Jennifer Robertson: cabaret revue, based in Osaka, in which all roles, male and female, continue to be well-known a is Gekidan The plant. Takurazuka similar a at workers female to or factory nylon-spinning Kurashiki the at workers female the to either ferring Presumably,re- 50. Tanaka was 1941, January–February 1–2, nos. 3, vol. mingei, by Statement Tanaka Toshio,“Atarashiki shomondai,”no bunka seikatsu ‘dōrō bunka.’” to hōkokukai sangyō Nippon “Dai essay the in also toshi,”but to “Sōryokusen and the German Strength through Joy organizations not only in OND the Italian alsoDeGrazia, See (March 1997): 148–49. Gordon, Andrew Gordon, Andrew De Grazia, I amthinking ofthe work by Takaoka inparticular. Hiroyuki, lated as“recreation,”lated ofthe Japan Recreation asinthe instance Association. trans- be also can it However, 1938. in founded Ministry Welfarethe with tion no. 7, 47. August 1941, See Takaoka’s discussion of the recreation versus reconstruction positions on positions reconstruction versus recreation the of Takaoka’sdiscussion See kataru,” o bunka “Dōrō Kamiizumi, by Statement 150–56. toshi,” to sen “Sōryoku from Takaoka, largely drawn is narrative This of California Press,1991), 333–39. Labor Labor and Imperial Democracy in PrewarJapan, 338. is conventionally translated as “welfare,” particularly in connec- in particularly “welfare,” as translated conventionally is kōsei The Culture ofConsent,237–40. Strength through Joy,46. , 77–78. She notes that Speer, director of Beauty Beauty Speer, of director that notes She 77–78. Joy, through Strength Labor JapaninImperialPrewar Democracy and Labor The Culture ofConsent,238–40. Gekkan mingei Gekkan Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and (Berkeley: University of University (Berkeley: The Authority of Everyday AuthorityEveryday The of (Berkeley: University University (Berkeley: , vol. 3, vol. mingei, Gekkan Nihon shi kenkyū shi Nihon , vol. 3, no. 3, no. 3, vol. , Gekkan mingeiGekkan , Journal of Con- of Journal Gekkan

On the Beauty of Labor 37 1 , Thought Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan Prewar in Democracy Imperial and Labor , ed. and trans. Ivan Morris (London: Oxford (London:Oxford Morris Ivan trans. and ed. , , vol. 3, no. 7, August 1941, 53–55. Tellingly, Tellingly, 53–55. 1941, August 7, no. 3, vol. , mingei Gekkan On On the successful opposition by private industry to state efforts at economic Perhaps the most concrete achievement of all the talk and planning was the Ōhara Sōichirō, statement in the roundtable discussion “Nōson to rōmusha no March 1941, 3, 47–48. no. 3, , vol. in Gekkan mingei bunka,” rationalization circa 1940, see Gordon, Gordon, see 1940, circarationalization , 150–54. a New Order for Search The 320–30. See also Fletcher, , ed. Akazawa Shirō and Kitagawa Kenzō (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Keizai Nihon (Tokyo: Kenzō Kitagawa and Shirō Akazawa ed. , fuashizumu to Bunka 28. 1993), Sha, Hyōron in Fascism,” and Ideology Japanese of Dynamics “The Maruyama, Masao Politics Japanese Modern in Behavior and that workers female should not feel excessive joy in their work, since they must children. marryand rear quarters at the Mingei Association. See “Rōmusha jūtaku kenkyūkai shuisho,” July 1941, 6, 32–34. no. 3, , vol. Gekkan mingei University 50. Press, 1969), pet project the Autobahn was. She also points out that in fact Autobahn workers workers Autobahn fact in that out points also She was. Autobahn the project pet conditions.” working “dismal endured kataru,” o bunka “Dōrō effect the to comments several by accompanied was work in joy of discussion this Takaoka Hiroyuki,Takaoka “Kankō—kōsei—ryokō—fuashizumu ki no in tsuurizumu,” establishment, establishment, in July 1941, of a Worker Housing Research Group, with head- Rabinbach, “The Aesthetics of Production in the Third Reich,” 43. Reich,” Third Aesthetics “The of ProductionRabinbach, in the

. 9. 61. 63. 65. 60. 62. 5 64

N

ori Mediating the Masses:

k Yanagi Sōetsu and Fascism o o A so

In 1944, Yanagi Sōetsu (also known as Yanagi Muneyoshi), founder of the Japanese Folk-Craft Movement, wrapped up an essay sum- marizing his organization’s achievements with a solemn reminder that “aesthetic questions are not simply about beauty.”1 While Yanagi was simply reiterating an argument he often made that aesthetics and spirituality were inseparable, his observation also serves as an occasion to set his writings in relation to larger historical currents. Yet the essay “Mingei undō wa nani o kiyo shita ka? (What Has the Folk Craft Movement Contributed?)” presents a curious dilemma when we try to fix it within its historical context. Writ- ten in 1944 but first published in 1946, the production of the essay spanned what was arguably the deepest rupture in modern Japanese historical consciousness. Read as a relic of 1944, the essay clearly supports such aspects of the wartime government’s ideological dictates as anti-individualism: “I am one who sees greater depth in the beauty of the public (kō/ooyake than in the beauty of the individual (ko).”2 Read as an artifact of the era of American occupation, Yanagi’s claims made on behalf of crafts appear very postwar in their championship of ordinary folk over the establishment: “the people Mediating the Masses 39 1 Tami to bi Tami , or “handicrafts “handicrafts or , minshūteki kōgei minshūteki ) . . . but we see a positive beauty bon’yō ) are regarded as banal ( e body of this paper will closely examine a number of Yanagi’s essays, Yanagi’s of number a examine closely will paper this of bodye (folk crafts, an abbreviation for abbreviationfor an crafts, (folk mingei Th This isnot aproblem confined to justthe one essay.Many of Yanagi’s Britain led by John Ruskin and William Morris.5 Not only did Yanagi coin the the coin Yanagi did only Not Morris.5 William and Ruskin John by led Britain term Yanagi Yanagi Sōetsu (1889–1961) was a prolifictwentiethearly writer, the in movement avid folk-craft a founded collector, who educator spected and re- century, inspired in part by the earlier Arts and Crafts Movement of Great discursive mediating agency constituted a bridge between a kind of reform- of kind a between bridge a constituted agency mediating discursive oriented humanism and fascism in the historical context of Japan in the and 1940s. 1930s as Cosmopolitan and Humanist Yanagi A couple of points emerge from this reading. First, while Yanagi’s writings have generally been perceived as humanist, often of a romantic cast but with liberal moments, striking similarities exist between his folk-craft dis- Yanagi’s discourse and fascisticwartime aestheticsera. Second, of the cursive strategies were organized by a particular consciousness of the importance in of the modernthe “masses” world, a group sought tohe “represent” in an aesthetic formand, This broadly of politicalspeaking, sense. including including “What Has the Folk Craft Movement Contributed?” in (The People and Beauty). Completed in1944 butpublished as a whole in 1948, the collection is a historical curiosity in terms of its publishing his- writings. theoretical Yanagi’s of thrust general the with line in quite yettory Yanagi’s discourse Yanagi’s lending themselves equally to interpretation as liberal- leaning and humanist or as fascistic in tendency. Moreover, this slippery discursive Such idiosyncrasy.4 personal Yanagi’s being from qualityfar was articulationpointsof suggest betweenambiguities mid-twentieth-century humanist and fascist discourses that made slipping from one to the other intellectualsall too time.at the many Japanese easy for (minshū within those abandoned.”3 thus writings uneasily shift shape under this kind of double vision, aspects of of a popular character”), which has long since entered into common par- Japanese both by frequented well is Museum Folk-Craft Japan his but lance, himself, craftsman or artist an not Though today. internationalvisitors and was instrumentalhe in promoting the careers of several important figures Keisuke Serizawa designer graphic the including world, art Japanese the in 1 40 Noriko Aso eulogized by Hamada this way: eulogized byHamada this was Yanagieye,”6 “seeing or discernment his for followers and friends by designated Living National Treasures in the postwar era. noted Particularly (1895–1984) and the potter Hamada Shōji (1894–1978), both of whom were of the Second World War, Yanagi was constantly traveling and collecting and traveling constantly War,Worldwas Yanagi Second the of end the until East: the toward turn general his initiated crafts Korean for love Koreans).”9deepYanagi’s (Regardingthe omou o “Chōsenjin pieces, best-known his of one is what in 1919 in movementKoreanindependence the crushed brutally it after government Japanese the of criticism direct museum in Seoul. Based on this close contact, Yanagi was moved to express suchasBureiku to Hoittomanand aesthetics, (Blake andWhitman). ties. He also published numerous essays and books on philosophy, religion, numberincludinga Dōshishaand universi-Meiji institutions, academic of at aesthetics Buddhist to literature English from ranging topics teaching by sector private the in living his made Yanagi graduation, After ership. latest in modern Western art, literature, and philosophy to a Japanese read- journal publishthe to lights literary future other and (1883–1971), Naoya Shiga (1885–1976), Saneatsu Tokyo Imperial University. While at school, Yanagi joined with Mushanokōjiand Gakushūin the of grounds training elite the at educated was himself mathematics. appliedYanagi Western-style and Japanese into research his through (1868–1912) period Meiji the of Navy the in admiral rear of rank the to rose father Yanagi’s background, class Tokugawaa merchant From will provide a brief biographical sketch of Yanagi’s background and career.8 people. lifedaily ofordinary the in embedded objects humble for canon aesthetic the within ognition lie thought, in only his appeared pean to dogmatism effortsto win rec- rigid ideology, political or otherwise. Equally well versed in Asian and Euro- from free as portrayed been generally has Yanagisuggests, quote this As involving annual to thetrips peninsula and establishment the of eventual a crafts, Korean with engagement intense of decade a nearly to led ics. This To provide some basis for understanding Yanagi’s enduring reputation, I Critics, in general, may be divided into those who collect, and who get who and collect, who those into divided be may general, in Critics, In was an immediate and intuitive faculty of an extraordinary kind.7 faculty was animmediateof anextraordinary andintuitive aesthetics. of Yanagi both pitfalls. escaped He no employed foot-rule. intellectual His hairs split who those and collecting, in down bogged 1916, Yanagi was introduced by a friend to Yi Dynasty Koreanceram Dynasty to Yi friend by a 1916, introduced Yanagiwas (White Birch), which introduced the introduced Birch),which Shirakaba(White - Mediating the Masses 41 1 humanism is, of course, a term both familiar and we round out Yanagi’s biography with an examination of his written If His early immersion in the study of various cultures and his extensive work, work, we find ample evidence ofnot only his cosmopolitanism, but also of his humanism. While vague, its roots stretch back to the European Renaissance, and it totends be loosely associated with such social attributes as pluralism and such political formations as liberal One democracy.12 succinct (if somewhat a- three “the Todorov: Tzvetan by offered is definition partisan) historicaland pillars of moralityhumanist are, in effect, the recognition of equal dignity joint American and Japanese education committee, where he gave a talk on a gave he educationwhere committee, Japanese and American joint continued within He to his Japan; travel frequently in Japan.” “Handicrafts publishing, if anything, picked up pace; and from 1952 to he 1953, served newspaper. Mainichi the toas a cultural Europe for ambassador pursued pursued a more subtle path: “he sought to correct the mistaken direction handicrafts.”11 and culture regional protecting by withbeauty, times the of The end of thewar meant the end of anold whileorder, the arrival of the American occupiers suggested sweeping changes on the horizon. Despite Movement Folk-Craft the and Yanagi uncertainty, of atmosphere general the a of member a become to 1946 in invited was Yanagi running. ground the hit While the police kept a close eye on Yanagi during the Yanagi wartime years, Hiroshi, Mizuo he biographer, his of words the In jail. to sent never was can many than so more cosmopolitan, thoroughly as Yanagi marked travels respect demanded also He “globalization.” of age current this in even claim such for risk the when time a at stateprecisely the criticizeto willing one as actions was becoming greater and greater. He was not a radical, however. partment partment stores and other similarly prestigious venues, a museum that opened its doors and in toinvitations1936, Yanagi lecture for on Japanese Harvard at notably, abroad—most also but Japan within only not aesthetics Oki- talktoinvitedin also was Hawai’i. He of University the and University nawa, which soon became a cultural mecca for members in the Folk-Craft Movement. During one of again his govern-challenged Yanagi trips there, ment authority by criticizing the draconian measures taken in Okinawa to make local inhabitants speak “standard” Japanese rather than their native “dialect.”10 throughout Japan and the rest of Asia. By the late 1920s, he had established established had he 1920s, late the By Asia. of rest the and Japan throughout a terminology and set of principles for advocating folk crafts. By the late 1930s, a genuine movement was picking up steam, with membership and donation rolls, two journals in publication, numerous exhibits held in de- 1 42 Noriko Aso of Regionality),” another selection from selection another Regionality),” of the freely act chosen over one performed under constraint.”13 finally, my action; preference the of for goal ultimate the as me than other for all members of the of species;the humanparticular the elevation being properly speaking, properly that, argue scholars various era. While the of tendencies “fascistic” the to possible for a broad range of intellectuals to contribute, consciously or not, it made that Japan wartime and prewar of conditions the about thinking is it possible, to pursue important but this rereadingit is to begin critically However, another reading of Yanagi’s writings is possible. Indeed, not only Slope A Slippery economic sense—way of lifeeven for everywhere. all people, sage of a beautiful—in a visual sense, but also in an emotional, ethical, and production and purchase of pretty objects. It was about spreading the mes- the urging about just not was Yanagi,for crafts, folk Promoting style.”16 life- that beauty, of of the kind essence digging deepinto very this to birth give that qualities ethical and social the into inquire must we cordingly, Ac- value. aesthetic their ponder to drawn necessarily are crafts regional to attracted are hearts whose “we following: the as statements such from the betterment of his fellow human beings, his hopes read it is not hard to to contribute to desire Yanagi’s for As differences. such of existence the wholebenefit a Japanesefrom as that but speak, freelythey how to choose respected.”15be also Yanagi right havea Okinawans notonly suggests that must speech Okinawan of language,the value standard of encouragement the with along that, is position “our patterns: speech native out stamp to policy Japanesestate’s the of criticism samethehis furthervein, reiterates clothes of the women of “backward” and impoverished Okinawa. Yanagi, in the unfavorably most to workcenter Ginza of city thefashionparade at on women’s in latest the comparing progress, essential as change mere nize the healthy development of culture.”14 Yanagi insists that we not misrecog- to contribute to much have which regions, the behind lag cities the which in points many are there that reflection upon admit must we But speed. great with advance “cities cities: the than, respect greater not if to, spect re- equal accorded be countryside the that demands and areas rural from urban separating development modern of unevenness the acknowledges essay,both Yanagi that In vein. this in statements humanistic of number A quick glance at “Chihōsei no bunkateki kachi (The Cultural Value Cultural (The kachi bunkateki no “Chihōsei at glance quick A fascism as a term should be strictly reserved for devel- for reserved strictly be should term a as The People and Beauty and People The , provides a provides , Mediating the Masses 43 1 - . Yet the core values promoted by Yanagi Yanagi by promoted values core the Yet . Triumph of the Will the of Triumph Above all, fascism was the most revolutionary form of nationalism in of culture its characterizedby was it and history, in point thatto Europe vitalism, idealism, willpower, and mysticism and its moralistic concept outward military values, with identified strongly violence, therapeutic of and empire.18 aggressiveness, Without replaying the entirety debates the regarding of defini ongoing The aggressive and militarist thrust of fascism and fascist aesthetics cer- aesthetics fascist and fascism of thrust militarist and aggressive The tainly had little to withdo the generally pacifistYanagi values espoused by cheap, and craftsmen humble the Moreover, Movement. Folk-Craft his and seem hardly could movement the and man the by promoted ordinarywares monumentality thatthe of touchstoneaesthetics fascist of by from further Leni Riefenstahl, fused and often contradictory tenets of fascism were welded together with a with together welded were fascism of contradictorytenets often and fused Above body. national a into masses the binding at aimed aesthetic powerful all, the beauty of organic harmony—“transcending” modern alienation and divisions between capital and labor—was repeatedlyextolled through paeans to healthy bodies,human an authentic everyday and life, meaning- work.21 ful Style was particularly important to fascist movements, which “went beyond “went which movements, fascist to important particularly was Style ‘poli- a create to . . . aesthetics normative a of creation the towardspectacle tics of beauty’ and a new visual framework for public life.”19 According to George Mosse, fascists their themselves “described political thought as an ‘attitude’ rather than a paying system,” far more attention to the visual than the the In coherence of philosophical con- thisthe movement.20 way, respectable to unacceptable ideological formations. out a few points germane to a potential reassessment of Yanagi’s work. Based on his magisterial review of literature on the subject, Stanley Payne fascism as a historical of definition movement: following the provides elsewhere elsewhere and that it will not recur again (unintentionally reinforcing the exceptionalist claims employfascisms usually to explain the superiorityof In this spirit, I willown explore certainagendas).”17 their be-congruences tween Yanagi’s theories and fascist currents of the day as a means of ap- from one take can that slope” “slippery the of question larger the proaching opments in early-twentieth-centuryin opments out Harrypoints Europe, Harootunian that, taken to an extreme, such cautiousness “permits the easy presump- else, something mistakenfor was fascism takenas been has what thattion that its historically specific appearancemeans it couldnot have occurred draw will I Japan, wartime and prewar to application its and fascism of tion 1 44 Noriko Aso in various respects be described as “reactionary modernist,” a term em- term a modernist,” “reactionary as described be respects various in Indeed, decadence. and can Yanagi’s project alienation modern of critique ongoing aesthetic by an aesthetics. marked fascist was Yanagi’s work with before, during, and after the Asia-Pacific War shared a number oftendencies he the illsofthe diagnoses Japanese aesthetic world asfollows: Contributed?” Movement Craft Folk the Has “What In era. modern the in parcel of the problems brought on by allowing Westernization to go too far Japanese popular period.28culture inthe immediate postwar quite unlike the celebration of individualistic decadence that swept through Yanagi,27with associated and usually remonstrance of tone gentle the like un- quite chilling,rather is order social new a of prediction this of quality (michi way the of pursuit the for allowances no be will there Henceforth work. ( individual from mature must “We as, ments certain congruence with that era’s propaganda is hard to miss in such state- preface,a he engulfed this as that him wrote war of state the referencesto overt any eschews carefully quite Yanagiwhile Indeed, craft].”25[over art ( alist ( individuality ( rarity of product the solely is beauty that belief prevalent the contest to desire a is volume the for inspiration is made abundantly In the preface,throughout. clear Yanagi his that writes age modern the of characteristic as sees he individualism the to antipathy claims from the outset a faith in collective identity, while Yanagi’s profound platform.24in this with quarrel to little found have would fascists European indulgence. tual intellec- and frailty finicky of rejection concomitant and wholesomeness, enment), adherence to normative standards of un-selfconscious health and slavish Westernization in (particularly reference to the West of the Enlight- nity over the individual, a of revalorization native in tradition opposition to commu-the of included elevation society contemporary of ills the to tions present for a more fulfilling, or authentic, future.23 Yanagi’s proposed solu- the reform to resource a as primarily important was past the that insisted he for antiquarian, fusty no certainly was he life, of way harmonious and Yanagi’s eyes the past rather than the present better represented a complete in While regimes.22fascist Italian and Nazi German the of drive oriented ployed by Jeffrey Herfto make sense ofthe simultaneously past- and future- This individualism to be challenged is portrayed by Yanagi as part and part as by Yanagi portrayed is challenged be to individualism This Let us return to the essay collection collection essay the to return us Let ) of the individual in the absence of social consciousness.”26 The stern kojin chūshin kojin kosei ) views, claims to freedom ( freedom to claims views, ) ): “the Folk-Craft Movement challenges such individu- such challenges Movement Folk-Craft “the ): ), genius ( genius keu), The People and Beauty and People The kojin jiyū ), and bias toward fine toward bias and ), ) work to public ( public to work ) tensai ), and, ultimately,and, ), . Its title pro- title Its . kōjin ) Mediating the Masses 45 1 seikatsu seikatsu ).34 mingei (folk craft)” has no genjitsu ni taisuru hankō taisuru ni genjitsu ) ) characterof modern art, which ).” ).” Rather, folk crafts visually inspire karimono ) ) and sickly (byōteki reatened by modern Yanagi as individualism, well as fascist thinkers ) and has even has reality and ) to oppose come ( academic knowledge, rather than grounding themselves in Eastern in themselves aes- thanrather academicgrounding knowledge, thetic experiences?29 When When we examine Japanese aesthetics and art theory in recent years, theyare almost entirely vein. in Western . Why the . have . Japanese not been able to pioneer their own Japanese aesthetics? Is it not because they have sought to form their opinions on the basis of Western style Th an alienated and ailing society. In 1933, Adolf Hitler complained in reference reference in complained Hitler Adolf 1933, In society. ailing and alienated an to modern rationality that “it is not chance that this age, propagated and protected by sick persons, necessarily led to a general sickness—not only to sickness of the body but also to sickness of the mind.”33 The occasion was a comments these gymnastics for many programs among one festival, (Healthi- bi to “Kenkōsei In politic. body the up build to Nazis by promoted ness and Beauty),” Yanagi hits some of the same notes in his criticism of the nervous (shinkeiteki precise precise equivalent in any TheWestern language. corollary is that “there is no influence at allfrom foreign thought”on Japanese folk-craft theory.31 The common assumption that cosmopolitanism andnationalism are anti- thetical undoubtedly contributed to the ease with which figures such as Yanagi were able to form amicable working relations with the American takeassumption thatnot doesan into clearlyOccupation.thisis However, two canthe positionsways which surreptitiouslycontributein the account to another.32 one ( living of nature holistic the expressing in evinces interest longer no zentai be allowed to obscure the strong strain of nationalism that also informs his work. Indeed, in this particular essay Yanagi develops a nuanced discussion of British, French, and German aesthetic terminology precisely to make the (rather specious) case that the term “ “knowledge.” The solution Yanagi proposes for this dilemma is naturally to naturally is dilemma this for proposes Yanagi solution The “knowledge.” are nor arts; fine the like individualistic not are They crafts. folk in found be they foreign or “borrowed ( “a state of perception born While from Japan itself.”30 erudite cosmopolitanism not this commonly is more seen characteristic should as of Yanagi, While Yanagi does not claim that Western influence has been all bad,he suggests that it has done a great deal of harm by clouding the ability of people to see objects directly rather than through a veil of misleading looked with particular hope to aesthetics as a set of norms to bind and heal heal and bind to norms of set a as aesthetics to hope particular with looked 1 46 Noriko Aso dictory way in which the same texts could work well in both the pre- and pre- the both in well work could texts same the which in way dictory seemingly contra- the of sense make to start we levels.40 How can popular and state both at promoted ideology fascistic a with resonated strongly it 1940s and 1930s the during but occasion, on liberal even humanist, been Yanagi’s ongoing championship of folk crafts and their producers may have Mediating the Masses on the liberalism other? ademocratic hand to one the on fascism rangingtotalitarian from possibilities, of rangewide a encompassed that movement historical larger a to instead look we should Was he simply being in hypocritical his more liberal-seeming moments? Or time. However, must we say on this basis that Yanagi was a fascist in spirit? more there were if discussed be also could that overlap discursive of areas other are There field. unified single a into society and art merging thetic mustbecome that the natural standard.”39 isthehealth fundamental truth aesthetics, in or society, in ethics, in physiology, in be it “whether large: seikatsu no the ofartin essence future beauty?”35 express this to notit is value?And this of perception thefuture deepenin its to aesthetics measure of beauty. ‘Health’ aesthetic constitutes value. Is it not the duty of the is “‘healthiness’ beauty: true of foundation the as recognition overdue Ultimately, health is a norm rooted in survival ( survival in rooted norm a Ultimately,is health preferences.”38 individual into lapse not do customers “the and bitions” simple, and peaceful world” in which “the producers do not have dirty am- natural, more a from “born are crafts folkobjects,” in health to rise give ( consciousness much ( normality for synonym a as Yanagi serves health however, broadly, More and self-referential community and in his obsession with health as an aes- an as health with obsession his self-referentialin and and community natural a as nation the which Yanagi posited in theway in resonances saw thinkers uncomfortably close on a number points. of Earlier theoretical we commonplace ( commonplace ( god-given of ployment that folk crafts as a category best embody the quality health. quality theof embody best “too While folk that category craftsa as surprisingly,Not believes Yanagivirtue. social of measure supreme the of jōtai, W What ( “healthiness that remedy,proposes Yanagia As estern individualism as a common enemy brought Yanagi and fascist Yanagiand brought enemy common a as individualism estern ),37 both in the sense of near-universal practice and in the sense the in and practice near-universal of heijō),37sense the in both exactly is “health”? According to Yanagi, it is the unimpeded em unimpeded the is Yanagi,“health”?to Accordingit is exactly ) that Yanagi sees as a link between aesthetics and the world at world the and aesthetics between link a as sees Yanagi that ) ) and taken for granted ( granted for taken and jinjō) ishiki ) faculties, which until the present day was a was day present the until which faculties, ten’yo) ), taste ( taste ), shumi ), and assertion ( assertion and ), ishiki shinai ishiki ) and daily life( daily and ) seizon kenkōsei ) state of affairs.36of state ) )” receive long receive )” shuchō ) do not do ) nichijō nichijō - Mediating the Masses 47 1 - ) bengo bengo shitai orge orge Mosse suggests that, as an object of desire, the “masses” pro as a whole certainly raises the masses up as an object an as up masses the raises certainly whole a as Beauty and People The Ge belong within this dichotomy? What qualifies him to speak as an advocate? an as speak to him qualifies What dichotomy? this within belong powerdo these relations fit so-calledwithin Mosse’s How new politics? will not grant them recognition, I want to rise up and ( defend stressing include defense his of terms specific earlier, indicated As them.”43 such virtues as communal character and health. However, the dynamics of exclusion and inclusion within the revealdefense an unstated but abiding politics within Yanagi’s program. Who is the prosecutor—that is, the oppressor? Who is the plaintiff—that is, the victim? Where doesYanagi bureaucratic figures inJapan seizedon this conjoined crisis and opportu- in his own way. too, So, Yanagi did nity. Yanagi Beauty),” and (Poverty bi to “Hin as essays such in and veneration, of world the “When advocate. their as himself for position specific a out stakes vided just such a point of potential articulation among a broad range of po- of range broad a among articulationpotential of point a such just vided litical programs that otherwise might be quite at odds with one another.41 mani- unique, means no by but particularly naked, a as fascism sees Mosse and Japan. Fascists, National Socialists, and “revolutionary” military and While it was clear to many that the modern masses—industrial labor as well as national subjects—would play an increasingly prominent but un- remained. questions many society, reshaping in part undetermined and ruly “general this would ends what To known? be will” “general this could How “represen- words, other In directing? this do would directed?Who will”be tation” was an open and contested field, with definitionthe and invention intotoo quickly all necessarypoliticalshading aestheticprocess tothe and parliamen- 1930s by the of manipulationquestions and control. Moreover, tary politics, although they had opened the door to representation of the masses, were widely perceived as ailing or having failed Germany, in Italy, roots of these “new politics” go back toback eighteenth-centurypolitics” go “new roots these of where Europe, sovereigntyintertwined. popular and nationhood of concepts emergent the As a result, “The chaotic crowd of the ‘people’ became amass movement new The mystique. national a through unity popular in belief a shared which politics provided an objectification of thegeneral will; it transformed political action into a drama supposedly shared by the people themselves.”42 festation of what he calls the “new politics” of the modern masses. The postwar environments? One approach is to step back and survey the general general the survey and back step to is approach One environments? postwar landscape. What was the area of overlap among these various ideologies at camps differing by embraced be to Yanagi like someone allow would that time? same the and one 1 48 Noriko Aso sharp the words exchanged between Yanagi and his critics may have been, been, have may critics his Yanagiexchangedbetween and the words sharp aesthetician.45craftRosanjin,potter,However restaurateur, and Kitaōji or ( ethnology native or studies folk Japanese of founding the as such allies, Yanagita Kunio,natural generally with seem is whocredited certainly existed, including some contemporaries who at firstglance might or in response critics. actual to of criticism either in anticipation The latter fiercelyas embattled, position his presents framingconsistently essays his or general as the opposition public“world” opinion ( everyone, regardless of everyone, social standing.49 Over and over, Yanagi depicts ob- ( companions the become have objects folk-craft which in time and place a Economics),”as utopia forof picture example, a Yanagi paints and (Beauty keizai to “Bi In essay. one this to confined hardly is objects to soulfulness or spirit attributing of conceit linguistic The promised.”48 been has salvation of kind some that faith have I (shina), goods such see I kurawanka ( throne sacred the near placed be to is forYanagi. Itshisa ) known as the to refers specifically quotation “defense” the in “them” pronoun the fact, In like. craft with or protect “represent” them. to dosomightput atriskability hisvery to “them.” against But we that can hesay thus became one “we” thewith masses? of After all, sense fierce a generating discursively oppressors, their against masses the with alliance of expressions his to force particular add promote this vision, he was not alone. Theembattled attitude did, however, to program active and concrete unusually an offered Yanagi While era.47 prewar the during intellectuals of number considerable a of part the on masses lifeand everyday were the object of intense scrutiny and celebration the that demonstrated clearly have others and Silverberg, Miriam Pincus, izing on his keen eye.46 What is more, recent works by Harootunian, Leslie capital- collectors better-heeled but discerning less by auctions at objects he “discovered” a new craft genre only to soon find himself outbid for such in grumbles fully boast- somewhat himself Yanagilisteners. lacked he that case the hardly salt. Yanagiday, this afterdid to was it exists so found all movementthat a of grain a with iconoclasm to claims Yanagi’s take to need we however, We might begin by noting that, in the quote, Yanagi characterizes his characterizes Yanagiquote, the in that, noting by begin might We It is telling that Yanagi speaks as a rule on behalf of and in dialogue in and of behalf on rule a as speaks Yanagi that telling is It that suggests to Yanagi the very mind of the deity: “whenever “whenever deity: the of mind very the Yanagi to suggests that kurawanka that inspires a feeling of warmth and ( familiarity rather than with potters, weavers, woodworkers, and the and woodworkers, weavers, potters, with than rather objects of the folk or masses. It is the humble class of dishes of class humble the is It masses. or folk the of products (Tales of Collection) that all too often too all that Collection) of (Tales monogatari Shūshū that Yanagi imagines ascending to heaven to ascending Yanagiimagines that kurawanka Kami no goza ni chikai tokoro ni tokoro chikai ni goza no Kami seken). Indeed, Yanagi ),44minzokugaku ) of ) hanryo ). It is It ). shita- Mediating the Masses 49 1 ) zange saiwai saiwai ), and simplicity )” sawagashiku and shōjiki kurawanka should be under- ).”54 When one is poor, there there is poor, one When ).”54 ), honesty ( kami no i kami kenson ).”51 ).”51 However, ordinary craftsmen “fortunately ( takabutta ) than rich people. Therefore, [they are] closer to lifestyle a that Having characterized the hardworking folk as a group that could not and not could that group a as folk hardworking the characterized Having This kind of simultaneous celebration and silencing of themasses in )” lack lucrative contracts to lead them into temptation.52 The goods goods they The temptation.52 into them leadcontractslucrativeto lack )” (soboku and, ultimately, the sacred. In this way, poverty becomes a fundamental beauty. condition for should not engage in self-conscious thought and speech, to serve as their necessarily Yanagi spokesman had to distinguish himself from his objects of use Yanagi’s veneration.of “we” is revealing: “we should repent ( closely associated with modesty ( will deity of the ( ) the (kanau matches is no time to anguish over original designs or perfect structural symme- affordable. functional, and sturdy, product is final thatthe enough is It try. nature, tradition,community, by replaced and erased is thought Conscious “arrogant “arrogant ( ni “humble instead are but attention, demand or fuss a up kick not do produce (kenkyo).”53 Poverty enforces the rule of necessity and humility over crafts- more are people “Poor ethics, in as aesthetics, in Yanagi, to According men. human sinful deeply are craftsmen the than rather we ways, various in that, factured factured by poor craftsmen are necessarily beautiful, rich craftsmen are all too prone to cater to the whims of their wealthy patrons by adding ex- laments thatYanagi travagant such decoration. luxury goods (objects sup- planting subjects once more) tended to be “clamorous ( jects must be read. Objects must be interpreted. Objects must be spoken their virtues. takes of representing role the himself upon And Yanagi for. “Poverty and Beauty” is further apparent in the essay’s central argument in- Yanagi conditions. two these between connection intimate an regarding sists that the beauty of ordinary wares such as to promise some kind of dialogue, is in fact a account melancholy of how their through except craftsmen various meeting preventeddeath from him metonymicallyobjectstend to texts, folk-craft Yanagi’s in sum, In works.50 substitution?thisWhile implicationsof the are What makers. their replace people can speak, be quoted, and review their words, objects cannot. Ob- jects as teachers providing lessons through their physical attributes, such literal of speak not does he contrast, In durability. and designs, textures, as lessons with a potter or weaver as the gateway to understanding. Even the seem would which Known),” Have I (Craftsmen shokunin “Omoidasu essay stood as inseparable and deriving from the destitute circumstances under which they were created. While this does not mean that all things manu- 1 50 Noriko Aso mirror to inspiremirror to reform on high: the of goods working a as thematerial used thelivesand are classes stead, In- craftsmen. humble of state mental the or physical the either with tify beings.”55 While Yanagi speaks on their behalf, he does not in the end iden- to reproach the wealthy and powerful is equally characteristic of various various of characteristic equally is powerful and wealthy the reproach to used masses the or poor the of concept abstract An fascist. effect in was it would be unjust to say that by positioning himself in this manner, Yanagi Yanagi, and a better future for his followers, the tasteful consumers. And yet to a subordinate position. Action and power were reserved for the advocate, thereturningmasses and background middle-class his of socioeconomics the reflecting both production, over stead, consumption Yanagiprivileged In- grace. of state a in be to perceived already were producers. theThey or poor the for anything change or free to offer means not did virtues folk of celebrations Yanagi’s that acknowledged be must it Similarly,workplace. reformedthe significantly than rather aestheticized that campaign Labor” a than he material level.”57 As thean to points illustration, Nazi of “Beauty rather ideological an on class with deals it mystification; a thus is class of problem the of ‘resolution’ fascist “the that out points Neocleous Mark divisions, social existing of recognition erase to “nation” of concept the tion of workers. In reference to the way in which fascist regimes trumpeted and the laboring classes are withoutglorified resulting the in actual libera- privileges ofmore classes. established socioeconomic tary middle ground, as the masses are mobilized as this in lie entirely agency and Action consumers. wealthy and producers poor between mediator as position distinct very a himself for out staked has Yanagi that recognize to need also we However, theory. aesthetic of terms in overlooked long class a to honor pay to desiresgenuinely Yanagi that question no be should There lives. “full” their of quality the garding re- class upper or middle the of members among complacency up shake ception of lack as its opposite, richness. Along with this, Yanagi seeks to to seeks Yanagi this, with Along richness. opposite, its as lack of ception redefine per- to is social a “Poverty of Onetheof main thrusts Beauty” and This move reveals a key, and unfortunate, congruencewith fascism: labor privileges, with their hearts sofarprivileges, theirhearts from with sin.56 superior privileges.many they,economicBut possess (wareware), us not ( lacking are ourselves we what by struck especially are we countryside, ( poor the at look we When jibun no tarinai mono tarinai no jibun ). Those people do not have what could be called be could what have not do people Those ). mazushii lf o a rfsa de i the in deep craftsman a of life ) models to dislodge the heredi- Mediating the Masses 51 1 Nihon Nihon ideorogiiron (The Discourse ofJapanist Ideol- It is in this sense that I think we might still ask about the degree to which to degree the about ask still might we think I that sense this in is It ogy), his indictment of the Japanese intellectual world during the prewar the of and danger Yet such wartime years.58 slippage is hardly relegated to the distant past. Second, the resonances between Yanagi’s work and that feel not that we should suggest proper of European of fascism proponents criticala card-carryingof mass to bound identify Japan wartime in fascists impor- is context as Just culture. fascistic a of existence the positing before tant work, in Yanagi’s so reading context is important in reading Japanese just particularisttrends not of world, as part and national, history. logical formations by this very act of representation. The social critic Tosaka critic social The representation. of act very this by formations logical Jun pointed out common thisat movement the time “downward” just how was in his classic work devaluing his tremendous contributions to the field offolk crafts, which constitutes a distinct and thriving aspect of Japanese aesthetic production today. However, serious consideration of his complicitycan serve to highlight a couple of points. First, it should give us pause that Yanagi, known for championing the marginal and downtrodden, seems to have been led ideo- unacceptable to respectable from him took that slope slippery a down bears Yanagi responsibilitycontributing for to fascistic tendencies in wartime Japan—not, of course, to vindictively punish Yanagi after the fact by liberal humanist projects of political and social reform. What links these positions together is the polymorphous “new politics” of the masses and the intoxicating opportunitiesup towho opening claim tothose represent them. Context Japanese in the Fascism It has not been my goal in this essay to simply indict or acquit Yanagi on the charge of fascism: it should be clear by this point that both the prose- sup-evidenceto of plenty have would trial a such in defense the and cution very the demonstrate to been instead has concern main My cases. their port can politicalwork assimilatedbe to different dis- Yanagi’s with which ease courses. This in turnsuggests the dangers ofdepending too muchon assumptions of internal coherence and logic transcending time and place in such systems specificorganize as of or fascism theythought as humanism remains context but perhaps, truism, a is This Yanagi. of those as such texts critical interpretation. for 1 52 Noriko Aso

Notes

20. 14. 1 16. 21. 10. 12. 1 1 13. 17. 11. 4. 5. 6. 8. 9. 9. 8. 5. 2. 3. 7. 1.

Yanagi Sōetsu, “Chōsenjin o omou” in idem, in omou” o “Chōsenjin Sōetsu, Yanagi Ibid., 314. Ibid., (Princeton, N.J.:war Japan Press,2000),417. (Princeton, University Princeton Harootunian, Harry Ibid. Tzvetan Todorov,Tzvetan For synthetic analyses of the aesthetic preoccupations of fascist regimes, see see regimes, fascist of preoccupations aesthetic the of analyses synthetic For rfsa: Jpns Isgt no Beauty into Insight Japanese A Craftsman: Sōetsu, Yanagi in “Introduction,” Leach, Bernard in used Phrase Stanley Payne, Payne, Stanley Press, 1995), 487–88. Press, 1975, 1991), 9. 13.Ibid., gions],” inidem, Tami tobi,331. Press,2002),232. University Princeton 11–19. Mizuo, 1982), 23–32. Shobō, Chikuma (Tokyo: 6 vol. Sōetsu], Yanagi of Works Collected Complete Okinawa] (Tokyo: Mokujisha, 1970). See the various essays on this topic in Tanigawa Ken’ichi, ed., hōkai to notanjō(Tokyo:yōshiki Shinchōsha, 1988). undō mingei Yanagi (Tokyo:Sōetsu Kōdansha, 1978); Kichiemon, Okamura Muneyoshi (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1987); Mizuo Hiroshi, see TsurumiShunsuke, work, and on lifeYanagiSōetsu’s detail more For Hamada Shōji, “Yanagi andLeach,” inibid., 10 Kodansha 88. 1984), International, ume. be reduced to never Yanagi’s work alone, see the by essay Kim Brandt in this vol- should course of which such, as movement the of discussion insightful an For Watsuji Tetsurō. and Nyozekan Hasegawa include mind to come that examples prominentOther 340. Ibid., 347.Ibid., Shunshūsha, 1972), 366. idem, in Contributed?],” Movement CraftFolk the Has [What ka? shita kiyo o nani “Mingeiwa Yanagiundō Sōetsu, George Mosse, George Re- the of Value Cultural [The kachi bunkateki no “Chihōsei Sōetsu, Yanagi Lamont Corliss, Lamont Nihon minzokubunka 6,127. taikei (Tokyo: Tamagawa Daigaku, 1991); Idegawa Naoki, Idegawa 1991); Daigaku, Tamagawa (Tokyo: A History of Fascism 1914–1945 Fascism of History A The Nationalization of the Masses the of Nationalization The The Philosophy of Humanism of Philosophy The The Imperfect Garden: The Legacy of Humanism Legacy The Garden: Imperfect The Overcome by Modernity: History,Inter- Communityin Modernity: and Culture,by Overcome [The People and Beauty] (Tokyo: Beauty] and People [The bi Tamito , adapted by Bernard Leach (New York: (New Leach Bernard by adapted , (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1982),Ungar, Frederick York: (New (Madison: University of Wisconsin of University (Madison: zenshū Yanagi Sōetsu (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University University N.Y.: Cornell (Ithaca, Nihon minzoku bunka taikei 6: Yanagi to Sōetsu shoki Waga Okinawa [Our Pictn N.J.: (Princeton, [The chosakuhen Mingei: riron no riron Mingei: The Unknown The Yanagi Mediating the Masses 53 1

- Fascism Tami Tami to Postmod- Tami to bi, 250– Tami , 236–38. 236–38. bi, to Tami TheNationalization of the Bodies of Memory: Narratives Narratives Memory: of Bodies 10, no. 6 (November 1981): 812– Kenkōkan ni miru kindai [Modernity (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University , 5–6.What is more, Mosse points out that , esp. the preface; Mark Neocleous, 1945–70 , Theory andTheory Society , 82. Fascism , ed. Masao Miyoshi and Harry D. Harootunian (Durham: Duke Overcome Overcome by Modernity Yanagi Yanagi Sōetsu, “Shohan no jo” [preface to the first edition], in idem, the the German Arts and Crafts Movement had significant influence on suchaes- thetic arbiters of Hitler’s regime as Albert Speer: Speer, Yanagi Sōetsu, “Fukkoshugi ni tsuite [On Revivalism],” in idem, in idem, ni tsuite Sōetsu, Revivalism],” [On “Fukkoshugi Yanagi Payne, A History of Fascism 1914–1945 Harootunian, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), esp. the chapters “Revolu- II.” Revolution the against I”tion Revolution the against and “Revolution “Reactionary JeffreyHerf, Modernism:IdeologicalSome Origins of the Primacy of Reich,” Politics in Third the 13. 51. Masses, 186. An elegant account of this kind of dynamic can be found in Naoki Sakai, “Moder Sakai, Naoki in found be can dynamic of kind this of account elegant An 242–43. to bi,” “Kenkōsei Yanagi, Ibid., 240. Ibid., 240–44. Ibid., 244. Ibid., 335. Cited in Neocleous, of War in Postwar Japanese Culture Press, 2000). o kiyo undō wa nani shita ka?” 336. “Mingei Yanagi, Ibid., 337. in Particularism” and Universalism of Problem The Critique: Its and nity ernism and Japan University Press, 1989). Yanagi’s Yanagi’s discourse with how various leftists, pre- and postwar, problematized to is essay this in aim my However, analysis. criticalsubjectivity merits individual indicate how bridges existed between the conventionally opposed categories of termsMosse what particularlytermsof in “fascist,” and “humanist” or “liberal” Masses, 212. of the Nationalization crowd”: to Mosse, The the “urge organize the bi, 2. An anonymous reviewer pointed out that “one could just as easily see a similaritya see easily as just could “one that out reviewerpointed anonymous An in and of ‘social many consciousness’ thosebetween Yanagi on the Left who re- I agree: in resonance subjectivity.” as individual sisted apotheosis of shutaisei the Ibid., 7. See Yoshikuni Igarashi, “The Age of the Body,” in idem, idem, in Body,” the of Age “The Igarashi, Yoshikuni See See, e.g., the list of fascist attributes drawn up by Emilio Gentile and cited in Kano Masanao provides a broader and picture a wartimeof broader Kano prewarin Japan provides Masanao terms of the “tyrannyof health” in his illuminating 2001). Asahi Shimbunsha, Viewed through Health] (Tokyo: Yanagi Sōetsu, “Kenkōsei to bi [Health and Beauty],” in idem, idem, in Beauty],” and [Health bi to “Kenkōsei Sōetsu, Yanagi

. 3. 3. 2. 5. 31. 27. 3 37. 2 3 25. 36. 2 32. 38. 29. 30. 26. 28. 24. 34

1 54 Noriko Aso

4

54. 49. 50. 48. 46. 45. 40. 42. 58. 39. 43. 52. 56. 55. 53. 57. 47 4 51. 4. 1. .

Yanagi Sōetsu, “Bi to keizai [Beauty and Economics],” in idem, Idem, “Omoidasu shokunin [Craftsmen I Have Known],”in Have I [Craftsmen shokunin “Omoidasu Idem, See See my discussion of the relationship between Yanagi and Rosanjin in “New Illu 223–438. 1970), Shobō, Keisō (Tokyo: 2 vol. Jun], Tosaka of Works [Complete zenshū Jun Idem, “Hin bi,” to 227. no. 1942. 108, published in first was article This 69–77. 1990), Shoten, Iwanami kikō , vol.chosakuhen 10, 61. Press, 1991). 1600–1945 Women, Harootunian, 1868–1945,” Ph.D. diss., 1997.University of Chicago, Crafts, and Arts Japanese Traditional on Discourse a of Emergence The sions: , or Japanesegaku ethnology. native to Movement Folk-Craft Yanagi’s of relationship tangled the on ing), 1910–1945 Ethnology,Native Mosse, “The Politics,”New inidem, for ofKukian incisiveexamination Shūzō’s “national aesthetics.” thenticating Culture in Imperial Japan University (Berkeley: of California Press, 1996), Pincus, Leslie also See Japan. prewar in currents such of breadth and depth Neocleous, Neocleous, Ibid. 229.Ibid., 228.Ibid., Ibid. Ibid. Yanagi, “Hin bi,” to 216. in Militant,” as Girl Modern “The Silverberg, Miriam also See 1989). Sōetsu, Yanagi Ibid., 243.Ibid., Tosaka Jun, See Alan Christy, Alan See Yanagi “Hin bi Sōetsu, [Poverty to andBeauty],” inidem, 2. Ibid., See Harootunian, Harootunian, See [The Folk-Craft Travelogues of Yanagi Sōetsu], ed. Mizuo Hiroshi (Tokyo: Hiroshi Mizuo ed. Sōetsu], Yanagi of Travelogues Folk-Craft [The Fascism, 41. Nihon ideorogiiron Overcome by Modernity [Tales of Collection] (Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, Chūō (Tokyo: Collection] of [Tales monogatari Shūshū Ethnographies of the Self: The Formation and Dissemination of Japanese Dissemination of and The Formation EthnographiesSelf: the of e. al e Brsen Bree: nvriy f California of University (Berkeley: Bernstein Lee Gail ed. , Overcome by Modernity by Overcome (Berkeley: University of California Press, forthcom- Press, California of University (Berkeley: [TheDiscourse of Japanist Ideology], in idem, ; Pincus, ; Pincus, The Nationalization ofthe Masses,1–20. , for a compelling account of both the both of account compelling a for , Authenticating Culture in Imperial Japan Tami tobi,216. Yanagi Sōetsu mingei Yanagi Sōetsu Yanagi Sōetsu zenshū Recreating Japanese Recreating [Crafts], Kōgei minzoku- Tosaka Au- - .

A

aron aron Fascism’s Furry Friends: Dogs, National Identity, and Purity

Sk of Blood in 1930s Japan a b elun d d

Nearly everyone in Japan is familiar with the tale of Hachikō (1923–35). Better known as the “Loyal Dog” (Chūken) Hachikō, this Akita breed was born in the town of Ōdate in Akita prefecture in northern Hon- shu. About two months later, the puppy was shipped nearly twenty hours by rail to Ueno Eizaburō (1871–1925), a professor of agricultural engineering at Tokyo Imperial University. For the next fifteen months, the dog walked with his owner to the nearby Shibuya railway station in the morning and accompanied him home each evening until May 21, 1925, when Ueno collapsed and died while at work. For the next decade, Hachikō was said to appear each evening at the station to await the return of his master. In 1934, while Hachikō was still alive, his purported loyalty was memorialized with a life-size bronze statue just outside the station, which immediately became a destination for sightseers. It is now best known by Tokyoites as a favorite landmark near which to rendezvous in the fashionable shopping and entertainment district of Shibuya. An even more authentic likeness of Hachikō, preserved by taxidermy, is often on display at the National Sci- ence Museum in Ueno Park. Though long dead, Hachikō remains very much alive in popular memory. In a 1999 survey conducted by the national postal 1 56 Aaron Skabelund has been retold in many children’s books over the past seventy years, in years, seventy past the over books children’s many in retold been has theillustrate Japanese experience in century.1the twentieth The dog’s story aptly most that images seventy and hundred one of one as Hachikō chose public the stamps, commemorative of series a of selection the for service an emphasis either on defining the essential qualities of one’s own group own one’s of qualities essential the defining on either emphasis an While always based on supposed differences, such discourses usually place “Others.” of character barbaric or animality the and group own one’s of nature civilized and humanity the assert to which through metaphors as serve often animals bestial—so or divine non-human—whetherthe the to relation in understood is human be to means it difference. What in found human, ofthe andnon-human, state’s wereexpected that subjects. portant role in definingthe pure, patriotic, faithful, and ferocious qualities im- an played dogs violence, and loyalty, race, nation, of glorification and within the cultures of fascism, which were by characterized an idealization chéd image of Hitler’s personal fetish for his Shepherd dog Blondie. Rather, cli- the beyond goes century. association The twentieth early the of course connection that developed among fascism, nationalism, and canines in the intimate the is example subtle more, Another RussianBear. the and Lion, British the Eagle, Bald American the like symbols, national as is use ous obvi- most their Perhaps identities. racial and ethnic, national, of mation traditions.3and communities theNon-human in figured for- too, animals, national of invention and imagination the in place and past the of ment asingle to master, loyal in blood, andafearless fighter. what they definedcanine asideal:the Japanese country’s in character, pure dog enthusiasts and government bureaucrats cast the dog as an exemplar of because precisely famous disturbing,implications.2 became Hachikō even complex, had Hachikō of story the 1930s the of context the in but extent, some to true be may Tokyo, of history masterly his in did Seidensticker merging into political turmoil and militarism, as the scholar literary Edwin sub- slowly country a in episode sentimental and warm a phenomenonas Hachikō the characterize ToJapan. in experienced as fascism of culture his stuffed figureat the museum. spot they when Hachikō!” “Ah,it’s elderly,exclaim,frequently and young as 2009 in lease (scheduled re- Gere for Richard starring knockoff Hollywood a in recently most and 1980s, late the in film animated and picture motion Japanese a As What In recent decades, scholars have written extensively about the deploy- the about extensively written have scholars decades, recent In the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure has asserted, meaning can only be few people realize is that Hachikō played a prominent role in the in role prominent a played Hachikō that is realize people few Hachiko: A Dog’s Story Dog’s A Hachiko: ). It is no surprise that visitors, both both visitors, that surprise no is It ). Fascism’s Furry Friends 57 1 The link betweenfascism and dogs was most readily apparent in two Canines provided a powerful if understated symbol in the language of countries, Japan and Germany, during the first half of the twentieth century. In the fascist discourses of other places, different animal metaphors wayssimilar in evendeployed they were if prominent, more been mayhave seem lions as such predators example, for Italy, In ends. analogous for and frequently was himself Mussolini choice. of figures animal the been have to their views; dogs, celebrated in many cultures for their fidelity, offered a prosaic device to encourage individual submission to and sacrificefor the con- the epitomized command single a with unleashed violence and nation; to rela-the wished exercise over troltheir Indeed, world. that many people arche-an as seenmay be dog his and breeder or betweentionship master a type and unity discipline of the revered cultures. by fascist and racial identity onto animals. The ubiquity,familiarity, and emotional them made connection of as dogs, well as their symbolic power, malleable anevery- nationalization of The identity. define to which by vehicle ideal an with relationship intimate and ancient an possess to purported animal, day to allegiance emotionalize to and bolster servedto people, and place native the nation-state; distinct, indigenous breeds provided a graphic and com- way prehensible for those concerned about human racial purity to express offered their own exceptional and indigenous versions of civilization, based civilization, of versions indigenous and exceptional own their offered on the prowess of race, nation, and community. Influenced by Darwinian and miscegenationracial and degeneration bourgeois theyfeared thought, celebrated violent struggle. As in the previous peoplewhen spoke century, national about attitudes human projectedthey dogs, of character the about concerned themselves with describing the character of the national dog as foils. breeds mixed or foreign while using fascism. Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and societal upheaval left many people uncomfortable with modernity. Suspicious of universalism, individualism, and cosmopolitanism implicit in liberal thought, fascists “colonial dog” or human colonizers, which were usually taken for granted.4 granted.4 for taken usually were which colonizers, human or dog” “colonial about discussions where metropole, imperial the in case the was reverse The caninescentered on usuallyattributesthe admirable of newly nationalized national This dogs. also occurred in thefascist rhetoric of the first half of twentieth the caninesDomestic about overwhelmingly discourses century. or the quintessential characteristics of “Other” people. As I have discussed discussed have I As characteristics“Other”people. quintessential of the or nineteenth the in areas colonizable and colonized in Westerners elsewhere, exten- by and, dogs native of character the on commented explicitly century sion, native peoples, but spoke less often of the admirable qualities of the 1 58 Aaron Skabelund the commonalities. Popular mass anti-liberal and anti-socialist national- anti-socialist and anti-liberal mass Popular commonalities. the recognize to and place and time of particularities necessary the recognize is to both it fascist, authentically as Japan 1930s of characterization the backofanautomobile alion cubinhislap.5with photographed “completely at ease visiting theof lions” cages and riding in beingof practice madeanimals.Hea wild tamer of modern a as portrayed Finally, the two groups of enthusiasts spoke a shared languagesharedFinally,spoke a fascism. of enthusiasts of groups two the world. the in canines finest and purest the therefore and related, closely Shep German and dogs Japanese both considered Japan and mark of comparison for breeds, “Japanese” and some fanciers in Germany Japan.in breed latter the moted The Shepherd was dog frequently bench- a called German Shepherd dogs, and some were members of groups that pro- so- admired dogs “Japanese” of aficionados Many levels. of number a on government bureaucrats, military officials,zoologists, and dog enthusiasts Japanese with, interacted and influenced, precedents German dogs. nous Japanese and between German movements protect to and promote indige- andWesternization.7 of modernization and the history recent city cultural and spiritual alternative to the foreign-influenced decadence ofthe a “restore” could past distant the or countryside the of values munitarian com- these thought and ‘other,’” the to opposed as Japanese, be to meant ( essence cal cultural aesthetic. that itThey believed could be found in a “national politi- for yearned indigenousclass pure, middle Japan’s a of educated and urban these two European counterparts. As in Germany and Italy, many members the interwar period, the cultural landscape showed a strong resemblance to in turn fascist a took that countries other Germany,Italy,and in situation the from ways some in differed Japan in ideology and politics While ture. cul- of realm the in true especially is Italy.This and Germany of perience ex- historical the to far closer was Japanfascism’s over sway Nevertheless, States. United the and Britain, France, as countries democratic such even infiltrating language and thought its globe, entire the affected influence are the same. remember societies Itto fascism’sis that also two important no that mind in keep we as long as “fascist” label the under grouped fully meaning- be can characteristics these displaying century.6Societies tieth twen- early the in democracy expanding toward path a on be to seemed previously had that nations modern number of a in appeared violence and languageunity,common of a used purity, that regimes and movements ist lhuh oe itras n pltcl cetss ae otse the contested have scientists political and historians some Although There were not only striking parallels but also significant interactions interactions significant also but parallels striking only not were There kokutai ),” a “range of ideological virtues that defined what it what defined that virtues ideological of “range a ),” ards to be be to ards Fascism’s Furry Friends 59 1 Although it is hardly a cruel story, the legend of Hachikō provides a bravery, bravery, superior to both Western dogs and the native canines of Japan’s colonies. Indeed, the creation of the “Japanese” dog, with Hachikō as its useful useful framework for probing the relationship between dogs and fascism in Japan. Hachikō was the key figure in the rediscovery and valorization of the Through wolf-like. and savage, disorderly, as despised long dogs, native joint ofefforts a group ofprivate dog enthusiasts and Ministrythe of Edu- twentiethearly the of course the in was times Meiji of dog native the cation, and loyalty, purity, of icon an dog, “Japanese” the into centurytransformed As the historian Boria Sax has written, “The Nazis were constantly invoking invoking constantly were Nazis “The written, has Sax Boria historian the As dogs and wolves for the qualities they wanted to cultivate: loyalty, fierce- obedience, even courage, and sometimes ness, cruelty.”8 1. A photograph of the “Faithful Dog” page Hachikō that “Faithful opening of the appeared the on 1. A photograph probably was taken photo The monogatari (1934). Kazutoshi’s Chūkenof Kishi Hachikō statue bronze the of sculptor crafted the who of Andō Shō, home of the in front railwayShibuya Hachikō that the was unveiled outside station in in centralTokyo Andō War. his statue Andō nor neither survived World Second the Unfortunately, 1934. died in an American air raid in May previous 1945, and the government officials fall figure becausemetalshortage bronze of a of prosecute needed to toppled Hachikō’s a 1945, 15, three-yearAugust the On surrender, conflict. the Japan’s anniversary of was dedicated of station, outside Takeshi, replica original son, statue of the by Andō’s it standswhere to this day. 1 60 Aaron Skabelund Yet given indigenous canines’ recent history, the extolling of native dogs in Western modes of dog-keeping and the ideology of animal pure-bloodism. nineteenth century and spread with imperialism and the global diffusion of the of half second the in Europe in developed had that trend a of part was 1930s the of Japan in nation-state the with dogs native of association The Nationalizing Native Dogs violence. that venerated the nation, celebrated purity, esteemed fidelity, andglorified fascism imperial of culture a of blocks building the of one was paragon, reconsideration of the maligned canines to take place. Urbanization played a for enough widespread became dogs, native of specifically keeping the case this in and dogs, of ownership the that appeared constituency a such until not was It 1920s. the until Japan in emerge not dog—did a keep and acquire to afford could and in interested was that class middle bourgeois say,a to is forcanines—that clientele delay.A the for reasons several ably later.decades several There prob- were until crystallize not did sentiments these Japan, turn-of-the-century in “mongrelization” their at dismay and dog.”Germanic “primeval the called Stephanitz what popularizing and breeding, istering, reg- in phenomenal success achieved group the establishment, its of cade Dog) in 1899, the breed was largely undefined and little valued. Within a de- Shepherd German the for (Society Schäferhunde deutsche für Verein the attitudes. Until Max von Stephanitz, a established Prussian captain, cavalry popular in shift dramatic a produced and late comparatively occurred dog Shepherdthe of “Germanization” the Japan, in dogs native with many.As temporally, trailed slightly of the theShepherd nationalization dog in Ger- ofpride.a source now were they derision, of target one. acquirethe Once to means the with anyone for symbol status a as serving popular, immensely became 1930s early the by had dogs “Japanese” employ, government’s the in catchers Japan superior to the made West. Forsupposedly decades rounded what up for of elimination by dog- example an as cited be to came canines same and of mixed or wild breed. Within a remarkably short space of time, these cowardly, primitive, as dogs indigenous regarded had century nineteenth mid- the from alike elites local and Foreigners irony. small no was Japan A The radical reappraisal of native dogs in Japan paralleled, even ifit even paralleled, in Japan dogs native of reappraisal radical The lthough there were earlier expressions of pride for native dog breeds dog native for pride of expressions earlier were there lthough Fascism’s Furry Friends 61 1 was unable to find a dog thatmet his standardsTokyo, in where, the realm of dogs, Saitō Hirokichi (who also used the pen name Saitō Saitō name pen the used also (who Hirokichi Saitō dogs, of realm the Shifts Shifts in the political and cultural climate during the late 1920s and Saitō In native dogs were following wolves to what he believed was tantamount to extinction, Saitō established the society in 1928. He then spent much of soon to be known for a breed of the same name, he found interbreeding, it through that, Alarmed difficultsatisfaction. his to met that dog a locate hold hold from the bombing raids of the Second Saitō’s other War. World love was dogs. In 1927, he joined the Eighth Artillery Division but was soon discharged because by of his Told health doctorproblems. that he needed and in perhaps need plentyfeeling of air, of a fresh tomission, he decided buy a dog and began to search, as he later recalled, for a pure indigenous canine in ancient like “those scrolls.”10 depicted rural Yamanashi Prefecture in central Japan, Saitō graduated from the pres- the from graduated Saitō Japan, central in Prefecture Yamanashi rural Gei- Tokyo the now Academy; Arts Fine (Tokyo Gakkō Bijutsu Tokyo tigious leading landscapeplayeda architect.latera became Daigaku)and He jutsu role in the design of a garden at the National Museum of Modern Art in which Tokyo, opened in An 1952. art Saitō lover, was instrumental in pro- house- Konoe aristocratic the of artifacts cultural medieval precious tecting and powerful political, intellectual, and cultural ground swell of resistanceof swell ground cultural and political,intellectual, powerful and Western modernity. purported influences of the corrosive against Hiroshi; 1900–64), the founder of the Nihon Ken Hozon Kai (Society for the Preservation of the Japanese Dog), led the revolt. Born and raised in lamation and praise of native dogs was a canine variant of this pervasive Nation- dogs. native of promotion the to receptive more people made 1930s first The inseparable. were breeds caninenative of veneration the and alism national- rising with coincided dogs indigenous for concern of expressions ism at the end of the nineteenth century, and their full manifestation corresponded with what the historians Tetsuo Najita and Harry Harootunian this During 1930s. the in West” the revolt against “Japanese called the have period, ideologues promoted national pride in a pure, indigenous culture rec-The elements. foreign by threatened supposedly but unsullied was that an important role in the revaluation of indigenous canines, as well. The iso- The well. as canines, indigenous revaluationof the in role important an in led modernity citified of characteristic is that countryside the from lation many countries to a desire to reconnect with the natural world, albeit in a installto it, put has Kete Kathleen historian the as domesticatedform—or, a “beast boudoir.”9 the in in his view, Western decadence Western and foreign in blood his had view, spread to the urban canine population. Even in the mountainous northern of prefecture Akita, 1 62 Aaron Skabelund spiritually. of Westernization that he believed to have defiled Japan both physically and It was only dogs in these areas that Saitō considered to be free of the legacy protection. fortheir campaign to and dogs purebred locate to archipelago the throughout regions highland remote to traveling half-decade next the to the way.” “imperial to allegiance strict demanded and polity” “nationalJapan’s unique of virtues the to praises sang that patriotism in upsurge the reinforced subtly sage mes- underlying its that fact the from stemmed appeal very its but 1930s, early the of uncertainties the from release brought surely Hachikō of tale sentimental unfolding, The fascism. and militarism of valley dark long, a cabinets. into descent theThus“national country’s unity” began dominate group of navy leaders officers top and military proceeded ultra-rightists, to a by Tsuyoshi by Inukai Minister Prime rule of killing 15 May party the Aftermid-1932. to end an to led home, at assassination” by “government with coupled them, constrain to authorities civilian of unwillingness, and kuo. The insubordination of military officers in Manchuria and the inability, Manchu- of state puppet Japanese the Tokyofollowingmonth established the and Amy, Kwantung the of hands the in effectively was region entire the 1932, January By warlord. local the of troops the on attack an to launch ploy a as China northeastern in railway a on explosion staged a used officers military Japanese 18, September Onanxiety. national tremendous ( emergency “national extended an be to proclaimed repeatedly was what of start the marked year, previous the began which Incident, Manchurian The imagine. to difficult is earlier years few a just sons why this dog got his day in 1932 and why such an apotheosis occurring whatanyone, including adegree beyond Saitō,anticipated. to escalated probably which popularity, tremendous Hachikō’s launched article The ( patron protective a and dogfights of diator me- a as him This unfailing portrayed fidelityand the dog’s of told World” Seven-YearWait Expectant for Returnthe Master a of NoIs Who Longer of A Dog: Old Lovable a of Story “The edition. morning 1932, 4, October its in Hachikō forlorn-looking a of photograph large a and piece the placed an to dogtheabout story a proposed and wider appeal potentially a had Hachikō that realized Saitō the dog on the pages newsletter in of 1929, a years later,society but several somewhere in the vicinity of Shibuya station. After this meeting, he featured Saitō’s timing could not have been better. There are good, rea historical While returning from one of those trips, Saitō encountered Hachikō encountered Saitō trips, those of one from returning While newspaper reporter.newspaper Asahi The paper prominently ) for smaller canines.11smaller for oyabun) hijōji )” and a time of time a and )” - 2. Saitō Hirokichi, in traditional hunting attire, while searching for purebred “Japanese” dogs in the Sanmen region of Niigata Prefecture in November 1931. 1 64 Aaron Skabelund cades earlier, Saitō effectively nationalized native dogs on the archipelago the on dogs native nationalized effectively Saitō earlier, cades Stephanitzas Just nation. the“Germanized” Shepherdhad de- dog several the to canines native linked explicitly Dog—Saitō Japanese the of ervation man precedents. Ger- particularly Europe, and States United the in regulations similar on seki meisho tennen kinenbutsu hozon hō ( Monuments Natural and Historic and Scenery Preserving for Law the 1930s. The legal instrumentthrough whichthis feat was accomplished was the during protection government of worthy treasures natural as breeds and molded ( the dog ofthe theminto Japanese family-state companions human their like disposition a acquire to canines the caused had dogs native and Japanese people between interaction of centuries that message the spread to media mass the used adeptly Saitō elsewhere, and Here dogs.”12 Japanese of personality the into ingrained been age—have cour- extreme and stubbornness, and diffidence dogs, Western to pared ter’s family, being intelligent but not adept in expressing emotions as com- of the Japanese nation—difficulty ingetting used toanyone outsideits master of the nation has exerted influence onthe entire breed. The various traits ter of its master, but because the Japanese dog has a long history the charac- declaration: “[the] dog’s temperament is strongly influenced bythe charac- following the made Saitō company, broadcasting government-controlled the (NHK), Kyōkai Hōsō Nippon by aired Dog?” Japanese a Is Canine a of Kind “What titled 1937 in address radio a In dogs. and people chipelago’s country’s the to similar the ar- of humana long because between population and close association personality a possessed claimed, he canines, decades earlier. canines had become a proud symbol of Japan, something unthinkable a few it quickly became an almost exclusively used label. By the early 1930s, native equivocally tied native dogs to the nation-state, but thanks to Saitō’s efforts, used had 1930s the before even Somepeople class. middle the desirableto pets, into worthy domesticated transformed dogs that had been previously considered wild and uncivilized by declaring them to be “Japanese,” or sanctioned the nationalization of native dogs by declaring seven different seven declaringby dogs native of nationalization the sanctioned at the cation, recommendation of officials inits Bureau of Cultural Affairs, showed an in interest and dogs.reaucrats maintained The of Edu- Ministry As indicated by the name of his organization—the Society for the Pres- forthe Society organization—the his of namethe by indicated As Eq Saitō did not link native dogs to the nation in name only. “Japanese” “Japanese” only. name in nation the to dogs native link not did Saitō ually important was Saitō’s success in ensuring that government bu government that ensuring in success Saitō’swas important ually (Japanese dog), which more un- more which dog), (Japanese inu Nihon ), a measure enacted in 1919 and modeled Nihon inu . This simple linguistic move kazoku kokka). kazoku Shi- - Fascism’s Furry Friends 65 1 - . “Mention the ‘Japanese dog,’ and the the and dog,’ ‘Japanese the “Mention . The Story of the Loyal Dog Hachikō Dog Loyal the of Story The underscored underscored by the ministry’s insistence that the vigor of the Shiba addition to calling frequent attention to the alleged connections be Dog enthusiasts and education bureaucrats asserted that the timeless Although indigenous domesticated dogs were not the first animals to In As tween the country’s dog population and its imperial masters in the past, native dogs enjoyed a special bond with the people of Japan that had begun had that Japan of people the with bond special enjoyeda dogs native during the rule of the country’s first (mythical) emperor, on claims, the however, depended (a)historical connection Jimmu. between native Such pre- having as perceived were which of boththrone, Japanese the and dogs served a constant, untainted bloodline since dawn of time. the races,especially human canineand betweenarchipelago’s relationship the better dogs “Japanese” made emperors, country’s the and dogs the between than others. Stephanitz used similar language to recall how in “time im- memorial . . . the warlike proud German held in high esteem his coura- geous hunting comrade.”15 Saitō and other commentators insisted that thor of thor dogs of Japan who in the past have been treated like strays come to mind. and pointer, setter, the as such dogs Western only and show, dog a Mention PreservationJapanese the Societythe of the What for tomind. come terrier Dog is making Japanese aware of is that the Japanese dog is by no means dogs.”14 Western to superior, far but in fact inferior, breed surpassed that of foreign canines, fans of native dogs were anxious to anxious were dogs native of fans canines, foreign of that surpassed breed pureblooded any than, better not if as, good as were animals their that show Western vis-à-vis dogs native of superiority the about Claims breed. Western general and enthusiast specialized the in articles in appeared often canines The pointpress. was evenmade for young readers by Kishi Kazutoshi,au- person person proclaimed that the dogs were worthy of the honor because they dogs foreign to compared and people, Japanese the of character the “reflect Japanese a characteristicsof the all have and vigor particular a demonstrate dog.”13 to be endangered national assets. A declaration of protection stringently regulated the sale, breeding, and movement of designated canines, all of which continue to this Theday. Ministry of Education’s rationalefor preserving “Japanese” dogs echoed argument Saitō’s that the character of the the When country’sof the personality in the nation was ingrained canines. ministryannounced its designation of the its Shiba breed spokes- in 1936, the During celebrated. most the probably status,were they special given be 1930s, the ministry named the Akita, Kai, Kishū, Koshino (soon consid- breeds Hokkaido and Shikoku, Shiba, extinctinterbreeding), through ered 1 66 Aaron Skabelund Ginza in early November 1932 and coincided with a national holiday com- holiday national a with coincided November1932and early in Ginza in store department Matsuya the at held was show Japanese-dog first The eagerly encouraged the participation of royalty and nobility in its dog shows. officials Society present. the in links similar create to sought fanciers dog hy lk ter ua cmain, liaey osse a ie heri- mixed a possessed ultimately companions, human their like they, of years earlier from the Asian continent or the South Pacific. Inthis sense, ancestors of “Japanese” dogs had likely come to the archipelago thousands tion. miscegena- of specter the and race, Japanese the of superiority the blood, of purity human about anxieties societal wider mirrored statements and actions Their breed. mixed and Western of canines were contended, they extinction, to dogs “Japanese” driving threat time. The primary (Japanese) whose pedigree had been attested in the archipelago since the beginning of canines of groups those only “Japanese” as recognized bureaucrats ment govern- and considered officials Society blood. pure of maintenance the thusiasts and government preservationists betrayed a strident concern with racial origin. Reflectingthe former view,the policies and rhetoric of dog en- mixed otherof the consideredbe and which genous people, Japaneseof to homo- regardedwhich racially oneJapaneseof a thought, as ingof strains identity during the 1930s. These attitudes were representedtwo by conflict- racial about attitudes Japanese of nature complex the reflected dogs native preserve to moves government’s the and standards breeding society’s The andBreedBlood asJapanese. andtagged the nation the National Museum.Science In death, as in life, Hachikō was collared by in Hachikō stuffed the encircles still Dog,” Japanese the of Preservation the for Show—The Society Japanese-Dog First the of Participant Honorary as Memento “Commemorative words the with stamped leather, of band Theevent. thebroad celebrate to collars special dogs awardedboth society emperor.17the The of relative a to given previously had society the whom dog, Akita another Koma-go, with together appeared he exhibition, first the At guest. special a as showssubsequent and this attendeddogs, alized ofHachikō. small statues the emperorwith absentia, in and, them presented and household imperial the of members memorating the birth of the late Meiji emperor.16 The invited society several R Hachikō, eflecting the latter view, enthusiasts and scientists speculated that the that speculated view,the latter scientists eflecting and enthusiasts the embodiment of of the Japan’spre-eminence newly nation - Fascism’s Furry Friends 67 1 or or fanciers, this primordial connection to the was archipelago not the At At the same time that Saitō and other society members praised native During During the interwar period, a new respect for wolves and other large F The most pressing task for Saitō in the late 1920s and early 1930s was was to 1930s and early 1920s late in the Saitō for task pressing most The predators predators emerged throughout the world, especially in areas where these animals were extinct and no longer an actual, or even imagined, threat. eliminate indigenous canines—whether street, feral, or wild dogs or the themselves. wolves canineof foreign free blood, celebratedbeing they their re-breeds dog for Such cousins. lupine totheir links blood possible and wolves to semblance admiration for the wolf-like nature of native dogs was ironic. Westerners and local elites in Japan and other colonizable and colonized areas of the world had denigrated certain native dogs for their purported physical and behavioral similarities to wolves, and this disparagement led to efforts to dogs. dogs. “Japanese” dogs, they claimed, had lived with humans but had not been interbred by them, so they remained in a natural and uncorrupted state.20 Such language echoed contemporary rhetoric about the unbroken and undefiledblood ties of theJapanese nation and the imperial line.It also ignored the irony that breeders and eugenicists were now intervening that races human and canine Japanese same those maintain and improve to were superior because naturally. claimed theythey had been formed the the society’s foreign secretary, Hata Ichirō, the only dogs that were truly more living been have that breed “ancient an of dogs” “native were Japanese days the of our forefathers.”19 from and shape less in a similar form or only reason that certain indigenous dogs outclassed purebred Western of years before, Saitō drew a clear distinction between breeds those that appeared on the even peninsula more recently, if distinc- dogs their and tive appearance had been shaped by breeders in As Japan.18 explicated by organic. characteristicdefining The was. dog “Japanese” a what precisely determine bloodlines their that was Japanese considered be to came that breeds the of thatarchipelago’s the recognizing While adulteration. foreign of free were earliest canines may have arrived with humans from elsewhere thousands tage, but had since been isolated from outside influxes of canineblood by the islands’ geography. Such an explanation supported the government’s efforts to assimilate and exploit thehuman population ofJapan’s formal and informal colonies. In this way, fanciers, scientists, and government preservationists enlarged the Japanese canine imperium even as Japan’s empire expanded making the country’s political rule seem natural and 1 68 Aaron Skabelund the name Hitlergave the first“German” Shepherd owned:he Wolf. the three—Nazis, lupines, Shepherdand tween dogs—is aptly by captured herd dog because of its supposed wild, wolfish nature. Thebe- relationship lairs.21Shep- theas Nazisheadquartersadmired Führer many the and And various their and wolves as themselves referring to purposes, forsymbolic Hitler and other National leadersSocialist continually appropriated wolves Germany. in than apparent more shift this Nowherewas inroads. deepest the made fascism where countries those in particularly appealing, more biological links with wolves and a wolfish appearance and behavior became Attitudes toward canines once despised as wolf-like changed, too. Possible the writings of canine enthusiasts was far more muted and implicit. That implicit. and muted more far was enthusiasts canine of writings the movement in Japan was much rarer, and any in humanwith concern purity eugenics weak relatively the and breeders animal between Crossover cies. poli- racial on impact less had breeding animal however, Japan, In tion. ethnogeny, the supremacy of the Aryan race, and the dangers of miscegena- terms understandable readily in explain to breeds dog used example, for educators, Socialist National and Stephanitz heredity. human improving referencedbreedingtheir zootechny oranimal in for arguments artificially a number Germany, of advocates of eugenics and Aryan supremacy had backgrounds early-twentieth-century in In Reich. Third the under as policy widespread popularity of eugenics, but nowhere did such thinking become animals “breeding” countries, many In Western elsewhere. did they that influence the wielded nor fanciers preoccupied neither breeding about discussions husbandry, animal with experience shallow relatively Japan’s of because Specifically, differences. marked also were there breed, and blood canine more natural,pure, andfearsome theirforeign than cousins. of the wolf-like nature of “Japanese” dogs, which made local varieties seem idea the celebrated they breeds, native and wolves between link biological jected Yanagita’s explanation of lupine and extinction his theory of a recent re- others and Saitō While canines.22 native in found be still could blood probably dogs, wolf had, so they that interbred with if they at all, and even archipelago the from vanished completely have not may wolves that zine maga- Dog’s Japanese the of Preservation the for Society the of pages the in speculated Kunio Yanagita folklorist The topic. discussed much a came be- dogs native relationship their with and fortheir reasons the extinction but Germany, in were they as frequently so sphere political the in ployed S A imilar cultural in trends were 1930sevident Japan. Wolves were not de lthough there were striking parallels with Germany in discussions of discussions in Germany with parallels striking were there lthough humans for superiority was important, as highlighted by the by highlighted as important, was superiority for humans and - Fascism’s Furry Friends 69 1 - ),” ),” rather than minzoku ) or in the northern part of the continent.24 continent.24 the of part northern the in or ) , or “national people ( naichi Asahi journalist reported that Saitō and Mori had Volk political realities were reflected in and supported by popular and ).”23 One current of nationalism depicted Japanese as a racially a as Japanese depicted nationalism of current One ).”23 jinshu broader broader terms, as well, the politics of race and empire in Japan dif Such In and the spread of primary education, it served the purposes of the imperial the of purposes served education,the it primary of spread the and power. the the late This1930s. bureaucratic canonization surely didnot arise out of pure concern for the canines themselves, much less the Korean populace. Rather, like other facets of colonial modernity, such as industrialization the the article labeled “Japanese dogs raised in Korea,” sporting pricked-up in either originated had dogs the that speculated Saitō tails. curled and ears ( islands home Japanese the As a result of Saitō’s and Mori’s research, alongside the seven breeds that Ministry Educationthe of “Japanese”treasuresnational designated during in the 1930s, Japanese colonial authorities in Korea granted similar “Japa- nese” status to the Chindō and one other peninsular breed, the in Bunsan, scientific discoursesabout dogs. During the1930s, Saitō increasingly embraced theories that extended the Japanese canine realm even as the country’s political empire With grew. the assistance of colleagues, he investi- gated canines in the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria, and the South Seas. In colonial he Korea, gained the cooperation of Mori Tamezō, UniversityImperial (present-day zoologyKeijō of at SeoulUni- professor a versity). In an early 1937, what Korea, southwestern off of the island coast an Chindō, on discovered the the metropole led peoplesome were toof that diverse emphasize Japanese racial origins and to identify this hybridityas a source of national strength and imperial power. “race ( “race homogenous people literally descended from a common bloodline whose uppermost branch was the Imperial TheFamily. competing mixed-blood view emerged only later, in the late nineteenth century, but grew rapidly along with imperial expansion. Japan’s acquisition of an empire popu-lated by ethnically similar peoples living in relatively close proximity to nese were uncomfortable with eugenic and racial thought. Japanese nation- Japanese thought. racial and eugenic with uncomfortable were nese Morris-Suzuki has alism, pointed as Tessa out, the historian was generally centered on the idea of said, the rhetoric of Japanese dog enthusiasts clearly fed into wider societal wider into fed clearly enthusiasts dog Japanese of rhetoric the said, concerns about racial just identity, as canine terminology helped to shape race. of discussions larger Western significantlynotions fered offrom race Because that in Germany. intertwinedwere whiteJapa- races,superiorityof many the in withbelief a 170 Aaron Skabelund had to have “small, triangular ears that stand erect” and a “large 1937,and power- in speech radio his in declared he as canines, physical “Japanese” All two traits. emphasized repeatedly Saitō peninsula, Korean the on or comparison to Germany, the metaphorical mobilization of “Japanese” “Japanese” of mobilization metaphorical the Germany, to comparison endeared the Shepard German Nazi breedto officials.27 that dedication devout supposed this precisely was It fidelity. of paragons National oftenand educators Socialist commentators venerated as canines and proto-Nazi Germany, In 1930s. the of rhetoric fascist the in as bols haps nowhere, though, were faithful dogs deployed so prominently as sym- andsacrifice thefor to messagesnation. with about duty old, young and both suffuse people, forto models authorities pedagogical perfect provided dogs devoted supposedly other and Hachikō head. its at emperor the with family-state, unique a of part were they that pupils their taught Schoolteachers emperor. the all, of most and, state, the superiors, teachers, elders, for veneration and obligation of sense strong a subjects imperial in instill to labored spokespeople private and officials ernment Gov- system. school national the of mission the to central been had ) (chū loyalty of virtue Confucian the of inculcation the 1890s, the From Japan. wartime and imperial in loyalty of icons as elevated be empire—could the of service the in dogs other Hachikō—and like dogs native that realized who were concerned about native dogs. Educators within the ministry, too, were notPreservationists the only bureaucrats in the Ministry of Education Unflagging Fidelity young, healthy, purebreddog. “Japanese” a like lookingemerged he that so erect, standing ears both and curled tail his with Hachikō mounted Museum Science National the at taxidermists dog’s pedigree.26 Fortunately for Saitō, and indeed because of his influence, of theas a result of skinof foreignand not disease because contamination flopped ear the and dropped tail the that argued He bloodline. Hachikō’s of Then, integrity defended the emphatically Saitō drooped. theyears, over repeatedly and ear left his because noticeable, more even and, walked he when down slumped tail his because purebred not was Hachikō that standard, Somethis suggested,on based people regarded suspect. as ately ful curled tail.”25 Any animal that did not show these features was immedi- Whether with regard to dogs he deemed “Japanese” on the archipelago the on “Japanese” deemedhe dogs to regard with Whether If Man the deployment of dogs to spread ideas about race in Japan paled in paled Japan in race about ideas spread to dogs of deployment the y cultures have celebrated the faithfulness of dogs to humans.Per to dogs faithfulnessof the celebrated have y cultures - Fascism’s Furry Friends 171 bushidō TheSociety for the Preservation of theJapanese Dog and its allies in In addition to ideological motivations, a desire for economic profit buoyed buoyed profit economic for desire a motivations, ideological to addition In one one condition. Andō had already created a plaster model of Hachikō the previous fall an for annual show at the Imperial Gallery of Art and in that work faithfully depicted Hachikō with a floppy left ear.28 Such adesign, the committee decided—at Saitō’s insistence—would not do: Andō must however, unfulfilled, went wish erect.earsSaitō’s both with dog the depict when the exigency of quickly completing the statue forced the sculptor to use his original model the for cast, and perpetuityfor Hachikō was cast in with as a dog a suspect ear. bronze statue of Hachikō. Angered by this attempt by outsiders to literally shape swiftly backers influential his and Saitō it, from profit and image Hachikō’s statue. own their build to money raise to 1934 early in campaign a launched The committee asked AndōShō to takeon the task of sculpting, with but the Ministry of Education reveled in the attention that Hachikō was generating but by the same token fiercely sought tomaintain control over the manner in which dog was portrayed. In late for 1933, example, anticipat- ing even greater publicity during the upcoming of Year the Dog, a group of private entrepreneurs announced its intention to construct a wooden throughout the 1930s and persists to some degree to this day. Annual events, Annual day. this to degree some to persists and 1930s the throughout honor April, in festival a and March in service memorial a prominently most chain global by the taken was over space the (when 2006 until and dog, the TheBodyof any Hachikō trinketsShop) number store, could be purchased at year a store the called located Shop the Hachikō throughout just outside station. Shibuya of Exit Hachikō named officially the zodiac the of advantage took businesspeople 1934, In fame. to rise Hachikō’s Hachikō’s on capitalized they year following the and Dog, the of Year the in “Loyal the manipulated Merchants celebrity. to canine cash the death in on Dog” to sell everything from toys to kimonos, postcards to kitchenware, continued of Hachikō exploitation commercial The to books. phonographs fidelity ofnative dogs was unique among canines in that it was directed exclusively and unendingly to a single master. More than once, the faith- tothe compared was dogs “Japanese” other and Hachikō of fulness ethos that supposedly bound a samurai warrior to his lord and the alle- emperor. the for giance that people felt canines loyalty to foster unrivaled. Such discourses extended was probably Shep- especially army, the of employ the in breed Western of dogs militaryto for often even more out singled were dogs “Japanese” However, dogs. herd their unconditional devotion. Commentators repeatedly asserted that the 3. The original bronze Hachikō outside the Shibuya railway station on the day of its dedication, April 21, 1934. The adult figure standing in front of the statue appears to be Saitō Hirokichi, who was primarily responsible for popularizing the dog. Notice the many children surrounding the statue, an indication of Hachikō’s appeal to youngsters. Photograph courtesy of Mainichi Photo Bank.

The statue was dedicated in an elaborate hour-long ceremony on April 21, 1934. Arrayed in white and red ribbons but beginning to show his age, Hachikō was the guest of honor. After speeches by dignitaries who included Saitō; the chief of the Ministry of Education’s Social Education Bureau; and Kishi, the author of The Story of the Loyal Dog Hachikō, Ueno’s niece Sakano Hi- sako unveiled the statue. A poem written by Yamamoto Teijirō—who served as a Diet member, a minister of agriculture and forestry, and, from 1935 on, the leader of the reactionary Kokutai Meichō Undō (Movement for the Clarification of the National Polity)—praised “The Conduct of the Loyal Dog (Chūken kō)” and was inscribed on the statue’s base. In a melancholy tone, Yamamoto’s poem lauded the faithfulness of Hachikō and lamented the fickle nature of humans.29 Although Saitō gave birth to the Hachikō story and the business community cashed in on it, Ministry of Education bureaucrats largely dictated its

172 Fascism’s Furry Friends 173 Story of the Faithful Faithful the of Story to spread their tailored message. Ministry officials promoted e campaign was a rousing ideological and financial success. Although success. financial and ideological rousing a was campaign e Official and popular media, artists, and performers joinedforces with Th the committee secured large contributions from businesspeople, the fund- the businesspeople, contributionsfrom large secured committee the (the (the average yearly salary of a prefectural employee was 737 yen in 1934), more than toenough cover the cost of the statue.edu- More important for raising raising drive was primarily aimed at schoolchildren and enjoyed the full cooperationEven officials, school Education and the of teachers. Ministry, throughout children many depression, economic lingering a of midst the in the empire apparently responded. The committee raisedabout 1,864 yen Noguchi Noguchi Ujō likened the dog to the famous forty-seven samurai of Akō, who in the early seventeenth century demonstrated their devotion to their late lord by avenging his ritual suicide, and to samurai and soldiers from Nitta Yoshisada (1301–38) to General Nogi Maresuke (1849–1912), who allegiance and death.32 to in life emperors their showed Shrine. NHK transmitted the story of Hachikō as part of its children’s radio children’s its of part as Hachikō of NHKstory Shrine. the transmitted inexhaustible the hailed songs and books, poems, Countless programming. March- “The called number a performed group dance A Hachikō. of fidelity cherryFuji, withMount Hachikō poem equated one Hachikō”; of Song ing blossoms, and the Rising Sun flagas a“national treasure” that “taught people never to forget their debts of gratitude”; another verse by the poet songs, songs, and comic acts that attracted more than three to thousand the Japan People’s Young Auditorium people in the outer garden area of Meiji pelago.” Reading it, the ad declared, causedit, the ad declared, the righteouschildren to “feel Reading pelago.” heart of Hachikō, who embodies the Japanese spirit” and braced them to a defy “world gone decadent, where people wallow in luxury and idleness, and humanity thinner than has become paper.”31 ministrythe of virtue loyalty to celebrateas embodied by Hachikō. the Just weeks before the dedication the ceremony, Society for the Preservation of Ministry’s the Dog, Japanese Socialthe Education Kōkoku the and Bureau, Seishin Kai (Imperial Spirit Society) sponsored a benefit concert ofskits, primer primer that must reach every mountain and seaside village of the archi- interpretation and dissemination to a national, colonial, and even world- Kishi’s used ministrybureaucrats Initially, audience. wide Dog Hachikō man half-joked One the book in classrooms of teachers. of by an wayarmy years later that his teacher encouraged students so enthusiastically to buy the percentageof a getting instructorwas the if wondered he that book the mo- likely more a was profit, financial than rather suasion, Moral income.30 tive. A newspaper advertisement proclaimed that the book was an “ethics 174 Aaron Skabelund and its constituents called for better treatment of canines through news- through canines of treatment better for called constituents its and ciety made Hachikō an honorary member of its Pochi Kurabu (Pooch Club), So- Humane pounds.33The dog notorious city’s the in conditions sionate whose ranks Hachikō sometimes wandered, and to promote more compas- among population, Tokyo’sof improveplightthe to dogthelize stray-dog as those in the Japanese branch of the Humane Society, attempted to mobi- such activists, Animal-welfare orcause. virtue other some than rather alty many people. of minds the capture to appeared loyalty Hachikō’s for adoration cators, Gratitude)” was rendered inthe following manner: of Shibuya station. taleThe “On o wasureru (Don’tna Forget Your of Debts outsidealertly but vainly doubt—waiting norelief, Saitō’s to erect—much ears both forstory,with the depictingHachikō illustration providedan tei Haku- Ishii painter 1934.The in issued students second-year for textbook ( ethics national new a in story his including by curriculum school likeness outside Shibuya station, they incorporated Hachikō further into the praising devotion. the dog’s voices private and official by overwhelmed largely was however, activists, by animal-welfare stressed message The today. mannequin museum the adorned thewith club’s name Hachikō’sto collar, which danglesstill from paper articles and letters to the editor. Thegroup also attached an ornament underscored the fact that Hachikō was a tool for indoctrination. The title The indoctrination. for tool a was Hachikō that fact the underscored context its and title its But innocuous. appeared story the surface, the On Ministry intervention ensured that the focus of the story would be loy be would story the of focus the that ensured intervention Ministry In the same month that ministry officials helped raise the dog’s bronze dog’s the raise helped officials ministry that month same the In day.34 every station the of front in seen be master—can his for searching old manner. passed months inthis Many arrived. atrain time forlook hismaster amongeach allthe people thewho gotoffat station would daily.Hachikō him for searched understand, not did he because day, one station. Then the Hachikō’s master died.at him dog, greet The to there waiting was Hachikō return, hewhen would evening every and master departed for work, the dog would see him off atthe train station, Hachikō’s when day Every strong. very became body weak his result, a As child. own his he were if as just him for tenderly cared and Hachikō Hachikō was a cute dog. Soon after he was born, a person far away adopted Even though one, two, three, ten years passed, Hachikō—grown Hachikō—grown passed, years ten three, two, one, though Even shūshin) - Fascism’s Furry Friends 175 , Story of the Loyal Dog Hachikō Dog Loyal the of Story s of how the text may have been taught can be gleaned from articles from gleaned be cantaught been have may text the how of s e image e of image Hachikō as a model of dutiful devotion, however, was not e use of Hachikō to foster devotion to authority in youngsters likely Stories of dogs were ideal material for the government’s efforts to in- Th Th Hint culcate the entire population with messages about duty for culcateabout entiresacrificeto populationand the with messages the nation. More than anything, what made the Hachikō story so effective was that the protagonist was a dog, a seemingly benign, non-ideological, everyoneBecause the to. relatenearlythat could companion commonplace heroes of the Hachikō narrative and other stories were canines, they were to children as well as adults. appealing set phrases—describing Hachikō waiting vainly in rainy, hot, and snowy Kishi’s in appeared that poem a weather—from and a children few linked Hachikō with other paragons of loyalty who appeared in their textbooks.36 the the station’s archive suggest that Hachikō did inspire in some children a desire to emulate his purported Manyfidelity. students reportedmaking a special visit to the statue, seeing huge numbers of bouquets and wreaths, and feeling grief at his passing. A number of the compositions mouthed had its intended effect. Although measuring accurately how people spond re- to ideology is problematic, if not impossible, essays year by primary-school students second- living in the Shibuya area and preserved in teachers to instill in youngsters a sense of their indebtedness because, “for because,“for indebtedness their of sense a youngsters in instillto teachers debts that The them.” feel first theymust debts, their forget to not children Kobayashi had in mind were made clear in the following paragraph. He suggested that the story be read in class on March 6, the birthday of the Meiji Thishe empress. day, recommended,should bededicated to the important task of encouraging children to “contemplate the magnanimityof the splendid virtues of the imperial throne and to nourish hearts that will repay debt.”35 this supreme about about the story in instructors’ manuals and educational magazines. The author of one such column, Kobayashi Gen, asserted that although the episode was true, teachers should teach it as a fable and not explore the tale’s veracity in the classroom. “Second-year students are meek,” Koba- yashi wrote, “and will meekly accept what you tell them.” He challenged did not capture the content of the story; it didactically rather, admonished same the in stories Other Gratitude.” of Debts Your Forget “Don’t children, reader exhorted youngsters to strengthen their bodies, to honor their an- and tocestors and present, obedient. be and emperors past 176 Aaron Skabelund motivations onto Hachikō. In motivations the April 1935 of edition human of projection the criticized harshly Yonekichi Hiraiwa researcher Preservation of the Japanese Dog. Saitō’s fellow membersociety and canine forthe Society the within even detractors, its or complications its without bu wihir oil n pltcl sus ih oe agru conse- dangerous more with issues political and social weightier about delusions similar in result might worried, tendency, Hasegawa plain. This ex- rationally not could they that and experienced not had they that things believe to them allowed that trance psychotic” collective “self-hypnotic, a theories,” entered and had reports, media“rumor, of sensational swirl a by influenced argued, he awry. public, The gone sentimentalism as uproar magazine literary the of issue 1935 April the In Nyozekan. Hasegawa critic liberal the was out speak to voice prominentmost the Perhaps well. troubling,as be to Hachikō with nation the emperor. andto foster the state to allegiance to for dogs children’saffinity of use make could educators that possibility dogs.”38 Saitō’s may statement have been true, but if so, it also bolsters the of fond very became country the throughout children that was . . . result of children: Hiraiwa objected to most sharply was the use of Hachikō for the edification master.What his lost had who dog unhappy an still was Hachikō noted, “dumbfounding” fuss over his alleged his commitmentmaster, to Hiraiwa gation for kindness received, but is based entirely on pure love.” Despite the from not stem dogssenseof does a obli- of the “devotion that wrote raiwa Hi- edited, and founded he magazine a Poetry), Children’s on (Research Referring Hiraiwa’s to later, years criticism he the that “greatestcountered

because there are no debts of gratitude in the world of dogs, there can can there dogs, of world the in gratitude of debts no are there because However,Gratitude.” of Debts Forget Your “Don’t clamor tegrity.They in- immeasurable demonstrate that good of acts extraordinary as seen the in are dogs of worldoccurrences humanof morality,point everyday stand- the from because is This children. people’s teach to material as late even Hachikō’s name in a variety of ways. Now he is even being used manipu- to after anotherone appear people who many been have There Saitō, law of dogs.37 the from guidance for plead and worship to down kneeling animal—is ingrate “man”—thatnow, only that pathetic is It forgetfulness. no be Some observers outside the dog-fancying community found the fasci- the found community dog-fancying the outside observers Some for his part, did not see the deployment of the story troubling.as story the of deployment the see not did forpart, his , Hasegawa criticized the criticized Hasegawa shunjū, Bungei Kodomo no Kodomo shi kenkyū

Fascism’s Furry Friends 177 . Saitō and others, however, rejected skewers were discovered in the dog’s the in discovered were skewers yakitori yakitori Nihon Nihon fashizumu hihan (Criticism of Japanese Fascism; 1932) hout using the word, Hasegawa was all but describing the culture of culture the describing but all was Hasegawa word, the using hout While Saitō rationalized the objections of Hiraiwa, he dismissed off- Wit fascism. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he openly argued that Japan was that argued Japan openly he earlyand late the 1920s In 1930s, fascism. stomach during his autopsy, a factor that may quite easily have contributed have easily quite may that factor a autopsy, his during stomach to his demise.41 The officialstory is that Hachikō died due theto effects of filariasis and old age. However, according to a circulated widely attributedrumor to the taxidermist,several attending fond fond of chicken kebabs, or any notion that Hachikō was a mere stray loitering in search of handouts. especially perhaps, because circumstances the of his of death—or, in Even persisted. Hachikō motivationsof actual the about controversy death—the handedly handedly the criticisms of intellectuals such as Hasegawa and the “misunderstandings” that they created.40 Because loyalty, like purity, was so contested strongly allies his and Saitō persona, public centraltoHachikō’s doubts dog’s the about expressed devotionany reser- expressed and subtly vations about the “Japaneseness” of those who questioned the dog’s mo- tives. Inflated however, could claims not of help fidelity, Hachikō’s butin- vite criticism, if not cynicism, in certain quarters. A number of observers contrary, the On all. at master his for waiting not was dog the that ventured they deduced, the dog was merely hanging around the station and its sur- especiallywas rumored, was it Hachikō, tofed. be waiting shops rounding

becoming becoming fascist, the culmination of which process he saw in the termMan- the use to inclined less became however, Hasegawa, Incident. churian after his book following and censored, strongly being after reissued then and banned was Com- Japan contributionthe to a making allegedly for 1933 in arrest brief a munist In Party. his criticism Hasegawaof appeared the Hachikō to affair, affirm his earlier position that Japan had fascist become without expressly employing term. the sassination, he noted, elites had fallen into the dangerous habit of either belowencouraging from with forces their obliquely condoning inaction or drastically or them through reduced sentences.39 pardons quences quences than those created by the fervor over Hachikō. In his view, politicians, educators, and journalists had the responsibility to leaders, restrain nation’s thisThe it. of advantage take than rather inclination” “national Hasegawa warned, were not doing so but instead manipulating popular energies for their own benefit. During the recent years of politics by as- 178 Aaron Skabelund being endowed with vigor and bravery. During the 1930s, they and some and they 1930s, the During bravery. and vigor with endowed being as esteemed often were dogs “Japanese” loyalty, and purity to addition In FitforDogs Empire former Army Minister Araki Sadao, thought indigenous canines were up were canines indigenous thought Sadao, Araki Minister Army former the including dogs, the of fans surprisingly,Not them. trained had who person the than other anyone of commands the obeying in difficulty their of because and Akita) the for (except size small relatively their of cause be- work police and military for unfit dogs native considered trainers dog private and government Shepherds.44“German” Many were dogs army all of percent order—butprobably90 that in terriers, Airedale and Pinschers, Doberman breeds—Shepherds, dog Western three preferred authorities military mid-1930s. Imperial the in increased for demand canines military and widened continent the on conflict the as pressing more the all came be- question The preserved. successfully been had they that clear became it as dogs “Japanese” for role proper the about anxieties by replaced were and fearsome other than canines. fearless more dogs “Japanese” made wolves to ties blood ancient that and with instilled were dogs “Japanese” that boasted other commentators and Saitō mentioned, been has beauty.”43As mented their muscular build and was the source of a distinctive “masculine boasted thethat incomparable courage and bravery of native dogs comple- meant. In a prominently positioned article in the was “sharp and fierce.”42 Elsewhere, Saitō elaborated on whatthat standard category— small or medium, large, the of dogs—whether “Japanese” of Preservation of the Japanese Dog specifiedthat the “nature andexpression” the for Society of the criteria breeding official The dog. “Japanese” the of the military, suchasthe “German” Shepherd—became popular? wildly by deployed frequently breeds as well dogs—as “Japanese” of ownership 1930s early the from that surprise any it Is country. the pervaded war and imperialism for enthusiasm as males, among especially demand, great in qualities courage, and strength, martial loyalty, embody to seemed They recognized as were “Japanese” all powerfulof Education huntingtry dogs. It was probably no coincidence that the breeds Saitō defined andthe Minis- Shepherds.“German” mobilize to metaphorically and materially attempts madesimilar Socialists NationalStephanitzothermasculinized. and tively other breeds were militarized and, regardless of their biological sex, figura- Saitō stipulated that physical power and ferocity were defining elements In the second half of the 1930s, fears about imminent disappearance disappearance imminent about fears 1930s, the of half second the In , the spirit of the samurai, samurai, the of spirit the bushidō, Yomiuri Shimbun in 1929, he Fascism’s Furry Friends 179 , but subsequently went unmentioned, the ca- the unmentioned, went subsequently but , ne ne may be tempted to see Saitō and other fanciers of “Japanese” dogs In In a largely unresolved irony, just as Hachikō’s floppyleft earand his O and creation of a pure “Japanese” dog untainted by and superior to foreign foreign to superior and untainted dog by “Japanese” pure a creationof and canines, along with their emphasis on the purported devotion and fierce- as intellectuals schooled in European science and who culture retreated to the apolitical pursuit of launching a kennel club and passively adapted to the political climate of the This1930s. may have been the case.They may simply have liked dogs. However, Saitō’s and his colleagues’ search for tion of dog breeds elsewhere. Another reason for the commonalities is that is commonalities the for reason Another elsewhere. breeds dog of tion Saitō and other enthusiasts sought inspiration in Stephanitz’s efforts to promote the “German” A Shepherd. final similarity is that both countries were pervaded by the culture of fascism, which radicalized and intensified violence and loyalty the glorified explicitly that and racism and nationalism civilizationistthat discourses. earlier were implicit in tieth century. This history exposes the interconnections among humans, canines, environmental protection, animal breeding, national education, re- not were friends” furry “fascism’s that clear is It formation. identity and experience, German the with Parallels archipelago. Japanese the strictedto in particular, are One conspicuous. reason for such historical contiguities is that both countries emulated the late-nineteenth-century nationaliza- animals and the formation of national and racial identities in the early twen- early the in identities racial and national of formation the and animals The Story of the Loyal Dog Hachikō Dog Loyal the of Story The been have to fact in seems dog “Japanese” model the as touted was who nine quite While fainthearted. taking walks, Hachikō was apparently unnerved by gunfireresounding from military exercisesat thenearby army base in toy guns.46 shooting children evenby was and rattled Yoyogi Conclusion between relationship the on light sheds dog “Japanese” the creation of The purity purported his about pronouncements undermined kebabs for appetite about claims weakened temperament his fidelity, unrivaled breed’s the and in related was As bravery. and spirit martial incomparable dogs’ “Japanese” to the task. Araki, Saitō, and other fanciers repeatedly urged the military to conduct more research and training and to mobilize trained, “Japanese” conscripted, actually dogs were dogs native few Although widely.45 more prevent not did this war, years of the activatedfinal and desperate until the litera- children’s popular in them militarizing metaphorically from authors media. ture and other 1 80 Aaron Skabelund

did Saitō and his colleagues attempt to do so. Instead, Saitō and his allies his and Saitō Instead, so. do to attempt colleagues his and Saitō did assumptions of racism and nationalism that could not easily be erased; nor nations—harboredof underlying on—ofpurebred dogs representatives as politics. drew fromthey The that withdrawal ideas a but Western anything ness shown by Hachikō and other native dogs, suggests that their hobby was Notes Japan’s andbeyond within on anunprecedented both borders. scale, life animal and human of destruction the breed would that culture fascist imperial an of powerfully,construction the nevertheless to but tentionally and the movement to preserve “Japanese” dogs contributed, perhaps unin- of a faithful dog. A closer look, though, that indicates the story of Hachikō story heart-warming a and standards dog-breeding mere were surface the on what produce to bravery and loyalty for admiration an purity,and with obsessions uniqueness, Japanese of notion a with ideas these combined 4 5. 2. 6. 3. 7. 1. .

Center forCenter Japanese Studies, University of Michigan,2005),195–243. L.Pflugfelder M. Japan’s, Life AnimalBrett. and Gregory Arbor: Walker, (Ann eds. Japan,” in Nineteenth-Century in Cultures nine Ca and Civilization, Imperialism, Bark? Subaltern the “Can Skabelund, Aaron Edward Seidensticker, Edward eeit Anderson, Benedict Tetsuo Najita and Harry Harootunian, “Japanese Revolt“Japanese theagainst Harootunian, West:TetsuoHarry Politi and Najita 1998): 1–23. 149–62. University of California Press,1997),Italy 68–70, (Berkeley: See Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations (Oxford: 1987), Blackwell, Basil 175–208. Invention of Tradition Nationalism (London: Verso, 1983); Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., Knopf, 1990), 123. no. 7. ing encouragement. Tansman, and two anonymous readers for their trenchant critiques and hearten- Lawson, Ian Miller, Lee Pennington, Gregory M. Pflugfelder, Julie Rousseau,Alan Konrad Gluck, Carol to thanks special express I forums. these of each at pants partici- and organizers the to grateful am I 2003. in conference annual Studies Asian of Association the at as well as College, State Valley Utah University,and ColumbiaUniversity,at presented Hall were paper Seton this versionsof Earlier Robert O. Paxton, “The Five Stages of Fascism,” iity f iac, rnig Bureau, Printing Finance, of Ministry (Cambridge: CambridgePress, 1983);University Anthony D. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of and Spread Origin the on Reflections Communities: Imagined Tokyo Rising: The City since the Great Earthquake Great the since City The Rising:Tokyo Fascist Spectacle: TheAesthetics of Power in Mussolini’s 0sii ean kitte dezain 20-seiki Journal Journal of Modern History JAPANimals: History and Culture in CultureJAPANimals: and History Fbur 2, 2000, 23, February , (New York: (New 70 (March The - - Fascism’s Furry Friends 81 1 Ein Ein : Yanagita Yanagita (Berke- (New York: (Armonk, M. N.Y.: E. , Japan of History Cambridge , 271. to ōkami no inu Nihon Die Deutschen und ihre Hunde (Tokyo: PHP Kenkyūsho, 1905), (Tokyo: (Tokyo: Hachikō chūken bidan Dōbutsu Nihon Nihon inu 3, no. 7 (July 1934): 147– (Ōdate-Chō, Hachikō Chūken ode: Chūkon Petkeeping in Nineteenth-Centuryin Petkeeping Paris : Asahi, April 1934, Shimbun 23, Hachikō shinbun , October 8. 4,, 1932, Asahi Shimbun , March 29, 1937, 15. , March 29, 1937, Asahi Shimbun Hachikō Hachikō bunken shū (Tokyo: Hayashi Masharu, 1991), 210– Reinventing Reinventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation , October 11, 1936, 13. October 11, 1936, , Asahi Shimbun The German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture (Jena: Dogin The German Shepherd A. Kämpfe, Shōwa hachi nen: Shibuya eki (Tokyo: Monasu, 1934), 463–64. 1934), Monasu, monogatari (Tokyo: Chūken Hachikō (Tokyo: Sekkaisha, 1964), Sekkaisha, 331. (Tokyo: to ōkami no inu Nihon The BeastThe in Boudoir the Animals Animals in the Third Reich:Pets, Scapegoats, and theHolocaust , 269–70. to ōkami no inu Nihon , 271. to ōkami no inu Nihon , 337. to ōkami no inu Nihon Animals in the Third ReichThird , 75–76. the in Animals Wolfgang Wippermann Wolfgang and Detlef Berentzen, For a complete rendering of the poem, see Hiraiwa Yonekichi, “Hachikō no Miyawaki Shunzō, See Yanagita Kunio, “Ōkami no yukue” and “Ōkami shi satsudan,” in Saitō, “Wakentō yorokobe,” yorokobe,” “Wakentō Tessa Tessa Morris-Suzuki, “Chūken Hachikō monogatari,” “Chūken Hachikō monogatari,” Tokyo, Archive, Bunkakan Kyōdo Kinen Shirane Tōkyō-toShibuya-ku album, kiji n.p. page; cover front inside 1932), hankōkai, chosaku Susumi AkitaOno Prefecture: , 338–39. to ōkami no inu Saitō, Nihon 110. Susumi, Ono 1–3; 1934), hoshisha, no Kin (Berlin: Siedler Verlag, 1999), 69, 1999), 76. Verlag, (Berlin: Mentalitätsgeschichte Siedler deutschen der Sonderweg (June 154 bungaku Dōbutsu 3–4. 1988): shōgai,” Sax, origi- was article second The 584–630. Shobō), Chikuma (Tokyo: 24, zenshū Kunio and January in two 1933. parts inu in September 1932 in Nihon nally published Sharpe, 87. 1998), “Chōsen ni ‘Nihonken,’” Ibid., 134–40. Hayashi Masharu, ed., 11. Ibid. Saitō, Saitō Hirokichi, Saitō Hirokichi, cal and Cultural Criticism in the Twentieth Century,” in in Century,” Twentieth the in Criticism Cultural and cal University Cambridge 714. ed. Peter Press, 1988), 6, (Cambridge: Duus vol. Continuum, 2000), 75. Kathleen Kete, ley: Press, 1994).of California University Noguchi Ujō, “Chūgi o tataeru uta,” in Kume, Kume, in tataeruuta,” o “Chūgi Ujō, Noguchi Boria Sax, Kishi Kazutoshi, Kishi Ibid., 334–35. Hata Ichirō, “Nihon inu kaigai shinshutsu,” 48. Saitō, Saitō, “Nihon inu to wa donna inu ka,” in idem, in idem, ka,” inu wa donna to inu Saitō, “Nihon “Itoshi ya rōken monogatari,” “Itoshi ya rōken monogatari,” Max von Stephanitz, 1923), 196–97. 1923),

7. 3. 9. 8. 9. 5. 5. 4. 11. 1 1 1 1 31. 21. 10. 12. 16. 18. 1 27. 23. 2 22. 32. 28. 29. 30. 20. 26. 24.

1 82 Aaron Skabelund

4 34 45. 46. 42. 40. 3 3 4 3 3 37 33. 4 4. 5. 9. 8. 6. 3. 1. . .

115–16. shiryō,”gakushū kakka no “Sangatsu Gen, Kobayashi 1935): 144–46. Hasegawa Nyozekan, “Hachikō o chūshinshite,” to eds., Matsutarū, Ishikawa Kaigo Tokiomi,and Ken,Ishikawa kai,” 1934): 149. Nihon inu 3, no. 7(July Hozon Nippon-Inu the by Adopted Inu’ ‘Nippon the of Points Standards “The bun. Araki’s article was originally published in the Osaka of edition the Nihon inu hozon kai, Araki Sadao, “Hōken jidai no gun’yōken, Nihonken no seinō o shitai,”kenkyū in Kōdansha, 1983), 9:69–70. Hiraiwa Yonekichi,“On o na,” wasereru Saitō Hirokichi, “Nihon inu no hanashi,” Kishi, 46. Chūken Hachikōmonogatari, 1978), 108. shi shūnen gojū sōritsukai Saitō, Hachikō, n.p.Chūken kiroku Hayashi, Hayashi, Imagawa Isao, Inu nogendai shi (Tokyo: GendaiShokau,163. 1996), Imagawa, kei, kindai-hen,kei, dai-2-kan: Shūshin 3(Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1962), 245. Saitō Hirokichi, “Chūken Hachikō no hakusei,” in hakusei,” no Hachikō “Chūken Hirokichi, Saitō Nihon noinu toōkami, 338–9. Hachikō bunken shū,300. Inu nogendai shi , 60. Shadan hōjin Nihon inu hozon kai sōritsu gojū shūnen shi , ed. Nihon inu hozon kai, (Tokyo: Nihon inu hozon kai, hozon inu(Tokyo: Nihon kai, hozon inu Nihon ed. , Zenshū Nihon dōbutsu shi Zenshū Yomiuri Shimbun, April 29,1929, 3. Bungei shunjū 13, no. 4 (April Shadan hōjin Nihon inu hozon hozon inu Nihon hōjin Shadan 15 (1936): 15 kenkyū Gakushū Nihon kyōkasho tai- kyōkasho Nihon , 26 vols.26 , (Tokyo: Mainichi , 109–10. , 109–10. Shim- - E

PART III xhi b itin g Fas c is m

A

aron Gerow aron Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema: The Case of Japanese Prewar Film

When Walker Conner posed the important question, “When is a nation?” he was not simply reasserting the historicity of a concept that, almost by definition, has often feigned amnesia about its historical production,1 he was reminding us that national consciousness is fundamentally a mass phenomenon that cannot simply be studied through written artifacts mostly created by social elites. The nation may be, as Benedict Anderson says, an imagined community, but even in Anderson’s scheme what is crucial is not simply the form of that imagining, but its material extent. That is one reason Anderson closely ties the emergence of the nation with the development of print capitalism, to him a means of spreading and standard- izing the vernacular and enabling the simultaneous imaginings of community by mass populations.2 Ernest Gellner similarly makes industrialization and modernization a condition for nationalism, although his emphasis is on the development of an exchangeable labor population rendered non- exchangeable with those of other nations by a language and knowledge shaped by nationwide education systems.3 Thisonly underlines the necessity of a double-pronged approach to analyzing nationalism or its extreme form, fascism, defined by Roger Griffin 1 86 Aaron Gerow cal reaffirmations of the of reaffirmations cal Hewitt emphasizes, actually function “on the basis of one of the most radi- by stressed of politics, Walteraestheticization Benjamin,5 as Andrew does, Fascism’s ultra-nationalism.”4 popular of form palingenetic a is tations permu- various its in core mythic whose ideology political of genus “a as study of Mizoguchi Kenji’s Mizoguchi of study blinkers.12 His historical its by hampered similarly is that one but cinema militarist wartime of study the to contribution important an offered has borders national down picture inthe motion world. tear or create to exhibition and distribution, production, of realms the in gence of the concept of national cinema or the material struggles over time little conditions behind either understand theto the room emer-historical with us leaves idea the of “deconstruction” ultimate his diasporic),11but not national and bordered are communities imagined presumes and ness, over homeless-diversity,emphasizesunity over home(e.g.,it problematic instance, can offer many reasons for howthe concept of nationalcinema is lead to a dead end. A scholar of British cinema such as Higson,Andrew for occasionally however, itself, can cinema national of category conceptual the deconstructing on focus recent enterprise. The cinema national the of nation through film (studies) and insteadthe reveal dynamics contradictory allowed scholars to work against the ideological tendency of reinforcing the has cinema national of study the in intertextuality of problems Including and of filmnation-state interms of intertextualimaginings of community. Homi Bhabha,10 much work on national cinema has focused on the relation nomenon—in an age of ultranationalism.9 In alignment with Anderson and phe- national beinga of state nation-ality—the of degree a achieved Japan cist cinema, more concentrating specifically theon to degree which film in “mass.” culture, the extent of a hyper-nationalism usually predicated as that “popular” and of enactment sociopolitical the delineate we must so fascism, of phenomenon the understanding in essential is analysis cultural as Just realized. be to mobilization and organization material of forms national Mabel Berezin sees as essential in the creation of fascist identities,8 require that colonization” “internal of processes the orfascism,”7 “fascinating of spectacles mass Sontag’s Susan that fact the deny not does realm cultural the to politics of subsuming contemplation.6Yetthat of object interested dis- war—a politics, of pursuit ultimate the as well politics—as renders it In I will use this two-pronged approach to focus on the question of fas- of question the on focus to approach two-pronged this use will I the field of Japanese film studies, Darrell Davis’s Darrell studies, film Japanese of field the l’art pour l’art pour l’art aesthetic— the of autonomy Genroku Chūshingura Genroku ( The Loyal 47 Ronin 47 Loyal The PicturingJapaneseness ” because because ” ; 1941– ; Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 87 1 )—is kokumin kokumin eiga fascist fascist cinema both by relocat- This essay will adumbrate these struggles and conflictsover the form a product of its textual appropriation of traditional aesthetic forms, its ing ing the texts in larger conditions of production and reception and by re- contradictorymilitaristemphasizing Japan’s stance between tradition and the the national-ization of the film industry and the “training” ofspectators complicate should picture a Such enterprise. cinema national the hampered any attempt to term wartime Japanese film a and meaning of a Japanese cinema from the arrival of motion pictures in Japan in 1896 through the Second World My War. intention is to specify and historicize the conditions that (dis)enable a national cinema in Japan and thus clarify how these varied antagonisms were a definitive aspect of na- of conceptions were only Not period. the in film of national-ization the national and eye Western the as opposites such betweentorn cinema tional tradition or high culture and mass entertainment, practical issues such as debate and struggle on various planes even during the war. Such inadequacy Such war. the during even planes various on struggle and debate textualitycinematic national a for environments enabling the delineating in prompt us to join Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano in her call for more specificity in the accounting relationfor between modern mass culture and nationalism.17 Davis’s Davis’s failure to address mass consciousness, but his tendency to make assumptions about what is Japanese—in this case, Mizoguchi’s version of Genroku aesthetics—and thus about the nation-ality of a cinema, when it was precisely these issues that, as I were will stillshow, subject to intense ceptual features but a practice of spectatorship. Unlike Noël Burch, who assumes that the film embodies age-oldHeian aesthetics even in wartime Davis Japan,15 historicizes to the degree he recognizes the film as a conscious product of the state’s effort to reconstructJapaneseness during the dis- the or material the either addresses fully never Davis Nevertheless, war. cursive implications of the fact that this most “Japanese” of films wasnot a box-officeonly failure, but was also cited by some critics as specifica ex- simply not is problem The nation.16 the represent not should what of ample neseness—its neseness—its status as the epitome of a national film ( as well into bushidō realm ideologicalthe of projectwomen,14 of expanding as, its importantly, efforts to teachspectators to perceive in a morepurely Japanese way. Here national cinema is not simply a set of textual or con- 42) powerfully describes 42) describes aesthetic the powerfully film’s sacramentalization of thenation through what Davis calls the “monumental style”—a style that could be termed fascistic if only because of Mizoguchi’s contemporary written Japa- film’s the that argues also He policies.13 cultural Goebbels’s for praise 1 88 Aaron Gerow of a fascist cinema, rendering a fascist cinema less an than a aesthetic pro- the (im)possibility the condition for ways theduring film many in was war impossibility, even Japan;difficulty, thein fascistcinema nation-alizing of define that the conditions material ofa andits question aesthetics cultural a the argue, end,Iwill itisthe gap—aswellasinteractions—between very modernity, the local and the national, and the Japanese and the Western. In modernization modernization in Japan was itself a kind of performance before the gaze of film: to unique not was This Japanese. just not was that gaze a to subject as articulated being cinema Japanese senses one that so much so shame, Japanlegend equals note: non-cinema. the with map a output, Japanese uncinematic seemingly lackadaisical, the from films foreign liberating exciting, differentiating discourses through WorldSecond the through War.map the on appears thus cinema Japanese cinema Japanese of national-ization the shape would that structures sive discur- are versa).18These vice (and cinema of limits the of mapping the term the for meaning unique a formulate and non-filmic the and filmic the between distinguish helped effects) pernicious perceived its (given solved be to problem a as film of conception the as Just impurities. these of cinema Japanese rid would that modernization cinematic of a form for called reformers film” “pure These uncinematic. inherently was enunciation, narrative for era) silent the ing the on reliance its to theatrical acting, of use its that arguing critique, for cinema domestic the targeting began reformers intellectual when 1910, around Japan in significant discursively fromwere Nationalabroad).difference became the only majority days vast those in that fact(despitemade the been had they wherementioning even without films newest the on report often would magazines film Japan, in market. Where a movie came from was not yet important: until around 1910 domestic their dominated indisputably nation no and globe, the traveled international an beginning its from medium, albeit one clearly centered in Europe and the United States. Films was cinema the senses, some In Stealing the Western Gaze Cinematic cinema. and hyper-national mass, total, a of idealforce the futility,through such realize of and source the at were that contradictions hybrid the overcome to attempting cess Th e state of Japanese film was taken by many to be a source of national national of source a be to many by taken was film Japanese of state e onnagata (lecturers who explained every film shown dur- shown film every explained who (lecturers benshi , and immobile, long-shot, long takes, in addition cinema te onais f ain aided nations of boundaries the , Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 89 1 Meneaux [?] photograph the volcanoes of Japan, braving in particular the the particular in braving Japan, of volcanoes the photograph [?] Meneaux excellent an shoot boldly to eruption Sakurajima’s of time the at dangers film that Japanese were . incapable .cameramen of.making? Although producers Japanese possess this and unique land splendid called Japan, loss colossal a it Isn’t overseas. for aimed film single a make not do they that they hands of foreigners?21 them by the let it be stolen from The aggressive calls for export largely coincided with the rise of Look! Has not the Kay-BeeU.S. Company created a six-reel epic on the and actors Japanese immigrant using Island, Sakurajima our of eruption boldly selling the filmon themarket?20 Didnot the Pathé cameraman It It is interesting that Kaeriyama’s discourse renders Japan not only a commodity to be traded on world the market, but also the object This of theft. nation of the discussion Slavoj Žižek’s on, spin recalls,different putsa but in terms of “theft of enjoyment.” Žižek, To what is at stake in national or We always impute ethnic nationaloppositions is of “possession the Thing. (by enjoyment our steal to wants enjoyment;s/he excessive an ‘other’ the to ruining our way of life) and/or has access to some secret, perverse enjoy- na- the of theft this of issue public a make comments Kaeriyama’s ment.”22 but his central anxietytional “Thing,” wasforeigners that want something of producing and exporting more accurate filmson Japan. The following words by Kaeriyama Norimasa, the polemical leader of the reformers and later a director in his own right, indicate how complex these burgeoning toward cinema were: the national feelings characters and situations (performed by Caucasians or, in the case of films casefilms of the in Caucasiansby or, (performed situationscharacters and Thomas Ince, byJapanese-bornby actors such as Sessue Hayakawa). Many thisconsidered proof that well-made Japanese films could succeed abroad and chastised producers for wasting a good business the Yet opportunity. stereotypes and racism evident in such works provided reasons for many to prevent importation or, at least, censor them. With such films gaining worldwide was there popularity, an almost national urgency to the project Japanese on centered stories featuring films European-made and American- the other, the one other, conscious of potential embarrassment yet intended to earn it context, discursive a such Given spectator. foreign that of recognition the cinema. Japanese exporting proposed reformers most that surprising not is Acceptance in the eyes of foreign audiences became the sign of cinematic achievement; “Only in words when writer, of Japanese-made the one films are exported abroad as commodities can we say that they have the for first stagetime the reached of completion.”19 190 Aaron Gerow more threatening, taking what is normally not its own with the backingthe of with own its not normally is what taking threatening, more also functions asJapan’s superego. gaze of Thethieving cinema is Western ways the Westmany in superiority; geopolitical of position a in is Europe, scious of their own territory. But the bearer of the gaze here, unlike Eastern con- more be to filmmakers Japanese urge to cited ideal,Japan’s ego ways others.of Japan’s theeyes West,thelike West’ssomein is Europe, Eastern tions as the means by which the powerful West in fantasizes its superiority rent fascination with Europe, Eastern wherein Europe’sEastern gaze func- theWest’s cur-considers Žižek situation. Žižek’s and Japan between ence differ- a underlines that theft-proof is technically what take to ability this than something it because was unacknowledged.that was taken easily It is grasp”— cannot “our ‘they,’ others Thing”—“something less the involved nation the such, As have. they know nor appreciate neither Japanese that possible in film only if it first became cinematic (which implies that Japan that implies (which cinematic became first it if only film in possible condition for necessary a Japanese film: was purely was Japan film a pure a universal form of the the exchangeable commodity. Reformers assumed in effectfirst emphasized that it degree the to particular be to was cinema Japanesebenshi.the uniquenessJapaneseas of markers uncinematic such eliminating necessitated reformers, to that, one spectators, other to own its on comprehensible language universal supposedly a in represented be to had it abroad, recognized be to Japan of vision Fora cinema. cinematic a for desire the with intersected closely Japan) represent truly (to cinema to export our works abroad for a long time.”23 Here the quest for a Japanese understand,”said can foreigners even films make just can we “If spectators. foreign of part the on acceptance on depended always policy export the of success The cinema. cinematic more this of producers the as and self the constitutes that other the as both approval, their earn to quest simultaneous by—the eigners about the truth of Japan was imbricated with—or even undermined for- teach to effort Any admiration. of object an also were thus and films Japanese-made than more termed “cinematic” were still they inaccuracies, toward foreign-made “Japanese” pictures. While roundly criticized for their Western thecinemapicture. gaze national enters ject ). (unlessIt is it hereadopts that samethat shame gaze beforeitself the Japan, making it impossible for assumeit to the gaze as a full-fledged sub- objectify also can cinema). The gaze Father,of the Western (of Law the of recognition the gain to strive discourse) reformist in childlike rendered (often Japanese as parental, more is vision its system; world colonialist a hs s is rfetd n ht a utmtl a abgos attitude ambiguous an ultimately was what in reflected first is This (Kinema Record), “then we should be able be should Record),we (Kinema “then rēkodo Kinema Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 191 we never possessed what was allegedly ,”25 but in Kaeriyama’s discourse, the traumaticowner- of the lack discourse, Kaeriyama’s in but ,”25 Žižek notes that “what we conceal by imputing to the Other the theft Such guilt was quickly displaced away from reformers advocating “trans- advocating reformers from away displaced quickly was guilt Such Japanese Japanese movies. Thequest for pure film reform, pitting a true Japanese the of internalization the marked then, fare, vulgar socially the against film other into the Japanese self, the adoption of the foreign mode of looking as the mirror image of the national cinema. If we just substitute “national Hiro- Yoshioka statement by following the identity,” “national for cinema” shi would fit well the case ofJapanese film: “the verycore ofthe national identity was constitutedWest.”26 through internalized the eye the of audiences vulgar and ignorant reveals how class divisions were essential to constructing a more cinematic Japanese film—anational cinema. This perception of the vulgarity of Japanese movie fare and its audience was in current West would supposedly view many ways a confirmationhow of the Domes- itself. film Japanese of body the onto and cinema Western of lation” necessi- seemingly that shame of source the made were pictures motiontic tated the transgression for of The blame stealing film stylefrom the other. lower- of composed audiences—often those at directed also was crime this were seen to such children—who Japanese favor class workers, or women, The justificationfare. of modernization through discourseslabeling these of enjoyment is the traumatic fact that but the way they were filmed, the attitude toward cinema itself. In a per- the verse way, stolen object that must be “returned” was that which prop- and Hollywood of film style the place: first the in other the to belonged erly Europe. (If this was to found a Japanese cinema, then perhaps the origin Resentment InceThomas of cinema Japanese thanlies inmore in Kabuki.) of of images a tothus Japan mere over masked desire the theft possess the stylistic means by which those images were turned into Thecinema. theft of enjoyment was (or was to be) actually committed by Japan and not the canconstructwe much Perhaps sayhelped thisthatover crime guilt other. cinema. Japanese of future us stolenfrom stealing of cameramen foreign accusing by less disavowed ultimately is ship images of beautiful Japan than by putting the ultimate blame on Japanese filmproducers whofailed to take them That themselves. which reformers themselves landscape of images the not were then, Japan, in “back” wanted is partiallya paradoxThe product inherent of of Japanese cinema). cinema distinct- cultural its negate to had first it different, become to it for that was become toinitially required was it cinema, national a become to it for ness; film style.24 of foreign “translation” the 192 Aaron Gerow of the cinematic gaze of the West, the adoption of its so-called universal so-called its of adoption the West,the of gaze cinematic the of internalization the uncinematic, the with the Japanese of equation This National-izing Japanese Cinema ernization, ernization, this national-ization of the domestic industry. Kaeriyama’s first stores.”28 book retail [like] are “exhibitors that such it leaving readers/spectators, the to uted distrib- was that product the create would publishers/studios where ness, Kaeriyama Norimasa’s model for the film was industry the publishing busi- production. of space the in signification power and both centralize to and exhibition, and distribution, production, separating industry, the in labor veloping a sole print was part of a larger effortto institute a clear division of de- as practices such Eliminating rationality. Fordist with line in industry long-runningto a thebe would “modernizing” what on discourse tributed con- This national. be to cinema the for necessary was reform industrial profoundlycommunity.were national that a aware of Critics imaginations shared the bolstering imagines Anderson medium of kind the being from transcended differences,that those cinema local innificance Japan was far sig- possessed film no Since semiotically. and industry,economically both the in powerful more were theaters their and exhibitors end, the In ence. experi- local in rooted deeply meaning produced which space, exhibition an in elements other and benshi a by accompanied time, one at place one in only shown were they since national than local more were 1910s the of Japan in texts Cinematic nation. the unifying of capable medium ductive repro- a as cinema use to failing were they Worseabroad. yet, circulating Japan of views mistaken the right and market foreign forthe vie to unable hopelessly were producers contemporary that proved medium the of tial poten- the of ignorance this produced.27 reformers, film To every of print Japanese film producersthroughout the 1910s were mostly making only one reproduction, of means mechanical this of potential the of spite In tures. pic- motion Japanese of production of mode current the by hampered was Kaeriyama— of those like efforts practical followedby be criticism—to in national film industry. Reformers were painfully a awarethat mold their revolution to sufficient not was intellectuals by output motion-picture try’s term the to significance gave that moves discursive all were backward and local the versus modernized and universal the of division class-based the and cinema, national Japanese of recognition obtain to language cinematic A post-1918 history of Japanese cinema could paint a picture of this mod- Japanese in Japanese cinema. Yet this linguistic shaping of the coun- the of shaping linguistic this Yetcinema. Japanese in Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 193 Miyama Miyama no otome (Maid of the Deep ) and (TheGlow of Life )—both made in 1918 and released in 1919)—are often credited e a number of factors complicate this linear narrative of national- Sei no kagayaki Quit churned out filmscheaply without rationalized management practices. While companies like Shōchiku could present, as Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano argues, a “light” vision of urban modernity that ideologically accommo- withcontrasted always was image that identity,31 nationaltraditional dated a “vulgar” entertainment that critics still decried as a national disgrace. Such hybridity, in which different modes ofproduction and conceptions of cinema mixed and conflicted, underlines how the multiple facets of in the 1910s, for increased production of films over multiple reproduction of prints. Studios were mostly capital poor, protracting their reliance on Thus,local powerful Fujii’sevenexhibitors example though to keep afloat. of a capital-rich studio like Tōhō (backed by Kobayashi Ichizō) presented such studios other industry, the in modernization respectable of model one as Daito were by headed Yakuzafigures and tied exhibition to bosses, who ization, however. First, industrially, studios would continue to produce a did predecessors their as opting, 1930s, late the into prints of number small locality.29 locality.29 Nationalization of censorship by the Home Ministry in 1925 in effect assumed that local differences nolonger mattered inthe regulation also mid-1930s and early the in sound of coming The pictures. motion the of concentrationbotha capital argued, of has thatJinshi Fujii as encouraged, film articulationof the and production Fordist to craft from shift a enabled the film work as as amolding medium, standardized in a founded product naturalized styleIt was as if thatcinema was technique.30 hides well being war. the nationof the during bearer its as the role for prepared to California to inspect that industry’s layout). Thenumber of films per helpedprint increased, nationalpress film toand asserta uni-burgeoning cen- early argued, has Masato Hase As texts. individual for meanings versal (espe-exhibition of aspects performance” targeted local,“live also sorship meaning same the have would that text film facilitatetoa benshi) the cially other any in thus room—and censorship sterile the in did it as theater the in and Shōchiku, both of which claimed as one of their goals the export of Japanese films, inpart through a film style (they brought in Japanese filmmaking talent who had worked in Hollywood) and a studio structure that traveled instance, for officials, (Shōchiku example Hollywood the emulated films, films, Mountains ones that films, Japanese cinematicfirst the historiesmovieas orthodox in began to adopt the motion-pictureThis techniques of trendHollywood. in reform was accelerated in 1920 by the formation of two studios, Taikatsu 194 Aaron Gerow ining of a homogeneous national cinema. Even as late as 1941, well into into well 1941, as late as Even cinema. national homogeneous a of ining for overthe meanings struggle andthe ofcinema,themodern. nation, sites all on—were so and discourse, reception, style, cinema—industry, impossible, but mobile projection units were created to show appropriateshow to created were units projection mobile but impossible, was theaters extra of construction the resources, of week. lack a the Given distribution so that audiences effectively had onlytwo films to choose from finally,and, the produced), the of prints war, in streamline waningto days of number the increasing while made films of number the reducing (thus length program shorten and stock film of use the regulate three), to ten several in stages (reducing, for industry theinstance, number of companiesfeature-film from the consolidate to Law Film 1939 the under powers their used bureaucrats distribution, in problems and films, of excess the national cinema was industrially problematic, given the number of studios, a If nation. the constructing or representingeven of capable more it make poses of war and nation; it always involved a reformation of the medium to pur- propaganda the for tool existing an of utilization the pursued simply expression orthe thecist not, effective orof to aesthetic nation. chagrin) contribute to the formation of common Japanese imaginaries, fas- kind of shared medium envisioned by Anderson and thus could not (to their The argument of Imamura and Kurata was in effect that cinema was not the could not develop and grow as national filmseither in name or in reality.”33 films Japanese of majority “The Bunjin, Kurata director film the of words the of most by a become and movies of flood the in out drowned be aestheticization of the nation like hundred pictures a year—second in the world. Even if a splendid cinematic five about of total a producing companies feature-film ten with industry, divided extremely an with confronted were they did, they when and often, movies attend not did Japanese most Clearly,city.32 the in concentrated were most but capita), per year a times four1939(about in theaters movie to admissions million 400 boast could Japan 29,625. had Japan cinema, per people 4,362 of population a had Union Soviet the as such country a the cities, towns, or villages in Japan had cinemas, which meant that, while of percent 10 only 1940 July of as cited, Imamura statistics the to cording Ac- problems. material at than textual at less directed concern a cinema, press in writing his deep over worries the possibility of a Japanese national ex- Taiheicould Imamura critic the war,for mobilization total state’s the Much had changed since the 1910s, but hybridity hampered the imag- the hampered hybridity but 1910s, the since changed had Much This problem was not lost on authorities. Wartime film policy never policy film Wartime authorities. on lost not was problem This (national citizenry). Given these conditions, in the in conditions, these Given citizenry). kokumin (national TheLoyal 47 Ronin was produced, it would unseen eiga kokumin Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 195 Longstanding arguments by critics about the deficiencies of Japanese be seen by the entire nation, the majority of schools, fearing the ill effects of effects ill the fearing schools, of majority the nation, entire the by seen be the cinematic apparatus, still maintained a policy (begun around 1920) of shadows shadows in dark theaters surrounded by neon (the less rational side of its modernity). Cultural elites remained ambivalent toward film’s capacity to express “nation-ality.” The governmentmay have encouraged rovingpro- jection units, but the low number of theaters in the country was partially the result of longstanding efforts by the police to curb theater construction. And even though government agencies were recommending films to was still predominantly conceived as a itsproblem—that part was stilldefinition in predominantly bureau-government leading While sociala dilemma. being it on depended since medium potentialthe of propaganda the of conscious been cratshad say, could one for—and, concern a with coupled always was this 1920s, the fear of—its deleterious effects, the unknownimpact these of flickering film laid thefoundation for government-led reforms, againproviding evidence of the role that about speaking cinema historically has played in the Japanese of conditions industrial the and textuality the both of construction film.It was inevitable, then, that policieson kokumin eiga suffered from the same contradictions that had been borne by discourses on national cinema since the 1910s. One such contradiction was the fact that cinema

scarce until well after the end of the war. One could argue that such material such that argue could One war. the of end the after well until scarce national- to cinema of inability the that film; to particular restrictionswere ize signifies littleabout the condition offascist nationalism inJapan. It is my argument, however, that what complicated the national-ization of cinema involved discourses extending beyond cinema into the core of the that factors other two discuss to like would I this, consider To itself. nation spectator- of industry: issue film the national a perfect to efforts hampered will nation. I and film on discourse the in contradictionsand inherent ship first. latter the consider films in ruralThese locations. measures dideffectuate state influenceover how, on proposals longstanding practice into put also they but industry, the through material reform, to improve the films, rationalize and modernize the industry, and, it was hoped, enforce the true national-ization of Japa- cinema. nese Cinema An Un-Japanese Limitations on material resources in part prevented the realization of the ideal of a nationwide film industry. Film theaters,for instance, would be 196 Aaron Gerow ing the nation. Consider, for instance, the image of the emperor, himself emperor, the of image the instance, Consider,for nation. the ing construct- with entrusted be to medium a alien too was many,cinema to aswholethat movies films and werebad them.for Young Japanese were being told that they simultaneously had to see certain accompaniment.34adult without movies seeingfrom studentsprohibiting Japanese spectators who had laughed at the first reformist films with his with films reformist first the at laughed had who spectators Japanese change in opinion when he compares the anger he felt around 1920 toward by which they judged motion pictures. Hazumi, for instance, speaks of this a sort of and put of to theapproval domestic films.stamp on certain This prompted on the foreign films (eventually banningtheir exhibition after Pearl Harbor) This attitude, however, became lesstenable as official policy came tofrown that Japan was below theeven second rung of national cinemas in quality.35 bold declaration the with “The Cinema” (1941) Japanese titled of Tradition en- essay an began Hazumi instance, for Tsuneo, critic esteem. liberal The low in output domestic the held still critics film Japanese of majority the Tomotaka, Tasaka and Tomu, Uchida Mansaku, Itami Sadao, Yamanaka Kenji, Mizoguchi Yasujirō, Ozu Daisuke, Itō as directors praised widely such of appearance the and 1920s, early and 1910s late the of reform film pure the after Even non-cinema. equals Japan equation the of basis the on ization of film wasthe factthat Japanesecinema could only be constructed national- the complicating contradiction central A Japan. modern a of ing shap- the over lingering conflicts to relates also it frontingButmodernity. or could represent, ambivalence perhaps in inevitable an Asian culture con- cinema. in unrepresentable represent infilmwasitself the nation represented by the crestandsoon. to Thethe that sign meant paradox was was who emperor the by represented was kokutai the as signification of not sully to his a divinethat produced situation an status), endless deferral as (so emperor the of representation deny to cinematic need peror the and a the between contradiction need to represent the kokutai through the em- emblems crest. theas such imperial metonymic orthrough Therethus was car, a in long shots, extreme in usually was it film, appear on did heWhen figure. his of representations cinematic curtailed strictly medium, fearful fromthis emperor the protect to part in designed regulations, Censorship encouraged to represent the nation, the emperor was a problematic symbol. the of ment embodi- the state, family the of father the as propaganda in represented This M uch of this reflects continued ambivalenceover the film modernity did is one reason the nation was inherently difficult to represent in film: tenkō (apostasy) in film whothe critics hadto standards reevaluate . While films, especially newsreels and newsreels especially films, . kokutai While , were eiga, bunka Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 197 ) filmsdevoid ofnational identity nenashigusa What What these discursive conflictsbetween universality and particularity, Thisrenegotiation, however, was rarely withoutproblems. While rec- modernity and tradition, and Japan and the West reveal is a fundamental uncertainty over ofwhich nationthe definition is cinema sup- Japan the to posed to be Thisattributed. is reflected in Hazumi’s hope that Japan itself tra- “cinematic since true, come might believed he future a up, speed would everydayover influence of sort sentiment.”38 some cannothave ditions but It is also, I would argue, expressed in a basic indeterminacy in the articulation of kokumin eiga. Peter B. High has documented end- the seemingly less contemporary debates over the definitionof kokumin eiga, especially essence.37 essence.37 To him, rootless ( were based neither in human life nor in cinema, a charge he often leveled contemporaryagainst cinema. Japanese Asian alterity. One thus sees such figures as Imamura Taihei, who, while de- while who, Taihei, Imamura as figures such sees thus One alterity. Asian relationbetween the tocinema writing his of amounts considerable voting and Japanese traditional arts, sought in these arts not an explanation for cine- universal of markers the instead, but, difference cinema’s national the solution tocontradiction the confused somewhat be-Hazumi’s maticity.36 universalityand tweenits particular cinema’s nationality was to resort to a humanism in which belonging to a nation was itself the universal human ognizing ognizing the slower tempo of Japanese films as an expression of Japanese society toJapanese for desire his admitted openly nonetheless Hazumi life, speed up; he could not completely free himself of the suspicion that slow Japanese films were simplynot good cinema. Almost bydefinition, their conception of cinema’s universalist modernity could not totally allow for but as an authentic expression of a unique culture. They had to renegoti- ate the relationships not only between the the universal and the particular, also but uncinematic, the and cinematic the and Japanese, the and Western between modernity and tradition, as Japanese cinema’s uniqueness was tied tooften legacyof ancient the arts. conceptualize conceptualize the difference ofJapanese cinema—for example, a slower, more leisurely tempo—not as a violation of cinematic essence or quality, eventual appreciation of the reason for their laughter—the absurdity that the Japanese on screen were mere copies of premise Westerners. of The Japanese founding cinema—that it was to be a translation of Western film—wasnow underquestion, as was the assumption of a universal lan- essentialguage to cinema. Hazumi came to reject the statement that there in insteadand cinema assertedin nationaldifference a tempoa is inherent tempo—and thus, cinema. He, like other critics around him, now had to 198 Aaron Gerow contradictions contradictions that are textually evident in a clusion.39Hana Washitanithese same takes debates for asthe intertext the ganda versus pleasure, debates, he correctly notes, that never reached a con- aroundversusrevolving and suchpropa- poles entertainment as education that inserted public meaning into private fantasies to bring the to publicaboutinserted both meaning fantasies that private into forcethe theater as the in articulated Benshiwere reactions. their of priety pro- the on checked they that time same the at film the about spectators instructing for responsiblecensor, and educator potential a as benshi the evident since the early 1920s. I have written about how censors conceived of been viewing—had their in them direct to least, at spectators”45—or, rect “cor- construct actively more to need the of consciousness A spectators.44 like the Information Bureau’s Fuwa Suketoshi, spoke of “training ( regulation, film of charge in those why part in is this and cinema,”43 the knowledged as a power capable of “changing, and revolutionizing, moving ac- were Spectators films.”42 those of foundation the are who spectators regular of culture the time, same the at but films, the only not upgrading involve must cinema improving of meaning true the Therefore, it. make is the people who make it, but the other half is thethat makes society them the director Itami Mansaku, “Half of what determines the quality of cinema improved to facilitate national consciousness through film. Inthe words of wartime, many felt that not only the films, but alsothe spectators, hadto be picture of a Japanese cinema catering to vulgar tastes was still vivid into the rectly read the meaning inscribed in such works.41 Especially given that the representing the films promote could forces regulatory various while for cinema, national a articulating in problems primary the of one them made also however, participation, Their nation. and cinema both of definitions the over flicts as such eiga kokumin from away stayed spectators Japanese many that fact The Training Spectators Imperial universal and particular, East and West, and modernity. and tradition cinema should represent and how to place Japan in the the nation oppositions between what over but nation, the represent to cinema the use to how Japannotsimplywartimewas in thestruggle over that reveal thenation of articulation cinematic the over conflicts musical.40Such Hollywood the of ibly was both a critique of Western imperialism and a imitation celebratory such as Makino Masahiro’s The Loyal 47 Ronin 47 Loyal The , therekokutai audienceswouldcor- that was no guarantee indicates how they, too, were involved in con- in involved were too, they, how indicates Ahen Sensō (The Opium War; 1943), which incred- kokusaku (national policy) films kunren)” Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 199 ),” ),” eigasen ),” he highlighted ),” the fuhatsudan specta- ome ome argued that Japanese spectators in fact were already well trained The last sentence of thequote, however, expresses both the potential For For better of worse, films mustbe made. But in the case of cinema, an “unexploded bomb” can be impossible depending on the beliefs of the people. As long as a film existshere, wespectators can have the resolution to follow it as a splendid piece of entertainment. As long as we follow it, it cannot be an unexploded bomb, sincewe conceive that following a film can render our daily life an element in our service to the state. It is when filmspectators donot think of it as a service that they dangerous.48 become S threat of misreadings and the continual necessity to “train” spectators. If one of the conditions articulating the formation of a national cinema was spectatorship, one of the problems confronting wartime film bureaucrats was that, to have a cinema that was truly nationwide, it had to audiences show who to were not yet “trained” to confirm the ideology of a film. Presumably one could imagine a point at which all the “people” would True True imperial subjects thus render any film imperial. In this case,propaganda is less a rhetorical means of convincing the unconvinced than an occasion to answer the hail of the statepart as country the for and films completing confirmby time this one’s community, imaginary place in the “service.” of one’s must not be “unexploded bombs ( tor’s own service to state: the from who thosefrom stressed that films, as weapons in the “film war ( Seiji, pointing to cinema audiences who dutifully stood in line awaiting the film, argued that “they line up without even being conscious oforder, spectators implies example His as thatand itself createsorder.” splendid a imperial subjects who had so internalized the regulation of meaning that Mi- evenwhen entertainment,” of order “correct own their established they zumachi thought the film was a poorone. Assuming a different position absorption of national meaning and the internalization of self-regulatory functions. Parents and educators were also envisioned as substitute ben- would watch shi who children over as their they viewed movies and ensure that they received the proper Such meaning.46 trained viewers would presumably read films as imperial subjects within a culturaldefined milieu by the fascist “political ideal that denies the separation of the public and the private self.”47 by wartime. In articlea fascinating 1941, dating from the critic Mizumachi 200 Aaron Gerow none other than the internalization of the emperor system implies that to to that implies system emperor the of internalization the than other none training. trainingto is Japanese submit (film), this to of good end the That to imperative workbeingan at a create also thesystem—they emperor call can we hierarchy—which social ethical an legitimize to necessity,serve of an atmospheric line ( atmosphericline an tempo, relaxed certain a in located that he cinema Japanese difference in a valorized Hasegawa film, foreign of superiority the extolling still were ics film.crit- Nyozekan’s onprofessional Hasegawa film most writings When theorist liberal the instance, Consider, forspectators. its of some were so problem, a always was film Japanese if viewers: among equality allow to differences class in imbricated too was cinema Japanese but trained, be step shortstep ofit. one being always while Japanese being at working continually are selves them- audiences those as deferred, perpetually thus is film a in articulate help Japanese.more be spectators that to The Japaneseness authority state must always fall short of being Japanese and thus must always be subject to The same istrue of Japanesecinema: to be a nationalcinema, Japanese film become Japanese is always predicated on an inadequacy of being Japanese.51 “cultivateJapanesenese cinemaandto life.”50 Japa- of form proper the in train to both filmmakers for necessity the ates hierarchy, he denies the Japaneseness of much of Japanese cinema and cre- social a onto mapped are that cinema Japanese within borders drawingBy art.”forJapanese“impossible a is sense,” that aesthetic lack Japanese a of audiences) for “lacking the that constitutes the morality internal condition fast-tempo the criticizes he as cinema Japanese to regard with structure this reproduces must be less Japanese of those higher Hasegawa who than logically status. seemingly lost on some of “the people” (here represented on stage), classes is nation the of representative supposedly is What class.”49 low morally a of are they that fact the symbolizes temporally.This and spatially stricted con- extremely becoming atmosphere, in poor is movement of line Their and suddenly quickens.is curt, contracted, that it is the speech of servants to “the Japanese,” he nonetheless points to a different Japanese: “in drama, form of Japanese life.”everyday Yet despite attributing this slow atmosphere ing it less an creation than artistic an ethic, “The condition ofthe heart and Tasaka Tomotaka, 1939) to Noh speech, drama thus and consider-everyday from contemporary film(his example is While such divisions in morality and Japaneseness, backed by assertions films popular at the time (usually with lower-class lower-class with (usually time the at popular films jidaigeki jōchō no sen no jōchō ). Hasegawa found this tone in everything everything in tone this found Hasegawa ). Tsuchi to heitai [Mud and Soldiers ], dir. Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 201 ashitani surveys these debates and argues that they were inconclusive. inconclusive. were they that argues and debates surveysashitani these I worry that at this rate, Japanese film will progressively take up forms of forms up take progressively will film Japanese rate, this at thatworry I expression that not only Japanese but also people of other nations will be wouldn’t a need to There find difficultworryforms the if to adapt to. of expression of Japanese film wereonly more straightforward and dis- any- understood by Americantechnique film an polishing tinctform, in that charm silent movies.56 simple one; of old is, if it had the W Nonetheless, Nonetheless, it is clear that in many cases, the dream of export from the was again called to now backed 1910s, by forth regulatewartime necessity, the domestic industry and further prompt reform. As one commentator argued, “Theproblem of exporting films to Southeast Asia is,the simply, pro- studio, Tōhō’s of head the Iwao, Mori cinema.”55 domestic of problem posed as a means of correcting what to him was a mistaken trend in Japa- cinema: nese Mori, this To Americanization of Japanese film style was inpart necessary to capture an audience trained in American Thecinema. paradox was that On On the basis of these, some, like Kawakita Nagamasa, who became localspectators did that argued the industry, film Shanghai’s occupied of head not possess the tools to read Japanese films and thus that, at least at the start, local staffshould produce films underthe direction of Japanese.54 Other commentators contended that Japanese-made films couldspeak to of cinema. but only if they Asians other language universal used the interest and concern on the part of the industry, bureaucrats, and the press press the and bureaucrats, industry, the of part the on concern and interest question central a While films.53 these viewing were spectators other how in sub-new its to nation the representing for appropriate were films what was specta- Asian how of consideration a into shifted frequently issue the jects, Indonesia, Philippines, the China, in Audiences texts. these read would tors reports. magazine of dozens of objects the became elsewhere and Vietnam, never before viewed Japanese films were compelled to watch them.52 Export, Export, them.52 watch to compelled were films Japanese viewed before never despite yet cinema, prewar of myths defining the of one been had course, of The Second attempts it remained just a1920s1930s, fitful in myth. and the World War, then, was the first timeJapanese cinema was immense actually sparked that occasion being an scale, mass a on non-Japanese by viewed Confronting the Other Gaze Other the Confronting Theproblem ofspectatorship was exacerbated when, with the creation of had who subjects imperial new Co-ProsperityAsia Sphere, East Greater the 20 Aaron Gerow its cinema. Many like Mori complained of the slow tempo, wordiness,and tempo, slow the complainedof Mori like Many cinema. its of Japaneseness the question into called cinema its through abroad Japan the of technology colonialists.adopt the film to expel both Western colonialists and their cinema from Asia, Japan had to suggestive terms: following, the in product Japanese inferior an viewing spectators churian of ignorance lay a superior knowledge of cinema. One writer spoke of Man- was nonetheless essential to improve Japanese film, as if behindtheir mask gaze their but leadership, Japanese of need in peoples simple as pictured often were audiences Such relationship. power the complicated that fact a cinema, Japanese of errors the solve to recruited simultaneously were they Mori, with as when, was problem the but role, this articulate helped rule firmingthe superiority ofcinema. its toTheir as position Japanese subjects could tators serve as Žižek’s form of ego ideal for the Japanese nation, con- cinema. good were dir. sia, they long as hits—as particular Yamamotowere 1942) Kajirō, and 1940) Osamu, films—works such as Japanese understanding and watching were territories occupied in Asians that reporting were field fromthe many itself.”58 time, cinema someAfter nese people, one can only depend at first onthe technological superiority of Japa- the of thought of ways and traditions, customs, the with familiarity Sphere], experienced whohavenotyet Co-Prosperity Asia East theGreater of peoples the [all of interest the “Tocapture Shūichi, critic Tsugawa film the of words the In consumed. be could cinema its before cinema come be- to Japan for necessary again was It abroad.57 send to not films which Mizoguchi’s cite to proceeded and language concrete and visual more a with suggestiveness of teristic” charac- “Japanese the replacing for argued officer press military former a Asia, Southeast in experience own his fromSpeaking cinema. Japanese of identifyingthedefiningwere as Hasegawa like characteristics somecritics that film—qualities Japanese contemporary in allusion of use excessive In contrast to the Western gaze postulated in the 1910s, other Asian spec- As the film is something worthless. . . . In the faces of those Manchurians those of faces the In . . . worthless. something is film the if bodies our through runs shame indescribable an screen, the vouring the of youngde- eyes the Manchuriancrowd at WhenJapanesewe stare who have come to see these films—works unbearable to watch and a and watch to unbearable films—works these see to come have who occurred with film discourse in the 1910s, the strategy of spreading of strategy the 1910s, the in discourse film with occurred Hawai marē oki kaisen oki Hawaimarē The Opium War, The Loyal 47 Ronin 47 Loyal The Shina no (Chinayoru Night , dir. Fushimi (The Malay- to Sea Hawaii from War at as the prime example of example prime the as Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 203 )” and the foreigners (Manchurians), the followers. Cinema Not only these spectators, but also those working-class audiences of dis- of audiences working-class those also but spectators, these only Not disgrace disgrace to the nation—rises a strangely wry smile impossible to ex- When they plain. chance to exchange glances with a Japanese, they immediately return to a stern, expressionless visage reminiscent of a mud . . . mind. their on really is what speak way no in will them of Most snail. They are critics) (hyōronka who neither speak nor debate. But their eyes are as merciless as a and snake’s criticaltheir spirit all refuses of forms compromise.59 One sees here the same shame for the national cinema evident in the 1910s, 1910s, the in evident cinema national the for shame same the here sees One the same idealization of a foreign spectator with a cinematicmasterly eye, nation “leading the be to supposed now are Japanese difference: witha but between the internal and the external definition of the nation couldmetaphorically be linked to contemporary ambiguity over what constituted the construction of a national cinema during the war was the simultaneous the was war the during cinema national a of construction the need twofor audiences:different one defined as imperial subjects capable inexperienced other, the film; nationalconstruction a the of completing of in Japanese film, who could recognizeJapanese national when ad- essence dressed in a cleanlanguage of This the contradictionmarks of nationality. seem- much, as mystified intellectuals just film tricts who Asakusa as such ingly withheld the proper judgment on the national filmproduct. Andrew Higson has rightly asked, “What is a national cinema if it doesn’t have a national audience?”60 but in the Japanese context, a factor complicating perhaps more precisely, a facade of nation-ality covering over the lack of nation-ality. Perhaps behind the wry smile of these Manchurian viewers is the realization of the stealing of irony the Japan’s cinema in of West the to its own. stealorder Asia for expose the reality of Japan (such as its class differences—the poverty the Remem- Manchurians). to film in shown be never should said commentator ber that many Asian spectators were skilled in the Hollywood cinematic code—a fact often stressed in the film press—and paranoia The thus emulate. to hoped first it film could Western the to cinema compare Japanese spectators Manchurian of conceal,faces if mud-snail-like quiet, thatthe is not the “secret, perverse enjoyment” that exceeds that of the self, at least or, West, the perceptionof the that itsJapan—and copy cinema—is a poor shidō (shidō minzoku clearly upsets this hierarchy and leads to an almost paranoid surveillance pre- Japanese belie both tothreatens seems, it Film, spectator. Asian the of and nation) modern a is it thatnation; Asian leading the is it (that tensions 204 Aaron Gerow contamination.62this, underlining confirms in many ways the My research and hybridity to subject always are they that national, distinctly or unified A growing amount of research emphasizes that national cinemas are never Conclusion: Enforcing aFascist Cinema Sphere.61 EastAsiaCo-Prosperity Greater through the often ideologies contradictory of nation and colonialism in the who was not, and it expressed one of the fundamental incongruities cutting the inside and the outside of the and state who was an imperial subject and cinema to imperfectly asacommunity.cinema to imagine itself the like media to turn only could colonialism, Asian and modernity ized or Japanese,a Western- than less eternally lower classes and Westerngaze the bearing intellectuals encompass to attempting “nation,” the Finally, distrust. of manyto object time an a remained whenat film nationhood of spectacle a elevate to aimed other, the on and, extent, its limiting trially indus- as time same the at expression filmic internationalized hand, one expressions.those “Cinema” by forcesvarious was intersected on that, the of readers the and creators the both the of nation-ality the in crisis petual hidingof theextent per- to never but production, cultural on attention focused itself “Expression”nation.”“entire the for aesthetic any obviated all Eastern, the while implying divisions low between and high culture that the and Westernthe modern, the and traditional the educational, the and entertaining the of notions between torn was “Aesthetic” contradictory. the conditions surrounding Imamura’s statement render it confused, if not that seen have we Yet intertextual—issue. textual—or primarily a cinema of national things or ideas) than with textual processes, rendering national Here national film is defined less by referential content (the representation echoes Walter Benjamin’s view of fascism as the aestheticization of politics. enforcesas muchitpolitically aesthetic. national agiven ditions. I argue that fascist cinema in Japan attempts to overcome hybridity con- these respondedto how cinema is matters what issue; crucial the not complicate any account of a monolithic fascist cinema in Japan.63 Yetthat this is nation the of and film of both notions the in evident contradictions min sōryoku no eiga geijutsutekina hyōgen geijutsutekina eiga no sōryoku min ( nation entire the of cinema in expression “aesthetic the as eiga min koku- Taiheidefined Imamura 1941, in essay one In texts. fascistic tically Cert ainly, there was a discursive framework for the of production stylis ),”64 a conception that all too closely closely too all that conception a ),”64 koku- - Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 205 Hase Masato’s study of the film criticTsumura Hideoproves instruc- Citing Citing these and other problems, I deny neither the pertinence of the If these were If the conditionsthese that complicated the formation of a fascist ernment’s totalitarian) description His film (zentaishugitekina policy. of one aesthetic itself creating a national than cinema. process in the involved tive in this regard. Hase’s central question is how Tsumura, who in the 1930s was a champion of the director’s artistic freedom from commercial constraints, could become one of the primary mouthpieces for the gov- create the conditions to enable a national cinema itself. The fact they did not did they fact The itself. cinema national a enable to conditions the create oppression the or operations, these of effect the deny does “succeed” really they often created. It is these processes of creating nations and national cinemas that, I believe, reveal much more historically than an account of their conclusions. One can argue that any fascistic element to Japanese cinema lies less in the vision of the nation represented or the cinematic nation, the of reality the nor cinema Japanese wartime to fascism of concept framework the not taken have I oblivion. into both deconstructing effect in of national cinema as a given (so as to show how cinema constructed the nation), but rather on focused the historical operations, pursued by forces often conscious of the contradictions I have shown, which attempted to forms forms of hybridity and enable opportunities for struggle and opposition. While I am hesitant to declare a manifestation of “resistance” in certain forms of prewar Japanese culture, it is clear that conflicts existednot only over audiences and industry the of betweensectors also but betweenelites, nation. and the modernity, of cinema, meanings the nation were in place by the late Meiji period, my contention is that mass entertainment was not easily recruited into these apparatuses until much later. At least in the case of the nation-ality of cinema, history appears to be multilayered, with numerous, often conflicting strata operating in different temporalities. Disjunctions between different layers can constitute industry was never nationalized, as it was in Germany, in Japanese bureaucrats part largely frowned on nationalization, but also because because cinema never enjoyed the wholehearted of favor government officials as it did withThe caseGoebbels. ofJapanese national cinema also lends a cau- it While tionarynation-state. narrationmoderntoJapanese note the the of is certain that of many the intellectual and government apparatuses of the cinema—some unique to Japanese cinema, some incumbent on the concept of the nation and national cinema—it is not surprising to see that wartime Japanese cinema was materially differentfrom Nazi cinema. The 206 Aaron Gerow dependent artist (not catering to the common denominator), the cinematic in- the abroad), films (marketing capital of power the to looked on, 1910s for theof power.intervention It was the pure film reformers who, fromthe called always has film Japanese in purity of notion the historically that us willing to accept such impurities, “called on when totalitarianism they tried produced an ( anxiety onand technology industrial the purity expressionof cinematic capitalism Tsumura’s of engines the of very very obstacles and contradictions specificto the historical narrative of Japa- the in form its gained but 1910s the in roots its finds that one state; a less morepower. sense,a fascism is this In foreven calls accelerated only war the into hybrid remained world cinema Japanese the that succeed—and possibly not could some fact, ceeded—in suc- quite never projects these that fact cinema. The national a create and ing, rationalize the industry, cleanse the medium of influences, lower-class of uncinematic elements, ensure the clear transmission of cinematic mean- of the gaze of the West and the Westernized intellectual to purge the cinema power the especially ), and riffraff of industry (riddingthe censor ernment gov- the play), spectator and intertexts extra-cinematic by (unmoved text (The Opium1943]), andspectacle War (e.g., mation (e.g., effects special the of in fields advances tremendous made cinema Japanese wartime that prise sur- no is thus spectator.68It the overwhelm machine—to war as cinema ”67—the itself cinema of superiority “technological the using cinema, of guage and things Japanese,66 but we can add that it also involved the power film. Japanese Tothat him power involved the offorced dissemination Japanese lan- understand to inability an showed who spectators Asian rect” “cor- to means power as such on cinema. relied national Tsumuraactually the contradictions and obstacles I have described here and construct a pure surmount to power on reliance total the than film, in spirit national the of to us that fascism in the wartime Japanese cinema world is less an aesthetic mobilization of power—total the nation itself. Hase’s framework suggests nearly insurmountable, a fact that demanded the of intervention even more time, the at least at were, anxiety this of sources the that is problem The Tsumura’sspirit. of national buzzwords of articulation spirit’”65—the the of ‘struggle a and ‘will-power’ strong through anxiety that overcome to Hase ’s mention of the problem of purity is telling, because it reminds reminds it because telling, is purity of problem the of mention ’s , dir. Seo Mitsuyo, Mitsuyo, dir. Seo Eagles, Sea [Momotaro’s umiwashi no Momotaro fuan) in Tsumura and others that, since they were not tenkō The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaysia to Hawaii from Sea at War The is provocative. To Hase, the effects of effects the Hase, To provocative. is ). in wartime Japanese wartime cinema, in process ), ani- ), Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 207 , ,” ,” Fas- (Ithaca, Cinema Cinema and ni kanrenshite

Genroku Chūshingura Genroku , ed. Homi Bhabha 13, no. 1 92– (1990): no. 13, 1, no. 7 (July 1944): ni okeru joseitekinaru mono,” , ed. Hannah Arendt Illuminations Eiga Eiga Hyōron Genroku Chūshingura (New York: Columbia University Press, Press, University Columbia York: (New Nation Nation and Narration New York Review of Books, February Review 1975. 6, York New (Berkeley: University of California Press, Genroku Chūshingura Picturing Japaneseness Picturing Imagined Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin Spread and of (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983). (Oxford: and Nationalism Nations Making Making the Fascist Self: ThePolitical Culture of InterwarItaly (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991), 26. Press, 1991), St. Martin’s York: Fascism (New of Nature The To To the Distant Observer , ed. Yomota (Tokyo: Shinyōsha, 1999), 177–223. 1999), Shinyōsha, (Tokyo: Yomota , ed. Kenji kantoku Mizoguchi in Eiga Roger Griffin, Griffin, Roger Yomota Inuhiko disagrees with Davis on the role of women in women of role the on Davis with disagrees Inuhiko Yomota Darrell William Davis, William Darrell Ethnic and Racial Studies and Racial Ethnic Is a Nation?” “When Conner, Walker 100. 5–7. , ed. Mette Hjort and Scott MacKenzie (London: Routledge, 2000), 63–74. (London: Routledge, MacKenzie and Scott Hjort , ed. Mette Nation Mizoguchi eiga Kenji, “Kokumin no kokoro— ultimately claiming for them the function of critiquing the male discourse of Inuhiko, : bushidō Yomota “ see 1979). 1996). (London: Routledge, 1990). (London: Routledge, Andrew Higson, “The Limiting Imagination of in National Cinema,” , ed. Richard J. Golsan (Hanover, N.H.: cism, UniversityAesthetics N.H.: Press and Golsan (Hanover, , Culture ed. Richard J. 44. 1992), England, of New Fascism,” Susan Sontag, “Fascinating Cornell University Press, 1997). N.Y.: My use of the hyphenated term “national-ity” is intended to distinguish the act of a branding cinema as a product of a particular nation (nationality in its strict sense) from the process of making a specific entity ashared object ofnational consciousness. (London: Verso, 1983). (London: Verso, Nationalism in Art in the of Age Mechanical Reproduction,” Schocken 217–51. Books, 1969), York: (New See Ernest Gellner, See Ernest Gellner, Murao Murao Kaoru, “Nanpo kara mita Nihon eiga,” Noël Noël Burch, See Homi Bhabha, “Introduction,” in Andrew Hewitt, “Fascist Modernism, Futurism, and ‘Post-modernity,’” in Benedict Anderson, This is thefamous statement thatWalter concludes Benjamin’s “TheWork of Mabel Mabel Berezin, 1, no. 9 (September 1941): 9 (September 71–73. 1, no. hyōron Eiga

. . . 1. 7 3 8. 9. 6. 2. 5. 4 11. 13. 15. 12. 16. 10. 14.

nese nese prewar film. Thatmany ofthese contradictions andimpurities were inevitable—were, in fact, the product of the very same desire for purity— means that the fascist ideal of a pure, controlled cinema was based on its own impossibility. Notes

208 Aaron Gerow

24. 30. 29. 28. 20. 26. 32. 22. 25. 2 2 18. 21. 31. 19. 17. 3. 7.

Kaeriyama Kaeriyama Norimasa, “Katsudō shashin no shakaiteki chii oyobi sekimu,” Geibunsha, 1942). See FujiiJinshi,See “Nihon no eiga 1930-nendai,” Kaeriyama is probably referring to to referring probably is Kaeriyama “Nihon yushutsu eiga no koki nisaishite,” Kaeriyama’s agreement with Murata Minoru before making the reformist pro- reformist the making before Minoru Murata with agreement Kaeriyama’s Hase Masato, “Ken’etsuHase Masato, no tanjō,” 41 (November 1916): 479. (November 41 1916): rēkodo in1910s Japan,” Cultureproduction: andIndustry Re Mechanical of Age the in Print “One phenomenon,my this see on more For 1995),Books, 104. Zed (London: Parekh Bhikhu and Pieterse Nederveen Jan ed. Imagination, of tion Žižek, “EasternEurope’s Republics ofGilead,” Emphasis inoriginal. 54. Kyōgikai, 1973), 63. gyoseki no Kurihara Tomasu to Kyōkai,” Geijutsu Kondō“Yukeru in in Eiga Iyokichi, quoted Japan:in popular extremely provedU.S. Universalthat at produced melodramas minor relatively were films film.” Bluebird Bluebird a of translation Japanese a kagezerifu different from all other Japanese filmsnow, until using dialogue titles of instead duction Review183 (1990): 53–54. New Left other perpetually menaces: Slavoj Žižek, “Eastern Europe’s Republics of Gilead,”the which but have, can definition, by it, only that pleasures of set a lineating de- by enjoyment” its “organizes community a which by means incarnated”—a “Thing,” “Enjoyment a then is Nation consistency.”The ontological its achieve to discursive-entity-effect qua Nation the for present be must which . . . kernel Norimasa,Kaeriyama oshireri ya,” “Jiko Company. Picture York NewMotion Ince’s by produced however, was, It Barker.Reginald by Thomas directed and and Kurihara Hayakawa Sessue starring eruption the of Yanagi, “Shokan: Zoku,” diss., University of Iowa,IowaCity, 1996. Ph.D.Film,” Japanese Early of Articulations Cinema: Japanese Pure a “Writing (spring 1998): 69–93. 1930s,”and 1920s the in Style Kamata Shōchiku Cinema: The followingthesis on 1910s Japanese film discourse was first expounded in my See See Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano, “The Production of Modernity in Japanese National Žižek points to enjoyment in the psychoanalytic sense as that “real, non-discursive Wada-Marciano, in Japanese Cinema.”National ofModernity “The Production Imamura Taihei, “Senjika no eiga goraku,”idem, eiga in Imamura Taihei,no “Senjika Yoshioka Hiroshi, “Samurai and Self-Colonization in Japan,” in Japan,” in Self-Colonization and “Samurai Hiroshi, Yoshioka Sei no kagayakino (The Sei GlowLife of [the practice of the benshi speaking character dialogue] and resembling Katsudō shashinkaiKatsudō , vol. 12,August 1910, 18. Nhn iah sk 8 Tko Frm Raiburari Firumu (Tokyo: 8 soko eigashi Nihon , 53 (1994): 124–42. Eizōgaku 53 (1994): The Wrath of the Gods the of Wrath The ; 1918–19) stipulated, “We stipulated, 1918–19) ; film makea will 19 (January 1915): 2. Kinema 19 rēkodo (January 40 (October 1916): 428. Kinema 1916): 40(October rēkodo Eizōgaku 62(1999): 21–37. Screening the Past 11(2000). (Tokyo: Daiichi Daiichi (Tokyo: eiga to Sensō (1914), a dramatization dramatization a (1914), Asian Cinema Asian Kaeriyama NorimasaKaeriyama The Decoloniza- The 9, no. 2 no. 9, Kinema - Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 209

, ed. 1, no. 12 Eiga Eiga geijutsu Eiga Eiga no dento kokumin kokumin eiga as 4, no. 1 (2003): (2003): 1 no. 4, Eiga Eiga Hyōron Eiga Eiga kantoku Mizoguchi Kenji Nihon Nihon eiga 8, no. 11 (November 1943): Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Cultural Inter-Asia 1, Eiga Hyōron 12 no. (December 1941): 2, no. 3 (March 1942): 56–59. 2, no. Hyōron Eiga and the Cinema Wars: A Hollywood in the (picture scrolls), Imamura rarely cited Japanese Japanese cited rarely Imamura scrolls), (picture , ed. Aaronand (Yoko- Abe Mark Nornes Gerow 1, no. 10 (October 1941): 1, no. 43. Hyōron Eiga Shin Shin , eiga and included in Hazumi Tsuneo, was used by the psychologist Hatano Kanji: see Hatano emakimono (Tokyo: Dai Nippon Eiga Kyokai, 1943), 93. 1943), Dai Eiga Nippon Kyokai, (Tokyo: eigaron Nihon The Opium War The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culturein 1931– War, Years the Fifteen In Praise of Film Studies of In Film Praise tadashii tadashii kanshū , 30. dentō no Eiga , 2d ed. (Kyoto: Daiichi Geijutsusha, 1941), 120–136. In looking for cine- for looking In 120–136. 1941), Geijutsusha, Daiichi (Kyoto: ed. 2d , Making the Fascist Self Fascist the , 25. Making This is evident in the internalization of censorship that Peter High notices among among notices High Peter that censorship of internalization the in evident is This Hana Hana Washitani, “ (December 1941): 60–62. Originally published in See my “Kankyaku no naka no benshi: Musei eiga ni okeru shutaisei to kazoku We must remember that this nationalist humanism, which became the dominant dominant the became which humanism, nationalist this that remember must We Kurata Bunjin, “Eiga tōsei no kikō seibi,” Bunjin,Kurata “Eiga tōsei no kikō seibi,” 19. Yomota Inuhiko (Tokyo: Shinyōsha, 1999), 226–50. 1999), Shinyōsha, (Tokyo: Inuhiko Yomota Hasegawa Nyozekan, wartime filmmakers. High cites the repeateddemands by filmmakers and producers that authorities provide even more specificdefinitions of evidencethat, as also state,but the to control creative of relinquishing a only not Berezin, Itami Mansaku, “Omoi,” Itami “Omoi,” Mansaku, 1, 1942). (April 43 Junpō Eiga kyōka zadankai,” Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere,” Co-ProsperitySphere,” Asian East Greater 63–76. “Miyamoto Musashi to senjichu no kankyaku,” in discourse on film in postwar Japan, was well represented during wartime. film in postwardiscourse on during was well represented Japan, Hazumi, See, e.g., Imamura Taihei’s See, essay e.g., Taihei’s “Nihon Imamura geijutsu in to idem, eiga,” seikaku no as arts such maticityin film. European with mostly art Japanese comparing instead examples, cinematic His discourse can be considered nationalist to the extent that it valorizes Japa- nese tradition standards, but throughits universal/Western praising modernity, it does question modernity not standpoint the alterity. itself of Japanese from Ōtsuka Kyōichi, “Eiga to seinen,” to “Eiga seinen,” Ōtsuka Kyōichi, See, e.g., his comments in the roundtable discussion “Kanyakusō no kakudai I first introduced some of these issues surrounding wartimespectatorship in Peter B. High, Press, 2003). of Wisconsin 1945 University (Madison: The term 44 Junpō 11, 1942). Eiga (April Kanji, “Kankyaku to shinri kankyakusō,” Yamazaki Isamu, “Kankyaku no shinpan,” Isamu, “Kankyaku Yamazaki no shinpan,” 25. Mizumachi Mizumachi Seiji, “Rinsen taiseika no kankyaku ni tsuite,” Ibid., 95. (Tokyo: Aoyama Shoin, 1942), 17–47. Shoin, Aoyama (Tokyo: hama: Kinema Kurabu, 2001). Kurabu, Kinema hama: kokka,” in kokka,”

. . 3. 5. 9. 6. 9. 51. 41. 33. 37. 47 3 3 4 3 38. 46. 40. 42. 50. 45. 48. 4 34

44.

2

10 Aaron Gerow

54. 5 62. 60. 58. 5 63. 5 5 53. 57 61. 5. 9. 6. 2. .

Tsugawa Shūichi, “Nanpō eiga kōsaku no konpon mondai,”konpon no kōsaku “Nanpō eiga TsugawaShūichi, Murao, “Nanpo Nihon eiga.” mita kara Identity Crisis in the Early Twentieth Century,”in Twentieth Early the in Crisis Identity and Expansion Imperial Japanese: “Becoming Morris-Suzuki, Tessa e.g., See, Jeffrey T. Schnapp, “Epic Demonstrations: Fascist Modernity and the 1932 Ex- 1932 the and Modernity Fascist Demonstrations: “Epic Schnapp, Jeffrey T. ary 1943): 25. ary Ueno Ichiro, “Nanpo eiga kōsaku no konpon mondai,” Darrell Davis, “Reigniting Japanese Tradition with with Tradition Japanese “Reigniting Davis, Darrell e.g., See, TomO’Regan, of Texas Press,1993). Sumita S. Chakravarty, sions between creating a national cinema and the“translating” Hollywood style: theseten- to connected be orsurfacedepth,also andcould thereal, and cinema the identity, and mask the between slippages Imperso-nation’s cinema. tional na- discussing when “imperso-nation” of notion S. Chakravarty’s Sumita using issue this pursue could one perhaps but spectatorship, of discussions wartime in model ideological similar a of evidence see to yet have I 2002). Press, Pacific Eiji, Oguma Japan: land subjects while still separating them as outside the “main house” ( imperial as Taiwanese and Koreans (assimilating) accommodating for means the of model conceptual the considers Eiji Oguma 157–80. 1998), Press, Hawai’i of University (Honolulu: Minichiello Sharon ed. Higson, “TheAndrew of Concept Cinema,”National 1943): 86. Watanabe“ManshuHisashi,kankyaku,” eiga no kokkyo Mori Iwao, “Yume hyōgen,” to Junpō 43 (April 6–7. 1,1942): shunshutsu,”Nanpō to fukkō no eiga “Chūgoku Nagamasa, Kawakita See gaze was rarely a matter inthe film thepress concern or industry.of great no. 9(2002):139–49. mondai,”no juyō to eiga Nihon no Kyōeiken Tōa Dai kankyaku: A longer version of some of this section’s arguments are available in my “Tatakau the filmmakers.train continue to rely on to authorities make their films, if nottheir selves—that is,to always must film, of Japaneseness the of grasp complete in never filmmakers, his were afraid to act without state approval and thus censored their own actions (see in a climate of uncertainty over what would be approved or disapproved, creators no. 4(2001):55–80. Japanese films were being viewed by Koreans and Taiwanese beforethat, buttheir (January 1943): 27. (January Jeffrey Schnapp has found similar contradictions in Italian fascist culture: see see culture: fascist Italian in contradictions similar found has Schnapp Jeffrey The Imperial Screen The Imperial ). I would argue that this supplements the process in which in process thesupplements this that argue would I ). National Identity in Indian Popular Cinema (London: Routledge,National Australianor Cinema (London: 1996), (Melbourne: Trans (Melbourne: Self-Images “Japanese” of Genealogy The Eiga Junpō 43 (April 5. 1,1942): Japan’s Competing Modernities Competing Japan’s as one of the ideological ideological the of one as ie Hana-bi 30, no.Screen 4(1989): 46. Eiga Hyōron 3, no. 1 (Janu- 8, no. 7 (July (July no.NihonEiga7 8, ,” (Austin: University 3. no. 1 no. 3.Hyōron Eiga Cinema Journal Cinema honke) of main- 30, shisō Gendai 40, Eiga , Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema 11 2 Nihon Nihon geijutsu tenkō is prob- (Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 1943). Chūō Kōronsha, seisakuronEiga (Tokyo: Eizōgaku 63 (1999): 18. Hase’s description of Tsumura’s Hase Masato, “Nihon eiga to zentaishugi: Tsumura Hideo no eiga hihyō o but I have stressed the historical construction of that nature: see my “Tatakau kankyaku.” megutte,” megutte,” Hideo, Tsumura Fascism, Aesthetics in Fascism, , and ed. Culture Richard J. hibition of the Fascist Revolution,” 1–37. 1992), University England, of New Press N.H.: (Hanover, Golsan See the eiga in Taihei, chapter towa Imamura “Kokumin nani ka,” 1930s the in position Tsumura’s describes mistakenly he becauseonly if lematic, as Vague” instead “Nouvelle of locating it in the traditions of prewar reformist film criticism and idealizationas uninterested of art their in capital. (Tokyo: Suga Shobō, 1941), 140–47. Shobō, Suga (Tokyo: to eiga Tsugawa, “Nanpō eiga kōsaku no konpon mondai.” konpon eiga kōsaku no “Nanpō Tsugawa, Paul Virilio argues that the warlike nature of the cinematic machine was inherent, inherent, was machine cinematic the of nature warlike the that argues Virilio Paul . . 6. 67 65. 68. 6 64

Mi All Beautiful Fascists?: c hael Bas hael Axis Film Culture in Imperial Japan k ett

Amakasu said, “What a miserable race this is [Italians]. If we don’t make our move now then we’ll have to suffer through three weeks of sightseeing in Italy. Let’s put them in their place here and now.” Amakasu walked right up to Mussolini stopping abruptly in front of him. The small 5'3" man on the one side of the room faced the 6'1" giant on the other. For an instant, the two glared at each other. Amakasu faced Mussolini in silent protest, “Don’t mess with the Japanese! Manchuria doesn’t just belong to a bunch of Chinamen.” Mussolini smiled a wordless reply as if to say “My apologies.” —Muto Tomio, Manshūkoku no danmen

Muto Tomio, a former high-ranking Japanese civil servant in the Manchukuo government, was part of the economic delegation in atten- dance at the meeting in Rome in 1936 between Amakasu Masahiko, future head of the Manchurian Motion Picture Company Studio, and the fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Written exactly twenty years after the event, Muto’s musings on what the two men may have been thinking raises more questions than it answers regarding the motivations for interaction among Axis member nations. If Axis solidarity was based, as historians suggest, mainly on political, economic, or military needs, then what if any room existed for possible cultural exchange and interaction that was not simply superficial or negligible?1 What common ideologies could be employed to legitimize a basis for cultural exchange? Fundamental ethnic differences and outright racism, clearly present in the preceding quote, question the very possibility for meaningful cultural exchange between Imperial Japan and its Axis allies, and they support assumptions that such divisions made Hitler’s regime “embarrassed by [its] alliance with one of the Unter- menschen and led the Japanese to either ignore or express contempt for their German and Italian allies.”2 All Beautiful Fascists? 3 1 2 Secondly, Secondly, the distribution and marketing of Axis filmsfostered inter- Although Although interactions among the Axis nations might have been, they This essay examines the role of ImperialJapan in Axis film interaction Interaction on the government level was evident in the Imperial Japanese Japanese Imperial the in evident was level government the on Interaction Western and Pan-Asian rhetoric of the interwar era, distributors in Imperial in distributors era, interwar the of rhetoric Pan-Asian and Western United StatesUnited and Great Britain. spe- such at Axisfilms of exhibiting and programming actionthe which in cialized venues as International the Venice Film Festival attempted to create distributionnew routes and markets to thosecompensate which for to Hollywood denied the film industries of the Axis access. Amid rising antigovernment’s study of German and Italian film legislation, which formed the basis of Japan’s first comprehensive Film Law in1939. Early attempts toarticulatecreation the collectivein anti-a Axis of identity manifest were Anglo-American “filmblocs” that censoredor banned filmsoffensive to Axis nations in response to economic and ideological threats from the and nation and empire.5 This essay investigates this interaction through film legislation and censorship, distribution and exhibitionpractices, and production and critical reception. siderably comprehensive cultural interaction among the Axis powers across across powers Axis the among interaction cultural comprehensive siderably a variety of sociopolitical spheres. Imperial Japan proactively cooperated with fascist Italy and Nazi Germany as an active of member the Axis, with widespread official andunofficial interactionon nearly every level. While “fas- collective a of creation successful the to lead not did interactions such broad- regimes these cooperationculturalamong examining cist”identity, ens our understanding of the politics of culture at the time, discernible in entertainment, and ideology government, and film betweeninteraction the film to create (or destroy) national prestige on a mass level.4 The interactions interactions The level.4 mass a on prestige national destroy) (or create to film among Axis filmcultures were imperfect and sometimes failed, but they culture. film Axis an create to attempt to impulses the understand us help on government, industrial, and commercial levels to understand the con- logical logical power of film that,like stockpiled weapons, had “no other reason activeele- [as] inpublic quantified and than to existence be brandished for ments of ideological conquest.”3 Axis filmcultures had ideological goals an with obsession in of the including discourse common, racial purityand of medium the of ability the in belief a as well as expansionism, imperialist were far more than just empty ceremonies. Theyunderscored a common thereby sovereignty, national another’s one to allies recognize among need from Increasingly as and both prestige their empires. regimes legitimizing ideo- the in faith absolute almost an showed nations Axis onward, 1930s the 2

1 Michael Baskett 4 tity with its Axis allies. Axis its with tity States. Paradoxically, they chose to emphasize Japan’s shared colonial iden- United the and Britain as such nations Western“dangerous” and nations Axis friendly between distinguish to for audiences way a find to had Japan of the Cabinet Film Regulatory Council, chaired by Minister of Home Af- Home of Minister by chaired Council, Regulatory Film Cabinet the of following year the creation forthe impetus the became proposal this tion, interfere development.”its with onePassed within week after introduc- its that obstacles “various remove and industry film Japanese the of control government greater enable to Assembly House Sixty-Fourth the at sented of the Japanese dignity empire.8tional na- the damage might that films foreign in Japan of interpretations rect” “incor- of possibility the and children), and Japanesewomen (especially the populace on had have may customs foreign of representations that makers were chiefly policy- concernedwith two issues: theJapanese possible adverse effectsthat reveal Japan in legislation film national of studies earliest The enterprise.7 international export-driven an into industry film Japan’s modernize and consolidate to ways for Germany Nazi particularly and Italy, fascist France, Britain, Great from policies film official studied industry film Japanese the and government Japanese the within Factions (1940).6 Pact Tripartite the even and (1938) Pact Cultural Japan–Germany Nazi film legislation, butthe impetuscan betraced backto by years beforethe inspired partly was law The government. Japanese the of scrutiny the under production film of aspect every nearly placed Japan’sLaw 1939Film Film Blocs, Censorship Cooperative Legislation, ofthe State: In the Service tieri attests. co-production Italian–German failed the which to Axis, the within differences ideological mediating of impossibility broader the indicated they Rather, argued. then critics as split, East–West any of result the not were attitudes these However, side. other the criticizing each with tudes, atti- exclusivist culturally surface the to brought film the of failure critical The culture. their of misrepresentations German against journalists film Japanese by backlash the and Germany and Japan between fissures basic shiki tsuchi (The NewEarth the production and reception of the Japanese–German co-production In 1933, the Proposal Concerning a National Policy for Films was pre- was Films for Policy National a Concerning Proposal the1933, In Finally, interaction can be seen through the short and troubled history of ; 1936), which the revealed common ideologies and Condot- Atara- All Beautiful Fascists? 5 1 2

- ),” general general ),” Lichtspielgesetz kokumin jōshiki kokumin , or Film Law, and its mission was was itsmission and LichtspielgesetzLaw, Film or , e Japanese Film law was also influenced by Italian legislation. The Ital The legislation. Italian by influenced also was law Film Japanese e uch broader uch in broader scope than its German counterpart, the Japanese Film apan’s Film Law imported the German Film Law’s anti-Semitic rhetoric anti-SemiticLaw’s Film German the imported Law Film apan’s Th J M ian law was established in 1934, the same year that Germany’s Germany’s that year same the 1934, in established was law ian Italy’s formed. was Council Regulatory Film Cabinet Japan’s and passed was ernment and film-industry leaders had to adapt thenotion ofculture the within Jews” a“ideological called were what “Jewish to apply to Problem” industry. These “Jews” were said to pose a threat to thenation and thus re-educationeither to out for eradication.11 be ferreted needed or in the following five areas:in the knowledge offollowing standardJapanese, knowledge of ( sense common “national of level history, national the of any answer to failed who Anyone personality. and film, of knowledge questions satisfactorily was a denied license and effectivelyshut out of the industry.10 nese nese Film Law was directly responsible for motivating the stipulation that all film personnel were subject tomandatory examinations toqualify for licenses to work in the industry. Some examination questions had little or nothing to withdo the applicant’s technical expertise; they were designed to gauge the individual’s ideological leanings. Applicants were evaluated Law was created with an international perspective. The implementation of strict rules for the import and export of films,measures for pre- and post-production censorship, and the compulsory registration of all film- industry personnel reveals the extent to which the government was aware of its power to articulate a domestic national identity as well as the need to officially regulate representations of other nations in Japan. TheJapa- as Germany, council members and politiciansintently and scrutinized German members council Germany, as film legislation toenact a series offilm-related lawsthat eventually would Film the law, cultural comprehensive first Japan’s into incorporated become Law.9 fairs Yamamoto Tatsuo. The council Tatsuo. was formed Yamamoto fairs just two weeks afterNazi the implemented Germany to “regulate film and legislate other important issues relatingConcerned film.” that to Japan would be left behind other industrial nations such and the notion of a “Jewish Problem.” It may seem odd to find a discussion discussion a find to odd seemmay It Problem.” “Jewish a of notion the and of a “Jewish in Problem” a nation with a negligible Jewish population, but this rhetoric, in combination with the examination system component of clearly the Film Japanese functioned as Law, a mechanism by useful which elements undesirable exclude government the could—and did—effectively the filmPostwarfrom industry. Japanese film critics have argued that gov- 2

1 Michael Baskett 6 national policy is achieved and there is much that we can learn from the from learn can we that much is there and achieved is policy national which by organ a vital as film treat Fascists Italian “The 1940, in wrote chi media, including publishing, theater, and film. The film critic Yamada Eiki- Italian of form every regulated that law cultural comprehensive a was law formed loose alliances or film blocs partially in response to this threat of threat this to response in partially blocs film or alliances loose formed nations adversary America’s audience. global its to “villains” as portrayed be would races which over influence great wielded internationally, films of distributor and producer largest the as Hollywood, consequences. ous seri- had nations film-producing major the of most or any with favor” of and throughout the 1930s, the political ramifications of being a nation “out WorldimageAfterabroad.First the national their of War cycle “Hun” film thereception control to attempt to possessed they clout political whatever images enterprise.13 private not national leave to mese named Arakau, and a precedent was established: governments would possiblefriction. political Thus,the Japanese character Torii became a Bur- any avoid to protagonist the of nationality and name the both change to in the First World War, and political pressure convinced Paramount Studios drawn. By the time it was reissued in 1916, Japan had become America’s ally ment against the negative representation of the Japanese, the film waswith- U.S.the with govern- formalcomplaint a lodged government Japanesethe After slaver. misanthropic a as represented was who exporter Japanese a Studios (Man’ei).12 Picture Manchurian Motion the Japanese-run as such corporations,” policy “national Japanese with integration vertical Hollywood-style of combination a resembled structure LUCE’s industry. a veritable private and state the of as needs the between symbiosis successful identified of model he which (LUCE), Educativa Cinematografica Yamada such as Italy’s film industry was the model of a state-run L’Unione to appealing Particularly accumulating.” been have they that results solid films. inthe altering resulted or that shelving protests diplomatic ofproblematic incurred often and nations film-producing world’sthe for concern lateral but it is important to recall that silent film also was a source ofgreat multi- territories. film, proliferatedCensorshipsound policies of afteradvent the their and allies ideological own one’s of dignity national the of protection sive to the national dignity. This could be, and was,extended to includethe the right of the government censorto or ban any films deemedto be offen- A Exchanges such as this were not isolated, and nations regularly used regularly nations and isolated, not were this as such Exchanges O ll of the film laws discussed here shared the strong desire to legislate legislate to desire strong the shared here discussed laws film the of ll ne example was B.Cecil DeMille’s TheCheat (1915). was protagonist Its All Beautiful Fascists? 17 2 (1939, (1939, The Accursed The Confessions of a Nazi Spy Nazi a of Confessions series appears with the highest March of Time (1940, U.S.).17 Nor were (1940, U.S.).17 feature films theonly , No. 21 (RKO-Radio). Relating to students at Princeton , No. 16 (RKO-Radio). Total rejection. Part deals with as- , No. 23 (RKO-Radio). 23 , No. All scenes of and Mussolini Ramsay (1937, France), (1937, illusion Grande La The Great Dictator MacDonald deleted.18 anything dealing with politicalanything dealing assassination murder. or “Cannon subtitle Delete Wars]. Future of Veterans [as bonus claiming fodder”; delete word “nuts”—Rewritten title to read: Princeton“At University three an idea.” generate undergraduates sassination of a Japanese minister, and Japanese censor objects to March of Time March of Time March of Time Official promotion ofintra-Axis cultural ties was established in 1937, U.S. U.S. consular and trade reports of the time reveal that Japan actively list of official actions taken by Japanese film censors with regard to various regard with censors film Japanese official actions by of taken list to 1937: 1936 installments from of March of Time with the Japan–German Cultural Film Exchange Agreement. Thereafter, requests such of string A representations.16 negative ban or censor to allies was submitted toindeed by the government,Nazis the toJapanese leading of banning the U.S.), and target.primary a were Newsreels requests. censorship cooperative of target William Randolph Hearst’s frequency in Japanese film censorship records.The following is partiala the French action in cutting anti-Japanese propaganda out of Chinese films films Chinese of out propaganda anti-Japanese cutting in action French the in France.”15 shown Axis their from requests honor to reason more even found officials Japanese The Japanese government only granted the request out of “consideration for for “consideration of out request the granted only government Japanese The censor to nations Axis other from, support received and to, support offered damaging film representations of itsnational images.At a time that the national borders of the Axis nations were rapidly expanding, political alliances shifted with startling fluidity and sometimes resulted in diplomati- Nazi the before year one occurred example such One callytricky situations. occupation of France in early when 1939, the French Embassy in Japan re- film German a titled ban government Japanese thatthe quested being negativelybeing represented as “bad guys” in (andAmerican tofilms keep articulateda these like Allianceslucrativemarkets). of out shut being from the counteract developed to censorship, film cooperativecall I that practice totalizing of Hollywood influence a way by seeking it.14 to exist outside . Ship Japan replied that it would “exercise great caution” in censoring the film but stoppedshort of an all-out ban to avoid offending its Nazi allies. 2

1 Michael Baskett 8 nations such as Lithuania and the Philippines for similar consideration. similar for Philippines the and Lithuania as such nations other of requests made also Japanese Italy.The fascist of those as well as Japan Imperial of representations problematic banned entirely excised or scenes consciously censors Japanese indicate, clearly records these As ment domestic film production and as a possible source of new andasapossiblemarkets. of ment source new film domestic production replace American ones as Imperial Japan turned to its Axis allies to supple- to begin would films European screens. Asian on faces Western of ance the largerwithin alliance: ofthe Axis context Japan’s place action to swift were journalists film American contemporary and Asia, in hegemony Hollywood’s to blow serious a was This empire.21 expanding rapidly its throughout assets U.S. of all froze and films feature when Japan placed a comprehensive embargo on the importation of all U.S. realized were 1937, nightmares September worst In their markets. foreign lucrative of loss possible the of also but pressure, diplomatic of only not afraid were Hollywood in otherProducers cultures.of representations fair units for known was which Hollywood, by even ignored entirely be not dustrialized film-producing nation and anAxis member nation, Japan could in- leading a both As underestimated. be cannot worldwide products tural cul- of dissemination and production the influence to power its and alike, ofthe islands.20occupation (1939)and ing Chinese civilians in the backs from the feature films Philippines aggressively removed scenes of Japanese soldiers cruelly shoot- the in censors film population, Japanese local substantial the deferenceto were of unauthorizedJapan’s representations war in China. Perhaps out of Japanese the to offensive most “aggression.”19Apparently as Asia in ence produced Lithuania appeared anxious to oblige Japan by promptly banning the Soviet- But cutting Hollywood out of Asia did not result in the complete disappear- Japan’s requests were respected by industrialized and developing nations film monopoly 1.22 on January Government a established Italy and ago, years several control effected by Alliance. German–Italian–Japanese and in the tri-cornered The Nazis control completes now Japan in picture motion the of Control barred. were imports Hollywood all eventually and pact, economic and tural” “cul- German–Italian–Japanese the of enactment the with ground lose to began Hollywood However, Hollywood. from were Japan in shown films the of 35% someWar, Sino-Japanese the of outbreak the to Up The Days of Volotsayev (1939), which represented the Japanese pres- Fightfor Peace (1939, U.K.) five beforethe years Japanese military Thunder in the Orient

All Beautiful Fascists? 19 2 Il .23 .23 The The New Earth , or Italy’s Film Law, state con- Law, Film , Italy’s or Japanese Japanese filmmakers were enamored with the idea ofJapan becoming Kawakita proceeded to make his mark in production through a series The Venice International Film Festival was established in 1932 by General- by 1932 in established was Festival Film International Venice The of of production. Just two years in later, 1934, with the implementation of fascsita Legislazione nella Teatro e il Cinematografo Secretary De Luciano Feo of to Institute the Cinema Educational introduce the Italian people to filmsfrom around theworld, publicize Italian films abroad, and spur tourism in Italy. From the festival’s inception, its orga- and wanted it nizers con- to and artistically politically remain independent country their of regardless films important artistically programmed sciously film was meant to publicize Japan’s “New Asia” to the world at a time when when time a at world the to Asia” “New Japan’s publicize to meant was film few outside the Axis formally recognized it. Ultimately the film’sfailure to an pioneer international market or start a new genre of Japanese export films led Kawakita to searchfor other strategies, such as the exploitation nascent international festivalon films the circuit.24 film of Japanese of co-productions based on several successful European “multi-language version” films in the early1930s in Europe. Kawakita was encouraged by made and Pommer Erich producer German the of internationalsuccess the his firstproject theJapanese–German co-production of Towa Studios and a major distributor of European films inJapan, was one of the most vocal exponents of such “internationalization” policies. knowledge practicalworking a with Japanese very few of one Kawakitawas of the European film industry.The Axis alliance facilitatedopportunities to use his extensive connections German film industry in the Japan help to break into international the market. national Film Festival from 1934 to 1944, promised greater visibility for markets. and possible new film films high profile an export filmnation from at least the1910s; many believed this wasnec- essary to raise the level of the Japanese film industry, as well as the nation, thatto of an international standard. Kawakita Nagamasa, president for new for markets and new in venues which to market their films whilepro- markets film colonial nascent exploiting of idea The ideologies. their moting markets these reality in but ideologues government to principle in appealed finan- minimal only of promise the offered and infrastructures lacked often Venice Inter-cial return. festivals, Axis-sponsored film which included the Marketing AxisMarketing Solidarity: Festivals Film and Exhibition Practices Finding themselves shut out of many of the largest filmmarkets, government and film-industry leaders in the Axis nations proactivelysearched 220 Michael Baskett did not necessary translate into winning the festival’s highest honors. (especially Hitler’s Germany and Franco’s Spain). Yet preferential treatment rally led to the preferential treatment of those films produced in Axis nations precedencetake meritartistictheselectionoveritsin process, whichnatu- trol over the festival required that considerations of a film’s political ideology epics such as such epics early remembered who filmgoers, Japanese older to familiar were epics with which many Imperial Japanese subjects could relate.28 Italian imperial Ethiopia was Italy’s an colonialexotic setting representedthat a worldview tions of Imperial Japan’s in Asia. Moreover,own activities empire-building representa- similar over obsession an with resonated generally more have Italian Futurist Movement. Mechanical and technological themes appear to machinethe the with film,toimagery as well asconnections associated its Pilota was also inJapan.well received whose Riefenstahl, Leni by produced having been its by as well Veniceas at feted being its by part in explained be can Japan editing. in rhythmic film’s reception The and ingcamerawork enthusiastic praised particularly critics film Japanese success. critical and commercial great to Japan in released widely were Prize, lini film Italian the and film German the year, same that However, Italy.27 in ters of cen- urban main no record the outside shown or distributed ever were is they whether there press, film Italian the in reviewed favorably were entries film Japanese the of all that fact the Despite interaction. cultural Rashomon).26 Akira’s Kurosawa for claim same very the make would journalists before major award at a prestigious filminternational festival (a fullthirteen years a win to film Japanese first the becoming Prize, Culture Popular the won the Japanese presence military there. to Contrary all expectations, entered and 1938 in year next the returned Kawakita Undaunted, France). (1937, enough ensureto filmsboth to lost Julien Duvivier’s victory; international critical acclaim, Japan’s status as an Axis nation alone was not over the Ruins no Kaze naka no Kodomotachi Kawakit R That Benito Mussolini’s son Vittorio was also director of director also was Vittorio son Mussolini’s Benito That ecognition at Venice, however, did not necessarily lead to greater Axis Axis greater to lead Venice, at necessarily not did however,ecognition rw aaee uine, u euly peln ws h man-as- the was appealing equally but audiences, Japanese drew Five Scouts (Five Sekkohei no Gonin a entered two Japanese feature films inthe of competition 1937: ; 1937).25 Although the Japanese entries received unprecedented Quo Vadis? Quo Luciano Serra Pilota Serra Luciano (1912) and (1912) (Children in the Wind ), a war film set in China that glorified that China in set film war a ), Cabiria (1938), jointly awarded the Musso- the awarded jointly (1938), (1914), both of which also es- also which of both (1914), ; 1937) and for its outstand- its forOlympia Triumphtheof Will Kōjō no tsuki (Moon Olympia Un de bal carnet Luciano Serra Serra Luciano Five Scouts (1938) (1934)

All Beautiful Fascists? 1 22 (1926, U.S.), Beau Geste rearticulated the notion (1938), and (1938), l’africano Scipione (1933, France) with those of Imperial Luciano Serra Pilota Le grande jeu (1936, Italy–Germany), (1936, Condottieri , or a hereditary birthright to imperial expansionism, in a mod- about the Foreign the Legionabout own bor- in Morocco their do about than they der patrol guards in Manchuria. Japanese urbanites are a sad lot. Im- perialist capitalist expansionists may scoff at Manchuria’s Kingly way, but do how those nations justify their Foreign Legions terrorizing local people at gunpoint?32 Feyder’s Feyder’s human experiments or Duvivier’s excessive atmosphere, are dreams or reality. When you think of it, urban Japanese know more Thecolonial film as a shared genre linked Axis film cultures in the Japanese Japanese often debate whether or not Foreign Legion films,marked by impero The process of naturalizing the expansion into and seizure of foreign lands foreign of seizure and into expansion the naturalizing of process The was essential to the imperial project. Japanese film distributorsmarketed the the colonizer. Japanese film critics of the1930s were keenly aware of the differences among colonial regimes, often comparing and contrasting the colonial worldviews represented in such films as Morocco (1930, U.S.), or Japan.31 Such comparisons led film critics such asShibata Yoshio to the uncomfortable conclusion that, despite its moral the Japanese superiority, empire had not seduced the imaginations of Japanese youth as effectively films: colonial as foreign completely or aware of a pre-existing taste among the audience for such popular genre films with exotic and characters, settings which had been in demand great also nations Axis in produced films Colonial era. silent the since worldwide shared narrative and stylistic links with the Foreign Legion desert film (or film)genre that similarlypresented a worldviewfrom the point of view of of common assumption that in the New Order, certain nations were rulers by birthright and others were to be ruled. Japanese distributors chose to they were because market film Japanese the in films colonial Italian market that contemporary films like ern context.29 Within this context, Italy’s colonial films didnot represent did. epics colonial British Korda’s Alexander as grandadventures, imperial they Rather, revealed what one historian has called the natural expression linked inexorably traditions its in grounded nature” “imperialistic Italy’s of Empire.30 to Roman the poused expansionist rhetoric and idealized the Roman Empire. Those films films Those Empire. Roman the idealized and rhetoric expansionist poused laid the foundation for the box-office success of Italiancolonial epics of like 1930s the Abuna Messias (1939), which revisited the myth of empire at the same time 222 Michael Baskett ofpossessingence empire. distributors were left with little else to exploit other than the shared experi- purity,Japanese cultural and racial of doctrines Axis exclusive mutually of that in the wake of the embargo of filmsHollywood andthewithin context to modernity which of most urban Japanese could trope relate.33 It a may come as as no surprise, then, building empire of experience common the of Manchuria.37 space neo-colonial the of Japan’s of “development” representation forthe of nationalistic ( also foundin these even imperfect films a modelthat domestic production Tsumura nation. that of reflections accurate not were they if tion—even na- a of pulse the measure could one films these in that thought Tsumura conditions. social and politics Italian into insights with viewers provided they and like,” were Allies Axis our of culture film the in conditions the what imagine Europe, Southern from far Asia, East of corner a in us of those let “They argued, he Nevertheless, America. even or France, many, Ger- of those to inferior films colonial Italian of narrative and style film the found Hideo Tsumura critic film Japanese The allies. Axis their about regimes foracross culturesandpolitical entirely different purposes.36 reappropriated be could which narratives, its in inherent ambivalence the in lie might audiences genre with film colonial the of enduringappeal The en- from away the turned genre.trenched—neither audiencesnor distributors firmly remained films colonial foreign in modernity colonial matic cine- of lure the colonialism, Western denouncing in height xenophobic business sense, aswell. careful selection of filmtitles was not just an ideological ploy. It made good Japaneseideology.35destabilize not did metaphorthat understandable The readily a with audiences domestic provided This spirit. martial Japanese the and fascism Italian linking by aesthetically Africa in war colonial a ing fight- pilots Italian fascist about film this marketed distributors Japanese for title release Japanese The pansion. could universalize, naturalize, and popularize ultimately the concept of ex- that titles film of creation the through films Axis imported and audiences twentieth-century war song “Umi Yukaba,” or “Should We Go to Sea.”34 to Go We “Should Yukaba,”or “Umi song war twentieth-century early- popular the to reference direct a Skies,” the to Go We “Should or J N F Even in the early 1940s when Japanese Pan-Asianist rhetoric was at its its at was rhetoric Pan-Asianist Japanese when 1940s early the in Even apanese film distributors manufactured a resonance between Japanese between resonance a manufactured distributors film apanese or example, the genre functioned to instruct Japanese film audiences film Japanese instruct to functioned genre the example, or azi colonial films such as such films colonial azi kokkashugiteki ) documentary ) filmsdocumentary could productively adapt (1937),Habanera La Luciano Serra Pilota Serra Luciano Ohm Krüger Ohm was Uncle Krüger; (Uncle Sora YukabaSora , All Beautiful Fascists? 223

Uncle Uncle Krüger was Krüger Uncle Luciano Serra Pilota.38 is an illustrative example. Uncle Uncle Krüger , Japanese film critics discussed as setting the standard for the future of future the standardfor the setting as Krüger Uncle Luciano Serra Pilota As with In Japan, distributors advertised the film as a warning of thehorrors of THIS!! is the real British Empire that hides behind a mask of chivalry. Judge for yourselves this page in the history of British imperial aggression painted red with the blood of women and children slaughtered in Southof Africa!! Victoria in a corner of Queen name the Co-scripted by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, Goebbels, Joseph Minister Propaganda Nazi by Co-scripted imperialism” “British–Jewish of exposé German definitive the been have to less for its intrinsic value as entertainment than for its ideological merit. Japa- extension, by and, filmmakers Japanese that suggested Kyoichi Ozuka nese audiences should watch the film to learn valuable lessonsfrom the Nazis. In an article published in 1944 in the leading Japanese film journal Eiga , Hyoron titled “What I Expect from That Films Encourage Hatefor the praised Ozuka Enemy,” circled with barbed wire, filled with Boar refugees. The camps looked eerily looked camps The refugees. Boar with filled wire, barbed with circled similar to Nazi concentration themesThe film’s ofcamps. anti-capitalism and anti-Semitism are driven home by projecting onto the British enemy prac- violence Nazis’ the behind prejudices ethnic of sort same the precisely ticed in Germany.39 Jews the against films: Japanese anti-Western Stills from the film accompanying this advertisement show prison camps en- camps prison show advertisement this accompanying film the from Stills highlighted in the film by representing him as an increasingly passive figure passive increasingly an as him representing by film the in highlighted viewers’ eyes. dwindles away before vigor whose British imperialism in an advertising tag line that could have been written Greater the East Asian Co-Prosperityfor Sphere: TheJapanese marketing of the film opposition to the film’srepresentation of Cecil Rhodes as a “Golden Calf of Krüger Africa,” is portrayed as the ideal melding of “Boer, citizen, and Branden- Mark ancestry(i.e., Prussian Krüger’s emphasizing By patriarch.” burg), his as usefulness a model wartime for Germans Nazi becomes even more potent, and the Afrikaner State under appears Krüger as a precursor to the order and efficiency ofthe Nazi regime. Krüger’s loss of power is in South Africa. The film stylishly retells the history of the Boer War through through War Boer the of history the retells stylishly film The Africa. South in a mixture of historical fact, fiction, and highly anti-British The caricature. veteran film and stage actor EmilJannings played an idealizedversion of Krüger as a solitary hero who stands up to the British and the Jews. In (1941) were imported into Japan but marketed in a sig- a in marketed but Japan into imported were (1941) Peters Carl and 1941), nificantly different manner from Italian films such as 224 Michael Baskett some even calling his acting “overblown.”41 What becomes clear from the from clear becomes “overblown.”41What acting his calling even some , or Angel, Blaue sions of the film and foreshadowedthe fate of similar co-productions. ver- German and Italian the of releases separate to led film’s directors the lems surrounding the production of against Ceasar Borgia during a bid to unify Renaissance-era Italy. The prob- Condottieri shoot the super-production to crew Italian and German together Luis a gathered director Trenker film later. In Italy in 1936, the film years director Giacomo two Gentilomo andthe released German was it when success international acclaimed highly a tion of the German, Italian, and Japanese athletic teams and would become participa- the featured prominently which 1936Olympics, the of coverage film the edited and directed Riefenstahl Leni Germany, In projects. film intriguing particularly some in resulted exchanges cultural unofficial and expediency.official economic and high-profile of flurry tary,political, This alliance was based on real solidarity and motivated by more than mere mili- impendingtheir prove Nazithat to anxious were Germany fascistand Italy Japan, Imperial 1936, in ratified was Pact Anti-Comintern the Wellbefore ofCo-Productions Limits Empires ofaKind?The Ideological coloniestural inManchuria. budget, high-profile German–Japanese on co-production Japanese agricul- big- a with area this into move to first the was Kawakita co-productions. international through created be to had cooperation and understanding multilateral true concludedthat Masaichi Nagamasa Nagata and Kawakita as such Producers enough. not was audiences Japanese of tastes the suit to films foreign tailoring simply that realization a is example preceding earlier had lavished praise on Jannings’sin performanceson praise lavished had earlier This review. was a restrained Manythe of who same only critics a years few that every Japanese film encourage hatred for the enemy in that way, it that in enemy the for hatred encourage film Japanese every that actors. the advocate of not richness do the I simply While than siveness is which one I of believe its strengths. There is moreto itsfilmic expres- film, anti-enemy German a as beauty, filmic a appeal, of kind certain a UncleKrüger with raw raw with energy.40 overflow should films anti-enemy explicit that natural only seem does told the story of the rebellion of Giovanni di Medici’s knights knights Medici’s di Giovanni of rebellion the of story the told ’s crude tone and extremely obvious mode of expression has expression of mode extremely obvious and ’s tone crude were now cool to his work in work his to cool now were Command Last The Condottieri on location with a cast of thousands. Condottieri and disagreements between Varieté, Ohm Krüger Ohm Faust, Con- Der ; All Beautiful Fascists? 225 , berg The New Earth, . Fanck, who had The New Earth was pulled from German theaters only one week after its release, , a young Japanese university student, Teruo, who returns who Teruo, student, university Japanese young a Earth, New The first we must bring order and peace to the land. That is Japan’s intention. Japan’s is That land. the to peace and order bring must we first con- the believethat we And land. this on nation a construct must Japan Germany and Japan with an abundance of land more than enough to support a large population . . . that is, if it is properly cultivated. But I’m Japanese and want to live for Japan. Manchuria is twice the size of In In Japan, this was the yearsame that the producer Kawakita Nagamasa flags, cherry blossom branches, and Japanese lanterns, Teruo seems reluc- flags, cherryblossom andbranches, lanterns, Japanese tant to marry his apprehension is stepsister neverTeruo’s Mitsuko. repre- dis- he gradually West; the with flirtation a than more much being as sented covers himself through his conversations with Gelda and tocomes believe in the possibility of farming his own land in Manchuria. In the following and Gelda Teruo are physically sequence, positioned at opposite sides of a says: Teruo creationdiscuss the empire. globe as they of this map new to Japan after several years studying modern agriculture in Germany sup- in falls Teruo Germany, in While stepfather. Japanese wealthy his by ported love with Gelda, with whom he returns to Gelda Japan. hopes to convince Teruo’s stepfather (played by the screen legend Hayakawa Sessue) to release from Teruo his betrothal to his stepsister Mitsuko. Aboard a steam- ship headed home, claustrophobically decorated with Nazi and Japanese fruit.”42 fruit.”42 Fanck said that he wanted to make a film that would satisfy the expectations audiences, of an Western thatapproach seemed entirelycon- sistent with Kawakita’s desire to create a new type of Japanese export film international distribution.for be the first film to Kawakitathe essence” film Japan. “capturefirst true to of the be explained in an interview with Japan’s largest film journal that the title of the film referred to more thanhave named thisManchuria. “We film and it certainly is new earth both for ourselves and for the Japanese film gives that soil fertile be will earth new this that pray “We said. he industry,” formsplants of and will different rise to eventuallymany bearmagnificent Angst Angst to Tokyo to begin production acclaimed on critically of series a directing for fame international achieved actress-turned-director young a of discovery his for and films mountain, or would claimed he what for script the writing began Riefenstahl, Leni named dottieri when censors lodged formal complaints regarding the film’srepresentation of religion. invited the German filmmaker ArnoldFanck and his cameraman Richard 226 Michael Baskett Japan’s new earth of Manchuria would be settled by a new breed of im- of breed new a by settled be would Manchuria of earth new Japan’s the role of Mitsuko—is indicative of a matter-of-fact racism of which Fanck in Setsuko Hara sixteen-year-old of particular, that actors—in his of ment tion of the urban metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka. Similarly, Fanck’s treat- representa- uneven and slipshod his with contrasted countryside Japan’s of beauty natural the of lived.44shotsnese exterior with Fanck’sobsession the “true” Japan bore littlevery resemblance to the one in which most Japa- of vision Fanck’s that clear became soon it as founded, well be to proved either an Orientalist travelogue or outright Nazi propaganda.43 Itami’s fears becoming from film the prevent to determined was he and propagate, to wanted Fanck that ideologies government of sorts those precisely cized the in period-film genre. work Ironically, Itami’s films his until then had humorously of criti- strength the on based consultant a as serve and film the co-script to Juzo, Itami director film late the fatherof Mansaku, Itami under gaze Japanese ofanImperial the protective soldier. tractor a new immigrated to Manchuria, where Teruo happily farms the “new earth” with have son baby their and Mitsuko and scene, Teruo final the In Germany. Teruoto returns Gelda and Mitsuko, decides Japanin marry remain and to becomeit’s . . . but approvinglysmiles earth old.”very “It’s good says, and smells paddiesthe fatherhandfulshis intently as and the rice into earth of deep hands epiphany.his plungesan He experiences he where farm, ents’ or Tokyo, Berlin par- either his of Teruoto decadence urban returns the in roots his find to melody.Unable jazz faint increasingly an to set drinking and dancing of images of montage a see viewers Caucasian, the at looks TeruoWhen hostess. Japanese the to approvingly nods Teruophony, and the drinks he when but the wine, drinks first He Caucasian. by a wine red and served is he band, jazz loud a by flanked where, visualized most dramatically in a sequence set in a modern Tokyois nightclub confusion Teruo’sitself. life modern urban, for desire general a from than indicate, might Gelda for feelings ambiguous his as West,the with infatuation an from less comes temptation his Initially, modern. the and traditional the between choice decisive a make to reluctance seeming his by expressed and Teruo.dilemma a as presented is JapanTeruo’s to return is that a perial subject—one hybrid and of rural urban, both epitomized by A don’t whoasspoiled needany haveraised dolls. been struction of a nation not only requires real men, but also real women. We sake, the blaring jazz soundtrack is replaced instantly by a pastoral sym- lmost immediately after his arrival in Japan, Fanck personally selected immediately selected Japan,lmost Fanckpersonally in afterarrival his by a Japanese hostess hostess Japanese a by sake All Beautiful Fascists? 227 , which was based on Nagatsuka ), exhibitionist, and queer. Holding Holding queer. exhibitionist,and ), Earth batakusai , a massaboutfilm immigra- the Ohinata-mura manji to resemble a Nazi swastika, he portrayed temples Japanese Japanese film critics wereparticularly disturbed byFanck’s apparently the Nazi spirit of self-sacrifice indiscriminately to the Yamato spirit. . . . spirit. . Yamato . indiscriminatelyself-sacrifice of to the spirit Nazi the [W]hile claiming to praise the Samurai spirit was he really praising the statues were treated as if they wielded an absolute power. He applied Increasing Increasing creative differences between Fanck and staff Japanese the The scenery that appeared on screen was definitely Japanese, but the way the but Japanese, definitely was screen on appeared scenery that The ( Western was shown was it up a Buddhist as if Greatthey Buddhist repository were sole spirit.the of Japanese the see how Fanck and his crew might have linked Manchuria, and the emo-soil. of aesthetic Nazi the with represented, it that land in investment tional But the implication that Nazi aesthetics were interchangeable with Japa- press: Japanese disturbed the aestheticsnese profoundly portance of land to Japan’s farmers, who were then struggling with crop left-wing Japanese in topic familiar a was This poverty. crushing and failure “tendency filmmakersfilm” of Withinthe late 1920syears, two 1930s. and Uchida Tomu would begin filming that after and Meiji-era farmers, of lives destitute the about novel Takashi’s would produce Shiro Toyoda nese film, whereas Fanck’s definitely did not.46 did definitely Fanck’s film, whereas nese indiscriminate application of Nazi ideologies (particularly those of blood and earth) to the Japanese case. At first glance,Fanck’s representation of the Japanese soil as almost divine seemed an apt interpretation of the im- tion of a Japanese agricultural colony to Manchuria.47 It is not difficult to tions of Japan and eventually led the Japanese producer to demand that the the that todemand producer eventuallyJapanese and the led Japan of tions film be re-shot in two separate releaseversions: a “Germanversion” shot and edited by Fanck and an “international edited version” and partially re- that critics complained Some matters. complicated only This Itami. by shot was it that argued others while enough, “Japanese” not was version Itami’s more “inconsistent, conceptual, and unfocused” but still felt like a Japa- German language with a accent.foreign German language a In bettermade other words, she German fluently.”45 had spoken than if she impression were the result of this sort of attitude, which many felt was symptomatic of a larger problem having to do with stereotypical Western interpreta- would would later be accused. In a lecture to the Japan Motion Picture Founda- owntion, stated Fanck in German lines had Hara that“in her speak her he style,” which he suggested was grammatically incorrect but produced an the pronouncing her heard we when [Germans] us for charm “inexpressible 228 Michael Baskett izing misrepresentations of Japan by the West. Ironically, however, it was it however,Ironically, West.the by Japan of misrepresentations izing patron- repeatedly were felt Japanese many what over indignity of history allies.Axis in which no East–West division could be blamed for the breakdown among which was plagued with similarly fatal intercultural misunderstandings but of production the aboutmade been have might argument sameThe modernity. of experience Japanese the understanding Germans’ of divisions between “East and West” but, rather, because of the impossibility cultural insurmountable any of because not failure a was film the clear: is to represent Japan.51 Iwasaki’s language may be diplomatic, but his critique eigner, understandinghowever and sympathetic,” who similarly attempted “for- any facingproblem universal a of symptomatic was inability Fanck’s context, this in Understood science.” modern and nature West, and East that result from the and juxtaposition harmony of the past and the present, contradictions and complications the of all contains which Japan, like try coun- complex a properly and proportionally describe to foranybody task impossible an almost is “It crew: his or Fanck either with lie entirely not understanding among nations.50 Axis it seemed raise to the question of the possibility of findingvery any mutual goodwill, Japanese–German foster to meant was film this as But cades.49 Hollywood in filmmakers by produced images exotic tions of Japan were nothing new. Japanese audiences had endured similarly representa- film Fuji. Certainly, Mount Orientalist and blossoms cherry of representations picturesque than more anything being as essence” “true Japan’s see to inability Fanck’s at disappointed were but beauty technical their praised They criticism. and praise greatest their reserved critics nese of Japanwas precisely theshots for of exterior the countryside which Japa- it Ironically,iconography. Japanese and Nazi linking aesthetics fascist a articulate to order in material Japanese to style visual his apply to attempt Buddhist and swastika Nazi between matches graphic of use Fanck’s clouds. the recalled theopening of recalled which opening sequence, its film from German a like looked Earth New The the mists of ages, gradually revealing the mythic islands of Japan through through Japan of islands mythic the revealing gradually ages, of mists the Iwasaki Akira, a leading Japanese film critic, suggestedthat the fault may Such exclusivist attitudes must be understood within the context of a of context the within understood be must attitudes exclusivist Such is requiring New Order.48 this German Hespirit. openly recognized Manchuria, but it is Germany that , which was roundly criticized in the Japanese press, was an was Japanesepress,the in roundly criticized was manjiwhich , Triumphtheof Will , with its camera moving through camera its with , Germany forde- Germany and Condottieri, All Beautiful Fascists? 229 - ever to have The New Earth was not a box-office failure in Japan Japan in failure box-office a not was The New Earth, the subplot of Manchuria as The New Earth New The pite debate in the Japanese filmpress over German misrepresenta the the film.But won’tshowing this be aproblem in countries that donot officially recognize Manchuria?54 anteed by the Japanese army, they joyously plough the earth of a new continent with a tractor. This isone of the most important themes of At At the Teruoend and of Mitsuko the film leave thenarrow rice fields of Japan to go to Manchuria where, under the protection and peace guar- Des Ultimately, the filmnever of created politicalthe any anticipatedproblems Ultimately, marketing campaigns (the most ambitious ever planned for a Japanese film Japanese a for everplanned ambitious most (the campaigns marketing until had then) to be drastically Given the large productionscaled down.56 budget, the high-profile cast, and official backing by bothgovernments, it would have been difficult, if not impossible,for and monographs, such as the director Karl Ritter’s “Theory ofNazi Film crit- film influential by essays original of publication the to and Aesthetics,” detailedics offering discussions ofhow the German system might best be Japan.55 in use for adapted or Germany, but after failing to live up to expectations, its international by Sawamura, but it did spark a boom of interest in Nazi cultural policy and filmmaking inJapan. It also led tonumerous translations of articles up tolived hype. the in non-Axis territories:in non-Axis takes in continuity, such as Fanck’s inexplicably editing shots of Osaka’s Hankyu Department withStore shots of thandowntown Tokyo, they were by the theme of a Japanese return to a nativist past not countryside in but, instead, the in the Japanese semi-colonial space of Only Manchuria.53 the critic and screenwriter Tsutomu Sawamuraspeculated on the possible marketability film’s the on Manchuria in story the setting of effects political Japan’s “new earth” was almost ignored. Critics were far more upset by mis- by upset more far were Critics ignored. almost was earth” “new Japan’s also at this time that the Japanese film industry was similarly Orientaliz- ing other Asian races under the auspices of building a order” “new in East Asia, to be led by the Japanese and ruled with mutual understanding and Japanese “goodwill.” representations of bilateral goodwill toward Japan’s brothers” were “Asian no more legitimate than Fanck’s vision of a “pure” Japan.52 tions of contemporary Japan in 230 Michael Baskett exchange as a failure, an empty symbol of a unity that never existed, is to to is existed, never that unity a of symbol empty an failure, a as exchange film intra-Axis read to But time. their in even acclaim critical scant ceived re- and value lasting of masterpieces no produced co-productions Axis Epilogue scholarship. It also makes the eerily familiar assumption that contempo- that assumption familiar eerily the makes also It scholarship. by thewithin mainstream film that has context of been evacuated a history understood be only can “joke” Kitano’s country?” some on war declare Venice. He quipped media, the to Italian “Why don’t up again we and team for Prix Grand the winning after 1997 in Takeshi demonstrated Kitano director as forgotten, be totally never can it obscured, is perialism Rashomon.57 Butif linking the even history Japanese filmto fascism and im- Kurosawa’s with and Festival Film Venice1951International the at started on the assumption that the era of Japanese film as an international industry Muchceit. of the postwar scholarship on Japanese film is history grounded con- intellectual simplyan not is perspective in shift true. This be to pears venues, and exhibition include the to opposite ap- perspective distribution Venice Film International Festival would seem to suggest, by shifting one’s the of example the as However, Italy. of that dwarfed Japan in Germany point of view of official film policy would suggest that the influence of Nazi conventional relatively the from Japan Imperial in culture film Examining partnership. the of picture skewed a presents exclusively level one any at Looking levels. unofficial and official on institutions and people of range a broad influencing traversing borders and themselves, films the like lated have produceditself. never could but on built rhetoric Axis that bond common useful but fluid a created ultimately embargos film and censorship cooperative as means nations could only dream. The toneed respondtothat powerthrough such film-producingother which power of totalitarian nearly a with Hollywood endowed policy flag” the follows “film government’s U.S. The ideology. single any did than forfilm a bloc responsibility into uniting thesenations more had have may Hollywood fact, In another. over dominate truly ever not all cut from the same political or cultural cloth; nor did any single entity propagandists, Japan,Allied Imperial Nazi Germany, were and fascist Italy ing images of an Axis united in power and purpose churned out by wartime represented.their were in for and rate they concern how Unliketheendur- collabo- to attempted having nations these of fact very the in but success, its in not lies collaboration intra-Axis of significance The point. the miss In this context, film legislation and government communiqués circu- communiqués government and legislation film context, this In at Hana-bi All Beautiful Fascists? 231 Nihon Nihon Nihon , vol. 41 (Tokyo: (Tokyo: (Tokyo: nachisu (Nazis) (Berkeley: University Gendaishi Gendaishi shiryō (New York: Berghaus, L’Italie de L’Italie Mussolini et son (New York and London: Verso, Verso, London: and York (New (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Hyōron Sekai Eiga Sensō (Tokyo: Toyosha, Hikigeki 1930 nendai no kenchiku to (New Cassell, York: 1999), 4–6. In Fascism on Studies and Fascism Theatre: Comparative Dokyumento Dokyumento Shōwa: Sekai eno tōjō without differentiating “Japanesefrom fascism” Bunka Bunka to Fuashizumu Cinema Cinema and State: The Film Industry and the Government, Manshukoku no danmen: Amakasu Masahiko no shogai no Masahiko Amakasu danmen: no Manshukoku (fascists). Postwar Japanese film journalists typically, journalists typically, film Japanese Postwar (fascists). fasho Film Film Propaganda (London: I. 1998), Tauris, B. 35; Margaret , 86. See Shibata Yoshio, The New Earth ThePower of Film Propaganda TheState and Mass Mediain Japan, 1918–1945 (New York: Pan- York: (NewWar Pacific the in Power and Race Mercy: without War rarely appears in prewar Japanese film sources with regard to (Tokyo: Asahi Sensho, 1975), 86. 1975), Asahi Sensho, (Tokyo: to Eiga Hitora (Tokyo: Sanichi Shinsho, 1957), 196–210. Yomota Inuhiko’s (Tokyo: Eiga Nihonsha, 1941). Eiga Nihonsha, dokuhon (Tokyo: junbi haiyū Eiga War and Cinema: The Logistics of Perception of Logistics The Cinema: and War or or fashisuto fascist Hitora Hitora to Eiga (London: BFI Publishing, 1985), 19; Jean Gili, 1944), on the “Jewish Problem” and the monopolization of finance capital in industries. film (predominantly U.S.) Western Kadokawa Shoten, 1986), Shoten, Kadokawa 111–20. 21. of Education, Department 1937), (Tokyo: Japan in Education Film Gregory Kasza, of California Press, 1988), 241; Uchikawa Yoshimi, ed., (Tokyo: Misuzu The Anti-Comintern Shobō, 1975), 234–36. Pact was concluded between Germany and Japan in September 1936; Italy signed The in November. 1940. Pact was ratified27, in Tripartite on SeptemberBerlin 1922: 1922: Richard Taylor, Dickinson and Sarah Street, Japan. More often, these sources differentiate between German Italian and and uncritically, apply the term to the Japanese military: Okada Susumu, 1989), 6–7.1989), Nicholas Reeves, 1927–84 47–55. 1985), (Paris: Veyrier, Henri cinéma 1996); Akazawa Shiro et al., Sha, 1993); Dojidai Kenchiku Kenkyukai, ed., Gendai Kikakushitsu, 1990). (Tokyo: Bunka eiga no rekishi eigashi 100 nen (Tokyo: Shueisha Shinsho, 2000) calls Hara Setsuko a “beautiful fascist in maiden” “fascisms.” other Epigraph: Muto Tomio, Tomio, Muto Epigraph: Exceptions Gunter include Bergaus, ed., the Aesthetics and Politics of Performance in Europe, 1925–1945 Kindasha, 1956), 54–55. 1956), Kindasha, John W. Dower, Dower, W. John theon, 1986), 207. NHK Dokyumento Showa Shuzai, ed., The term Iwasaki Akira, Tanaka Eizo Tanaka Iwasaki, Paul Virilio, Paul

1. 7. 3. 8. 9. 2. 6. 5. 4. 11. 10.

rary mass audiences are both able and willing to make relevant links be- imperialpast. Japan’s and tween film, Axis solidarity, Notes

232 Michael Baskett

24 20. 26. 29. 28. 22. 2 23. 27. 1 1 21. 16. 12. 15. 19. 13. 1 4. 8. 5. 7. .

Shoten, 1977). of South America after abandoning his family. Reunited by chance with his son his family.with chance Reunitedby his afterabandoning America South of environs exotic the in his fortune find to out sets gladiator.He modern-day and Luciano Serra Pilota presented a new sort of hero: a man who is part pioneer, pilot, in tory the Ethiopian War. Based on the life of the national hero Amedeo Nazzari, fascination for machines, especially airplanes, as the basis technological for vic- Luciano Serra Pilota Ibid., 160. Ibid., 157.Ibid., Ibid. 174. Ibid., Rossellini, Almanacco Cinema 1941): del Italiano, vol. (Rome: 17 1939). Bestetti, and 1940); Genina, Augusto (dir.L’Assedio Alcatraz di included winners Italian Other Harley, Towa Shoji,ed., Cinema Yearbook of Japan 1938 Japan of Yearbook Cinema Brownlow, Kevin 1987), 182–83. spired cite critics on the battlefields of Ethiopia, Luciano sacrifices his life to save his son. Japanese chi, Chuka den’ei shiwa (Tokyo: Gaifusha, 1987). Tadao,Sato Ibid.; 1996). FilmWars International the in Life Pommer’s Eric fornia: (Tokyo: Chuo Koronsha, 1980), 65–70. Cinema Yearbook (Tokyo: ofJapan Kokusai 1938 Bunka Shinkokai, 1938), 60. versity of Wisconsin Press,1997). Press, 1999). Ruth Vasey Andrew Higson et al., 101. University of California Press,1994), ley: Sumiko Press, Higashi,1990), 348–49. Japanese FilmLaw. grapho e il Teatro nella Legislazione fascsita 1940, the film critic YamadaEikichi examined the influences ofItaly’s ed., Kyokai, Eiga Motion PictureMotion Herald, June 3, 1939, 27. California 154–55. Press:,1940), John Harley, Yamada Eikichi, Eikichi, Yamada Hay, Hardt, Ursula see abroad, success Pommer’s on more For Popular Film Culture in Fascist Italy Fascist in Culture Film Popular Nankai no Hanatabano Nankai Worldwide ofthe Influences Cinema, 156. Luciano Serra Pilota Serra Luciano Worldwide Influences of the Cinema (Los Angeles: University of Southern Towa shoji goshikaisha shashi (Tokyo: Towa Shoji,1942). Eiga kokusaku no zenshin no kokusaku Eiga , supervised by Mussolini’s son Vittorio, emphasized the fascist (Tokyo: Dai Nippon Eiga Kyōkai, 1938).in Kyōkai,Writing Eiga Nippon Dai (Tokyo: Eigaho Itari Behind the Mask of Innocence of Mask the Behind (Tokyo: Liburopoto, 1985), 20–26; Tsuji Hisai-Tsuji 20–26; 1985), Liburopoto, (Tokyo: hosei to Kinema “Film Europe” and “Film America” The World According to Hollywood, 1918–1939 (dir. 1942): Abe Yutaka, , 54. Tanaka Junichiro, Tanaka 54. , and (dir. Goffredo Alessandrini, (dir.1939);Alessandrini, Messias Goffredo Abuna Only Angels Have Wings , or the Italian Film and TheaterLaw, onthe (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, University Indiana (Bloomington: Cecil Cecil B. DeMille and American Culture (Tokyo: Koseikaku, 1940); Dai Nippon Dai 1940); Koseikaku, (Tokyo: (Berkeley: University of California of University (Berkeley: (New York: Berghahn Books, Books, York: (New Berghahn (Tokyo: Haga (Tokyo: eiga Hikoki/Sensō (Exeter: University of Exeter (dir. Roberto(dir. Bianca Nave La Nihon eiga hattatsushi eiga Nihon (1939, U.S.) as having in- From Caligari to Cali- to Caligari From (Madison: Uni- Il Il Cinemato- (Berke- , vol. 3 vol. , All Beautiful Fascists? 233

- The The (China Der Blaue (August ). This was This ). (Ravenna: (Ravenna: (Rome: Lavoro, (Rome: (Stanford, Calif.: Calif.: (Stanford, Shina Shina yoruno Eiga Eiga hyōron (dir. Watanabe Watanabe Kunio, (dir. compared favorably to Il grigio e il nero il e grigio Il premiered in Japan in 1937, it 1937, in Japan in premiered ; 1939), ; and 1939), Shanhai Shanhai no tsuki (Moon over Shang- , vol.1 (Tokyo: Shakai Shisōsha, Byakuran Byakuran no uta (dir. Josef von Josef Stern-The Last (dir. Command Condottieri (December 1936): 67. (December 1936): Tomo no Eiga (dir. F. W. Faust Murnau, W. (dir. 1926),F. ) released the year before. ) released the Luciano Serra Pilota The Alpine LancersAlpine (The sokitai no Arupus ; 1936) was adapted from the French novel (Tokyo: Sogensha, 1943), 64–73. 1943), Sogensha, (Tokyo: kanshō to Zoku eiga , ed. Lorenzo Codelli (Pordenone: Edizioni Biblioteca (Song of White Orchidthe L’ora d’Africa del Cinema Italiano 1911–1989 Italiano Cinema del d’Africa L’ora Shinpan Shinpan Nihon ryūkōkashi Bengaru no sokihei Bengaru (White Squadron , August 1, 1943, n.p. 1, 1943, , August junpō Eiga (dir. Naruse (dir. Mikio, 1941), Prima Prima di Caligari Byakuran no Byakuran uta Sekai, 144. sensō eiga Varieté (dir. E. DuPont, W. 1925), ; 1940): Tsumura Hideo, Hideo, Tsumura 1940): ; ; 1941), Ozuka Kyoichi, “Tekisaishin koyo eiga ni nozomu,” Tsumura Tsumura thought that even films like Ibid. Kawakita Kazuko, “Atarashiki Tsuchi,” Tsuchi,” Kawakita Kazuko, “Atarashiki Advertisement in 1944): 7. Ibid. lin, when the government integrated films that “instilled colonialspirit” into the education curriculum: Guido Convents, “Film and German Colonial Propa- in ganda,” dell’Immagine, 1990), 58–76. Sabine Hake, “Mapping the Native in Body,” , ed. Sara Friedrichsmeyerof Michi- University (Ann Arbor: Imagination Imperialist 163–87. gan Press, 1998), (dir. Josef von Sternberg, 1930), and von Josef Sternberg, 1930), Angel (dir. berg, 1928). Lives of a Bengal LancerLives of a Bengal ( was released under the Japanese title Japanese the under released was a reference to the Japanese release title for the American colonial-themed film 1995). ed., Brunetta, Piero Gian by Joseph Peyre: see Gianfranco Casadio, Gianfranco Peyre:see Joseph by blanc L’escadron Longo, 1989). Shibata, Komoto Komoto Nobuo et al., Lo Squadrone Bianco TheKolonialfilm German genre began withthe 1896colonial exhibition in Ber It It was precisely this desire for the colonial and the modern from which Shōwa intellectuals such as writerthe Kobayashi Hideo created a sense of “lost home” and that made the deserts of Morocco that they have never seen more familiar to young Japanese than the Ginza right before their eyes: quoted in Seiji Lippit, University Columbia Press, 2002). York: Modernism (New of Japanese Topographies Night “frivolous” Japanese “frivolous” films set in China such as hai Osamu, 1940). Fushimizu yoru (dir. no and Shina 1939), Shanhai Shanhai no Tsuki When the Italian–German co-productionItalian–German the When Stanford UniversityStanford Press, 1996). 1990). This process by which Japanese film distributors attempted to the attemptedlocalize distributors to film Japanese which by process This 1990). alien to audiences Japanese recalls previous attempts by journalists of the 1920s assign- by names place Chinese naturalizing China, in travels their of wrote who ing them Japanese equivalents such as “the Kyoto of (Hangkow)”: Joshua Fogel 1862–1945 China, of Rediscovery Japanese the in Travel of Literature The

. 3. 9. 2. 8. 31. 41. 3 37 35. 36. 3 3 3 40. 30. 42. 34.

234 Michael Baskett

44.

54 49. 50. 46. 45. 48. 43. 52. 56. 5 53. 47 57 51. 5. . . .

(Tokyo: Doitsu Bunka Shiryōsha, 1941). (Tokyo: Bunka Shiryōsha, Doitsu Sawamura Sawamura Tsutomu, Suzuki Naoyuki, Suzuki Sawamura, Sawamura, Donald Richie, Donald 1942); Shoin, Aoyama (Tokyo: bekika manabu ikani o eiga Doitsu Sawamura, Sawamura, cameraman, stayed to write write to stayed cameraman, Hansen, Janine Iwasaki Akira, “The Japanese Cinema in 1937,” in in Cinema Japanese “The Akira, Iwasaki see 1910s: the since filmmakers German for setting favorite a been had China tenth TheEarth New tenth Senyū nouta(1939). Senyū direct of Empire , ed.Mariko Tamanoi (Honolulu: University of HawaiiPress,2005). Manchukuo in Japanese in ‘Goodwill Films,’” the film:Baskett, Michael Hunting: “Goodwill Rediscovering and Remembering was based on a colonial (or hierarchy neo-colonial) that always found its way into thecharacters of attitudes underlying therepresentation thestereotypical cause either locate or create true Japanese–Chinese mutual understanding precisely be- (Tokyo: KBS, 1937), 18. Yomota, Nihon noJoyu, 35–36. understood” what he wanted: Hansen, “just they them; to talk to have not did he that was actors Japanese about most liked he what that said Fanck status. secondary a to relegated are actors human and protagonist main thebecomessetting natural the which in nature of cation were more than the mere of mountains butglorification approached a personifi- films Mountain genre. film mountain the in work extensive his by influenced Verlag, 1950). ed., Bauer, Alfred (1932), German films interesttook in a Manchuria: political see Grabmal Indische Das Harakiri (dir. Fritz 1919),Lang, (Tokyo: KBS, 1937),Yearbook ofJapan 30–31. 1936–1937 Verlag, 1997); Yomota Inuhiko, Nihon nojoyū(Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2000). Elsewhere I have argued that the Japanese “goodwill film” genre was unable to unable was genre film” “goodwill Japanese the that argued have I Elsewhere been have may actors of use Fanck’s that suggested critics film Japanese Some Tanaka, (dir. Uchida Tomu, 1939); Ohinata mura (dir. Toyoda Shiro, 1940). In 1936, the average Japanese film cost 50,000 yen to produce, less than one- than less produce, to yen 50,000 cost film Japanese average the 1936, In Fanck returned to Germany after completing completing after Germany to returned Fanck Films,” Picture Motion Japanese of Exportation the “On Fanck, Arnold 93–103. Alarm in Peking in Alarm Hattatsushi, 2:350–56; Gendai, 261–62. Gendai Eigaron , 260. A Hundred Years ofJapanese Film (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 2002). rod acs i ohe e Samurai des Tochter Die Fancks Arnold Uchida Tomu den, shisetsu TomuUchidaden, ’s 750,000 yenbudget. , (dir. Joe May, 1921). After the Manchurian Incident in 1931, in Incident Manchurian the After May,1921). (dir.Joe , etce SilimAmnc 1929–1950 Spielfilm-Almanach Deutscher Gendai eigaron (Tokyo: Tokei Shobō,261–62. 1941), (1937), Kokumin no chikai no Kokumin Towa shoji goshi kaishashi Das Weib des Pharao Das Neue Asien Neue Das Arnold Arnold Fancks Die Tochter des Samurai (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1997). Shoten, Iwanami (Tokyo: (1940), and (1940), Crossed Histories: Manchuria in the Age (dir. Nomura Hiroshi, 1938) and 1938) Hiroshi, Nomura (dir. (dir. Ernst Lubitsch, 1921), and h Nw Earth New The Cinema Yearbook of Japan 1937 Japan of Yearbook Cinema (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Harrassowitz (Wiesbaden: (Tokyo: Towa Shoji, 1942), Kampf Kampf un die Mandschurei Geheimnis Tibet Geheimnis Bri: Filmblatter (Berlin: Doitsu no eiga taisei no Doitsu bt ns, the Angst, but , , 62–86; , 62–86; (1943). Cinema Tsuchi

Ak Architecture for Mass-Mobilization: i k

o o The Chūreitō Memorial Construction T

a Movement, 1939–1945 k ena k a

Since antiquity, war memorials, such as the triumphal arches of the Roman Empire, have celebrated empires, commemorated victorious battles, venerated heroes, and glorified leaders. In the modern era, especially from the latter half of the nineteenth century, memorials have proliferated in Europe—under the French New Republic and the Second German Empire in particular—to celebrate new regimes and reinforce their new national identities. During and immediately after the First World War, the common European soldier came to be recognized in memorial structures, leading to the construction of prominent monuments such as the tombs of unknown soldiers in London and Paris, as well as less known structures in town squares and on street corners. These added a new function to war memorials: a place to memorialize and mourn the death of individuals on a personal level. Whether built to commemorate an individual or a group, these structures gave physical form to the collective or national memory that needed to be created, maintained, or sometimes even reshaped following a military conflict.1 In Japan, just as in most other countries that experienced modern wars, numerous war memorials have been dedicated to military leaders, common 236 Akiko Takenaka of 1904–1905, during which almost every town and village sufferedvillage losses. and town every almost duringwhich 1904–1905, of Russo-JapanesetheWar with level local the at started soldier common the fallen members of the Imperial Army. The practice of memorial building for the memorialize continuously centrally,collectively,and to 1869 in Shrine Yasukuni constructed leaders military and Political civilians. and soldiers, is flanked by panels on which names of the memorialized are engraved. are memorialized the of names which on panels by flanked is word the for stand that characters three with inscribedtower, slender simple, a design: in identical are memorials chūreitō Mostschoolyard.7 a of corner a to memorial the to exclusively dedicated land of plots diverse large from in sites, situated and feet) hundred one over to feet five from varying height (their scales of range a in built were memorials these concrete, or fromJapan1945.6throughout1939 constructed to Typically stone madeof to mass-mobilization. wartime tributed con- that involvement community’s the and planning their of act very the but presence actual their only not was it here, examine I memorials of set more influential rolepolitically duringthe warthan after. Inthe case of the a played memorials war Japanese that then, argued, be can privilege.5It a als; consequently, enshrinement in those memorials came to be considered memori- war buildingwhen permission seek to groups local required had government the honor.symbolize War Sino-Japanese the Since (1894–95), to came too, memorials, war deceased.4Local the of photograph a of play a chorus by schoolchildren, a memorial address by a dignitary, and the dis- as such rites, funeral traditional during conducted not features new many included and halls town and yards school in place took that events public became dead war for services Memorial celebrated. be to honor an into mourned be to tragedy a from transformed was family the in death war well, as fromhimself.3 emperor the tribute level, received sion local theAt dead were enshrined as gods to protect the nation ( military where Shrine, Yasukuni at epitomized was notion complish.This ac- could man a deed honorable most the was army emperor’s the of ber lives. Children were taught from a young age that death in battle as a mem- their for concern little with war in fight young for mento motivating tools were they dead: the of memory the honoringpreserving and to addition in deaths.and civilian military for today even built be to continue many and (1931–45),2 War Pacific the memorial Local building for military deaths was further popularized during Until 1945, war memorials in modern Japan had an important function important an had Japan modern in memorials war 1945, Until Chūreitō chūreitō , which translates literally as “towers to the loyal spirits,”were loyal the to “towers as literally translates which , , rises from a rectangular base. On most memorials, the base the memorials, most Onbase. rectangular a from rises , gokokushin) and on occa- Architecture for Mass-Mobilization 237 - e relationship of style to politics is complicated. There is no fixed one- fixed no is There complicated. is politics tostyle of relationship e However, similarities in architectural styles have been recognized across recognized been have styles architectural in similarities However, Th Chūreitō memorials have not received adequate scholarly attention be often often been associated with Nazi a Germany, similar style can be found in the democratic state architecture of Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the United States. The architect GiuseppeTerragni, when designing the Casa del Fascio in Como, Italy—perhaps the most famous piece of Italian fascist architecture—is known to have taken design inspirationboth from League the of headquarters competition the the entry Meyerfor Hannes by of Nations and that of Le Corbusier for the Palace of Soviets. Since simi- design lar concepts can serve to represent Italian and fascism, democracy, identify a consistent trait in the works of a single architect for the same client during a short period of time, including those designed by the Nazi state architect Albert Speer.12 diverse political systems. For example, while stripped neoclassicism has and architecture in Germany between 1918 and 1945, the historian Barbarahistorian the 1945, betweenGermanyand architecturein 1918 and Miller Lane argues that stylistic consistency never emerged in German ar- where most In architectsItaly, chitecturewere ardent thisduring period.10 fascists in the 1930s, scholars have noted Mussolini’s reluctance to designate a specific architectural style to And represent according his regime.11 to the architectural historian Francesco Dal Co, it is not even possible to to-one relationship between political regimes and styles of cultural production; nor is there stylistic consistencycultural among products created politics between relationship the of study her In regime. political one under wartime Japan.8 They have compared what little was built in Japan in the last last the in Japan in built was little what compared have They Japan.8 wartime years of the Asia-PacificWar with contemporaryprojects in Germany and Italyand have used indifferences style andquantity asproof thatJapanese architecture of the time was not political.9 To focus exclusively on style, however, does not sufficientlyappreciate the political significance cul- of tural works. built by the hands of local people in a nationwide construction local of movement. hands nationwide a in the people by built The rectangular base has a function distinct to chūreitō: it is an ossuary for for ossuary an is it distinctfunction chūreitō: to a has base rectangular The stowing the ashes of in war dead—or, the cases where the body was never recovered, the clippings of hair and nails that soldiers heading off to the battlefieldleft behind. Alsounlike most other memorials, chūreitō were typi-a to likened 1930s the of architects Japanese which design, their cause cal Japanese tombstone, Thishas lackbeen ofmundane. considered inter- Japanese modern of historians of inability the by compounded been has est ideologyin national propagate totool a as architecture view toarchitecture 238 Akiko Takenaka make them,theoretically, that not. moreshared alikethan characteristics have can messages political convey to meant styles architectural regime, communism, it be can argued that, regardless of the nature of the political gional organizations put into place during the war as a mecha-surveillance re- the by enforced and military the by initiated been fact, in had, it when people the of thewill by voluntarily undertaken being was it that pression im- the created forconstruction, labor and money, material, of donations for campaigns extensive and includedwhich designcompetition a project, the of construction. nature The memorial the in participated those who by monument was be to an icon symbolizedthethat by sacrifice war and dead Each death. military on placed significance unparalleled the represented well as small towns and rural villages, in a project to build monuments that ism in wartime Japan. It engaged people from Tokyo and as regional cities, national- of promotion the for tool propaganda powerful a as functioned created. hadbeen a consensus already only because as voluntary yet understood were that coerced tions—actions ac- people’s through visually as much so not aestheticized was sacrifice of als working A concept throughout the of process design and construction. onstrated not by the physical appearance of the memorials, but by individu- dem- was and emperor the to death through sacrifice one’s on value mate ulti- placed culture, mass and consensus,education through That fostered appearance. actual its through than so more even creation of process its through consensus political create helped however, project, chūreitō the culture; fascist of expressions visual the to confined is argument Mosse’s consensus.”14present already an from strength “its draws Mosse, George functioned like an icon in the civic religion of fascism, which, according to nation. chūreitō themobilizing The successfully in force political its cover un- to examination of sort different a requires country, the across from ages all of people by reports) media to (according but figure artist bya single created not was it because however, project, chūreitō The object.13 the behind politics the understanding helpfulin been has thought artist’s an of features particular on focusing approach thematic a or artist the of work of art, a biographical approach examining the commitments political specific a created who author or artist an identify to possible is it where works.cases In persuasivecultural politically of qualities aesthetic the sify clas- to attempts their in style beyond pushed have Europe, in production cultural fascist in specialize who those particularly scholars, many ology, The process of chūreitō memorial construction became a movementthat Since the style of cultural production is not the Rosetta Stone of ide- of Stone Rosetta the not is production cultural of style the Since Architecture for Mass-Mobilization 239 composition, with the Pietà . The construction of the memorials was to be undertaken with undertaken be to was memorials the of construction The . e chūreitō memorials were the outcome of a nationwide construction nationwide a of outcome the were memorials chūreitō e Shimbun

Thedesign competitionfor the chūreitōmemorials tookplace in late Th Thememorial design—mundane as itmay seem—had its significance, lined the desired size and construction budget for each prototype. All proto- All prototype. each for budget construction and size desired the lined the money, material, and labor of the localof the residents. material, and labor money, the Ten major 1939. newspapers announced the “Official Regulationsfor the Chūreitō Design Competition,” which called for three design prototypes: major six in built be to two type battlefields; overseas on built be to one type Japanese cities; and type three, consisting of three ranks—large, medium, out- guidelines Specific villages. and towns, cities, Japanese small—for and Manchuria. Manchuria. Theprototypes for monumentdesigns of varying scales were selected through a competition co-sponsored by the committee and the Asahi movement movement of the late 1930s that took place amid an all-out war against China that was resulting in an unprecedented number of Japanese casualties.18 This movement, initiated by the Dai-Nihon Chūrei (Greater Kenshō-kai Japan Committee to Exalt the Loyal War Dead)—aWelfare and Education, group Navy, com-Army, Interior, from representatives of posed ministries—aimed to construct a monument in every Japanese city, town, and China in cities occupied and battlefields major at as well as village, and World War, World where War, memorials often used the reli- familiar Such comrade. a or figure female a of arms the in soldier fallen gious images possessed the so powerof central“kitsch,” to the aesthetics of form predigested a as defined has Greenberg Clement which fascism, of masses.17 appreciation by the easyart that enables of interwar France, has described as the “power of familiarity”: it was a universal type that enabled people from varied social, cultural, and educa- famil- of use The symbolism.16 its comprehend easily to backgrounds tional been has mourning and death, war, with associated symbols religious or iar a common technique used for memorial design in Europe since the First was the finest deed possible for a Japanese citizen, contributions to the con- the to contributions citizen, Japanese a for possible deed finest the was as regarded were who dead, war the to dedicated memorials the of struction naturally. came order, sacrifices committed highest of having the pos- mourning, and deathtombstone-like Its well. as representing design, sessed what the historian Daniel Sherman, discussing the war memorials nism to prevent unpatriotic thoughts and actions.15 nism More important,to preventmost unpatriotic thoughts and actions.15 who participated by submitting design entries or donating money, labor, and material had been led to believe that they were acting on their own initiative. For those conditioned to believe that sacrificefor the emperor 240 Akiko Takenaka School of Art. The deadline forthe submissions entrieswas of competition the of president Naohiko, Masaki Tokyo and military, the of members five architects, established five of consisted jury The manner.”19 solemn and grand a in heroes fallen the of spirits the symbolize and principle in plain were types to incorporate an ossuary, and the design was to be “simple and his entry under candlelight with makeshift tools such as a compass made compass a as such tools makeshift with candlelight under entry his the of office the submission sent from the front by soldieran active through the branch the alongwinners.24with it display to plannedfavoritemediaAnother was the requirements,competition either, but the committee announced that it struggling to advance with the help of his comrades. This entry did not meet his design of a tower featuring a realist representation of a wounded soldier on work hard of months spent drawing. had perspective boy The boy’s old The requirements.”23 the meet not did it because back, “respectfullysent be to needed entry the his “demonstrated drawing young dedication to honor the loyal heroes,” the but added that, unfortunately, that noted article The paper. struction con- of piece a on drawn boy young very by a entry an on Shimbun reported amateur entries had been by rejected the committee. For example, the the of most that readers the or reporters the to matter not did It project. ( virtue of “tales the for matter subject good provided they as amateurs, by missions sub- on focused articles most architects, professional by entries executed shifted thesubmitted designto committee. Rather to entries on than well- raising work.22 andvolunteer fund- regarding anecdotes various to China in memorials war Japanese of torical background behind the establishment of the committee and surveys ( tales “Chūreitō The chronicled the history of war memorials in Manchuria, Europe, and Japan.21in article three-part a August, early In entries.20 submit to readers encouraged and design memorial on thoughts their shared tects Archi- articles. chūreitō-related feature to started newspapers made, was chūreitō project. Even before the official announcement of the competition the of promotion the in role major a played magazines, mass-market and provide for the prize money the winners. to was Corporation Asahi the and year, same the of 30 November for set The mass media, including major newspapers as well as state-sponsored olwn te noneet f h cmeiin te ei’ focus media’s the competition, the of announcement the Following ōy Nci ih Shimbun Nichi Nichi Tōkyō bidan Asahi Shimbun Asahi )” being published to inspire readers to participate in the in participate to readers inspire to published being )” Chūreitō also published a photograph of a fifteen-year- a of photograph a published also Asahi monogatari . Readers were told that the soldier had drawn drawn had soldier the that told were Readers . published a series of eleven articles titled titled articles eleven of series a published ),” with contents ranging from the his- the fromranging contents ),” with Asahi Shimbun Asahi Asahi Asahi

Architecture for Mass-Mobilization 241

ichinichi ichinichi senshi reported that the impressed committee Asahi Fund-raising to construct the memorials began even before the competi- the before even began memorials the construct to Fund-raising Media Media publicity for the chūreitō project proved successful. In Tokyo Not all design submissions and donations were voluntary. Many schools schools Many voluntary. were donations and submissions design all Not alone, donations reached 700,000 yen by early October According 1939.34 January in newspapers major in published winners of announcement the to com- the by received been had people 1,679 from competitionentries 1940, at competitions design typicalarchitectural comparison, of way (By mittee. timeentries.)the attracted 60 to 80 high school collected as much as 500 yen by the students forbidding from tobacco buying from faculty the and leisure and snacks on money spending and alcohol. A village in Prefecture Toyama took advantage of the nationwide reduction in land tax by collecting the original amount from its resi- episodes, These chūreitō construction.33 for difference the using and dents publications,tales as media creatingin the virtue of framed were however, that theyimpression were undertakenand willingly. voluntarily incorporated chūreitō design into their curricula, compelling students to Architecture firms university and classes.30 art during drawmemorials war design instructors were encouraged to adjust their work schedules so that pres- were Families entries.31 design submit might students and employees family fallen for tombstones individual constructing from restrain to sured Kyoto One fund.32 chūreitō the to savings their donate instead and members reports, even prison inmates, the handicapped, and very young children donated their hard-earned money. mass media capitalized on “tales of virtue.” A young man donated 2 yen that yen 2 donated man young A virtue.” of “tales on capitalized media mass he had received from the police as a reward for saving a drowning child.28 Tenpō the from coins donated money no had who orphan impoverished An media to According parents.29 his from inherited had (1830–43)he thatera tion’s winners were announced. Newspapers spilled a considerable amount amount considerable a spilled Newspapers announced. were winners tion’s of ink over the names of contributors and the amount of money donated. The committeegenerated public donations with the slogan (literally, “war dead for a day”). The slogan persuaded every by civilian heroes fallen and the to gratitude express to wage day’s one donate to soldier one demonstrate day the slo-for thatimagining To they had died in war.26 gan, announced and the their NavyArmy plan to a deduct day’s wage from con- crucial,the was as donations Soliciting troops.27 their salaryall of the the again here and them, on primarily depended memorials the of struction by attaching attaching by a pencil to a needle and thread and a ruler made from a piece of sharpened bamboo. The process of retrieving were in the members tools the soldier.25 used by the 242 Akiko Takenaka and magazines held numerous competitions to promote patriotism through mass-market magazinesJapanthe1930s.35in of Particularly duringthe war, and newspapers newspapers by sponsored competitions of nomenon bold geometric shapes such as a pyramid or expressionistic, free-form de- free-form or expressionistic, pyramid a as such shapes geometric bold whelming publicity. These young modernists’ entriestypically incorporated Japanese architecture—in part from patriotism and in response to the over- postwar represent to come would who elites young the including pated, partici- had modernists these many of however, competition, chūreitō the of thecase In competitions. architecture boycott to begun had modernists had been selected as the winner. Weary of the outcome, typical many a young 1930s, and 1920s the in place took that seums fortions public such as forthose architecture, halls and mu- and town city competi- the of most design.36In neoclassical of buildings capping roofs by characterized the taste), formulaic (Japanese use of Japanesetraditional as often referred to styles preferredwho traditional more tects archi- older of composed was which jury, the by acceptance for struggled Younger architects who championed European-inspired modernist designs architects. of generations between contention of source a been long had competitions architecture place, took competition chūreitō the time the aimedprofessionalAtat well. as aspiringand competition architects, sign de- a involved project the as audience, general the targeting media market part inthe design process. took nation the entire that impression the created amateurs from submissions on emphasis media’s mass the and participate to Japanese all encouraged that competition a engage to largermuch a population. entries a of Thedesign selection from fessionals were solicited, the organizers actively solicited non-professional pro- Although requirements. the fulfill not did they because rejected be to only entries submitted non-professionals many that reveal articles paper News- details. other and labeling, lettering, designated instructions ther Fur- perspective. the to colors and elevations the to applied shading with ink, in done be to were Drawings perspective. a and sections, more or one elevations, three plan, floor a plan, site a included that drawings of series seeking entries from professional was architects. Each to consistentry of a was competition the that imply requirements drawing the But ticipants. par- for qualifications special require not did ostensibly and newspaper a by sponsored was competition chūreitō the contests, these of many Like essays. and songs, slogans, war-themed soliciting by participation mass The media promotion of the memorial project was part of a larger larger phe- a of part was project memorial the of promotion media The However, we cannot get a full view of the chūreitō project from mass- from project chūreitō the of view full a get cannot we However, Nihon shumi Nihon –style entry entry –style Nihonshumi Architecture for Mass-Mobilization 243 Nihon Nihon shumi designs, because the conspicuous Japa- (Contemporary Architecture) expressed con- (Contemporarykenchiku expressed Architecture) Gendai t has been argued that these elite architects were detached from politics from detached were architects elite these that argued been has t For For the young elites, the outcome of the competition was truly disap- I public public architecture, which usually called for designs that expressed Japa- neseness while floorusing plans,material, and technologyfrom imported European architecture. In the previous contests, they had always favored entries that employed nese tiled roof, even when used with otherwise Western-style de-building of criteria selection The eye. untrained the to Japaneseness out spelled sign, paper paper articles and diary entries of one of the jury members, I have found round two-stepfirst a took the competition process, indeed the while that, of selections was completed by a sub-jury composed of four senior archi- In other tects.40 words, it was the architect sub-jury, rather than the mem- These “tombstone”-styleselected the had who entries.military, the of bers architects typicallycompetitionshad for senior served juryfor as members base structure topped with a high-rising monolith—to common Japanese tombstones. whose military, the by rigged was competition the that and Japan wartime in members had pre-selected winning entries the the before other jury members had a chance to examine all the entries, thereby completely dismiss- news- from But designs.39 winning architecturalsignificance the the of ing petition be considered a trial run and that the process be repeated.38 The “tombstone” designs winning the labeled mockingly architects disgruntled style for the resemblance of their compositions—several lower layers of mented mented that the fallen heroes deserved better.37 One architect described “irritating”as and entries winning of exhibition the viewing experience his de- abysmal such world the in “how unpleasant”wondered and “extremely com- the that proposed he tone, bitter a In winners.” as selected were signs unsuccessful The selected. was entries modernist their of none as pointing, disdain. Nu- architecturevoice their entrants journals to used professional merous journals championed the modernist entries by dedicating gener- these time, same the At photographs. their to pages glossy of numbers ous futile, as competition the criticized entries, winning the disparaged articles and calledcompetition. another for example, For an editorial in the archi- journaltecture cern over the “banality and lack of skill in the winning designs” and com- signs. signs. As a stark contrast, the firstprize for the type-threedesign, which became the model for most of the memorials built in Japan, was a simple a pedestal a tall, that tower from also func- slender featuring rising design tionedan ossuary. as 244 Akiko Takenaka power power of kitsch: they understood that just as the tectural culture, these senior were architects capable of acknowledging the archi- Japanese in modernism high petitions. of Trainedadvent beforethe com- previous the of those different from no were then, competition, this Do not start construction until the time is right.” Coupled with the head the with Coupled right.” is time the until construction start not Do warned, “Prepare cautiously for construction with the above items in mind. document the on item last The them.45 build to impossible it made tively effec- which yen, 300 to yen 200 of amount minimal a to villages),for yen (50,000 yen designfor competition 20,000 cities, yen for towns, and 5,000 the of announcement the at noted originally amounts the from drastically memorials. of new constructing instead The recommended budget was cut cemeteries military of use the recommending and construction memorial by new discouragingestablishmentof forthe committees level local the at project the of scope the downsized further notice feasible. The financially when only built be would memorials the that stated November, in issued Incident,”China the with Associated Structures of Construction the “On notice public Army’s The dramatically. changed had stance its however, November, By cemeteries.44 military in memorials the for land provide to offering and assistance financial promising by movement construction chūreitō the for enthusiasm strong showed initially Army The building.43 memorialIncident,” China the local of principles basic the outlined which with Associated Building Memorial Regarding“Matters document the in meeting was distributed to governors throughout Japan on February 2, 1939, memorial that they could call their own and visit daily.42 The outcome ofthe local a for Tokyoin Shrine Yasukunifrom far living people from demand growing a to response in was This memorials.41 war of construction the for project nationwide a discuss sameto the year of 18 January on met had sentatives from the Interior, Army, Navy, Welfare, and Education ministries of the Greater Japan Committee to Exalt the Dead Loyal in May 1939, repre- made anamountthat reducedto their unfeasible. construction drastically been had memorials local the of construction the for budget ommended ishedconsiderably during year. first by the In fact, November 1939the rec- dimin- had project chūreitō the supporting in interest their that indicates project the of stages early the in police the and military the by distributed documents of series A itself. project the in interest little had military the effectively inwar memorials. death communicated recognizable as Japanese in public architecture, the “tombstone” style most Not that the military had always been uninvolved. Before the founding the Before uninvolved. been always had military the that Not fact, In design. a of selection the in input little had then, military, The Nihon shumi style was easily Architecture for Mass-Mobilization 245 , with-Asahi, Shimbun followed the memorial project with a focus on fund- Asahi Despite Despite the military’s lack of interest, the project, boosted by media The project toconstruct memorials smallin towns and villages was, In fact, the Army already had plans to construct chūreitō memorials then, then, not a priority for the military and the state. The chūreitō construc- well as fund drives for memorial construction, the military and the state successfully reassured people of the viability of the project by creating the impression that they were responding to the demands of the competition it. on little expended theywhile, in fact, com- actual the in resulted that movement mass a intodeveloped publicity, pletion of of memorials in a variousnumber areas throughout Japan. Even the restriction of materials due did to war not dampen the ongoing strong tion movement had developed as a solution to popular demands for local Loyal the Exalt to Committee Japan Greater the establishing By memorials. War Dead, which organized an open competition for memorial design as yama yama chūreitō project design would have conflicted with the outcome of competition,projectthe quietly replaced those of in Wakayama the charge the 1940, 20, April On competitionresult. the with design their out reference to its earlier announcement of the completion of chūreitō for design its completed militaryjust had the that again once noted design, (figure 1).47 memorial the on April 8, 1939, it announced that the local Army troop had received the set the received had troop Army local the that announced it 1939, 8, April on edition Wakayama the year, a For Ministry.46 Army the by issued drawings of of the Waka- ongoing Since the voluntaryof local and the raising residents. labor in each garrison city throughout Japan prior to the establishment of the blueprint to be used Greater Committee to Japan The Loyal Exalt the Dead. Ministrylong Army the by completed been already had memorials these for before the design competition was announced in August 1939. In Waka- example, yama for localCity, newspapers announced on February 2, 1939, and cemetery, militarylocal the inside memorial a build to plans Army’s the intended intended to support the actual construction at regional levels—a drastic the enthusiasticfrom thatsupport change the Army showed in its internal dis- public broad the in engaging by Nevertheless, February1939. of memo cussion of memorial building, the military was taking part in the mainte- project. memorial the nance of a political on focused consensus note indicating the main objective of the project was to build memorials and several on “the itemsmajor battlefields of thatthe Imperial all Army,” but discouraged the construction of chūreitō, concluded it might be safely longer no committee competition, the the of deadline the eventhat,before 246 Akiko Takenaka try. By selecting a design from a competition that encouraged all Japanese all encouraged that competition a fromdesign a selecting By try. as noble deeds that honored those who had given up their lives for the coun- tomedia chūreitō that construction all aestheticized contributed sacrifices many, simply taking part in the project was a way to mourn a loss. The mass For own. their call could they that national something for sacrifice to and together act to residentsthe enabledthe of war, project end beforethethe cution. Even in regions that were not able to complete a chūreitō memorial tion had been done. The effect of the project did not depend onits actual exe- never did(figures2and3).50one, thoughthey build to plans had villages and towns, cities, 1,500 and completion; near were 140 completed; been had memorials chūreitō 124 only 1942, 1, ber Octo- of As war.the of end the before achieved not was village and town, city, every in memorials chūreitō construct to goal the resources, and time committees that had received approval for construction.49 But due to lack of The blueprint forthe modifiedmemorial was distributed on request to local materials.48unavailablethe without built be to it allow to prototype the of revision Kōichi’s Satō was conditions these against work to effort valiant iron required to construct the structures according to the original plan. One and steel the secure to impossible become had it completed, were Shōichi Hoshino by designed prototype type-three the following four- memorials teen when 1941, February By building. memorial for enthusiasm local author. 1. memorial,Chūreitō Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, Photograph 1941. bythe Des pite this lack of actualization, the ideological work of the competi the of work ideological the actualization, of lack this pite - 2. One example of a chūreitō memorial completed before the end of the Asia-Pacific War, Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture (formerly Echi Village), 1943. Photograph by the author.

3. Immediately after the end of the Occupation, many towns and villages resumed their effort to construct chūreitō memorials. Chūreitō memorial, Koayu Village, Kanagawa Prefecture, 1957. Photograph by the author. 248 Akiko Takenaka mass media, which followed every step of the projects’ development atthe development ofthe projects’ step mass media, whichfollowed every the of collaboration the memorialized. With those of footsteps the in low fol- to men encourageyoung and behind left those console both to meant also recognized as the highest honor bestowed on the common man. It was The memorialization of deceased family members inthese monuments was ing were channeled a into collective aspiration succeed to in the war effort. tied to the and state its imperialist endeavors. Feelings of grief and mourn- and sacrificetransformed were the of community acollective memory into loss of memories personal project, state-organized a in effort invested nal for a single day that they had lost their lives in battle. Throughthis commu- imagining by sacrifices their endure to instructed who were civilians front of moneythe donation and labor of sacrifice: type by thea different home- demonstrated creation of process their battle, in lives their lost who men the general public asachūreitō. by recognizable easily was then, memorial, resulting Each process. design the in part took nation entire the that impression the created project the to participate, rather than limiting to participation professional architects, Notes ofthe Asia-Pacific years War. ful tool forpolitical mobilizing home-front communities through the later power- a as functioned movement chūreitō the levels, local and national 1. If and Meaning Haven,(New Conn.: Yale Press, University 1993); Daniel J. Sherman, of California Press, 1998); James Young, University (Berkeley: the Vietnam the VeteransMemorial and Memory Wall:to American tory Winter,Jay See executed. and proposed were projects memorial which through processes the on focusing by approach biographical more a taken have Sherman, Daniel and YoungJames as such Others, wall. the at leave people that mementos the surrounding the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.—in particular, ric, and ceremonies of bereavement.” Kristin Ann Hass has studied private rituals War in Europe, Jay Winter examines war memorials as “foci of the rituals, rheto- that took place. For example, in his study of the cultural legacy of the First World process of memorial creation, as well as the rituals and ceremonies of mourning the examine to begun haverecently, Morestudies design. such on strictly based cal symbolism, thus excluding many that were not deemed worthy of examination Studies of war memorials have often focused on their artistic qualities and politi- the physical presence of these memorials symbolized the sacrifice of sacrifice the symbolized memorials these of presence physical the (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Kristin Ann Hass, Ann Kristin 1995); Press, University Cambridge (Cambridge: Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural His- Cultural European in War Great The Mourning: of Sites Memory, of Sites The Memorials Holocaust of Memory: Texture Carried Carried Architecture for Mass-Mobilization 249

Journal (Tokyo: 47 (1988): Mortality9, Jūgonen Sensō)” to (Tokyo: Iwanami Sho- Asian Folklore Studies ),” coined by Sensō),” the Taiheiyō Allied Yasukuni Yasukuni Jinja (Chicago: University of Chicagoof UniversityPress, (Chicago: : Religion and Politics in Contemporaryin Politics and Religion : Yasukuni Yasukuni no sengoshi (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, (Tokyo: Iwanami Iwanami (Tokyo: shisō no Yasukuni shōkon: Ireito Chūkonhi no kenkyū and several articles on the sub- ),” which signifies),” byits name alonewars the that Hiroshima Traces: Hiroshima Traces: Time, Space, and the Dialectics of Memory Samayoeru eirei tachi: Kuni no mitama, ie no hotoke Ajia Taiheiyō Sensō Taiheiyō Ajia 25.4 (March 1993): 386–434. For a summary386–434.a Eng- in 25.4hōgaku 1993): (March Ryūkoku For dissociate chūreitō from Shintōism in an effort to recover apure image of the on on here, however, is distinct. Although they have never commanded political attention comparable toShrine, Yasukuni the chūreitō have been scrutinized in associationmilitarywith the with Statein and their Shintō postwar the yearsfor the years before 1945. Few historical studies of chūreitō exist, however. Ōhara the book has published Yasuo ject. But Ōhara’s works focus primarily on the fate of the memorials after the Shintō Directive (1945) that separated religion and state. He also attempts to see Awazu Kenta, “Kindai Nihon nashonarizumu ni okeru hyōshō no hen’yō” Sociologica 26.1–2 (December 2001): 1–33. most cases the difference inhow they arenamed doesnot necessarily translate into a difference in thenature of theThememorial. particular type that focus I For the role of war memorials in the promotion of nationalism in modern Japan, Japan, modern in nationalism of promotion the in memorials war of role the For ten, 1984); Murakami Shigeyoshi, ten,1984); Murakami Shoten, 1974); Nobumasa, Tanaka include include the Japanese aggression in China. I toprefer use the more recent “Asia- WarPacific ( lish, see Lisa Yoneyama, 3. (Berkeley: fn. 220, Press, 1999), of California University 2002). English sources on Yasukuni Shrine include John Breen, “The Dead and Shrine,” Yasukuni Land Livingthe in the Peace: of Sociology A the of of Asian 62, Studies no. 2 (May 2003): 445–67; Klaus Antoni, and “Yasukuni-Jinja Folk Religion: The Problem ofVengefulSpirits,” Occupation forces in place of the official Japanese name,“Greater East Asian fails (Daitiōa toWar Sensō ),” include the invasions in East Asia. In the 1980s, the ( War cultural proposed Shunsuke “Fifteen-Year criticTsurumi nam- the On States. United the with as well as countries Asian with fought Japan Taiheiyō no Sensō koshō “Ajia see Kisaka Jun’ichirō, War, of the Asia-Pacificing toseikaku,” The ConstructionThe France Memory Interwar of in 1999). undertook from 1931 toWar ( 1945. “Pacific no. 1 (February 2004): 76–93; John Nelson, “Social Memory as Ritual Practice: Military the of Spirits Shinto Shrine,” Commemorating Dead Yasukuni at Kashiwa Shobō, 2002), 52–53. Shobō, Kashiwa Tanakamaru Katsuhiko, Tanakamaru Some Some twenty Japanese terms are used to refer to war memorials, although in Numerous Numerous writings on Yasukuni exist in Japanese, yet most scholars have approached the subject with a political bent. For an Yasukuni problem, overviewsee, e.g., of Ōe Shinobu, the so-called No No consensus has emerged regarding the proper term for the wars that Japan Yasukuni Jinja Hōan Jinja “Yasukuni Powles, Cyril 123–36; 1976): 491–505. 49, 3 (fall no. Affairs Pacific Japan,”

. 3. 6. 2. 5. 4

250 Akiko Takenaka

10. 11. 9. 8. 7.

Barbara Miller Lane, Lane, Miller Barbara Examples include Inagaki Eizō, Eizō, Inagakiinclude Examples hmu-h, 95; n idem, and 1985); shimbun-sha, (Chiba: Chiba-ken gokoku 1998); jinja, idem, chūkonhi no Chiba-ken chōsashū kenritsu tō chūkonhi Kanagawa-ken ed., Yasukuni Jinja, Shrine: kuni sponsorship Ebinecompiledby Isao, with war-memorial frominventories Yasu- volumesof several foundin be can memorials chūreitō existing of Photographs 1983):16, 1–34. no. 1(June Hirano Takeshi, “Chūkonhi to irei-sai o meguru rekishi ninshiki,” ni,” sozai o ishibumi’ no ‘Sensō ‘Chūkonhi,’ shi Isao Ebine kōsatsu: no tsuite ni “Sensōhi 27–55; 1984): ruary botsushahi to ‘chūkonhi’: aru chūkonhi soshō ni yosete,” chūkonhi, ireihi tō ni tsuite,” no “Sengo Jirō: Kagotani by following the include chūreitō on works historical atete” o shōten ni undō kensetsu chūreitō to seiritsu no Gokokujinja kenkyū: no chūkonhi “Zoku Ōhara Yasuo,religion: Princeton Princeton Architectural Press, 1988), 129. Diane Ghirardo, “City and Theater: The Press,1985). University Harvard (Tokyo:nesuku AsahiShoten, 1995). Iwanami Shoten, 1993); Inoue Shōichi, Terunobu Fujimori 1979); Shuppankai, Kajima Verso,tion (London: 2007), 29–30. specifically by distortion and dissimulation”: Terry Eagleton, ideas and beliefs which help the of interests a legitimate to ruling group or class “signifies ideology which in definition, fifth Eagleton’s of meaning the on take to started Japan wartime in ideology involved, were propaganda and censorship When groups. and classes subordinated of complicity the securing by also but of tivities a dominant social power not only through importing ideas from above ac- the through interests sectoral of legitimating and promotion forthe used is the general use of the term is derived from his fourth definition, in which ideology and interpretation from My thespecific. thegeneral to varying ideology of tions In summing Terry offers up the “What IsEagleton chapter ideology?” six defini Japanese History, 2003). Kingendai kinenhihōkokusho: kenkyū kansuru ni sensō no title the under 2003 March in published was progress Its 93. Architecture.”Fascist of Rhetoric Dennis P. Doordan, under way by a team organized by the National Museum of Japanese History. Japanese of Museum National the by organized currently team a is by way scale under nationwide a on research Similar 2001). jinja, gokoku ken Nihon bunka kenkyōjo kiyō kenkyōjo bunka Nihon Building Italy:Modern (New ItalianYork: Architecture, 1914–1936 Tko Jna hmso 19) idem, 1995); Shamusho, Jinja (Tokyo: Art and Politics in Germany, 1918–1945 Germany, in Politics and Art (Tokyo: Akatsuki Shobō, 1984); idem, 1984); Shobō, Akatsuki (Tokyo: kenkyū no ūkonhiCh Rekishi Rekishi hyōron 329 (September 1977): “Sen-89–107; Nihon no kindai kenchiku: Sono seiritsu katei seiritsu Sono kenchiku: kindai no Nihon Tōkyō-to chūkonhi tō kenritsu chōsashū kenritsu tō chūkonhi Tōkyō-to um-e n cūet nado chūreitō no Gunma-ken Rekishi hyōron Rekishi 8, nos. 1–2 (1996): 165– (1996): 1–2 nos. 8, Review ItalianStanford Senjika Nihon no kenchikuka: Aato kitchu japa- (Tokyo: Jinja Shamusho, 1995); idem, 1995); Shamusho, Jinja (Tokyo: 52 (September 1983): 47–104. Other 47–104. 1983):(September 52 Sensō no ishibumiSensō 444 (April 1987): 96–107. Also, Also, 96–107. 1987): (April 444 , Nihon no kindai kenchiku kindai no Nihon , (Chiba: National Museum of Rekishi Rekishi hyōron 406 (Feb- Hibunken shiryō no kiso kiso no shiryō Hibunken (Cambridge, Mass.: (Cambridge, Tksk: Gunma- (Takasaki: Ideology: An Introduc- (Saitama: Saitama Saitama (Saitama: Chūkonhi Ryūkoku hōgaku ; Ebine Isao, Ebine ; vl 1 2 1, vol. , (Tokyo: (Tokyo: - Architecture for Mass-Mobilization 251 Asahi , Shimbun Journalof Tōkyō Nichi Taikei Nihon Taikei , , ed Richard J. Dōmei (Pittsburgh: Uni- (Chicago: University (Chicago: (Chicago and London: and (Chicago (Tokyo: Dōwa Shunjūkai, Shunjūkai, Dōwa (Tokyo: , the journal published by published journal the , Chūgai sangyō , Clement Greenberg: The Collected Journal of the Societyof Architec- 15, no. 11 (November (November 11 no. 15, hikari no Ie , and , Shimbun Yomiuri Kokumin 26 (spring 1984): 99–116.1984): (spring 26 Oppositions , August 2–4, 1939; Kishida Hi- Kishida 2–4, August , 1939; Shimbun Kenchikuzasshi Fascism, Fascism, Aesthetics, and Culture Chūreitō monogatari Chūreitō Asahi (Osaka), Inside ThirdInside Reich the , , Shimbun Miyako (New York: Macmillan, 1970), writing, Macmillan, “If 1970), takesone York: (New Chūreitō monogatari, 234–35. Neighborhood and Nation in Tokyo, 1905–1937 Tokyo, Neighborhood in and Nation The Construction of Memory in Interwar France Interwar in Memory of Construction The Mainichi Mainichi Shimbun (Osaka), November 18, 1939. November (Osaka), Asahi Shimbun , Shimbun Hōchi Inside the Third ReichThird the Inside (Osaka), the Architecturalthe Institute of Japan. as well as the in September 1939 issue of of issue 1939 September in the as well as Daniel J. Sherman, Sherman, J. Daniel Clement Clement Greenberg, and “Avant-Garde Kitsch” in Francesco Dal Co, “The Stones of the Void,” Void,” the of Stones “The Co, DalFrancesco University of ChicagoUniversity Press, 1986), 5–22. Shimbun , Shimbun Nichi chūreitō,” no “Manshū Takeo, Satō 6–8,, August Asahi Shimbun 1939. deto, “Chūreitō shikan,” Essays and Criticism. Vol. 1 Perceptions and Judgments 1939–1944 Judgments and Perceptions 1 Vol. Criticism. and Essays against China. In 42,000 1939, more lost their lives: Eguchi Keiichi, Contemporary HistoryContemporary 31 (1996): 245–52. famil- for desire such France, interwar of case the In 183. 1999), Press, Chicago of iar types was more prevalent in the lower and middle ranges of the monument market. 340. 1993), Shōgakkan, (Tokyo: no taisen no rekishi, vol. 14, Futatsu George Mosse, “Fascist Aesthetics and Society: Some Considerations,” Aesthetics Society:and “Fascist Mosse, George Considerations,” Some Barbara Miller Lane supports Dal Co’s analysis in her review of Albert Speer’s memoir, extremean is eclecticism”: projectsand emerges what together buildings the all Barbara Miller Lane, reviewof 32, no. 4 (December 1973): 341–46. 4 (December 1973): Historians no. 32, tural Ibid.; see also Hishikari, The series was laterpublished as a book under theauthorship of Army General Takashi, Hishikari Takashi: Hishikari 1942). 1939. October 7, , Asahi Shimbum Ibid., November 24, 1939. Ibid., November Ibid.; see also Ibid., August 9–10,Ibid., August 1939. kataru,” o kangeki to shingi no kenshō “Chūreitō 116–23. 1939): Golsan (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1992), xiii. 1992), University England, New Press of N.H.: (Hanover, Golsan Richard Golsan, J. “Introduction” in In 1937 and 1938 alone, more than 61,000 Japanese soldiers died in the war For a For study of neighborhood organization in early-twentieth-century Japan, see Sally Ann Hastings, Press, 1995). of Pittsburgh versity , July 1, 1939. Asahi Shimbun Asahi , Shimbun August 2 (Manchuria), August 3 (Japan), and August 4 (Europe), 1939. , August 25, 1939. TheAsahi, same announcement August Shimbun was25, 1939. in published

. 7. 3. 2. 5. 9. 4. 17. 1 1 1 16. 12. 21. 18. 1 2 23. 25. 2 20. 26. 28. 29. 24

252 Akiko Takenaka

34. 42. 40. 30. 38. 39. 3 43. 3 3 37. 3 4 31. 2. 5. 6. 3. 1.

(Tokyo: Kajima shuppan-kai, 1986). On December 3, 1939, Asahi ShimbunAsahi , 3, 1939.October 233–34.Ibid., Kishida Hideto, “Chūreitō kyōgi sekkei nyūsen an o miru,” Hishikari, Lecture by Satō Kōichi at the Architectural Institute of Japan; transcript pub- transcript Japan; of Institute Architectural the at Kōichi Satō by Lecture jinja-kyokuchō tsūchō, “Shina Jihen ni kansuru hihyō kensetsu no ken,” Feb- ken,” no kensetsu hihyō kansuru ni Jihen “Shina tsūchō, jinja-kyokuchō Keiho-kyokuchō gō, 10 dai kō keihatsu Keiho-kyoku design. memorial in ism data inYasukunidata Jinja hyakunenshi, vol. 1(Tokyo: Yasukuni 1983). Jinja, on based numbers these calculated I war. the of end the by enshrined officially been had 189,261 only 1945, and 1931 between lost lives million 2.3 over the Of general the for events one-time to professionalsfuture aspiring targeting tions competi annual acclaimed ranging from varied, competition the of nature The in Japan, 1868–1945,” Ph.D. diss., Yale University, New Haven, 2004. Mass-Persuasion: of Sites “The Aesthetics Warin Architectural and essay this in included documents the of translation full a provide I Japan. of Archives tional Records, availableforalso are Japan at 1945 Center priorHistorical Asian to Na- issued documents Military respectively. Studies, Defense for Institute National the in Archives Military the and Japan of Archives National the at available are war the during military the and police the by issued Documents 1939. 2, ruary Shimbun 19,Asahi 1939., January 63. 1940): “Kōsaku bunka”), 8(January Gendai kenchiku ture competitions, see Ōmi Sakae, For a further description of the style as well as its significance in prewar architec readership.sored increase bynewspapersandmagazines to spon- competitions the were popular more Far success. to gateway a musicians Nichi Shimbun the by 1931 since sponsored competition music annual The public. lished inShinkenchiku 15, no. 1939): 10(October 489–95. 1966). Naohiko, Masaki 12: December from days three for place took that process selection final ingthe dur- participated only sub-jury,member the a Naohiko.of whonot Masaki, was member, Masaki jury one of diary the in confirmed is meeting 2 December The was to meet on sub-jury December 3 and its process start selection immediately. formed by four architects and an army engineer. The article further notedthat the jury members had taken place on December 2, during which a group sub-jury was 2–4. 1940): ruary–March Inoue Shōichi, E-mail correspondence 16, Kurita 2004. with Kōji,May The document instructed against lavishness and prohibited religious symbol- religious prohibited and lavishness against instructed document The editorial monthly the of (part happyō” an nyūsen sekkei kenshō “Chūreitō Chūreitō monogatari,148–62. Chūreitō and Senjika Nihon,168. nokenchikuka Mainichi , vol. 4 (Tokyo: Chūō kōron bijutsu shuppan, bijutsu kōron Chūō (Tokyo: 4 vol. , nikki Shōdō Jūsan Asahi

Shimbun Shimbun announced that a preliminary meeting of the (Osaka), for example, provided skilled amateur Kenchiku Kenchiku sekkei kyōgi: Konpetishon no keifu to tenbō Gendai kenchiku 9 (Feb- Tōkyō Nichi Tōkyō - -

Architecture for Mass-Mobilization 253

, cited in , 180. Most Chūreitō monogatari Shimbun (Osaka), February 21, 1941. Ho- Asahi Heiwa no ishizue: Wakayama-ken chūreitōenkakushi Wakayama-ken ishizue: no Heiwa Naichi Naichi chūreitō kensei chakkō jōkyō ichiranhyō Chūkonhi no kenkyū, 142–43 (Tokyo: Akatsuki shobō, 1984). Num- that by August 1942, 150 structures had been completed been structures had 150 1942, August by thatChūreitō monogatari , Shimbun February 21, 1941; Keiho-kyoku keihatsu kō dai 178 gō Keiho-kyokuchō Jinja-kyokuchō tsūchō: Ibid., April 20, 1940. The budget had increased to 17,000 yen by this The time. Rikufu Rikufu dai 1110 gō Rikugunshō fukukan tsūchō, “Shina Jihen ni kansuru hihyō 1939. February 27, kensetsu ken,” no chūreitō structures that were built faithfully followed the prototype design by Hoshino (later revised by Satō), although their size and Con- proportion varied. following Occupation Allied the after continued memorials chūreitō of struction prototypethe design. along along with documents associated with the construction of the monument at a local elementary school. Dai Nihon Chūrei Kenshōkai, shino shino had specified steel-encased reinforced concretefor the larger structures to be built in cities and towns and reinforced concrete for those to be built in villages. It can be argued that the state never had serious plans to construct the type-three monuments. Steel, included in the initial requirements, was already restricted in 1938. An original copyof Satō’s plan is preserved at the Saitama Prefectural Archives, memorial memorial is outlined in the booklet published by Wakayama-ken Chūreitō Go- jikai, a foundation that maintains the Thefoundation memorial today. operates out of the Peace Hall (Heiwa Kaikan), located on the memorial site, which includes a small exhibition room displaying belongings of those memorialized: Gojikai, Chūreitō Wakayama-ken chūreitō gojikai, 1990). Wakayama-ken (Wakayama: Asahi Ōhara Yasuo, bers vary on example, depending the noted source.for in Hishikari his Takashi, book and construction: were 130 more under Hishikari, Wakayama Wakayama chūreitō, inaugurated on January 15, 1941, features a thirty-three- meter-high tower of steel-reinforced concrete finished follows with the winning granite, design which by Hoshino Shōichi. Thefinal budget to amounted 101,000 yen. Theplanning and constructionprocess of theWakayama City “Shina Jihen ni kansuru hihyō kensetsu no ken,” November 11, 1939. November kensetsu hihyō ken,” ni kansuru no Jihen “Shina 8, 1939. April February (Wakayama), 2, 1939, Asahi Shimbun

9. 47. 45. 50. 48. 46. 4

44.

Jonathan M. M. Jonathan Japan’s Imperial Diet Building in the Debate over Construction of a National Identity R eynol d s

During the 1930s a new monument slowly emerged on the Tokyo skyline. The Imperial Diet Building commanded a prominent site on a hill rising to the southwest of the Imperial Palace grounds. Even before Japan’s national legislature occupied the structure, the government seized on it as a banner for national unity and promoted images of it abroad as proof of the nation’s democratic government. This was an especially difficult claim for this particular government to make, and the Diet was an unlikely centerpiece for such a propaganda campaign. The Diet itself was a comparatively weak organ of the state, and the repressive civilian government teetered on the brink of destruction. The government for nearly a decade had been engaged in the brutal suppression of communists and other dissidents. Japan had for five years been fending off international criticism for its seizure of Manchuria and the installation of a puppet regime there. Only a few months before the building opened, a group of army officers staged an abortive coup and stationed troops at the Diet and other sites throughout central Tokyo. The following year, the military launched its full- scale invasion of China. The building’s design itself was the equivocal prod- Imperial Diet Building, National Identity 255 - wever, wever, the Meiji oligarchs did not intend to surrender their power to 1881, the Meiji emperor 1867–1912) (r. promised to provide a consti From the earliest planning stages in the 1880s, people recognized the Ho In Diet solidified their This position. culminated intheformation ofthe first party cabinet in 1918. Despite the Diet’s growing role, it was by no means the most respected institution in Japanese public Thelife. very process of party politics that brought the Diet newfound influence was widely per- war there As a result, until end of ceived as corruptthe and ineffectual. the was little enthusiasm for party politics, and the Diet as an institution was reflects this buildings Diet the of history The esteem.3 relativelylow in held and included many safeguards to ensure that the oligarchs would retain actual control over the government through their dominance of the Privy Diet the Nonetheless, consultative body. a as formed was Diet The Council. Meiji leaders generation of first the as autonomy of measure some attained began to pass from the scene and as political parties working within the government in the West, the formation of a parliament, it was thought, might help to convince Western powers that Japan was ready to deal with terms.2 equal them on this new institution. The constitution affirmed the emperor’ssovereignty several European models, especially that of Germany, the emperor promul- emperor the Germany, of that especially models, severalEuropean gated a constitution in The1889.1 new bicameral legislature, the Imperial chose leadership Japanese The year. following the time first the for met Diet, to form a parliament along Western lines to solidify a sense At movement.of rights people’s emerging national the from pressure defuse and unity a time when there was also deep concern about the image of the Japanese reached reached on how the Diet could most effectivelyfulfill thatrole. Thecontra- cultural pro- complex the to testify design Diet’s the over debates tracted part as ideas Western of appropriation of process the by generated dictions of an ambitious project of modernization. tution and establish a parliament within ten years. After careful study of unhappy unhappy reminder of failed military adventurism and ineffectual political leadership. future Diet Building’s potential to represent a vision of Japanese national identity both domestically and Yet no internationally. consensus was ever uct of prolonged negotiations and was incapable of presenting a compelling visual argument capable of transcending the problematic institution that it housed. In the end, the building was unable to meet the unrealis- tic demands placed on it. The Diet building emergedfrom the war as an 256 Jonathan M. Reynolds over the design for a more permanentbuilding. debated architects and politicians as structures temporary of series a in status. For tentative the years offirst its existence,the forty-seven Diet met andthe HighCourtof Appeals.of Justice, Ministry the Diet, the including scheme, grand this into fit to were that buildings individual the of several for plans detailed up worked also Böckmann and have offered agrand vista downto the palace moat andthe ministries. Ende Building.AvenueParliament future forDiet thewould reserved palace was buildings, and a main train An station. site elevated to the southwest of the tries linked by broad avenues radiating out to the palace, other government minis- government of ring central large a for called plan their form, final posed a sweeping transformation of a large Tokyo.portion of central In its pro- architects 1887.The in visited Ende Hermann partner his and 1886, in Japan in months several spent Böckmann Wilhelm time.4 this at circle Inoue’s in sentiments pro-German the given surprising, not is firm man Parade Hibiya Grounds directly the south of the Imperial at Palace in Tokyo. complex The choice government of a Ger- a develop to Böckmann and Ende of firm architectural German the minister,invited Kaoru, Inoueeign produced byforeign architects. for the Diet, a building intended to embody the spirit of national unity, were designs earliest the result, a As commissions. critical certain for advisers Western to looked still leaders government but commissions, public cant newly established College of Engineering were beginning to take on signifi- the within program architecture own government’s the in trained chitects at a time of transition for the architectural profession in Japan. Japanese ar- pressions ofthese aspirations. ex- tangible were and image dignified yet contemporary a projected styles modernity. Western in rooted firmly be to needed now identity their that tural styles, not to deny their Japanese cultural identity but, rather, to assert architec- embraced Western also leaders Meiji solutions. The practical for office buildings to house a burgeoning bureaucracyandlooked to the West modern needed government The effort. Architecture that in role nation. important an modern played a into Japan transforming to committed deeply was it 1868, in power to came government Meiji the When period. Meiji the during construction public government-sponsored of program The Imperial Diet Building was only one component of a much broader much a of component only one was Building Diet Imperial The A government commission under the leadership of the pro-Western for Th The German firm produced two plans for the Diet Building. The first The Building. Diet the for plans two produced firm German The e first plans for a building to house the new Diet began to take shape take to began Diet plans the first new e forhouse to building a - 1. Hermann Ende and Wilhelm Böckmann, proposed design for the Japan Imperial Diet Building, version 1, 1887. Archives of the Architectural Institute of Japan.

2. Hermann Ende and Wilhelm Böckmann, proposed design for the Japan Imperial Diet Building, version 2, 1887. From Deutsche Bauzeitung (March 14, 1981). 258 Jonathan M. Reynolds with flanking wings for the two houses of parliament. of houses two flankingwings dome, mansardthe The with for and dome, a by capped pavilion central a in set entrance grand a with ric symmet- bilaterally was meters.facade The 70 by 180 measuring structure masonry a been have would Böckmann, by developed design, proposed government. the of auspices the under working architects Western trained formally by is it that was for such a prominent government building and was produced design this about techniques.6distinctive is construction What and terials builders to combine Western and Japanese ornament using indigenous ma- Japanese by efforts to analogous also is ornament architectural Japanese with methods building and planning Western of hybrid exotic The styles. Renaissanceor Gothic imported alongwith Japan in practice architectural modern into integrated be could that style Japanese a introduce to hoped Ende that speculate might One practice. European contemporary in dent Ministry. Navy designs forJapanese-style the Tokyo Court, and theof theJustice, Ministry created gables.Endealso triangular more and pinnaclesspired with tower multistory a into transformed was pavilion central the above dome stately shaped gable ( bow- a by marked now was design original the in pavilion central the of mental architecture in premodern Japan. The Roman arched main entrance monu- of characteristic roofs tiled hipped-and-gabled became halls lative legis- the over roofs The roofs. tiled upswept by replaced were and roofs that flankedthe legislativewings losttheir oculi neo-baroque and mansard towers small of pairs two gables.The tiled by surmounted masonry cated rusti- of buttresses became facade main the punctuated had that columns engaged of Groups past. architectural Japan’s to allude to intended tures fea- architectural by replaced were “Western” as design first the marked clearly so had that details architectural The alterations. significant some there were however, first; the to similar was proposal second the of sition Japanese its context. to style the architectural 1882.5Reichstagand 1872 German in There accommodate effort to no was be traced to the architects’ own entries in architectural competitions for the can design the of characteristics specific many fact, In practice. European contemporary of framework the within squarely design the placed details architectural other and windows, pedimented columns, attached roofs, Ende produced an alternative version of the design. The overall dispo- overall The design. the of version alternative an produced Ende There are several possible explanations for this experimentation with with experimentation this for explanations possible several are There The chameleon-like substitution of architectural ornament had prece- had ornament architectural of substitution chameleon-like The karahafu ) and above that by a triangular gable ( chidorihafu ). The Imperial Diet Building, National Identity 259 the the a end, government small only portion and of Böckmann’s Ende’s In TheGerman architects were aware of mounting resistance to thepro- a turning point in cultural politics among the Japanese elite. While there was little chance that the government would backtrack on its support for possible possible to manufacture sufficient brick and other modern building materials to meet the project’s demands, and the soil in critical sections of the was proposed sitebuilding too marshy to support large-scale masonry the both concerning consensus of lack a that likely also is It construction.13 role of foreign architects and the problem of architectural style contributed to the demise Theseof plans werethe formulatedproposals. being at that it would mitigate further opposition to German participation in the project, as well as to policies.11 his other building bitious project was Theremoney. were also concerns that it mightnot be has suggested, Ende may have presented the alternative designs for the Diet the for designs alternative the presented have may Ende suggested, has hostility.10 mounting this deflect to part in structures government other and mayEnde have thought that “Japanicizing” would the proposals minimize the foreignness of the project as a whole, thus reducing nationalist objections. Inoue himself was receptive to second Ende’s plan, possibly hoping Western policies forwarded by Foreign Minister Inoue and others. A passage passage A others. and Inoue Minister Foreign by forwarded policies Western political the in shift a describes Japan to visit his of account Böckmann’s in trip period1887. in between short Ende’s 1886the and in windsin visit his Böckmann mentions criticism of Inoue’s decision to leave the enormous con- being as foreigners of hands the in solely project building government Masaaki Horiuchi historian architectural the As interests.9 trarynational to knew Josiah Conder, who avidly studied Japanese culture and sought to pre- to sought and culture Japanese studied avidly who Conder, Josiah knew serve what he thought of as Oriental architectural elements in contemporary practice.8 These contactsmay have encouraged Ende to acclimate his and tiled gables roofs. the adding Diet by design in the ironic position of advocating traditional Japanese culture in the midst the in culture Japanese traditional advocating of position ironic the in of Japan’s Westernization. Although there is no evidence that Ende met or Wagener Fenollosa, Böckmann did, and it is likely that both architects and would Ende Böckmann ideas. have also been aware of the other men’s Japanese Japanese forms. Undoubtedly, at some level Ende wished to admiration reflect for his Japanese architecture, an admiration that was cultivated through extensive tours of great monuments in architectural Japan’s heri- Western- resident when time a at Japan tocame Böckmann and Ende tage.7 the Germanceramics consultant to Japan’s Wagener, ers such as Gottfried themselves found Fenollosa Ernest philosopher American the and industry, complex was One importantbuilt.12 obstacle to the realization of the am- 260 Jonathan M. Reynolds on a stone bridgeon astone over a river. pause dress Japanese in woman and man A atmosphere. “Oriental” his to shrubs, and Japanese of thethe gardentrees, lanterns setting contributing an oneiric quality. The drawing perspective is rendered, very with delicately have indeed does G.Goodhue Bertram colleague Cram’s by design the of nese government. Ralph Adams Cram, an American architect best known best architect American an Cram, Adams Ralph government. nese Japa-the to Diet the for design offer Orientalized an to Westernarchitects from the West stronger wouldgrow from onward. 1880s the late independence cultural of degree a on insisting voices the modernization, out byJapanese architects. Japan’scarried come,effortsthe such In be would to years modernization. Westby and East threatened between distinctions blurred increasingly the re-sharpen to attempting anxiously was Cram tradition. Japanese of tion construc- self-conscious a through Japan “Japanese” unambiguously an restore to mission nostalgic Westerna was dream Oriental Cram’s 1890s. Orientalist fantasy was far removed from the realities of urban Tokyo in the Japanese. as design This the mark to intended were that roofs tiled storied multi- and gables, plover gables, bow-shaped see we Again capitals. nese Japa- earlier of compounds palace the of precedent the following perhaps sign. His Diet was to be surrounded by a huge enclosure of walls and gates, de- the into features “Japanese” incorporating about insistent more was However, Cram Diet. the of houses the forwings two and pavilion central design further.15 any time Cram had returned to the United States. Cram did not pursue the Diet willing to pay Cram to draw up plans; however, his cabinet had fallen by the be would government the that indicated and impressed was Itō Cram, to According Hirobumi. Itō Minister Prime with interview an secure to able was offices Knapp’s through and design his with Japan to traveled Cram 1898, In conditions.”14 modern to adapted sufficiently but periods, wara Fuji- and Ashikaga the of architecture indigenous the on based “be would signs. Knapp convinced Cram to execute a design for the Diet Building that or by tradition chauvinismAmerican about the German role in the new de- a of loss the by more motivated was concern their whether wonders One influence.” German third-rate under perpetrated being then architecture new terrible very the “deplored Both Knapp. May Arthur named Japan in based minister Unitarian a by contacted was designs, revival Gothic for Cr Ende’s and Böckmann’s second Diet design was not the last effort by effort last the not was design Diet second Böckmann’s and Ende’s Cram’s scheme, like both of the Ende and Böckmann designs, had a had designs, Böckmann and Ende the of both like scheme, Cram’s am referred to the project as an “Oriental dream,” and the renderingdream,”the and “Oriental an as project the to referred am 3. Ralph Adams Cram with B. G. Goodhue, “A Proposal for the Parliament Houses in Tokyo,” 1898. From Ralph Adams Cram, My Life in Architecture (Boston: Little, Brown, 1936).

4. Adolph Stegmueller with Yoshii Shigenori, First Imperial Diet Building, Main Facade, Tokyo, 1890. Archives of the Architectural Institute of Japan. 262 Jonathan M. Reynolds was the principal designer. He was by assisted Yoshii Shigenori, a graduate Böckmann’sfromEnde’sand firm, architect an as Japan to come had who began on a temporary structure to house the future Diet. Adolph Stegmueller, eigners. without furtherThe progress in commission adjourned 1901.17 inadequate.were five of for- byThe jury chosen a be winning would design entries Japanese the if non-Japanese to competition the open to necessary be might it that indicated commission the profession, architectural nese Japa- the of maturity the about doubts to response In architects. Japanese to limited be competition the that proposed commission the nationalism, cultural ReflectingBuilding.growing Diet future the for design a select to organized be competition a that recommended groups these of one 1899, In issue. the study to commissions of series a formed Ministry Home The the architectural community had time to debate more permanent solutions. in 1925. fire by destroyed was too, it, until legislature national the buildinghoused timber rather than clapboarding. This large but undistinguished temporary half- exposed used and larger somewhat was it that except first the lowed fol- closely Building Diet second year.The same the of October by pleted com- was Tietze, Oscar associate, Böckmann Yoshiiand Endeanother and by designed replacement A completed. was it after months two just 1891, tation. ornamen- of minimum roofs.gabled a simple There was with covered and windows Roman-arched with lit were chamber each over rising pavilions with a central entry and wings for each of the two legislative chambers. The designs, earlier the to close was plan The Grounds. Parade Hibiya the of south the to but designated had BöckmannEnde and that site elevated the fair than Ende’s and Böckmann’s stately designs. It was constructed not on theable construction. moveforward with to was government the proposals, earlier the than less considerably cost and temporary was it because perhaps but had, designs earlier the objections in architect somethesame of German haveraised a could it Western style, the first session ofthe Diet.16 Sincethis newDiet was designed primarily by HomeMinistry.time for in in 1890 The buildingcompleted November was the from architect an as served who College Engineering Imperial the of The Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905tabled further consideration ofthe In 1888, as the deadline for the opening of the Diet approached, work approached, Diet the of opening the for deadline the as 1888, In Wit This building burned down as a result of an electrical fire in January January in fire electrical an of result a as down burned building This af- modest more much a was building clapboard wood two-story The h the completion of a temporary Diet Building, Diet theand government temporary a of theh completion [Duke University Press does not hold electronic rights to this image. To view it, please refer to the print version of this title.]

5. Kobayashi Kiyochika, “Burning of the Japanese Diet Building,” 1891. Woodblock print, Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library Special Collections Room.

6. Yoshii Shigenori and Oscar Tietze, Second Imperial Diet Building, Main Facade, Tokyo, 1891. Archives of the Architectural Institute of Japan. 264 Jonathan M. Reynolds lent opportunity to explore this thorny problem. In May 1910, the Kenchiku the Diet went to Europe and the United States in 1908 to study Western study to 1908 in States United the and Europe to went Diet the of houses both of representatives and Ministry Treasury the of Members Ministry. Home the from project public important this of control wrest to Aftertheyears. Buildingwar, sought for Diet several the Ministry Treasury marked the main entrance, and an ungainly domed tower rose high above high rose portico tower ungainlydomed an and entrance, A pedimented main the marked wings. flanking two and pavilion entry central a with introduced, had Böckmann and Ende that arrangement basic same Fukuzō of the Imperial Household Ministry. Watanabe’s followedentry the then put on public display. The commission awarded firstprize to Watanabe selected for were the second stage designs of the competition. twenty The finalists’ designs these, were of and submitted, were entries 118 Initially, Building. Diet the for design a select to competition architectural an nize identity. community Japan’s of vision clear single, a on however, agree, not could panelists The ideals. national its about something communicate would architecture public futureJapan’s since mattered, style of choice the that agreed forms.20Speakers architectural Japanese earlier and Western both position. Several panelists proposed forging a new style that would draw on appropriate choice for a modern nation. Another took a more traditionalist purely a most thedramatically. as Westernadvocated Onestyle participant varied Opinions participants. all of minds the on was Diet future the of style the that such was timing the terms, general in couched was cussion dis- panel the Although nation. the for style architectural future propriate apan on discussion panel a sponsored Institute) (Architectural Gakkai over themunity issue ofstyle.19 com- architectural the within debate intense the of reflection one just was article This spirit.” national “Japanese contemporary reflected accurately more Building.”that Japan’sDiet called Meiji-period style forauthorThe a all, one would not expect manifestto in Italy the spirit of century sixteenth [A]fter . . . building. the of style architectural the through manifested be mous author insisted that the “national spirit and the spirit of the age must anony- press.One architectural the in attacked immediately was that tion recommenda- a Diet, the forappropriate most the be to Renaissancestyle Italian the considered commission chair.18This as Tarō Katsura Minister Prime Building,with Diet the on commission the own formed Treasuryits 1910, In Diet. the for models appropriate considered buildings, legislative The yetanother created Ministry commission, into orga 1918, Treasury Th e ongoing study of the design for the Diet Building offered an excel an offered Building Diet the for design the of study ongoing e - - Imperial Diet Building, National Identity 265 ).”21 ).”21 Shimoda illustrated his teikan heigō shiki o much was at stake in the choice of styles this importantfor building The new Diet was constructed with a steel and reinforced concrete Members Members of the Treasury commission were not entirely satisfied with S The architect Shimoda Kikutarō had entered a design in the competition the in design a entered had Kikutarō Shimoda architect The stouter tower and than Watanabe’s, it is capped with a stepped pyramidal commissionmayThe roof haverather borrowedthan this a distinc-dome. of sixteen years between the groundbreaking in 1920 and the opening of the the of opening the and 1920 in groundbreaking the between years sixteen of completed in first session structurethe 1936. in December frame faced with gray granite. Its overall disposition is strikingly similar likelydrewis it thatcommission and competition the entry, Watanabe’s to heavily from that design in the development of its own.24 The Diet has a follow- plan compromise a on They settled competition the of designs. any ing negotiations with representatives of the Diet, and construction began This wassoon anthereafter.23 enormous undertaking that required a total Itō Itō Chūta, who advocated incorporating elements from Japan’s architectural past into contemporary crit- practice, harshest was one of Shimoda’s critique is clearly Itō’s ics. 1921 manuscriptreflected in of in an unfinished build- of logic structural the violated work Shimoda’s that argued he which and classicalEuropean the both of spirit the undermined and materials ing Japanese styles. He went so as far to declare design Shimoda’s a “national disgrace.”22 that Shimoda was vigorously attacked by many of his colleagues. Curiously, Curiously, colleagues. his of many by attacked vigorously was Shimoda that perial crown synthesis style ( ideas with a design close to Watanabe’s first-prizeneoclassical work up to the cornice line. On top of this neoclassical structure, Shimoda placed pavilions with hipped-and-gabled Theroofs. pavilions over the legislative combina- The gables. plover and gables bow-shaped sported even chambers tion of a modern masonry structure and architecturalJapanese details was juxtaposition brash of neoclassical and but Shimoda’s forms new, nothing Japanese elements was striking. Shimoda pressed his case unsuccessfully severalfor years. the center of the structure. The roofline was flat, and the ornamentation was ornamentation the and flat, was roofline The structure. the of center the than its subdued more German predecessors. of 1918, but it was not in included the second was round, not and satis-he fied with thedesigns of the finalists. He submitted a petition and design architects contemporaryJapanese that argued Shimoda Diet. the to directly Japa- characterized had beautythatpoetic “sublime the with touch lost had nese architecture since ancient He times.” proposed combining European classicism with style” “pure Japanese in a new style that called he the “Im- 7. Watanabe Fukuzō, proposal for the Imperial Diet Building, first-prize design for the Imperial Diet Competition of 1918–19. From Kenchiku sekai no. 134 (1919).

[Duke University Press does not hold electronic rights to this image. To view it, please refer to the print version of this title.]

8. Shimoda Kikutarō, proposal for the Imperial Diet Building, design for the Imperial Diet Competition of 1918–19. From Shimoda Kikutarō, Shisō kenchiku, self published, 1928. Imperial Diet Building, National Identity 267 Graf Graf including Asahi Shimbun article covering the ceremonies celebrating ).” It is likely that the designers arrived at thismodernstyleat arrived designers likely thatthe is It ).” kinseishiki w did w the form of the new Diet Building, which was consonant with t the time of completion, sources described the building as “modern The Diet wasdescribed as a“modern” buildingproduced bymeans of Ho A Japan among the great builders of the world. This interpretation of national interpretation of This world. the of builders great the among Japan length the dimensions of the structure and offered a chart comparing them comparing chart a offered and structure the of dimensions the length with those of other great structures in Japan and elsewhere, including the Great Buddha Hall at Tōdaiji, the Egyptian Pyramids, and the airship iden- national asserting of Instead accomplishments. technological Japan’s cultures, this was a claim for other from Japan tity by distinguishing the the completion of the building read “TheCrystallization of the People’s The of DignityEffort: of This Great ArchitectureConstructed Years Twenty DomesticPurely Products.”28 from the latest technology. One government publication documented at great trance to the Diet and the chrysanthemums (the imperial crest) carvedcrest) imperialinto chrysanthemums(the the and Diet the tranceto the woodwork in the legislative chambers, but these represent a relatively minor aspect of the building design as a The whole. divisive issue ofJapa- be materials building all that requirement a by addressed also was neseness publications.27 governmentcontemporary in emphasized fact a Japan, from A headline in an Zeppelin.29 This was clearly an appeal tonational identity throughpride in nationality of the designer—did not present the problem it had in the 1880s. 1880s. the in had it problem the present not designer—did the of nationality One frequently proposed strategy for situating the building culturally had design doesThe past. been to historicizing detailJapan’s appropriate from closely symbol (a phoenixes the as motifs decorative Japanese such include associated with imperial rule) carved in shallow relief over the main en- through a process of suppressing potentially problematic European and Japanese historicizing detail rather than through a positive affirmation of with contemporaryform in line simplified modernist thought. international architectural practice, address the concerns that this symbol of national unity be Japanese? By the 1920s one bone of contention—the style( tive feature from the third-place entry Recently, by Shinshichi.25 Takeuchi with associated was form architectural this that argued has Hiroyuki Suzuki level at might one and Hirobumi that Itō Meiji building oligarch the the be interpreted as a memorial to thisadvocate longtime the Meiji constitu-for tion and the Diet.26 Themassing of the building is vaguelyneoclassical in feel but lacks the extensive neoclassical detailing that characterized Wata- work. nabe’s 9. Special Diet Architecture Office, Treasury Ministry, Imperial Diet Building, Main Facade, Tokyo, 1936. Archives of the Architectural Institute of Japan.

10. Paper model of the Imperial Diet Building made by Nakamura Seika, published by Shōnen kurabu (Youth Club Magazine), 1935. Imperial Diet Building, National Identity 269 featured featured Illustrated Japan Asahi Shimbun a few days before the , which published in multiple lan- Nippon (Youth Club), which regularly sent do-it-yourself Shōnen kurabu t should be noted that even as the new Diet took shape in the late 1920s 1920s late the in shape tookDiet new the eventhatas noted be should t As the Diet Building neared completion, there were many efforts to I There was also an effort to draw international attention to the new monu- new the to attention international draw to effort an also was There a photograph of a the photograph shot building at a distance, with the caption “The Im- perial moat and the new Diet towering in the background.”34 In 1938, the guages, though privately produced, enjoyed official support, includedthe Diet as one of the featured stops on a hypothetical bus tour of Tokyo tai- Railroad the of Bureau Tourist International The tourists.35 foreign to lored Ministry commissioned several photomontages of Japan, including one for the International Exposition in Paris with (1937) layered images of the steelmodernCastle, Himeji Kamakura, at Buddha Great the DietBuilding, The cherrytrees.36 of profusion a and skiers, downhill Fuji, Mount bridges, Bureau Tourist was attempting to entice foreign visitors with an exciting, annual language English the 1935, as early As ment. Western-language publication even entered the realm of mass advertising. The soy sauce manufacturer Kikkoman placed an advertisement in black striking a Dietshowed that the completionof the ceremonymarking company the by corner one at overlapped tower building’s the of silhouette logo. Through this image, Kikkoman expressed itspublic spirit andpro- moted its products stroke.33 at one magazine magazine projects to its members, issued an elaborate paper model of the Diet for them to Thatbuild.31 same year,one couldpurchase amarble commemorative mantle clock in the shape of the Diet TheBuilding.32 Diet Building gabled tiled roofs or other easily identifiable Japanese architectural features architectural Japanese identifiable easily other or roofs tiled gabled inte-better were programs decorative the cases, these In designs. their into grated than in Diet Shimoda’s design, but the basic strategy Japaniciz- for same.30 was the buildings these ing promote it as a Thenewspapers national included articles symbol. on various stages of the new Diet’s debut. In December young the people’s 1935, national identity in architecture. The competitionsfor the Kanagawa Pre- Household Tokyo Imperial (1930), City Hall Nagoya (1926), Offices fectural Museum (1931), and other prominent public buildings specifically called entries for reflecting what was termed “Japanese taste” and awarded com- hipped-and- incorporated that designs provided who architects to missions identity was much more in with line such Meiji modernizers as who Inoue design. a Diet for search first began the and early 1930s, the battle continued to rage over the issue of style and 270 Jonathan M. Reynolds tural press.the tural profession’s in it to There issue long- special devoted a was ofthe signs nation’s selected carefully traditions. exotic modernized Japan—as represented, in part, by the new Diet—enhanced by parisons with Japan’s Axis ally Nazi Germany are perhaps inevitable. Did Did inevitable. perhaps are Germany Nazi ally Axis Japan’s with parisons com- 1930s, and 1920s late the in buildings government Japanese of tion abroad. if equivocally, as a symbol legible of at governance both modern home and function, to it allowed Building Diet the of classicism simplified lar—the the current building represents a victory of the “universal” over the particu- however, balance, On construction. the into went that materials domestic the hailed defensively newspapers and crests, imperial with branded was building result. The final the on their claim laid camps Both 1880s. in ture moment designersto thefirst and beganspeculate politicians about struc- local.38 Thistension was present inthe history ofthe Diet Building fromthe uniquely be to perceived designs in them apply to sought but ingmethods build- modern employed willingly “universal.”Others or transnational be of certain Western forstyles public buildings because they were to believed the Japaneseresonated with public. suggest that the building the of ever status achieved a national symbol that to evidence little is there abroad, and home at it surrounding publicity the despite Yet scale. and novelty its of because attention attracted Building opposition from one camp or another. When it was first completed,the Diet place in which any fully articulated architectural style and would have time generated a for detail—created neoclassical its of much of denuded sign rather, a long series of committees. It de- is a compromise—a neoclassical committee—or, by design of process a of product the is Building Diet The Conclusion felt for some measure ofresponsibility failure.37 that architects that and profession the within style over conflicts longstanding resolve not did design final the that arguing by reception lukewarm this explains Yamaguchi it. into poured had architects that energy traordinary ex- the and project the of size the given thin surprisingly coverage was the however, out, pointed has YamaguchiHiroshiAs well. as venues, other in journal, established est Wh S The opening of the new Diet received some attention in the architec- the in attention some received Diet new the of opening The ince ince the Meiji Restoration, many architects had advocated the adoption en discussing the political message conveyed through the construc the through messageconveyed political discussingthe en Kenchiku Zasshi Kenchiku , and a few short articles appeared appeared articles short few a and , - Imperial Diet Building, National Identity 271 - ghout ghout the 1930s, the Japanese government faced mounting criti The DietBuilding’s stripped classicism and intimidating scale can be Throu cism for its repressive policies at home and its expansionism abroad. In this context, the government was anxious to deploy images of its newly and each wanted a building style which was both modern and somehow It is at onlythis old.”39 much more levelamorphous that the Diet Building to communicatewas able effectively. vergent vergent political systems. It would be difficult to argue thatthere isone clear meaning embedded in this generalized architectural style. It is not is it politicala ideology expressing of Rather, withcapable great precision. to more interprethelpful the popularityof this style as a more generalized BarbaraMiller nation-states.As modern many facing crisis the to response gov- “Each classicism,” “stripped this of discussion her in Laneargued has ernment felt the need to assure its citizens of its strength and durability, these shares it Yet Speer. Albert architect Nazi the of work the with equated 1930s the of architecture public of examples significant withcharacteristics in the Soviet Union, the United States, and countries other with di- widely agency forwarding an official style: the committee under the Treasury Min- the under committee official the an style: agencyforwarding Imperial the from apart operatedDiet the for plans istry the developedthat Communica- The MinistryHousehold as it built its new museum building. offices, telegraph post its for designs modernist chose Ministryoften tions the cases, these of each in And autonomy. relative with schools and offices, political toanswered government different agency constituen- responsible audiences. different target for cies and designed ment not only sponsored the bland classicism of the Diet but also promoted promoted also but Diet the of classicism bland the sponsored only not ment structures designed in the so-called Japanese taste, such as the Imperial Household Museum, and constructed some of the best high-modern design of the prewar and wartime period, such as the central post offices of communicatedis political message one No (1938). Osaka and (1931) Tokyo by such diverse designs. The government didnot have a single planning of Speer’s monumental Zepplinfeld in Nuremberg would have to compete style”with “Heimat that of the steeply titlethe roofs employed pitched for in housing, schools, and other publicly sponsored construction under the Nazis. And if the effort to locate anational style under theNazis is complicated, the prospect JapaneseThe is govern-just in as challenging Japan. an architecturalan this style period that during un- can and emerge clearly be ambiguously linked to the regime? what To degree did the Diet Building become an emblem of the repressive policies of the Japanese state? Even in Germany, it is difficult to isolate a single“Nazi style.” The classicism 272 Jonathan M. Reynolds

successful or not, the Diet Building was chosen to represent Japan not as an eign governments. One is tempted to conclude that whether this effort was the Diet originally had been formed, in part, to assuage the concerns of for- tages in Japanese pavilions in and Chicago Paris. Both the and constitution photomon- anchor to selected was Museum Household Imperial the than to legislature completed venues around the world. TheDiet Building rather Notes life inadiverse society.political of realities the and process bureaucratic the to lost inevitably was identity The Meiji leaders’ dream of a unifying andtranscendent symbol of national citizenry. angry an from politicians high-handed protecting fortress aloof and stony a of is pictures these emerging from Diet the of impression The turbingtheas in scenes dis- and vivid as just are 1960 in treaty U.S.–Japansecurity the of renewal photographs of massive demonstrations in front of theprotesting Diet the aerial famous phenomenon.42The awesome this of face the in powerless is government the Godzilla, stop to efforts desperate Despite wake. his in crumbles which structure, the through trudges then Building, Diet the Department Store and the Japan Theater. Godzilla loomsthreateningly over crushestheand towers Wacocity,the rampagethrough electrical hemelts his During night. at Tokyo attacks Godzilla monster charismatic the sic, clas- film science-fiction 1954 the In needs.41 their meet to failed it when frustrations public’s the of target ready a and struggles political bitter of site the became Building Diet the result, a as considerably,but expanded the After 1944.40 in thewar war, government thenational rolein theDiet’s suke’s gloomy image of the Diet painting during the dark days at the end of lar. That ambivalence is vividlyexpressed, forexample, in Matsumoto Shun- popu- norpowerful neither was duringthe beforewar and that institution an housed, it that institution the to attached associations the transcended reassuring symbol ofstability, modernity, governance. andconstitutional intimidating assertion of military ambitions and authoritarian will, but as a 1.

Even in the first years after its completion, the building never entirely entirely never building the completion, its after years first the in Even see see Ian Nish, “Some Thoughts onthe Origins ofthe Meiji Constitution,1889,” in models, constitutional European of study leaders’ Japanese of discussion a For (fall 38–47. 1996): in appeared that article an of version revised a is essay This , although they are, perhaps, less cathartic. they although , cathartic. less perhaps, are, Godzilla 55, no. 3 no.55, Journal Art Imperial Diet Building, National Identity 273 - Meiji no oyatoi ken- oyatoi no Meiji (Berlin, 1893), 85, (Cambridge, Mass.: Mass.: (Cambridge, History[The of Mod- , 299–301. Horiuchi is , 24–27. [JapaneseArchitecture:Meiji, Reise nach Indien Meiji Meiji no oyatoi kenchikuka Ende to Bek- Meiji Meiji no oyatoi kenchikuka Ende to Bek- (Boston: Little, Brown, 1936), 98. It Impressions of Japanese Architecture and the Allied the and Architecture Japanese of Impressions Nihon Nihon kindai kenchiku no rekishi [Ende and Böckmann: Foreign Architects in Meiji Japan] Japan] Meiji in ArchitectsForeign Böckmann: and [Ende My My Life in Architecture Party Rivalry and Political Change in Taishō Japan Taishō in Change Political and Rivalry Party Meiji Meiji no oyatoi kenchikuka Ende to Bekkuman Nihon no kenchiku: Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa Taishō, Meiji, kenchiku: no Nihon , 293–98. kenchikuka to Bekkuman no oyatoi Ende Meiji Party Rivalry and Political Change in Taishō Japan Taishō in Change and Political Rivalry Party Ralph Ralph Adams Cram, Duus, Although Ende’s and Böckmann’s urban-planning proposal was abandoned, the the abandoned, was proposal urban-planning Böckmann’s and Ende’s Although permanent Diet that Building constructedwas finally decades later used the site that Ende and Böckmann had set aside Thefor it. firm Western-style completed Hasegawa, “Gijidō e no keifu,” 126–30. Hasegawa, “Gijidō keifu,” e no It is not clear why the commission chose Ende and Böckmann in particular. This This particular. in Böckmann and Ende chose commission clearthe not why is It may have been the result of a recommendation from the government architect Matsugasaki Tsumunaga, who had studied in Germany for an extended period of time and may have known Böckmann at that time, but it may have been the ern Japanese Architecture] (Tokyo: Nippon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, 1977), 148. 1977), Kyōkai, Hōsō Shuppan Nippon ern Architecture] (Tokyo: Japanese (Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle, 1981). Tuttle, Vt.: Arts (Rutland, See, e.g., Muramatsu Teijirō, Teijirō, See, e.g., Muramatsu should be noted that Cram was a great admirer of Fenollosa and his colleague Okakura Kakuzō. Cram recounts this story in his autobiography. Even though his design for the Diet neverCram materialized, wrote a book successful on Japanese architecture Cram, see visit: his of strength the on designs designs for the Tokyo Court and the Justice Ministry with the aid of Japanese associates. Taishō, Shōwa], vol. 4, ed. Muramatsu Teijirō (Tokyo Sanseidō, 1981), 126–27. 1981), Sanseidō, (Tokyo Teijirō 4, vol. Shōwa], ed. Muramatsu Taishō, research the on of Suzuki Hiroyuki.drawing cited in and Japanese discussed in Horiuchi, , 203. kuman (Tokyo: Inoue Shoin, 1989), 172–76. 1989), Shoin, Inoue (Tokyo: in Building],” consequence of other personal contacts: see Horiuchi Masaaki, Horiuchi see contacts: personal other of consequence Bekkuman to Ende chikuka For an analysis of the relationship between this Diet design and the earlier de signs by and Ende Böckmann, see Horiuchi, , 240–44.kuman 22 (November 1962): 31. 1962): (November Journal of Asian 22 Studies tice: First Diet,” The , vol. 2, ed. Adriana Boscaro et al. (Sandgate: Japan Library, 1990), 1990), Library, Japan (Sandgate: al. et Boscaro Adriana ed. 2, vol. , Japan Rethinking 42–47. Duus, Peter See Prac- in Constitution Meiji “The Akita, George 2; 1968), Press, University Harvard Horiuchi, Examples Examples of such structures are the Tsukiji Hotel (1868) and the Mitsui House carpenter-contractor by the Tokyo Kisuke II. built in (1872) Shimizu Wilhelm Wilhelm Böckmann, “Reise nach in Japan,” See Hasegawa Takashi, “Gijidō e no keifu [Toward a Genealogy of the Diet See Horiuchi,

. . 7. 3 5. 5. 6. 2. 9. 8. 4 11. 13. 1 12. 10. 14.

274 Jonathan M. Reynolds

34 24. 29. 28. 26. 20. 30. 3 2 2 3 23. 3 27. 18. 16. 21. 31. 19. 17. 5. 2. 5. 2. 3. .

Asahi ShimbunAsahi , November 5,1936, 11. The publication received support from the Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai and other and Shinkōkai Bunka Kokusai the from support received publication The For a discussion of this design, see also Dallas Finn, Dallas also see design, this of discussion a For nes poesoa rvlis ewe Ttuo ig ad smk Yorinaka Tsumaki and Kingo Tatsuno between rivalries professional Intense Ōkurashō Eizen Kanzai Kyoku,Ōkurashō Eizen Japan Illustrated, 1935 (Tokyo: Nippon News Dempo Agency, 1935), 470. Illustrated in Illustrated rabu hadareadership of750,000 in1936. Record(Tokyo:Twentyof 4 vol. Kōdansha, 2. 1989), Days], Thousand in 1935–37), China, with in Illustrated ShimbunAsahi , November 9,1936, 6. 1936), 27. (Tokyo:of theof the Architecture Diet] Imperial Ōkurashō Kanzai Eizen Kyoku, Building],” Kindai no. gasetsu 9(2000),10–18. “Kokkai forHiroyuki, form, Suzuki ishōno[Design see National the Diet gijidō For a discussion of possible explanations for the choice of the stepped pyramidal a model for many time. atthis designs inEuropeandthe United States Takeuchi’s design resembles the Tomb of Mausolus at which Halicarnassus, was 153. Muramatsu, design: final the for point starting a as entries those use yet and entries winning the commission not then petition, com a hold to period this Muramatsu in unusualAs notTeijirō was it suggests, eno keifu,” Hasegawa,“Gijidō See 177–78. ings vol. 6(Tokyo: ofItō Chūtta), Genshobo, 1982), 99. chitecture for the Diet],” in Itō Chūtta, Ar thefor Style the [Concerning tsuite ni no yōshiki kenchiku “Giin Chūta, Itō See Yamaguchi, “Nihon no kindaigendai,” 311–312. in Yamaguchi, “Nihon no kindaigendai,” 310, n.17. This article was publishedoriginally in eno keifu,” Hasegawa,“Gijidō see essay: in this 169–76. played a role in the outcome of these various commissions that cannot be pursued shi (Tokyo: Shōkokusha, 1993), 309. Survey of Architectural Studies], vol. 5, ed. Suzuki Hiroyuki and Yamaguchi Hiro- Architecture), Modern and Modern Early of History in the [Japan Early Modern and Modern Period],” in Victorian Japan (New York: Weatherhill, 1995), 99–101. From Shimoda’s Hasegawa, “Gijidō e no keifu,” 165; Yamaguchi Hiroshi, “Nihon no kindai gendai University University of California Press,2001),89–101. my See Ōkurashō Eizen Kanzai Kyoku, ed., Kyoku, Kanzai Eizen Ōkurashō “Gijidō eno keifu,”“Gijidō 179. Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of Modernist Japanese Architecture Japanese Modernist of Emergence the and Kunio Maekawa Nitchū sensōenomichiNitchū , 115. Nitchū sensō e no michi: Shōwa jyū nen-jyū ni nen ni nen-jyū jyū Shōwa michi: no e sensō Nitchū Shisō to kenchiku Shōwa niman nichi no zenkiroku no nichi niman Shōwa , privately published, 1928, as cited in Hasegawa, Teikoku gijidō nogaiyō kenchiku , 115. Teikoku gijidō kenchiku no gaiyō no kenchiku gijidō Teikoku Ronsō zuihitsu manpitsu 289 (January 1911); quoted 289 (January Zasshi Kenchiku Nihon kindai kenchiku no rekishi no kenchiku kindai Nihon Shin kenchikugaku taikei Shinkenchikugaku Kindai gendai kenchikushi [The Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Sites The Revisited: Meiji [Shōwa: The Complete Complete The [Shōwa: [The Road to the [The to Road War [The Collected Writ- [A Summary Summary [A (Berkeley: (Berkeley: Shōnen ku- Shōnen [New - - , Imperial Diet Building, National Identity 275 - Kenchiku in 1956. 1956. in (New York: York: (New Godzilla versus 8, no. 3 (win- 3 no. 8, Godzilla: King of the Monsters the of King Godzilla: A Centuryof Japanese Photography Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique Cultures Asia East Positions: [Collection of Japanese Photography] (Tokyo: [Collection (Tokyo: of Photography] Japanese Kenchiku to 1 20, shakai no. (January Yama- 1937): , ed. Robert Robert ed. , Meaning Their and Images History: and Art Shinkenchiku but does not cite articles in , July 23, 1995, D5. I thank Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney for returned to the theme in the 1992 sequel Godzilla Nihon shashin zenshū shashin Nihon Kenchiku zasshi and New York New Times York The English-languageversion of the film, which included significant cuts and Yamaguchi Yamaguchi overstates the lack of coverage to some degree. He acknowledges In a recent interview, the film critic Kyoko Hirano suggested that many Japanese Japanese many that suggested Hirano criticKyoko film the interview, recent a In , in which a gigantic larva crashes through the Diet Building, then weaves then gigantic a which in , larvaDiet Mothra throughthe Building, crashes into metamorphose toDiet the of remains what and itself around cocoon huge a Mothra. viewers welcomed Godzilla’s “stomping on the Japanese establishment” (in- ScaryIts Need Still Japan “Does Sterngold, James see DietBuilding): the cluding Monster?” as States United the in released was additions, Themakers of Ernst May and Albert Speer,” in Speer,” Albert and May Ernst (Cambridge: Press Syndicate, 1988), 307. Rabb K. and Theodore Rotberg See a discussion of this painting in Mark H. “TheSandler, Living Artist: Matsu coverage coverage in These two groups werenot always mutually exclusive, as the ofcareer Itō Chūta demonstrates. vividly of Work the Ideologyin and Politics Power: and Lane,BarbaraMiller “Architects 1996): 81. 3 (fall Art no. Journal 55, to State,” the Reply moto Shunsuke’s government agencies. For an analysis of thisof analysisinnovative an controversial and maga- For agencies. government Japan-as-Museum: NIPPON “Touring Weisenfeld, zine, see Gennifer and Other Travelogues,” Imperialist Japanese ter 2000): 747–93. Ihee, Kimura by photographs with Hiroshi, Hara by designed were montages The ichi Dai in reproduced is montage Paris The Yoshio. Watanabe and Kyoshi, Koishi āto sentā, ed., Shōgakukan, 1986), fig. 27; a similar montage for the Chicago Trade Fair (1938) Fair (1938) Trade Shōgakukan, 1986), fig.27;a similar for montage Chicago the appears in Japan ed., Photographers, guchi, “Nihon no kindai gendai,” 397. kindai gendai,” no guchi, “Nihon this reference. 3, no. 3 (March 1937) or chishiki 3 3, no. (March 1937) Random House, 1980), fig. 457. House, 1980), Random

1. 8. 9. 4 37. 36. 3 3 42. 40.

A

n Expo Fascism?: g

us us Ideology, Representation, Economy L o ck yer

If one wanted to look for fascism in Japan in the 1930s, exhibitions would be a good place to start. Mass spectacle, it is clear, was a political priority in fascist Italy.1 The repeated commemorations of the March on Rome, the monumental staging of the 1932 Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution, the mass kinaesthetics of 18 BL in the same year (an experimental theatrical performance celebrating and starring the first truck mass-produced by Fiat), and the plans for the Esposizione Universale di Roma (EUR) in 1942 were all state projects. They were designed to ensure that their audience would identify with the nation, in the person of Musso- lini, and so produce a new fascist subject, which the revolution had promised and on which the regime would be based. In each case, an architectural sanctum enabled a processional sacrament. By rehearsing in material form the ideological tropes and revolutionary narrative of the movement through which the regime had come to power, they promised to transform the spectator into willing participant, both actor within the spectacle itself and acted on by their viewing of the event. The epiphanic abolition of the usual distance between viewer and viewed would produce an ecstatic union with the leader, and thus with the regime. Nor was Nazi Germany slow to Expo Fascism? 277 - conjuring conjuring up mythic pasts or possible futures for popular consump ascists were not alone in enthusiasm their spectacle,for however; nor In F tion, however, cultural producers everywhere had to confront the present absence of the desired alternative. The imagined community couldnot be assumed but had to be represented; spectacle promised to do so in style. after exhibitions to again turn to quick were Americans the and French The a for blueprint the provided 1932 in Loswhile Angeles War, World First the modern Olympics, which Hitler sought to build four years later in Berlin.3 fascistThe regimes in and Germany Italy were innovators, overcoming the elsewhere. The World’selsewhere. TheFair inYorkNew in1939–40 sought toproduce a General by exhibit Futurama the in than more nowhere tomorrow, of world automobilized the of panorama a by rapt was audience its which in Motors, Disney-creationof the inspired pavilion and fair later, years Fifteen future. fascist than less No good. for enclosed were worlds imagined wherein land, spectacle, mass capitalist the to sought incorporate spectatorsversion a in which uncertainty world from the distance had Abolishing been banished. between and viewerviewed not only the removed anxi- from the consumer inherently inherently diffusenature ofmass spectacle by disciplining thenarrative, regimenting the audience, and as animating noted the But display, earlier. the benefits of such total environments were obvious andquickly sought history, history, and form over content, or to discover Japanese thinkers among solutions to global the crisis.2 indigenous sought who those tional certainties throughout the world. Fascism therefore took its place among a number of proposed solutions that promised “capitalism without capitalism”—that is, the liberating modernity that capitalism enabled without the corrosive externalities that it had also produced. Envisioning this alternativewas work the of culture, which could conjure a foundation upon which to re-establish the sense of identity and community that had withitspanaceas own other of many shared culture Fascist adrift. setbeen to re- a anxieties find the surprising Given time, not is it the of visionaries. community over individual, curring and nature for general over preference recognize the potential of such events. Nuremberg rallies and Berlin Olym- Berlin and rallies Nuremberg events. such of potential the recognize pics, not least in Leni Riefenstahl’s filmic representations, have been long keyrecognized as one that to regime. understanding countrieswere GreatItalyand Germany tothe only signsshow of fascism. exhibitions had long been used by states to mediate the shock of the new, be- were fast War First World the iterationwhose following and amplitude coming insufferable. As Harry Harootunian hasnoted, the interwar crisis of capitalism was a global one, fracturing everyday convention and tradi- 278 Angus Lockyer not by themselves enough to make the icons of American corporate cul- corporate American of icons the make to enough themselves by not future on display.4 eties of the present, but also encouraged him or her to buy the trademarked self-identity and place in the world.7 In retrospect, too, it has proved easy easy proved has it too, retrospect, world.7the In in place and self-identity strident Japan’s affirmed increasingly that initiatives and rhetoric the with of the invasion of China, but thenuntil the exhibition had fiteasily enough wake the in 1938 of summer the in cancelled both were Olympics the and the throne chrysanthemum in 660 B.C.E. (hereafter, Kigen 2600). Banpaku to emperor, first the Jimmu, of ascension putative the of anniversary the Olympics, it was to be the centerpiece of a range of commemoratingevents place take on a couple of reclaimed islands in Tokyo Bay. Together thewith hakurankai bankoku Nihon nen ( Era Imperial the of year 2,600th the commemorate to and what was happening in Japan in the 1930s. The Japan World Exhibition crisis interwar the to solutions German and Italian difference between the mark to place take not did that exhibition an of story small the use will I fascist politics. ture to to regime.6 is Spectacle therefore one point at which to connect fascist cul- the workrehearsing of the state, these in tropes an attempt to yoke subject were distinguished by the extent to which the production of culture became earlier, noted as regimes, fascist other, the forged.5On be might subject heroic leader; and an ongoing through which militarization a new national its with nation the of identification the endowment; national founding a of recovery the past; degenerate immediate, the rupture with by a restored be to were nation and community,Nature, present. the of problems mon com- the to solutions particular emphasizing ways, distinctive in themes familiar inflected culture fascist hand, one useful.the is On spectacle too, but tial also mark the differencesthatthe characterized progression. Here, finally regime. Analyzing requiresfascism that we acknowledge the poten- and movement, ideology, proclivity, to potential from progress fascism did however,Germany, and Italy in 1930s.Only the to or Axis an become later would that countries the to limited not was fascism for potential the pale; modern the beyond arise not did fascism differently, Put time. the at others with procedures some and preoccupations, context, their shared Italy and Germany in regimes fascist the which to extent the only gests sug- way this in genealogies and Emphasizing commonalities fascist. ture Gen It is hard to find such a spectacle in Japan, however. In what follows, what In however. Japan, in spectacle a such find to hard is It eralized anxiety, common solutions, and the use of spectacle were spectacle of use the and solutions, common anxiety, eralized ; hereafter, Banpaku) was planned for 1940, to to for1940, planned hereafter,was ; Banpaku) Kigen 2600 nen kinen 2600 Kigen Expo Fascism? 279 A close analysis reveals that this exhibition attracted interest and in- east and west, the development of global industry, and the advance of inter- of advance the and industry, global of development the west, and east litera-promotional the in elsewhere elaborated was This peace.”10 national ture to reaffirm a set of relationships between ancient national history, recent modern accomplishments, the contemporary international situation, four-character slogans of invocation ritual The prospects. global future and by which they arrived at these solutions, however, as well as similarities between Axis and Allied representation and practice, that suggest we need to widen the frame and place at least this exhibition, but also Japan—and even, perhaps, fascism itself—within a more general, if no less troubling, spectacle. as well as mass history modernof political economy, Origins Narratives and Imperial Destiny The theme of the exhibition was apredictable one. As summarized in the the commemorate “humbly promised exhibition to the prospectus,official 2,600th year of the imperial era by gathering and displaying the flower of cultures of fusion the to contribute so and abroad, and home industryfrom of the time, but for solutions it was able for the most part to draw on older older on to part most draw the for able was solutionsit time, for but the of institutions, initiative. and may It be that these configurations ideology, of fas- achievedby those to results achievesimilar to end, the in enough, were cist regimes: the mobilization that was possible under conditions of total suggest anniversaryboth the of eventuallymade were that uses the and war affinities between Japan and its Thedifferences Axis allies.9 in the process even ideologically opposed, interests. As such, it may also suggest some the of and 1930s the in Japan of understanding our for conclusions broader place of fascism within it. Japan certainly shared in the general anxieties vestment not because it promised to a forge fascist subject, but because it could seem, albeit with some effort, to be all things to all That people. is, until almost Japan, Imperialways which many in of one exhibition was the on inscribed imaginary space, sufficiently inclusive a provide could end, its diverse, radically accommodate to area, physical expansive appropriately an enough enough to fold it into a familiar narrative about the dark valley Shōwa of Japan. Banpaku, like most of the decade, can early be seen to have led to war, Axis, and inevitable Thedefeat. teleology is tempting, collapsing the exhibition and the decade as a whole into the tale of an omnipotent state exploiting the fascist potential in a society under economic siege in order it is wrong. But to an authoritarian, build if never regime.8 fascist, quite 280 Angus Lockyer 1938: elaborate was the lyrics of the official exhibition march, published in March mission.11 ofthehistorical Japanese andits nation self-identity that sought to banish the possibility of change over time and so confirmthe one destiny,but national of account evolutionary an underwrite to served structures the particular Japanese content. Briefly, such a narrative begins narrative Briefly, a such content. Japanese particular the structures oughly generic form—the model very of a modern national narrative—that it seems more association, usefulby hibition rhetorical unpickto the thor- hearse the iterations of Japan’s imperial destiny, however, and damn the ex- re- than RatherSphere. Co-Prosperity Asia East Greater the of promotion anchor Japan’s placeatthe center of Asiaandmodernity. to metaphors, seasonal served changingand nature by buttressed essence, un- but unfolding an Again, Japan.”16 “young nonetheless a of mission” “great and history” “pure the anchor to Fuji”) cherry,”“gracefulYamato Three more stanzas elaboratedthe lesson, invoking familiarsymbols (“pure the to destiny nature ofthat world atlarge.15 pacific and meaning true the reveal to and people Japanese the to destiny goal of the exhibition, was to reaffirm the basicprinciples of their national shinnenno (kokuminthe ).14faith and required, national forewas the that All ( founding the of core spiritual the both was ( roof one under world the of corners “eight famous ( harmony international the organic unfolding of the national genetic code would itself bring about dowment, by guaranteed the unbroken imperial line ( en- spiritual original the of fruit inevitable the planting, initial Jimmu’s of crop fall the standing international and development tumn,” industrial “au- the thus was present modernization.12The recent successfulJapan’s ) and their “unsurpassed” national spirit, but also of also but spirit, national “unsurpassed” their and banmin) (ikkun people mythical first monarch hadthus plantedthe “seed” not only ofthe Japanese A Th The essence Look! JapanA new Th Much of the rhetorical content here was shared with the slightly later later slightly the with shared was here content rhetorical the of Much t the dawn e theme was susceptible to any number of variations. One of the most e starting point was Jimmu’s accession to the “imperial” throne. throne. The“imperial” the to Jimmu’s accession was point starting e The Japan International Exhibition. The Japan International Gorgeously unfolds today. of Japanese spirit Piercing the ages brightlife.with of ayoung Asia, akk kyōwa bankoku —oeie gosd s h in- the as glossed )—sometimes chōkoku no seishin no chōkoku bansei ikkei bansei hakkō ichiu hakkō ) and there- and ) ).13 Finally, )”—which Expo Fascism? 281 Such an origins narrative was hardly unique to Japan. It differed little It also suggests that both rhetoric and exhibition need to be understood be to need exhibition and rhetoric both that suggests also It ern nationalism on more obvious display than the international Delusional twentieth earlycentury. exhibi- and centurynineteenth late the of tions should be read as the truth of their respective regimes. But it is to claim that claim to is it But regimes. respective their of truth the as read be should acquisitive ends were distinctive. toward ideologicalthe means their mod- of evasions and projections the were Nowhere history. longer a within universal pretensions of a civilizing mission prescribed what was profitable was what prescribed mission civilizing a of pretensions universal differ- one was Here all. for implemented, be to yet not if good, as some for began latter the Where rhetoric. fascist distinctiveof withthe posture ence with rupture (from both past and world), demanded personification, expelled difference, andgeneralized violence, imperialnationalism asserted continuity, abstracted incorporated personality, difference, and tended, at not is This argue setto that attributes of either leastrhetoric,in to peace.19 lizing mission. Nationalism imagined a unitary identity (a spiritual essence, spiritual (a unitaryidentity a imagined Nationalism mission. lizing competitivea in defence of means a as history) greatpure culture, only not international system, but also to transcend the differentiated interest of a pluralist, capitalist society. International competition and capitalist interest, however, both ensured that identity and system were expansive. The imag- the which in powers, imperial all almost of autobiographies the from civi- and destiny manifest authorized nation modern the of distinction ined that the absorption of Western science and civilization since the beginning beginning the since civilization and science Western of absorption the that rapid modernizationof Japan’s in the Meiji period (1868–1912) was in fact the realization of the essence of Japan’s own spirit and Theori- culture.18 gins narrative, sustained often by a of metaphor seasonal transformation, as naturalized Japan, under without, and within both difference, subsumes outcome the as understood not is development Japanese Modern world. the of an intricate pattern of interaction with the contemporary world; rather, of internationala world natural development the harmony willresult from empire. Japanese of the future.17 Temporal and future.17 spatial distinctions are collapsed: the articulation of organism and its environment and the resulting change over time are characterized as the extension across time and space of the unchanging, self-same code and so the heroic yet effortless creation of a world by the organism. Thus the exhibition’spresident, Ushitsuka Kotarō, couldnote by assuming by assuming a point of (divine) origin freed from the contingencies of the historical Thisenvironment. assumption ofautopoesis allows subsequent historical experience to be rewritten as the inevitable self-realization of a genetically programmed destiny: one studies the past to anticipate the 282 Angus Lockyer international exhibition in 1890 had also exploited the putative ascension putative the exploited also had 1890 in exhibition international sibilities of their newly invented imperial tradition. Unrealized plans for an pos- the explore to slow been Japan Norhad commemoration. national to and the Chicago World’s Fair universal aspirations tie of 1893 allsought to 1889, of Universelle Exposition Paris the 1876, of Exhibition Centennial trade. in PhiladelphiaThe stock their were destiny imperial and patriotism examples, and the Chinese characters used on all of the posters were un- were posters the of all on used characters Chinese the and examples, “Westernization,” seemed unavoidable: many of the posters copied foreign memorative nature. A degree of interaction with the outside world, coded as dimensions,national “spirittheorfounding,” the of com-highlighting its exhibition’sinter- age,”emphasizingthe the chosen of “spirit the express design should the whether to as uncertainty an by bedeviled was sions submis- the of discussion Its posters. exhibition official the choosingfor ofthe process. stage apparent atevery were result final the of ambivalence the and so, do to required effort the the world, and Japan reconciling in inherent reference. contradictions The cultural and historical their of specificity the for precisely valuable were signifiers wherein media, stable more in sustained be not ample—could ex- destiny, for ancient as science modern narrative—reading by afforded hand of sleight rhetorical architecture. The three-dimensional or graphics the rhetoric was obliged to take specific material form, astwo-dimensional temporal or spatial specificity. It is not surprisingthat problemscame when any from community imagined thereby the freeing so and contradiction, absorbing distinctions, collapsingby universal and particular bridgingfor a familiar rhetorical structure. Origins narratives provided a simple solution organizers and supporters could have recourse to time-honored tropes and exhibition statements, official and relations public of prose linear the In FormSpace andCommemorative Material of the form. apparent in Japan in the 1930s, but the relied latter on still the conventions more been have may narratives such of nature contradictory and structed con- the words, other In art.20 modern and worlds tomorrow’s to shifted insist on their imperial birthright and civilizing influence,even asthe focus to continued France and States United the both but period, interwar the by obvious less were origins national and bombast Victorian 2,550th.Late the been had anniversary the case that in although emperor, first the of The basic outlines of the problem were apparent in the jury responsible jury the in apparent were problem the of outlines basic The Expo Fascism? 283 (Japanese ”), although Nihon Nihon shumi Nihon Nihon dokuji no kanji o dashitai ,” “ ,” Nihon-teki Nihon-teki toiu koto e solution came in two parts, combining architectural style and site The poster competition revealed a simpleversion of theproblem that Th as “pure Japanese architecture,” an attempt to modernize the Sumiyoshi style, the oldest of the “globally incomparable” traditions of shrine archi- planning. planning. First, the authorities determined that a Memorial Hall should competitionprize stipu-the for regulations The whole. a siteas the anchor lated that the hall was the “main sign” of the exhibition and therefore its style should be and “sublime majestic, symbolizing the Japanese spirit.”23 ruminations committee, judges as torturedthe After as those of posterthe finallypicked adesign Takanashi by Katsushige, who explained his entry ernism within the dictates of neoclassical style. Japanese architecture in the the in architecture Japanese style.neoclassical of dictates the within ernism 1930s also saw an updating of tradition, known as ornament to elements Japanese traditional of use the involved which taste), modern building construction. But where fascists could pass off ata- their vism as the of heir earlier developments, and therefore an embodiment of throw- a as itself marked typetoreversion Japanese the modernity, genuine back to traditionmodern, against the an defined embrace ofparticular the against the Theuniversal.22 problem wasparticularly acute given thispar- ticular context. The anniversarydemanded a visual rubric that was clearly but an internationalJapanese, world. exhibition had to incorporate the a more identifiably Japanese architecture, especially on those occasions when Japan itself was on display. Fascist architects in Germany and Italy resolved a dilemma similar by the framing functional imperatives of mod- here, however, one of the jurors suggested that there was no way of knowing knowing of way no was there that suggested jurors the of one however, here, universe.21 whole the perhaps, or, Japan in standing was he not or whether was by now wracking design in general, architecture above all, and that caught the exhibition authorities in a multiple On bind. the one hand, the favor specificityrejectedcultural in had internationalmodernism of ascent bu- the among least not nationalism, rising other, the On form. universal of demanded competitions,architectural overseeing for responsible reaucrats their designs ran the gamut. At one end, a decidedly futurist dove carried a futurist ran gamut.the designs end, a At one decidedly their globe in a sling of national flags,At with emblazoned a the“2600.” other, white Mount Fuji floatedon a red ground,while a bird flew across face. its an of portrayal a to going finally bet, safe a seemed have must prize first The Even plain. expansive an over out facing standing, warrior Japanese ancient ambiguously modern. In the end, the jury was saved by being able to reward to able being by saved was jury the end, the In modern. ambiguously and recommend the dissemination of several posters. The winners were united in suggesting that they had sought to produce something uniquely Japanese (“ 284 Angus Lockyer side the hall, frescoes would re-create the scene at the accession of Jimmu of accession the at scene the re-create frescoeswould hall, sidethe dignity.24 In- and elegance combined roof and pillars, staircase, great The day,the carried however. had model shrines. latter the as of simplicity The well as temples, and castles mimicked had which submissions, of variety the in struggle visible the of traces the one, difficult a been had task tects’ archi- the that noted judges, the of chairman Toshikata,Sanothe tecture. Narrative and exhibition might begin with a statement of national origins national of statement a with begin might exhibition and Narrative earlier. outlined structure narrative the of embodiment spatial the tions, exhibi- such informed still that principles imperial and evolutionary the but the other principles remained. They were ideally suitedto accommodate on, moved had style architectural 1930s, the By off. set were styles foreign chitecture for the most buildings,important as the against standard which ar- pedigreed historically endorsed, officially and symmetry, spatial axes, teenth century, the movement had developed a central repertoire: standard original single-building model of the Crystal Palace in 1851. By the late nine- Japan’s Asianleadership.27 andcertainly possibly global claims to underwrite further would West and East of synthesis unique exhibition’s parking. and The entertainments, various Pavilion, Foreign the Industries, and architectural style including Agriculture, Chemical and Manufacturing cellany of exhibits and facilities on the second, executed in a “free, modern” mis- a to beforeyielding architecture Japanese “sublime” a by throughout ing, and Transportation).and Communication The island would be unified Engineer- Mining, (including resources natural and industry of exhibits left, its to Arts); the and Education, Hygiene, and Health Society, cluding (in- culture” and “spirit to relating halls were right its To architectures. Japanese of ancient most the of rendition modern a Hall, Memorial the sat it Beyond shrine. a visiting if as gate main the approach would she or unfurlbeforethe would visitor. He that panorama architectural the gested panying commentary, spread over four pages of the official magazine, sug- exhibits marine-related in Yokohama.26 An artist’s impression with accom- to devoted site subsidiary small a with together Harumi), and Toyosu day of mouth the Sumida River,(present- but the twofinal comprised site only tion. Early plans had the exhibition occupying four reclaimed islands at the disaggrega- to resort to had plan site the style, throwback and structure the present.25to and the subsequent development of the Japanese people from ancient times neric exhibition design. International exhibitions had early outgrown the outgrown early had exhibitions International design. exhibition neric Where the Memorial Hall could solve the puzzle by divorcing steel-frame Th e plans as a whole neatly therecapitulated tropes of characteristic ge - Expo Fascism? 285 - ernational exhibitions, in other words, were as much about pragmat about much as were words, other in exhibitions, ernational At At the most general level, in other words, planning for the exhibition Int ics as ideology. Nowhere is this clearer than in the discussions of the Site Planning Committee, which began meeting Laterin January meet- 1937.29 portant enough to spawn a separate transportation committee and to produce the only permanent legacy the from exhibition, the Kachidoki bridge linking Tsukiji on the mainland, southeast of the Imperial Palace, to the reclaimed islands on which the exhibition would be staged.31 Thiscon- Chicago and spent much of its time shuttling backward and forward between visitor numbers and site plans, tinkering with plans to maximize numbers and extrapolating from numbers to address the question of how people were going to get to and move around the exhibition.30 Themost basic imperative in site planning was traffic flow and crowd control, im- ings ings of the committee touched on questions of representation and style, com- juried tosubcontracted, or delegated, be could labor this of much but and Paris from blueprints of study the with began committee The petitions. time as a processional, which would culminate in the ecstatic union of sub- of ecstatic union the in culminate would which processional, a as time archi- and plan site contrast, by Tokyo, In state.28 the so and leader with ject tecture had to incorporate rather than exclude, making space for multiple experiencing important, most perhaps and, world the representing of ways exhibition.the but quickly moved on to provide a panorama of the world beyond the nation. This wasfar removedfrom thenational sacramentfor whichfascist architecture was There, designed. theoriginal covenantwas reaffirmed by creating a sanctum, excluding the world, and choreographing space and betrayed the awareness that an exhibition had to work to attract people, that attractions at an exhibition therefore had to be adequately differenti- only be not could There for. accounted be to had audience itsthat and ated, would certainly route one around exhibition,one the and there be not only kind of visitor. As ideology and representation confronted the lessons of experience, in other words, the exhibition entered the world of tradeoffs, and interest.accounting,

straint also meant that the artist’s impression would remain just that. There There that. just remain would impression artist’s the that meant also straint were multiple possible entrances to the exhibition, including one that led this,the and After island. second the on straightzone intoamusement the novelties of the foreign exhibits, the unique architectural synthesis of the antiquarian, its mayorchestrating first island merely seemed perhaps have symmetrydidactic and dry. 286 Angus Lockyer 1930s, as well as the initial plans for the imperial anniversary, is that they they that is anniversary, imperial the for plans initial the as well as 1930s, duringthe Japan in other and exhibitions this about striking most is What andNumbers Aggregation GamesInterest were paramount, but the same figures could be cut differently cut thesame be but could paramount, figures were for different that latter the was it event, 1940 the pitching In numbers. to words from turning requires however, so, did it how understand Toreturn.35 of rate higher-than-usual a promised anniversary imperial an of opportunity the content of the brands through which it sought a onreturn investment, and putative the to indifferent were capital ideologues.34 of concerns state The earlier, could bear multiple investments, by private entrepreneurs as well as suggested vocabulary, that of structure capacious the other, the On war. eventually, and, empire for mobilized was population the which through rhetoric the of much employed exhibition the that surprise no is it sion, occa- particular this given hand, one the On entertainment. popular and foreigntourism opportunity; business and development local spectability; ability to satisfy diverse imperatives: national prestige and international re- its of because precisely exhibitions, international for rationale profitable a proved long had commemoration national earlier, suggested As event. off.33proposal took the connections extensive and promotion energetic his with and Tokyo, of mayor and finance of minister former Yoshiō,a Sakatani was advocate anniversary. imperial lead The the of celebration government-supervised a tiative there-emerged following year as the locally organized centerpiece of Earthquake of 1923. The initial discussionsran aground in 1931, butthe ini- reeling economy still from a local the to aftershocks tal of the Kanto Great to be held in 1935, as a way to attract exhibitors, visitors, and above all capi- years later, it was this group that first proposed an international exhibition, and promotersexhibition came together to form an Exhibition Club. Three nal plans for 1940. In 1926, a consortium of local politicians, industrialists, interest, and an emerging was exhibition industry the context for the origi- business government, local of combination expansion.32This commercial for medium powerful a Waras World First the following them on seized for urban development and renewal, while the emerging consumer industry exhibitions to turned had governments municipal century, the of turn the By replaced. soon and supplemented quickly been had home at initiatives its but industry, promote to efforts its in initiative central a as exhibitions embraced had state Meiji early the 1870s, the In projects. state not were h ipra anvray rvdd n da opruiy o sc an such for opportunity ideal an provided anniversary imperial The Expo Fascism? 287 t the same time, the fact that the brand was an imperial one, and the A The Home Ministry and its allies were able to gain more leverage, though leverage, more gain to able were allies its and Ministry Home The guage guage of the exhibition’s promoters. Financing an exhibition was never could decisions be in-house, but made an Other international exhibi- easy. tion always required government funding, implying trade-offs with other bureaucratic interests and so providing an opening for possible compromise. In his proposal in 1932, Sakatani had emphasized that the success of earlier international exhibitions, notably at Paris in 1900, had rested in large part on advance ticket sales, which could finance the substantial ex- penses that fell due before the get exhibitionpotentialTo opened. visitors Education did subsidize the Japan Culture Association, the association re- the whichfor 2600, Kigen for official the plans of periphery the on mained exposition Olympics and the centerpiece. the remained budgetary the intoconcerns lan- their translating by hand, upper never the a survey of Japanese culture together with four other projects, and a year later it published a comprehensive “Outline of Publicity Policy for Kigen 2600.”39 However, despite the organization’s efforts,only the survey, of the fiveprojects, was taken up by the government, itsauthorized budget of 1 million yen only a third of that initially proposed, and dwarfed by the expected 50 million yen cost of the exhibition. Although the Ministry of believed appropriate to the commemoration The of the founding. nation’s (Japan Cul- Renmei Bunka Nihon the concernswas these of guard advance ture Association), by which Matsumotohad beenin Manabu, 1933 formed a Home Ministry bureaucrat, and which soon sought to promote an alternative vision of the anniversary. In January the 1936, association proposed ing rights was a keen one. Sakatani and the federation were not alone in pro- in alone not were federation the and Sakatani one. keen a was rights ing visions ducing of Kigen 2600. were As reportsearlyas there October 1933, of plans by the Home, Education, Army, and Navy ministries for a “great “overcoming of way a as anniversary the commemorating festival” national was in a particular, persistent HomeThe Ministry, critic the emergency.”38 of any aspect of the exhibition that might detract from the solemnity it of capital to the Kanto relying economy, on the example of Paris in 1889 to suggest that the exhibition would generate twenty-seven times its own local for businesses.37 budget market- for battle the that guaranteed value, its monopolizing of possibility audiences. audiences. At the national level, organizers explained how the exhibition national balancewould benefit payments,of the at leastgenerating half as much foreign currency as textiles, leading Japan’s export, but at twice the profitTo rate.36 regionalaudiences, however, they emphasized the influx 288 Angus Lockyer of the exhibition spoke to the spoke of theto exhibition Tokyo He Council. beganbynoting that City 1938, presidentthe February In compromise commemoration. to had with the pages of the official magazine to claim that the exhibition itself was itself exhibition the that claim to magazine official the of pages the using counterattacked, association The spirit.41 national the to do would leadingthe Homethe chargeMinistry against the damage that speculation problems,with into ran proposal this however,ideal.40 seemedtime, Over to buy tickets in advance, however, there had to be some incentive. A lottery 5 13, h cbnt none ta te xiiin tgte wt the with Tokyo be postponed were indefinitely.to Olympics, together this point,At Japanese exhibition, the that announced cabinet the 1938, 15, July Onoutreach. global trumped concerns national course, of end, the In Conclusion he Still, be limited. promised, itwouldbeasuccess.43 be to and kept limits, so, within perhaps, the exhibition’s would attraction as makelively had thecult to exhibition Entertainment as one might want. crowds. But given ofthe Kigensolemn significance 2600, it would be diffi- the attract certainly would entertainments of slew a and days theme cial spe- wanted: it what do could exhibition the if higher even be might ber num- The region. the for demand in yen million355 generate to expected normal number of foreign visitors, but nonetheless the exhibition could be the half only predicted they China, in the war Banpaku. Given of same the expect could audience His 1933. in fair Chicago the of impact economic numbers,the citing sector.to private the turned of Hethen experience the required exhibition this that realized had government the president, their as bureaucrat or aristocrat an had always had exhibitions previous while Committee.42Celebration the to prize his donate would he that reporters assured immediately who the ten first-prizewinners, each of whom received 2,000 yen, was Sakatani, “fever,” speculative Amongannounced. theprizewere winners May in and dreaded the in up swept seemingly many sold, were tickets advance lion passinglaw in August 1937. the necessary In March 1938, the first one mil- Diet the middle, the in somewhere meet to agreed predictably and finally parties all year, but for another on prizes.rumbled the debate The of value financial the and sold be at should tickets the advance in far beinghow issuepoint the with accompli, fait a as accepted been had lottery the tees, commit- government and cabinet the In action. rearguard a fighting was Jimmu’s dying wish. The butthe rhetoric Home Ministry eye-catching, was Th e lottery was not the only issue on which entertainment and industry industry and entertainment which on issue only the not was lottery e Expo Fascism? 289 this light, the planning for the exhibition also suggests some broader broader some suggests also exhibition the for planning the light, this Two patterns seem significant here. The first dates to the late nineteenth- late the to dates first The here. significant seem patterns Two In quest, quest, scripting development as the outcome of unique endowments and century world of industry and empire, of which international exhibitions were one self-congratulatory expression. Here, origin narratives justified hierarchy as the consequence of progress, rather than conflict and con- ideology could become regime. Spectacle suggests one way in which fascist culture was linked to politics but again marks the difference between contemporary developments in Japan and the countries that would later become its allies. Rather than fascism using to mark Japan as exceptional, more be may it appear, to yet was that Axis an to it confine so and therefore, political Japanese in developments which to extent the emphasize to useful society, and culture economy, during the 1930s were similar to those else- world. in the where clarity of whose constellation in Italy and Germanyand reveal constellationItaly in whose clarity of utilityboth their eager- the and experience contemporary of nature fractured the covering in ness with which they were also adopted elsewhere. Fascist culture, however, differs in keyparticulars from the emphases evident in the rhetoric Moreover, anniversary. imperial the for plans initial the least at surrounding and aesthetics why and how explain cannot alone culture fascist of analyses evitable contradictions. The exhibitionplanned Tokyofor in1940 wasno different.44 us identify certain features of cultural production during that time, the teenth century private,on, exhibitionslocal, at had reconciling been adept alongside statedestinyand historyimperial national and interests, putting modern industry and popular attraction. Like the origins narratives and capitalist economies of the empires in which they took shape, exhibitions but rules basic some providing players, of number anyaccommodate could requiring only a sufficiently expansive area within which to resolvethe in- needs to be understood not primarily in terms of a state mobilizing a nation a mobilizing state a of terms in primarily not understood be to needs for war, but in terms of a local economy seeking investment and recovery nine- late the From exhibition. international of medium proven the through essence proved incompatible with international affairs: material and mean- and material affairs: international with incompatible proved essence ing were restricted, devoted to the prosecution of the war. But while the exhibition was eventually swept away by the Japanese invasion of China, it is important not to subsume it within a narrative governed by that aggression. Until then, Kigen 2600 imposed limits, but it was not yet enough to argued, have I latter, The itself. exhibition the transform even or overwhelm conclusions for our understanding of Japan in the 1930s. Fascism may help help may Fascism 1930s. the in Japan of understanding our for conclusions 290 Angus Lockyer imperial imperial polity, with its distinctive notes of nationalist bombast and excep- and society, economy,differentiated capitalist of brew familiar a of blend particular a was account, this 1930s,theby in Japan interest. business and initiative municipal for justification grandiose providing themes, familiar echoed Banpaku then, commemoration, imperial As histories. singular demand suggests that the Exhibition Club may well have been on the right theonright havebeen well may Club demandtheExhibition suggests that in generated expo the yen billion 1.244 estimated and profit, in yen billion 15 summer1970, the of in Hills Senri the to visitors ism.47 64,218,770 The tour- international and domestic in boom Japan”a “Discover and to paign leading thegot trains, bullet a Expo people cam- onto national that new to Osaka the was it capital, the transformed Olympics the while But dence. during the 1930s and ’40s, spectacle it was no surprise that the prece- took Olympics mass in innovations the Given Expo. Osaka 1970 the and pics growth.46 so out even the concentrations and distortions of unprecedented economic and development plan to which with capital social the provide to also but prime theeconomicto pump, thenotmeansonly choice of became events demand. domestic Big supplementwith promotion export to had ernment gov- the liberalization, of thewake in however, 1960s, the By recovery.for tion and municipalities and newspapers seizing on exhibitions as a catalyst its External Organiza- Japan Trade minted the newly through concentrating overseas efforts state the pattern, prewar the reiterated postwar early Trade International of theMinistry of Industry. and thebureaucrats by The however, exhibitions were again part of the arsenal of development, milled arrive, did it When States.45 United the and Europe in counterparts fare had to after wait state until the of the developmentalist war, wel- unlike its emergence full-blown the war, total of demands unproductive the to tion 1930s theearly in subsequent and economy’sresilience subordina- relative development. response the dilemmasofuneven to asalocal exhibition corporatism. This second pattern is also faintly visible inthe planning ofthe fascist to Deal New Rooseveltian through planning Stalinist fromranging opportunity for massive, unprecedented in intervention the state economy, the 1929 and incentive the provided unrest social and dislocation nomic Domestically, eco- capital. of distributions the accept refused to socialism while question, into club imperial the of rules the throw to beginning was in large part of the consequences of the first. Globally, colonial nationalism tionalism. At the same time, however, a second pattern was emerging, born In the Given 1945. past part most the for points Banpaku however, Here, this sense, this Tokyo’s1964Olym the in fruition to plansfor came 1940 - Expo Fascism? 291 , Vinyl Vinyl World World –1937 (Berke- (Chapel (Chapel Degenerate Degenerate LeThéâtredes History’s Dis- The Olympics: The Olympics: (New York: Colum- York: (New Fascism, Aesthetics, and Culture and Aesthetics, Fascism, ,” in ,” Art as Politics in the Third Reich Third the in Politics as Art (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the the and Disney Walt Kingdom: Magic The Making Making the Fascist Self: ThePolitical Culture World World of Fairs: The Century-of-Progress Exposi- (Madison: University of Wiscon- of 1914University–1945 (Madison: , Overcome Overcome by Culture, and Modernity: Community in History, Inter- Fascist Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics ofPower in Mussolini’s Italy (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997); Stephen M. Fjellman, Fjellman, M. Stephen 1997); Mifflin, Houghton (Boston: A History of Fascism of HistoryA Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution Fascist the of Exhibition (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997); and Simonetta On Italy, see the sources in n. 1. On Germany, see Stephanie Barron, ed., Barron, Stephanie see Germany, On 1. n. in sources the see Italy, On The following draws on Jeffrey T. Schnapp, “Epic Demonstrations: Fascist Moder- Fascist Demonstrations: “Epic Schnapp, T. Jeffrey on draws following The (London: Pinter, 1991). Fascism (London: Pinter, of Nature The Griffin, and Roger sin Press, 1995); Museum of Art, 1991); Jonathan Petropoulos, Jonathan 1991); Art, of Museum Carolina Press, 1996). of North Hill: University identifying identifying the differentia Twospecifica excellent recent of fascism. surveys are Payne, Stanley G. art: TheFate of theAvant-Garde in Nazi Germany Colonies: Scénographie, acteurs et discours de l’imaginaire dans les expositions, 1855 (Paris: 1986). On L’Harmattan, the Olympics, see Allen Guttmann, On On exhibitions, Rydell, see W. Robert tions (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, Sylviane 1993); Leprun, of Illinois Press, 1992). University (Urbana: Modern Games of the A History of Interwar Italy Falasca-Zamponi, Harry Harootunian, war Japan (Princeton,Princeton N.J.: University Press, 2000); idem, nity and the 1932 1932 the and nity ed. Richard Golsan J. (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1992); Fascism: Staging 18 BL and ofTheater the Massesfor Masses Calif.: (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1996); Mabel Berezin, Life Everyday of Question the and Practice, Cultural Modernity, quiet: bia Universitybia Press, 2000). This is onlya partial list, references which extensivean literature devoted to , 133–35. On Disney, see Steven Watts, Watts, Steven see Disney, On 133–35. , Fairs of Life of Way American Press, 1992). Westview Colo.: (Boulder, and America World Disney Leaves: Walt On Futurama and for a picture of visitors “assessing the future,” see Rydell, Rydell, see future,” the “assessing visitors of picture a for and Futurama On ley: Press, 1997). of California University

. . 1. 3 6. 5. 2. 4

the backers of development should see some return see backers of development some the their investment. on should Notes was welcome to use them in Osaka, thirty years after the fact. Given the similarities between the two events, it was perhaps only appropriate that track in the Prewar1930s.48 nationalism and imperial bombast may have been absent, but broader continuities remained. An evolutionary theme, still site, expansive an with together Mankind,” for Harmony and “Progress proved able to accommodate not only the diverse interests of national and States United rivalrythe and of corporateevenexhibitorsbut War Cold the the Soviet Union. Expo ’70 may not have been an exact replica of its pre- but decessor, anyone who still had his or her tickets eventTokyo from the

292 Angus Lockyer

20. 22. 23. 14. 18. 16. 10. 21. 12. 1 1 1 17. 11. 5. 9. 9. 8. 3. 7.

See Shōkōshō, “Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai ni tsuite,” ni Hakurankai Bankoku Nihon Kinen nen 2600 “Kigen Shōkōshō, See Four-character phrases, or phrases, Four-character Banpaku 1936,, no. 1,May 5,no. 2,June 1936, 28. Fascist Era (New York: Macmillan,2004). Palgrave ed., Reynolds, Bruce E. see lines, these along arguments recent For rankai Gaiyō, 1. Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai Jimukyoku, Ibid., no.Ibid., 3, 1936, July 22. no.Ibid., 22, March1938, 2. kai, 20. Kyōkai, Hakurankai Bankoku Nihon shi noshunkan 2(AsahiShinbunsha, 1974), 325–33. Ichiu’ nokage de,” ImaiShin’ichi,e.g., See, “‘Hakkō ed., Jānaru, Asahi in On the former, Payne, see Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai, ed., Hakurankai, Bankoku Nihon Press, 2001). Architecture Modernist Japanese of Emergence the ColumbiaUniversity, New York,Reynolds,M.Jonathan 1992; ernism and Tradition in Japanese Architectural Ideology, 1931–1955,” Ph.D. diss., Banpaku, no. 1937, 15, July 10ff. nominal focus wasart. University Press, 1998), emphasizes that empire was hardly absent even when the rankai Gaiyō , 4;Banpaku 1936,, no. 1,May 4. Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai Jimukyoku, 1936,May no. 2,June 1936, 7, 28. see bequest, spiritual attendant its and nation the of founding Jimmu’s to developments recent of attributions For 5. 1938, February 21, no. Kyōkai, kurankai The autumnal metaphor appearedearly and lasted long: SeeBankoku Nihon Ha of the committees.various figures and essays onthe of significance the exhibition with updates on the work public prominent by support of statements combining association, exhibition 5. 1936, May 1., no. Banpaku, country,(rich strong army). national goals. In the late century,nineteenth the chief of these was venient medium through which government and ideologues could trumpet broad con- a provided they period, Meiji the in modernization, Japanese of beginning the From Japanese. into adopted eagerly also were and Chinese in used widely 11,1938):Shūhō 82(May 13–19. See See Inoue, “Pari Hakurankai Nihonkan, 1937”; Jacqueline M. Kestenbaum, “Mod- Colonies Rydell, . James D. Herbert, D. James . World of Fairs of World , 6, and 6, Hakurankai, Bankoku Nihon Kinen nen 2600 Kigen , esp. chap. 3, “Coloniale Moderne”; Leprun, Leprun, Moderne”; “Coloniale 3, chap. esp. , A History A History of Fascism Paris 1937: Worlds on Exhibition on Worlds 1937: Paris cheng yu cheng was the official monthly magazine of the of magazine monthly official the was Banpaku Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai Bankoku Nihon Kinen nen 2600 Kigen (lit., formulated expressions) were and are and were expressions) formulated (lit., Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Bankoku Hakuran-Bankoku NihonKinen nen 2600 Kigen Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Bankoku Haku- Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Bankoku Haku- (Berkeley: University of California of University (Berkeley: ; Griffin, The Nature of . Fascism (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell (Ithaca, Maekawa Kunio and Kunio Maekawa Banpaku Le Théâtre des Théâtre Le fukoku kyōhei Japan in the in Japan Banpaku, , no. 1, no. , Shōwa - Expo Fascism? 293 - , 18–19. Kigen Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Ban- . The desired permanence of the hall— of the permanence desired The . , but the and agenda somewhatBanpaku Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai Hakurankai Bankoku Nihon Kinen nen 2600 Kigen (undecided), but I assume this was adopted. Preliminary in MetropolitanTokyo the These filesArchives. seem to have mi-kettei , no. 27, July 1938, 15–18. See also Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai Jimu- See, e.g., Schnapp, “Epic Demonstrations.” “Epic See, e.g., Schnapp, of the canmeetings in be Reports found telegraphic minutes are available as available are minutes telegraphic Kaijō Keikaku Iinkai belonged to Uchida Yoshikazu, who was also a member of the committee. of the was also a member who Yoshikazu, to Uchida belonged and labeled rules for the Memorial Hall competition were drawn up at the fourth meeting, (August meeting fifth at the amended were rules The missing. are records whose 11, 1937), and the committee began to discuss general questions of style at the 1937). sixth (October meeting 27, The transportation committee’s records can also befound inTokyo the Metro politan Archives. It It is this that seems to have led to the decision to abandon the first,four-island the at table the on were exhibitions Earlier solution. two-island final, the for plan firstmeeting (Januaryfour-island blueprint, 1,the dated 1937); March 20,1936, 12, (February third the at predictions, visitor and 1937); 1, (February second the at The file includes versiona ofthe 1937). two-island blueprint dated July1937, 15, Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai Gaiyō kyoku, Hakurankai Bankoku 2600 Nihon Kigen nen Kinen dor. dor. As Takanashi noted, his second design was not as faithful to the ancient as his first.model 20. July 1938, 27, , no. Banpaku , Banpaku no. 19, December 4–5.1937, The judges chose another submission by the discover to surprised been have to claimed They runner-up. their as Takanashi common authorship, although a brief glance at both reveals an obvious family the into windows of insertion innovative the that commented Sano resemblance. splen- and elegance building’s the from detracted but feature striking a was roof Chōkoku Kinen Kan Kenshō Kyōgi Sekkei Zushū Kyōgi Kan Kenshō Chōkoku Kinen and of what it signified—required modifications The inthe traditional signifier. building was to be steel framed and would include a suite of rooms for the em- VIPs, the for facilitiesattendants, his and stagefor a peror including hall large a two thousand, committee rooms, dining rooms, a movie and theater, a viewing platform. . koku Hakurankai The earlierplan included much of the reclaimed land to west the ofpresent-day Daiba and north of TheBig firstTokyo Site. islandafter the maingate (present- 1) was devoted 4 and 5 chome) to next (Shinonome the exhibit halls; day Toyosu exhibit hangar-like large, twonation, the of founding the to hall memorial a had halls, and an amphitheater for musical performances; the third (Shinonome 2) had circular exhibit halls, two outdoor theaters, and a pleasure garden; and the fourth (Ariake 1 and 2) had foreign pavilions, concessions, stalls, a and theater, an airstrip: Nihon Bankoku Hakurankai Kyōkai, Banpaku

. 31. 27. 25. 29. 30. 26. 28. 24

294 Angus Lockyer

44.

34. 42. 40. 3 39. 32. 4 36. 35. 37 33. 41. 8. 3. .

Banpaku, no. 22, March1938, 11–14. The narrative is well chronicled in Furukawa Furukawa Takahisa, in chronicled well is narrative The surrounded it can be seen as valuable pieces of conceptual real estate, which estate, real conceptual of pieces valuable as seen be can it surrounded that slogans the and anniversary the words, other In 230–34. 217–18, 58, 19, entrepre- entertainment to attractive proved long had empire and Exhibitions The pages of its official magazine provide striking witness to this chameleon- this to witness striking provide magazine official its of pages The one of the directors: Furukawa, directors: the of one in Kawasaki belonging theto Tokyo Reclamation Bay Company, of which he was site a advocating proposal original his in time some spent Sakatani history,and exhibition of parcel and part been long had speculation Land windfalls. vidual 1937,no. 13,Ibid., May indi also promised aggregate demand of 6–7. level This like ability of the event to be all things for all people. The occasional advocate advocate occasional The people. all for things all be to event the of ability like of theibid.,would compromiseritual: 112. the integrity gambling, or Borrowing, finances. its straitened however purse, family the by supported be should such as and ancestors country’s the honorof in ceremony religious a essentially was argued, he anniversary, imperial The 1936. April in a pamphlet in published Matsumoto by elaborated were Theprivately objections 82. Ibid., ibid., 110–16. destiny”: ofournational the achievement expect can we world, the throughout authority national our proclaiming and strength Japan at home and abroad. Thus by contributingto the maturation of our national correct a display and Japan, true the of self-awareness national “strengthenour Furukawa, Banpaku 1938,, no. 21,February 13–15. economic return). of expectation (the investment and service) national case, this (in loyalty both the usefulnessestimates of the idea of a brand as encouragesomething can that lematic history of economic development. Thistheoverstates case; it also under- private initiative requires that we classify the anniversary itself within an unprob- could be turned to a variety of ends. Furukawa suggests that the predominance of Press,1991), 150–78. chester University eds., neurs: see, e.g., Breandan Gregory, “Staging British India,” in J. S. Bratton et al., katei,”o meguru seiji Shigaku zasshi 103, 1573–608. no. 9(September 1994): much of which can also be found in idem, “Kigen 2600 nen hōshuku kinen jigyō kindai (Chūō Kōronsha, 1992). Shun’ya,Yoshimi, 1970); Kyōkai, Shuppan Ibid., 117–18, 122 117–18, ff.,Ibid., 138 See also ff. See See Yoshida Mitsukuni, h lte sgetd ht h gvrmn sol tk te potnt to opportunity the take should government the that suggested latter The Furukawa, following am I brand, of idea the using In the land speculation surroundingthe landspeculation anearlier planned forexhibition, 1912. Acts of Supremacy: The British Empire and the Stage, 1790–1930 Kōki, banpaku,Kōki, orinpikku, 93, Nippō citingDenki , November 30, 1933. Bankoku hakurankai: gijutsu bummeishi-teki ni bummeishi-tekigijutsuhakurankai: Bankoku Kōki, banpaku, orinpikku banpaku, Kōki, Banpaku 1938,, no. 21,February 4ff. Hakurankai no seijigaku: manazashi no manazashi seijigaku: no Hakurankai , 78–82. See pp. 3–8 for 3–8 pp. See 78–82. , Kōki, banpaku, orinpikku banpaku, Kōki, Kōki, banpaku, orinpikku banpaku, Kōki, (Manchester: Man- (Nihon Hōsō (Nihon - , , Expo Fascism? 295 (Tōyō2004). Shinpōsha, , vol. 1, 16–19, vol. 2, 362–73, vol. 3, 124. 3, vol. 1, 16–19,, vol. 2, 362–73, vol. MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, Policy, Industrial of Growth The Miracle: Japanese the and MITI Okinawa imēji no tanjō, 24–29. imēji Okinawa See Tada, Tada, See Okinawa imēji no tanjō: aoi umi no karuchuraru sutadīzu no tanjō: aoi umi imēji Okinawa for for Esperanto could thus appear among the admittedly more frequent calls for renewing. UniversityStanford Press, 1982). Calif.: (Stanford, 1925–1975 See Chalmers A. Johnson, Johnson, A. Chalmers See Official Report of the Japan World Exposition Official ReportJapan the of For the place of big events within the discourse of development, see Tada Osamu, Osamu, Tada see development, of discourse the withinevents big of place the For

. 47 46. 45. 48.

E

llen llen The Work of Sacrifice in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: Sc

hatts Bride Dolls and Ritual Appropriation at Yasukuni Shrine c hnei d er

Yasukuni Shrine and its companion, the Yūshūkan Museum of Military History, located immediately north of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo’s Kudan district, are among postwar Japan’s most controversial sites. Within Yasukuni are enshrined the souls of approximately 2.5 million persons who have died in service to Japanese military since 1868, including fourteen Class A war criminals executed by the victorious Allies in the wake of the Second World War. Visits to the shrine by leading Japanese politicians, including the prime minister, inevitably unleash a firestorm of criticism across East Asia, especially in China and Korea. Critics of Japan’s conduct during the war are no less outraged by the contents of the Yūshūkan Museum, which celebrates Japan’s modern military history and pointedly denies any ethical wrongdoing by the Imperial Army or Navy during the 1931–45 conflicts in Asia and the Pacific. To what extent may these two institutions be understood as coherent ideological and aesthetic undertakings? To their critics in mainland East Asia and among the Japanese left, these institutions exemplify unrepen- tant rightist nationalism. They are often denounced as anachronistic instruments of militarist State Shintō, through which the mainstream Japa- The Work of Sacrifice 297 - ) kamigami or or mikoto e bride dolls pose severalbegin To with, puzzles. for most of its his Yet Yet Yasukuni’s supporters resolutely maintain that all the war dead, by Th these these memorial dolls been so extensively incorporated into the modern northeastern Japan, the beauty of the bride dolls is widely understood as an offering to the unquietdead, apropitiatory intervention aimed at lost restlessly wander otherwise would spirits tortured whose (muenbotoke) souls between world. this other and the world virtue of death their in service to have beenthe intoemperor, transformed have then, Why, spirits. unquiet or wandering sense no in are and divinities phatically dedicated to a specificdead man and often bears thenames of specific bereaved relations. What is more, the postwarpractice ofbride- initially and institutions Buddhist popular in developed was dedication doll carried antimilitarist associations. In popular Buddhist establishments in swiftly elevated to the status of national-level divinities ( divinitiesnational-level of status the toelevated swiftly and were in effect separatedfrom domestictheirprior andfamilial identi- bereaved ties. families war, were During the activelychastisedYasukuni by priests for addressing the dead by name; instead, they were instructed to pray collectively to all of the sacralized national Individuated war heroes.1 prayers, it was argued, carried popular Buddhistic associations, unbecom- toing each Statemodern Yet bride doll Shintō is at practice.em-Yasukuni during during its renovation in 2002 and now occupy a place of honor within the museum. dedicated was Shōkonsha) the institution, forerunner its (and Yasukuni tory were emperor the tomilitary service in died who people that principle the to by bereaved families to the souls of soldiers and sailors who died before marriage. Although senior priests at the shrine were initially reluctant to accept the dolls, the figurines are displayednow in theshrine’s receptions halls and are viewed by the many hundreds of thousands of worshippers dolls these of Six dead. war tothe respects topay yeartheir each come who were incorporated into the penultimate gallery of the Yūshūkan Museum theosized theosized souls of those who died in military service so that Japan enjoy may the postwar blessings of security and prosperity. In this I essay, will specific one examining closely by arguments familiar now these complicate one about 1980s, the Since Yasukuni. of historymodern the in development Yasukuni at dedicatedbeen have ) ningyō (hanayome dolls bride fifty hundred nese nese populace is encouraged to absolve their nation and their leaders of accountability for mass atrocities during the 1931–45 Asia-PacificWar. In turn, the of defenders the shrine and the museum present the complex as dedicated venerating the apo- to unambiguously the principles of “peace,” 298 Ellen Schattschneider alist communion, incorporating its living and dead players into a cyclical cyclical a into players dead and living its incorporating communion, alist nationof theater grand a as family.functions the powerfullyYasukuni of ties consanguinalaffinal conventional and the transcends that community mystical a as nation the re-constitute help symbolically dead war military the service, national in blood shedding affiliation. Through of units based kinship- and domestic the of level the over state the of triumph the brated the over,worldinstitutions national-level YasukuniLike ics.long cele- has and tensions in the shrine’s contemporary ideological and aesthetic dynam- popularity of the bride dolls at Yasukuni alerts us to ambiguities important shrine and museum complex? In this chapter, I will argue that the growing cess that culminates in mechanized war on a mass scale. Benjamin quotes Benjamin scale. mass a war mechanizedon in culminates that cess pro- a aesthetic, rendersfascism,which stepped voidhas politics this Into experience. lived in anchoring primary seeming, their of and authenticity photography, especially have deprived objects and artworks of reproduction, their original “aura” of image mass of technologies modern that gues ar- Benjamin Reproduction.” Mechanical of Age the in Art of “The Work image, the of experiences modern of Walterdiscussion Benjamin’sclassic through approached fruitfully be may principles The aesthetics. fascist of principles general with resonated profoundly have Museum Yūshūkanthe in strategies display most the years, over incarnations successive Through Unconscious” inthe Yūshūkan Museum andthe “Optical Kitsch, Aesthetics, Political the homogenizingwith force ofthe shrine’s dominant fascist aesthetic. partially alternative and idiosyncratic sites of family grief that stand at odds I will argue, many of the laypeople who worship at Yasukuni have produced native, unresolved stories of family loss and trauma. In important respects, symbolic and political narrative while also affordingthe possibility of alter- and aesthetic registers, partially encompassed within Yasukuni’s dominant moral competing between suspended are effect kinship. in dolls bride The which its lay visitors have projected more personalized dramas of family and on stage ogy. alternative of kind a emerged unexpectedly as has The shrine entirely reducible to the drawing power of fascist aesthetics or fascist ideol- not is Japanesethe populace of sizablea section to appeal mass stitutions’ in- the aesthetics, fascist of repertoire broad the on extensively draw ably inJapan andelsewhere. projects fascist aesthetic drama of state-centered death and collective regeneration that echoes other Yet although Yasukuni Shrine and the Yūshūkan Museum unquestion- Museum Yūshūkan the and Shrine Yasukunialthough Yet The Work of Sacrifice 299 , holding great potential for both libera- both for potential great holding , optical unconscious optical otographic otographic and film technologies,for Benjamin, operate toproduce bines bines the gunfire, the cannonades, the cease-fire,the scents of putre- faction into is War a beautiful symphony. because it creates new archi- the flights, geometricalformation tanks,the big the of that like tecture, villages. of burning spirals smoke Benjamin’s Benjamin’s insights are consistent with the more recent literature on Kitschy representations of dead, in war serveparticular, to reassure the Ph War War is beautiful because it initiates the dreamt-of metallization of the human War body. is beautiful because it enriches a floweringmeadow com- because it beautiful is War guns. machine of orchids fiery withthe eties. turbing turbing and disruptive features of death, “turning them into sentimental idyll.”4 The reliance on clichéd, stereotypical imagery; avoidance the of subtle or ambiguous evocations of pain; and the redundant emphasis on conventions familiar of representation all serve to death render seemingly knowable and comprehensible within the framework of sentimental pi- kitsch as a privileged form of fascist aesthetics. For the sake of convenience, convenience, of sake the For aesthetics. fascist of form privileged a as kitsch let us define kitsch asaesthetic representations(often mass reproduced common lowest the to according organized techniques) industrial through uncom- and singular elicit to fabricated beauty, accepted of denominations artistic plicatedNazi In aestheticand projects, emotional some responses. scholars have argued, kitsch suppresses or neutralizes dis- the profoundly survivals of archaic ancestral cults. He observes, “The cult of remembrance remembrance of cult observes,“The He cults. ancestral archaic survivalsof of loved ones, absent or dead, offers a last refugefor the cult value of the picture. For the last time the aura emanates the from earlyin photographs face.”3 human of fleetingthe the expression what he termed an termed he what have do course, of photographs, world, modern the In oppression. and tion sin- by possessed once that than kind different rather a of although aura, an gular premodern “irreproducible” works of art. Even Benjamin, who saw photography as undercutting the ritual functions of the image, acknowledges that early portrait photographs had uncanny, numinous qualities, Remarks Benjamin, “Mankind, which in Homer’s time was an object of con- of object an was time Homer’s in which “Mankind, Benjamin, Remarks templation the Olympian for gods, Itsnow itself. is self-alienationone for has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aestheticorder.”2 pleasure first of the F. T. Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto, written in support of Italy’s invasion of invasion Italy’s of support in written Manifesto, Futurist Marinetti’s T. F. decade of the first Ethiopiatwentieth in the century: 300 Ellen Schattschneider tional response to the spectacle of duty and noble sacrifice? This inferred This sacrifice? noble and duty of spectacle the to response tional emo- same the feel cannot us among who proclaim: effect in art of works human agingconventional thecommunity.5 and Familiar, sentimentalized less death and forever youth outside with the normal associated process of As Susan Sontag argues, to kitsch a links intimately kind “beauty” of time- projects. highly nationalist thus are conduciveto memorialobjects kitschy of qualities standardized eternally.The live and triumph will themselves, sacrificed have dead honored the behalf whose on nation, the that viewer broadcast repeatedly during the war on NHK, the national radio service, service, radio national the NHK, on war the during repeatedly broadcast (s enshrinement of ceremony Shintō State the of audiotape an plays background the In 1945. to 1931 from War, Asia-Pacific the during night at appeared it Yasukunias of model elaborate an on centered is that intensified halfwaythrough the museum, as visitors enter a darkened room is museum and shrine between transposition implicit This them. at back reside, visitors are immediately confronted by their staring own reflections sanctuary of the main shrine ( inner the into look they As shrines. other in than lower much and larger much mirror, great a into look they soldiers. There deified the to respects their offer to shrine the of level highest the to brought are Worshippers museum. the to adjacent immediately building shrine the in Yasukuni at vision ofourselves. reflected atransmuted, see argues, “we” Japan ( of all and living the defend afterand “look to continue who dead, war the of sacrifice supreme the by protected are Japanese living all that explains narrator The women. and men Japanese contemporary of pans cinematic cial Attack Forces, known in the West as kamikaze), are superimposed over the especially sailors, and soldiers martyred of photographs black-and-white Numerous dead. war heroic the of spirits living the ing celebrat- film elaborate long, a view to floor be- second the to ascending fore foyer entrance the in plane fighter and locomotive great Manchukuo-era a by pass initially Visitors aestheticians. fascist and futurist by of dreamed spirit and image machine, and body metal, and flesh of merger societies. all modern in extent some to appears that and fascism, by exemplified is that munity com- imagined national homogenous dreamed-of the of constitutive and representative simultaneously is response emotional populist common, n hs epc, h fl rpiae te tnad xeine f prayer of experience standard the replicates film the respect, this In the celebrates Museum Yūshūkan renovated the respects, many In Nihon o mamoru tameni ).” In looking at the kamikaze, the film in effect honden), where the deified dead are believedto (Spe- tokkōtai hōkonsha ) The Work of Sacrifice 301 ), line the walls kamigami ). Delicate laser-filament technology replicates thenocturnal mikoto The museum’s final hall, which was largelyunaltered duringthe mu- tree on the grounds surrounding TheYasukuni. tree still stands,marked with visiteda theysign, by museum-goers to after toured have be exhi- the identification symbolic the between dead kamikaze thismanner, bition.In and living Japanese visitors is further reinforced. Like a pilgrim honoring a reveredvisitor retraces saint, and journey physical spiritual of the the the late martyr. vehicles on their final missions of no return. At the end of hall is displayed a displayed is hall of end the At return. no of missions final their on vehicles (NavyButaiDivineJinrai Kaigun the depicting painting panoramic popular ThunderSquadron) heading across the sea Okinawanear pilots, The naval American attack toward targets. run final its on sun rising into the rosy a caption proclaims, vowed to meet one another beneath a special cherry seum’s seum’s most recent (2002) renovations, is a particularly pointed illustration of fascist aesthetics as characterized by Benjamin. Here, the instru- the including kamikaze, by used destruction and death self-willed of ments torpedoes (okha) and human gliders ), are lovingly (kaiten “cherry-blossom” displayed. Death in the service of the nation, especially death classified as voluntary and freely chosen, is unambiguously glorified. Celebrating syn- theses of flesh andmetal, ofspirit and technology, these installations invite the visitor to participate vicariously in the martyrdom and apotheosis aesthetic supreme as presented indeed Self-destructionis kamikaze. the of Visitors pleasure. are invited, in effect, to imagine themselves inside these dead dead heroes, specifically identified as divinities ( of several rooms; beautifully arranged cases display personal objects left especially One absence. tangibleevidence kamikaze, the by behind their of popular case displays a mirror case (to which I will return later) given to instead photo-a mother of his by Tetsuo NavyLieutenant the pilot Sumida Accompanying graph.6 text asserts that his mother told him that because each looked intotime mirror. he the would see her he looked like her, he Visitors are encouraged, in effect, to participate vicariously in this animated this in vicariously participate to effect, in encouraged, are Visitors simulacrum of the invisible deification of Thethe honored dead. final galleries of the museum again emphasize the enduring, uncanny presence of the kamikaze, hovering between their preserved visible images and subtle evocations of their invisible presence. Hundreds of photographs of the through which the souls of dead soldiers were raised to the status of divini- of status the to raised were soldiers dead of souls the which through ties ( procession of lit lanterns through the shrine precincts, from the “Shoka” garden in the northwestern shrine precincts to the inner sanctuary itself. 302 Ellen Schattschneider symbolism was modified followingthe Meiji Restoration in1868 asthe doll pollution, disease, and dangers to which the young have been exposed. Doll express gratitude to the children’s dolls, which have in effect soaked upthe families day, this To month. lunar third the of day third the on ceremony in rivers or other bodies of running water during an purification important placed were illnesses, and sins people’s absorbed having nagashibina)that, ( dolls straw or paper ritual of transformations are example, two decades within this rightist landscape of military memorialization, it memorialization, military of landscape rightist this within decades two past the over situated been have dolls bride the how considering Before Dolls, War, inJapan andMemorialization pilots were given gifts of elaborate dolls, specifically termed “bride dolls “bride termed specifically dolls, elaborate of gifts given were pilots unmarried instances, some In return. no of missions their on panions” “com- ritual as serve to fighters kamikaze to sent increasingly were dolls ( amulets to similar manner a in talismans, protective as functioned figurines these period, war the of ningyō) or mascot dolls ( ( dolls care as variously known dolls, cloth small make to encouraged were soldiers Army Imperial of relatives female and schoolgirls onward, in theciations early century. decades From 1930sthe of early the twentieth asso- militarist increasingly on took Dolls markets. tourist and overseas for initially developed doll, bride kimono-clad modern the of forerunners pean techniques were incorporated by Japanese doll artisans to produce the the idealized model for all Japanese families. as presented was forms) doll in represented (increasingly Family Imperial of metonymic “Japaneseness” in framework,an internationalist and as the became dolls as industrialized, and rationalized increasingly was market by Japanese families on the March 3 festival ( of Girls’ Day people through personal and cosmological transitions.7 The dolls displayed ease to believed are forms mimetic persons. These or divinities of stitutes sub- semi-animate as apprehended been have images which in Japan, in ( vicarious or substitute of longthe history of ture wise have polluted or injured their human charges. These practices are a fea- persons, warding off and absorbing dangerous influences that wouldother- figurines in Japan have been understood as prophylactic guardians of living nese culture and history. For centuries, perhaps millennia, dolls and human Japa- in figurines doll of functions ritual broader the review to helpful is D uring the Meiji period (1868–1910) and Taishō period Euro (1910–24), masukotto), for serving personnel. military For most omamori ). But in the war’s final months, these months, final war’s the in But ). migawari hina matsuri ) imagemaking) kata and shiro ), for imon - The Work of Sacrifice 303 (vicarious or substitute migawari migawari ningyō ),” ),” as symbolic wives in the other world.8 Significantly, e letter presents a fascinating Thetransposition. doll initially evoked is always Buddha right beside you, cheering you up. I suppose Corpo- ral’s Buddha was you. But from Corporal today, will be your “Buddha” and always will watch over you. Corporal bravely crashed on an enemy that hope I Shizue-chan,you, carrier. studyand up cheer would so hard Goodbye.9 you can be as your great brother. Th a stranger. I am a soldier who is in charge of Corporal Oishi’s plane. this left he takes he off, Before sortietoday. a splendidly Corporalmade I Corporal send letter. used it you. toto a cherish doll you had for made cloth. his of back the on doll small the carriedalways He much. very him Other pilots all hang dolls from their waists or from their parachutes’ belts, but Corporal carried the doll on his back as if he was giving it a piggyback.would pity He said that he the doll if it gets scared his when plane is everyoneWhen about to attack. was towardrunning the planes was doll the because glance, a at Corporal noticeeasily could I on, get to swinging as if it was clinging to him. I suppose Corporal always felt as go together—this is a word of Bud- was with you, Shizue-chan.To if he There you are not alone. Whenever pain, lonely, or you you feel feel dha. Miss Shizue Oishi, I suppose you are surprised at the sudden letter from from letter sudden the at surprised are you suppose I Oishi, Shizue Miss At times, dolls took on explicit memorial functions for recently deceased deceased recently for functions memorial explicit on took dolls times, At

hanayome (hanayome ningyō these these objects were often termed “ dolls).” dolls).” The figurines, it wasoften said, would allowtheir makers to ac- company the pilots in their final missions whileabsorbing thepain and brother’s brother’s spirit return to his sister, and she is exhorted to become “like” switch-pointof kind a as between and functions doll living “A brother: her pilots, kamikaze first the of one by written letter a in members family dead to her brother, Kiyoshi Oishi, a kamikaze pilot, received this letter from one one from letter this received pilot, kamikaze a Oishi, Kiyoshi brother, her to of his comrades: suffering of the martyrs’ lonely deaths. martyrs’ of the lonely suffering pilots; in some cases they were dropped the from air comrades over by the sites where dead pilots were believed to have crashed. Letters written by military personnel late in the war sometimes hint at the dolls’ capacity to mediate relations betweenex- worlds of the dead and the of For the living. ample, an elementary-school girl, Shizue, who had a made doll and sent it the presence of the young sister;young the pilot even the presence of the carried on the doll his back the help to seemed doll the death, brother’s her after Yet child. young a like 304 Ellen Schattschneider The dolls in these instances appear to have functioned not simply as pro- as simply not functioned have to appear instances these in dolls The me.”11much. like look you much how see When they people often you, say all your heart and my face appear beforewill you. . . . You resemble me very with to pray KudanYasukuni] and [i.e., to comeme, see to olderwant and splendida bride.be . . see . to up to want grow “I you script: Whengetyou post- a added pilot The know’.”10 to not you forwrong be would it think I because this you me.tell I with always are you way charm—this good-luck daughter, ‘Thetoy doll you had as a child Itookwith me in my airplane as a his Philippines.to the in addressed is letter The 1944 October 26 died who to to Yasukuni. return pilot thehelps perhaps and death, lifeand dividebetween great the effect,theIn world. doll other bridgesthe to afterover him hecrossed has welcome will that companion female beautiful the anticipates world this of out journeys he as him with carries pilot the that doll beautiful the that heavenly maiden. The implicitsymbolic logic be, may at least in retrospect, a of aura protective the under sky the into raised are they as impact fatal their after moments kamikaze of group a of painting near a displayed was shrine grounds during a recent summer festival. Suggestively, this painting the on exhibited veteran, war a by painting a of basis the was photograph holding a puppy, with a kimono-clad doll tucked into his parachute belt. The of evocation children’s play. An often reproduced photograph shows a pilot curious a in dolls, mascot their up holding kamikaze of group a of graph photo- a displays shrinevideo a turn, In doll. large a holdingplane, his of frontin 1945) May in (whopilotdied photographa a showsof publication YasukuniA him. to them given had who daughter mother and a to objects with the letter that a kamikaze pilot wrote as he returned the doll and other alongthe Museum, Yūshūkan of galleries final the of one in featured even is doll such one kamikaze; the to dedicated displays museum in preserved the war, which took on memorial functions for dead. Many mascot dolls are survived that dolls mascot the of usages frompostwar thewell, derives, as After hedeath, her, reassures she hisface beable see will atYasukuni. to ond writer his daughter’s doll in his carries senseairplane to her presence. her.Similarly,sec- with the always was brother herdead that feel to sister she alive,was that him. with always was Oncehe enabledit died, the living doll made by the little girl Shizue allowed her older brother to feel, while he Thedead. the to and living the to death, and life of domains the between tors, linking the kamikaze, who were themselves liminal beings suspended tective talismans or as comforting companions but as complex ritual opera- The contemporary ritual power of the bride dolls at Yasukuni partially partially Yasukuni at dolls bride the of power ritual contemporary The The Work of Sacrifice 305 ) dedi- ), which kuyō) for kuyō )” būmu ningyō ningyō kuyō hanayome hanayome ningyō )” and therefore entitled to formal rites tamashii e dedicated dolls are nearly always kimono-clad bride dolls (or groom (or dolls kimono-cladalways bride nearly are dolls dedicated e transformation transformation of older northern Japanese and mainland East Asian Th A dolls) encased in glass boxes, of the sort sold to tourists and sometimes pre- sometimes and tourists to sold sort the of boxes, glass in encased dolls) sented to Japanese brides upon marriage. In Aomori Prefecture, the prac- died before marriage. To this in died To day, severalbefore marriage. and Tendai Shingon Buddhist establishments in northern Tōhoku, rituals of doll consecration are still people cosmological young of predicament undertakento fraught ease the who have died marriage, before who are toconsidered be lost souls (muenbotoke). mothers mothers and sisters of the military war dead were not fully satisfiedof with “Defense related the at or Yasukuni at performed veneration of forms the practice The country. the around located shrines Shintō official Nation” the of bride-doll dedication was quickly extended from military casualties to had who accidents road of or illness of victims civilian postwar memorialize rites of spirit marriage, the practice of bride-doll ( cation is usually characterized as Buddhist worlds. betweenvoid memorialization the forever in the wander might otherwisesouls who ( Numerous informants have told me that this practice developed because as Meiji Jingu and Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Tokyo, Hōkyōji (also known as Ningyō-dera) in Kyoto, and Awashima shrine in Wakayama, dolls are burned, sent out to sea, or otherwise removed from normal human con- Overtexts. the course of the and 1960s bereaved1970s, in family members who relativesto dolls bride dedicateto began (Tohoku) northeasternJapan servicewar in the and Navy.12 Imperial of the Army the died during of spirit separation before being discarded. The of growing popularity spirit ofseparation doll discarded.being before memorialization and bride-doll spirit marriage during this conditionedlargely periodby the emerging “memorialization boom ( was that characterized the bubble-economy period and its immediate after- dolls that loyally servedToday, math. their human charges are respectfully disposed of in elaborate doll memorialization rites ( are said to separate the dolls’ “souls” from their At “bodies.” such venues course of the 1970s and 1980s, dolls of all sorts were increasingly subjected increasingly were sorts all of dolls 1980s, and 1970s the of course to elaborate memorialization rites at major national shrines and temples. dolls all that asserted increasingly have priests some and owners Doll-store are repositories of “spirit ( Dolls Postwar and Memorialization Thedecades thatfollowed the SecondWorldWar saw an intensifying affinity between dolls andmemorial practices throughoutJapan. Over the 306 Ellen Schattschneider youth)family members photographa place theof deceased,paper a giving deceased the of sex opposite the are (which dolls the holding boxes glass the worlds.Within the between void great the in comfortfor bride” a me “buy to parents his with plead may child dead the mediums, through ing mediumship.Speak- spirit female of forms popular and Jizō Boddhisattva the of veneration the in embedded deeply is dedication bride-doll of tice bride doll; made a further financial donation; and donated several objects objects several donated and donation; financial further a made doll; bride able monetary donation to the shrine. The following year, shesiz- thededicated a made thus She world. other the in him” of care “take to steps take to needed she decided she years, final her approached she as But return. he that would hope out heldson’sher and accept death refused to shehad fourdecades nearly for that recall relatives Her 1945. in Okinawa of battle mother of the the late was Lieutenant Sato Takeichi,Nami an Sato infantryman who died 1982. in the in doll bride a dedicate to permission quested re- first Hokkaido from woman a when uneasy initially were priests kuni Yasu- that surprising not perhaps is it background, historical this Given The Dollsat Yasukuni posterity. andwithout adulthood ofmarried joys theknowing without died those who anguishof and rage the “pacify” and As noted earlier, the beauty of the dolls’ faces and clothing is said to “calm” narratives. neo-nationalist prevailing outside stood that registers sitional, a measure of peace in distinctly alternative, if not explicitly critical or oppo- lowed family local members, especially women, to grant their lost relatives al-marriage bride-doll (c. 1970–89), Shōwaperiod late the In incarnation. re- or Buddha-hood attain to soul dead the allow may spouse doll the by given companionship the time, In soul. displaced the of wanderings ious hope that comfort given the dead by thedoll opposite-sex will still the anx- Informants emphasize the sorrow and futility of war and often discuss their informants within an explicitly Buddhist, pacifist, and antimilitarist frame. these tice, Tohoku rituals of doll are dedication usually glossed by my local prac- Shintō State with strongly associated dolls, of deployment militarist the wartime to contrast In house. the to back” way its “find to able be not (butsudan). Throughoutthis time, the doll remains blindfolded sothat itwill be broughtmay home be placed onto the family’s Buddhist altar domestic it temple the to taken is doll a before them. night The dedicated have who thehomes thelivingof to phasize,attached relatives notbecomemust too em- informants dolls, underwear.13The or beer, cigarettes, toys, as such dead, the to offerings various and (kaimyō), name memorial Buddhist the The Work of Sacrifice 307 kuyō). They shiryōkekkon) acing acing this large are display five exquisitebride dolls. In contrast to the Sato Nami’s surviving relatives insist that she had not been aware of F During During the extensive renovation of the Yūshūkan Museum in 2002, six primarily kamikaze. An entire wall is devoted to the first doll,dedicated by Sato Nami. A large glass case contains of photographs the dead soldier and of his mother, the doll clad in a white kimono, the sculptures of the his and son her to letter Nami’s and horses, and bears of pairs parent–child bride. doll as such and cannot be considered Buddhist memorialization ( soldiers. dead deified families by bereaved to the offerings are simply bride dolls were selected for inclusion in the museum’s penultimate gallery, viewed by visitors just before they enter the great hall containing the Two kamikaze. Attack or Special of the Forces, airplanes and submersibles walls of this room are adorned of withthe military photographs dead, war developed a policy of rotating the dolls through will these doll his rooms died, soldier each given a threewhich in season the during that so months, in which spiritsthe Honden, the be sanctuary, closest inner to shrine’s the of the dead are believed to Allreside. the priests with whom I have spoken ( marriage spirit of instances not are dedications doll the insist dedications, including by some prominent members of the Nihon Izoku- kai (War Bereaved Families Association). In 1999, the Yūshūkan Museum put up a temporary of of some the displaydedicated dolls, which attracted attention. more public hun- one As of this writing, in 2005, approximately shrine main Yasukuni’s of rooms reception the in visible are dolls fifty dred building. After considerable internal discussion, the shrine’s priests have be the most appropriate memorial gift for the late soldier. After this unusual gift was highlighted in the shrine’s newsletter, several other families were inspired by her example and gave bride dolls, as well, in some cases accompanied by letters or poems written to their dead The relatives. fiftieth anniversary of war’sthe end in1995 saw amarked increase in doll always dreamed of her son’s marrying. always son’s of her dreamed Tohoku; in establishments Buddhist at bride-dolldedication of practice the nor had she known about the wartime practice of presenting bride dolls to kamikaze pilots. Rather, they state, she and her sister-in-law had been would doll bride a that deciding in feeling” mother’s “a by solely motivated from Hokkaido, including tourist Hokkaido, including from sculptures on the parent–child of theme a presented also She cub. bear a and bear adult an as well as foal and mare a named had she which doll, bride the to and son her to written had she letter “Sakurako (Cherry Blossom Child)” in which she explained that she had 308 Ellen Schattschneider and simple labels identifying the deceased soldier and water the pure dedicating family of glasses tiny with only but members, family by letters with or boxes glass their insidephotographs with not displayed are dolls these many bride-doll cases next door within the Yasukuni shrine reception halls, popular anxieties over the variegated dangers of individuated angry spirits spirits angry individuated dangersof the variegated over popular anxieties sized soldiers, these ritual complexes have to not given sufficient attention restless dead. In emphasizing the collective unified aspects ofthe apotheo- the propitiating of project cosmological initial the in successful entirely fallen warriors.”15 “[The] is country protected the warriors as ‘bad dead’ are no longer a threat and danger to it.” He writes, a becomes country “The Antoni, poses pro- Hence, dead. the pacify and sooth to sought specifically Shrine, kuni (Shrine for Calling the Spirits of the in Dead) the 1869, forerunner of Yasu- ShrineShōkonsha founding of the at Meiji Emperor by Rescriptpresented enced a “bad death” will become dangerous, wandering spirits. An Imperial dead. the of living therelations orcially Those unmarried experi- died who unnatural fashion ( in died have who those of souls tortured The deaths. violent unusually or untimely died who those of spirits unquiet the propitiate to seeks sense, poses that Yasukuni does not simply glorify the war dead. It also, in a subtle shrine’s largely repressed origins. In an insightful essay, Klaus Antoni pro- the to return unacknowledged implicit, an marks Yasukuni at dedication overarching aesthetic?14 fascistic an into incorporated extensively so been aesthetic antimilitarist popular, a embedded in previously practice ritual a has how And years? recent in fit tories have bride dolls Shintōand neo-nationalist proved to be such a good rather Why,his- their divergent of spite practice? theshort,in in with tion fascina- public deep there is why and decades, two past the Yasukuniover at boxes bride-doll dedicate to chosen families bereaved fifty hundred one over have Why Museum? Yūshūkan new the into and practice ritual kuni Yasu-into grafted extensively so been Shintō, State nationalist with ciated asso- memorialization of forms to opposition) in even (perhaps contrast partial in emerged which dedication, bride-doll of practice the has Why Propitiating the Dead members. Ant I suggest that in a curious fashion the growing practice of bride-doll bride-doll of practice growing the fashion curious a in that suggest I oni observes that Yasukuni and neo-nationalist Shintō have not been ) goryō have long been to believed haunt the living, espe- from, instead of being protected yasukuni , a peaceful land, because because land, peaceful a , by the spirits of The Work of Sacrifice 309 The adoption bride-doll-marriageof symbolism at Yasukuni over the goryō) who each had specific, unresolved rageand hostility toward living themselves themselves rather kitschy productions, usually representing the sacrificed young men in the hours just before death as they write final letters home To To a considerable extent, this cosmological qualities mass-reproduced project kitschy, the by served is of dead unquiet potentially propitiating the kamikaze of paintings veterans’ the in Dolls feature also dolls. bride the of (often exhibited on the grounds of Yasukuni during festivals), which are people and protect themselves and their family members from potential prac- Shintō neo-nationalist conventional that way a in retribution spiritual only exists Yasukuni that insist to continue may officials Shrine cannot.tice to exalt and honor the enshrined gods of the martyred souls that protect the nation. Yet the recent proliferation of bride dolls in the shrine and in Yūshūkan the Museum suggests otherwise. In an era of seemingly unend- of ever crisis, emergence economic amid the questions ing troubling more perhaps thousands, War, Asia-Pacific the of legacies and conduct the about to millions, long propitiate and beings to these potentially dangerous pro- traumatic the embody. that memories theytect from themselves Death and Specificity of Kitsch: Problem and the Sameness ing, the bride dolls are not mere “symbols” honoring the dead; rather, these these rather, dead; the honoring “symbols” mere not are dolls bride the ing, offerings would appear to console those who weredeprived of the joys of marriage and of earthly posterity. Through these offerings, parents, sib- dead specific comfort to able are relations collateral and descendants, lings, ing ing proximate crises in kinship and family organization. Although official ritual action at is Yasukuni nearly entirely practiced by male priests, it has unquiet the to tend to mothers, to especially women, to Japan in fallen long spirits of children who died before their time. It is in dedicating thisin sisters and mothers by played light role leading the appreciate that may we and dolls at the prominent symbolism Yasukuni of mother–child relations notwithstand-publications shrine’s the in assertions The displays. these in people. Although Antoni does not precisely put it in these terms, a fascist past two decades, I suggest, has offered a ritual solution to these enduring cosmological challenges of soothing the unsettled dead and redress- ( homoge- and totalizing the into dead the appropriate to seeks that aesthetic willnizing of the state has proved incapable of the addressing specific ap- mili- the that sense who those all of and families individual of prehensions tary are potentiallydead dangerous. and unruly 310 Ellen Schattschneider f hs pitns y eeas rpouig xrml fmla, mass- familiar, extremely reproducing veterans, by paintings these of quality inexpert naive, The images. photographic well-known already of these moments of acute collective anxiety demand repeated representations death, of moment painted often the Like soldiers. fellow with socialize or lies. In that respect, the mass-reproduced dolls offer usefulsymbolic afford- fami- broken and pain, enduring lives, lost actual of specificities complex mostwouldprefer andpurposes war whose origin dwellon? not to a of farfromservice unspeakablethe home, torment, those in died who of souls the ease Japanese.”to gift better What “typically as coded are and mundane and conventional, knowable, supremely are they trade, tourist domestic associations. Clad in kimono, in developed the prewar era for the given to actual brides, are suffusedwith eminently familiar sentimental and ized skill or restricted connoisseurship. The dolls, ofthe kindthat are often special- not with a workcompanion, of high is art emphatically associated erotic and maternal simultaneously a doll, bride for.The long most they indulge ( to livingthe allowed are the recipient.16 By dedicating beautiful bride dolls to the deceased relatives, with one become to extension, by and, thing that with one momentarily, fulfillment. tional become, to thing view, is beautiful produce, To a give or sociality. formsinterdependentcomplex of more ever constituting experience while childhood early of solidarity pure the to actors return indulgence ditional ceive re- and give to continue sorts all of friends and workmates, Schoolmates, child. mother and between indulgence exchangesof formative the on eled of exchange expanding constituted the are through society Japanese in interdependence of relations social pendence.” The psychoanalystDoi Takeo has arguedthat, in large measure, “de- or “indulgence” as glossed usually is that exchange emotional sonal of psychodynamics the of because suggest, I part, in true Japan. is in This force particular on takes loss and trauma of plexities the divinities. to andreassuring service dedicated sincere offeringto the spirits of fellow soldiers,exemplifying the survivors’ a is image each that fact the underscores images, propaganda reproduced tiful objects or forms that stress the inevitably transient nature of emo- of nature transient inevitably the stress that forms or objects tiful beau- especially media, aestheticized and elaborate increasingly through M Th Doi notes that for mature actors, the longing for longing the actors, mature for that notes Doi emorial kitsch, after all, tends to be homogenous, to smooth out the out smooth to homogenous, be to tends afterall, kitsch, emorial e general tendency of kitsch to everywhere ease or neutralize the com amae throughout their lives. These of enactments moments of uncon- ) the dead, giving them that which dead,thegivingamaeruthat ) them amaeru between social actors, mod- actors, social between , an interper- an amaeru, amae is sublimated is - The Work of Sacrifice 311 Many of those who have dedicated dolls at Yasukuni similarly frame their frame similarly Yasukuni at dolls dedicated have who those of Many action in terms of specific domestic obligations to their close kin. Consider, Consider, kin. close their to obligations domestic specific of terms in action example, the for case sisters,of the currently twoTanaka in eighties,their terribly.” He talked of his own late mother’s inconsolable pain and said that said and pain inconsolable mother’s late own his of talked He terribly.” he had been considering dedicating a bride doll in his brother’s memory at Yasukuni Shrine. Such an act, he speculated, would not only help his brother’s soul, but it might also grant a measure of peace to their mother World. Other in the three man Tenzan (Heaven-Mountain) His brother’s bomber. threephotograph, Tenzan man he showed me as visibly he shook with emotion, was on hanging the adjacent When wall. I asked Abo to explain the meaning of the bride dolls, he suffered really who ones the were they mothers; the for hardest was “It said, bration of wartime fascist culture. For example, in July 2002, as I stood con- stood I as 2002, July in example, For culture. fascist wartime of bration templating penultimate the bride dolls Yūshūkan gallery, in Museum’s the asked who Seichi, Abo gentleman, Japanese elderly an by approached was I if he might speak with me in German. Once he ascertained that I spoke Japanese, Abo explained that his brother had been a kamikaze pilot who had died in Okinawa in May 1945. He had occupied the second seat of a Nonetheless, Nonetheless, the visceral impact of the dolls often transcends such tempts to at- appropriate them into a conventional fascist aesthetic scheme. In many conversations with Japanese visitors to the museum, I have been struck that the bride dolls elicit thoughtful mediations on the specific and thatdeeply seems manner a in pain family’s their of conditions unresolved cele-itsnarrative and triumphalist overarching museum’s withthe odds at who died unmarried. The attempted effect, then, is to dull or neutralize the neutralize or dull to is then, effect, attempted The unmarried. died who offerings generic as dolls recast and to the original gifts specificities the of dead. honored of the to collective the assembly Alternate Uncanny and the Narratives: Pain, Kinship, by photographs of the lost young man and sometimes contain haunting that surprising not perhaps is it light, this In dead. the to poems and letters the Yūshūkan Museum’s curators decided to display five dolls that lacked photographs or accompanying documents. The accompanying explains caption that the dolls have been given to comfort all military personnel ances, in foreffect, the standardizingfascist aesthetic Yasukuni, of which attempts to reduce all loss to a normative narrative of self-sacrifice. heroic Yet at the same time, the dolls offered byfamilies Yasukuni to pose some challenges for a totalizing narrative Theyframe. are usually accompanied 31 Ellen Schattschneider 2 have undertaken numerous memorial pilgrimages to the Marshall Islands, Marshallthe numerousto pilgrimagesmemorial undertaken have ( memorialization Buddhist of instance an as doll the to refer specifically They Islands. Marshall the on Atoll Eniwetok the on infantryman an as died who brother,elder their of memory in lery who in 1997 dedicated one of the bride dolls displayed in the Yūshūkan gal- hood, through a three-dimensional representation of herself facing her facing herself of representation three-dimensional a through hood, the artist appears loss to re-enact of her brother, and her own loss of child- weaning. The of process the of re-enactment a as mourning of discussion line natal would endure. her that so namefamily’sher on took husband”who “adopted an married home. When she finally married, atthe relatively late age of shethirty-nine, the Tetsuo’sand forleftYukoand responsible fordeath parents forher caring inhismemory. awork ofbeauty create to obligation cial plained ex- that in part because her brother was an artist she Yukoin turn had a spe- draftsman, and photographer amateur accomplished an been had University, Rikkyo Tokyo’selite at student a brother, her that Noting insist that the dolls are merely offeringsto the apotheosized military dead). that would, of course, be never used by the Shintō priests at Yasukuni, who term (a memorialization for term Buddhist the using specifically brother, as them to referred too, She, make. to effort intense of seum’s final galleries. the of one Mu-in Yūshūkan preserved is mother) his by (given mirror case whose and 1945 April in mission kamikaze a on died who Tetsuo, mida Su- Lieutenant Sumidathe of sister younger by made Yuko, were dolls The shoulder. mother’s her to on holds who girl small weeping a and mother weeping a of dolls, blossom” “cherry two contains box glass large rate, by evoked one of the most striking doll assemblages in Yasukuni: an elabo- familybehind aconventional line. honoring and comforting their late parents, who had not been able to leave simultaneously were they emphasized, they brother, their to doll the ing family.the marry- of headIn the their been brother,deadhave whoto was ried; they have their devoted postwar lives to caring for one another and for mar- ever noted, be should it sister, Neither died. he believed they where location the to offerings other and foods favorite brother’s their taking Sumida T Wh Complex and highly specific kinship dynamics are also poignantly poignantly also are dynamics kinship specific highly and Complex butsudan etsuo and Yuko, it should be noted, were their parents’ only children, only parents’ their were noted, be should it Yuko, and etsuo en I spoke to Sumida Yuko, she explained that the dolls took a year year a took dolls the that explained sheYuko, Sumida to spoke I en Yuko’s assemblage may be considered in light of Melanie Klein’s , the family’s domestic Buddhist altar, which remains in her in remains which altar, Buddhist domestic family’s the , ); over the decades, they they decades, the over kuyō); for her dead her for kuyō The Work of Sacrifice 3 31 for kuyō her did lateShe for tell brother. me that the seated doll t is striking in this regard that the little girl depicted is much younger I When When I first viewed these dolls, I assumed that they straightforwardly offerings in theshrine complex. Although most viewers donot know the specificdetails of the dollmaker’s loss, they clearly sense thather assem- these these ambiguous and uncanny associations, shrine official and curators chose not dolls to in Yuko’s include the renovated gallery in Yūshūkan the many for visitors Yet with whom Museum. I have spoken to over years, the her dolls remain the most poignant and compelling of all the displayed than Yuko was in 1945 when Tetsuo died. The ambiguitieshere, I think, are significant.Yuko andTetsuo were extraordinarily close, and hisdeath did was She not devastatingmarry her. untilfor age thirty-nine, seventeen husband, adopted an married she marry, did she When death. his after years who took on the and name ancestors of the Sumida house and family line. dolls The thus carryYukoher and multiple her; associationsfor they evoke mother but also Yuko as an adult, as well as her memories of herself as a insists child. thatyoung Yuko And the although doll female is not a “bride she doll,” did donate it to Yasukuni in a context in which it joined scores of marked Thebride net dolls. effect is thatthe twodolls wouldappear to evoke a great range of identities and relationships, confounding mother– and brother–sister, daughter, relations. husband–wife Perhaps because of learn- after embracing herself Yuko and mother Yuko’s Sumida represented such resisted adamantly Yuko conversation, our in But death. Tetsuo’s of ing im- an was dolls the making that felt she that only saying reading, specific a portant act of of the adult woman was emphatically “not a bride since doll,” as Tetsuo’s had she that recalled also She wife. a him offer properly not could she sister stand- the and had added figure seated the female adult only made initially ing girl only after her doll-making teacher suggested that a second figure would be appropriate. might even interpret this piece as an attempt by the artist after to had, reclaim she whom her (to son the toward directed long so attention, mother’s absence, his of void the In photograph). own her of lieu in mirror a given all, daughter, the displacing presence, stronger ever an is son the paradoxically, who seeks in this piece haunting to return to maternal a full embrace even of such return. signals impossibility the as she mother, mother, yet not fully embraced by her. Here the toys of childhood, transitional objects that in normal childhood would have eased the trauma of evidence tangible abandoned, sit mother, the from separation and weaning of the loss of the and brother of the sister’s own vanished childhood.One 31 Ellen Schattschneider 4 Conclusion: The of Ambiguous Aesthetics Yasukuni sacrifice. ofnationalist thesumed pieties conventional with sub- be cannot that pain of unique history specific, a blageof emergesout any interest in the broader political dimensions of Yasukuni. Abo, in turn, turn, in Yasukuni.dimensionsAbo, of political broaderthe in interest any deny and parents, their of souls the as well as soul, brother’s late their of predicament the easing to commitment lifelong their of component one example, understand their decision to dedicate a doll at Yasukuni as simply for sisters, The undertakings.Tanaka memorial militarist and fascist ing homogeniz- toward than work memory of problems domestic-based cific spe- highly of resolution ritual the toward more directed members,family individual by memorialization of acts idiosyncratic creative, enabled also have figurines the leadership, shrine’s the of agenda neo-nationalist the with consistent largely are deployments dolls’ the warfare. While in death as mass responses to uncanny well and sentimental both their evoking antithesis, as qualities kitschy incorporating spectrum, broad a across cut dolls bride The neo-fascism. and neo-nationalism postwar of tenor thetic aes- and ideological overall the with odds at somewhat are that rialization memo- of formsfeminized and oriented, individually local, by mesticated ful war dead. keeping with the nationalist imperative to reanimate the “beautiful” youth- incorporated extensive elements of kitsch and fascist aesthetic principles in has shrine the say, might we respect, this In sacrifice. noble of tableau a soldiers, in frozen forever unblemishedsacrificed the of youth eternal, the young faces of the bride dolls unquestionably forevoke, some, an image of out the promise of conjugal comfort for the war military dead. The eternally a reassuring fromdistance the pain of personal and collective loss, holding emotional standardized, sentimental responses. The dolls helpto establish into on war potentially complex meditations are re-cast and accountability which through elements, neo-nationalist and fascist many its including largely have come to resonate with the overall aesthetic project at the shrine, time over dolls the offerings, personalized highly these accept to luctant re- initially were priests shrine Although intelligentsia. progressive its as well as Japan’sneighbors infuriate and baffle to continues that popularity a Japan, in appeal mass shrine’s the of tenacity extraordinary the on light interesting an cast figurines shrine. Yetthe the to sideshow minor a seem might Yūshūkan the and Yasukuniin displayed dolls bride the some, For Yet over the past several decades, Yasukuni has also in effect been do- been effect in also has Yasukunidecades, several past the over Yet The Work of Sacrifice 5 31 For Benjamin, photographic and mass-reproduced forms hover between hover forms mass-reproduced and photographic Benjamin, For Like other popular commentaries about the bride dolls, Yuko’s insistence Yuko’s dolls, bride the about commentaries popular other Like are partly encompassed within the aesthetic sensibilities of the domestic sphere. Future research and Yasukuni on the memorialization of the Japa- prises. Yet prises. Yet at the same time, the signifying practices of the postwar state dead and todead living. the that dolls her were Yasukunioffered solely as to acts ofBuddhist memori- feeling— family of expressions heartfelt personalized, (kuyō)—as alization should alert us to a significant undercurrent of popularengagement with fascist Yasukuni, at aesthetic singular a of speaking than Rather shrine. the as emerged institution the that understand instead should we otherwise, or a staging partiallyoverlapping, ground inconsistent for aesthetic projects. encompassed with domain be is a sure, powerfully resurgent the family To enter- religious and political related and Yasukuni at framework nationalist the the doll at Yasukuni can scarcely be reduced to an act of neo-nationalist symbolic of act meaningful a foremost, and first rather, was, but obeisance action within the context of her specific domestic responsibilities to the into the making of her face, which entrances the viewer. Significantly, the face of the little girl, which may be remembered Yuko’s childhood self, is turned from our view and remains forever enigmatic. In some respects, these memorial figurinesmay have enabled theirmakers to move beyond so-traumatowardand of productive actspain mourning of immediate the just before assemblage doll the made Yuko cial reproduction; significantly, she married an adopted husband, thus structurally replacing her long-lost brother so that she could carry on dedicating their Yuko, family name. For unrealized bride, or some combination of all three, enormous care went summon summon up archaic cults of the ancestors that are meaningful grounded premodern structures of in kinship, the and family, community. deeply New optical technologies of mass reproduction, he insists, thus carry destructive and libratory potential. in Recall, this light, the facial symbolism of memorial Sumida Yuko’s assemblage for dead her who brother, carried conjoined. to and his mother saw himself his deathmirror in which the he his sister, his mother, his is woman seated adult the whether of Regardless anticipates that dedicating a bride doll to his brother would, first and fore- and first would, brother tohis doll bride anticipatesa that dedicating of his latemost, ease pain mother. the Theymay be easilyco-opted social diverse cultural and projects. by rightist and fascist enterprises that offer simulated, compensationsfor dangerous the loss of the authentic “aura” under conditions of alienated modernity. simultaneouslycan writes, he photographs, in deceased the of faces the Yet 31 Ellen Schattschneider 6

Each public youthful visage of an maleunmarried in ser- martyr, sacrificed kinship. of obligations specific private, the and nation-state the of mands de- standardized and sacrificial, fascist, the between these dialectics unresolved to attention careful pay should suggest, I dead, war military nese Notes family lines. loss,andtruncated matic war,of trau- legacies unresolved confrontthethey as alike, detractors and the paradoxes they embody pose enduring puzzles for Yasukuni’s defenders mother,his hoped-forof facesand bride.sisters, and faces These reflected visible less the to bound obscurely remains empire, vanished the to vice

10. 12. 1 11. 4. 9. 5. 8. 6. 2. 3. 3 7. 1. .

Japanese Studies 31,no. 2(summer 2005):329–56. Idem, “TheDoll: Bloodstained Violence andthe Gift in Wartime Japan,” oaa Jiro, Kosaka Sontag, Susan Ibid., 223.Ibid., Indiana University Press,1993),Indiana University 27. Friedlander,Saul Ellen Schattschneider, “Buy Me a Bride: Death and Exchange in Northern Japa Northern in Exchange and Death Bride: a Me Schattschneider,“Buy Ellen imagea painted ofthe dead young man. of the face of a specific living young woman onthe tablet, sometimes paired with painting the commission male would unmarried dead a memorialize to seeking ( tablets painted votive of production the on 1985), 42–45. Japanese ofReligious Journal Studies 141–62. 31,no. 1(2004): Dead,”the of Faces and ImagesResemblances: “FamilyMemorial idem, 55–58; Transcendence on a Japanese Sacred Mountain Schattschneider,Ellen 57–67; 1991), Press, Institution Display Museum of Politics and The Poetics Cultures: Culture,” Japanese in in Exhibition of MasaoPoetics Yamaguchi,“The essay. Ihaveinthis usedpseudonyms In mostinstances, 1980). Illuminations , ed.Hannah Arendt(New York: 1968), 242. Books, Schocken in Reproduction,” Mechanical of Age an in Art of “The Work Benjamin, Walter and the Shadows ofWar. New Writings from Japan” “Kamikaze Letters,”Pilots, Last trans. Nicholas Voge, in “Silence Japan to Light: 2003): 445–67. Shrine,” Shinto Yasukuni at Dead Military the of Spirits Commemorating Practice: Ritual as Memory “SocialNelson, John Ibid. Before the century,mid-twentieth northern Tōhoku spirit marriage was centered y ae kt ari ikite ware Kyo ne te in f Saturn of Sign the Under Reflections on Nazism: An Essay on Kitsch and Death and Kitsch on Essay An Nazism: on Reflections TdyW Ae tl Aie (oy: Shinchōsha, (Tokyo: Alive] Still Are We [Today Nw ok Fra, tas n Giroux, and Straus Farrar, York: (New (Durham: Press, Duke University 2003), Journal of Asian Studies Asian of Journal (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian (Washington,D.C.: mukasari ema mukasari 13,Mânoa no. 1(2001):121. Immortal Wishes: Labor and Labor Wishes: Immortal ). A bereaved family bereaved A ). 62, no. 2 (May (May 2 no. 62, (Bloomington: Exhibiting Journal Journal of - The Work of Sacrifice 317 (Chicago: University Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and American American Ethnologist 28, no. 4 (November 2001): 854– (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1981). Kōdansha, of Dependence (Tokyo: Anatomy The In her recent book on the kamikaze and cherry-blossom symbolism, Emiko 47 (1988): 133. Asian 47 (1988): Folklore Studies Spirits,” Nationalisms: Nationalisms: TheMilitarization of Aestheticsin Japanese History of Chicago Press. 2002), 178–82. She dismisses the display as a cynical appropriation, by shrine Yetofficials, such “ghostan folkloric of marriage” practices. explanation accounts for neither the early history of the dolls at the shrine nor Yasukuni. at worship who those among practice the of popularity widespread the dedication bride-doll out seek actively not did officials Yasukuni seen, have we As dolls dedicate to efforts women’s to acceded reluctantlythey rather, 1980s; the in only reconciledand have slowly to practice. become the nese nese Bride Doll Marriage,” 80. Klaus Antoni, “Yasukuni-Jinja and Folk Religion: The Problem of Vengeful Ohnuki-Tierney Ohnuki-Tierney makes passing reference to the 1999 temporary exhibition of bride dolls at Yasukuni: Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Takeo Doi, Takeo

15. 16. 14.

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PART IV Fas iterary c is m

N

ina Cornyetz ina Fascist Aesthetics and the Politics of Representation in Kawabata Yasunari

Kawabata Yasunari (1899–1972) was the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, which was awarded to him in 1968. He was renowned for his deep concern with “the beautiful,” or aesthetics, as the title of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, “Utsukushii Nihon no watakushi (Japan, the Beautiful, and Myself ),” suggests.1 According to Ueda Makoto, Kawabata “repeatedly made the same point in his critical essays. . . . [H]e suggested that literature recorded nothing but . . . encounters with beauty.”2 Tachihara Masaaki put it this way: “Kawabata was always looking for beauty everywhere. When he discerned a beautiful object he relentlessly laid it bare in an attempt to get close to its true essence. His eyes were trained toward (nozomi) immortality and turned away from things of the earth.”3 As a matter of fact, Kawabata’s literature is beautiful, but that is not the end of my discussion. Rather, it is where it begins. This focus on aesthetics in so many secondary sources on Kawabata overwhelmingly ignores or denies the impact of any political ideology, as Tachihara also intimates by claiming Kawabata was “turned away from things of the earth.” In a nutshell, Kawabata has been read as an aesthete unconcerned with politics (or current events) for whom the war constituted 322 Nina Cornyetz eral? eral? I will argue many that of indeedhis attributes aesthetic colluded with gen- in aesthetics fascist of those with compare representation of politics representation underlying Kawabata’s literary aesthetics, and how do those of politics the are What ask: I ideology. fascist with particular, arose—in tempts to his reintegrate aesthetics with the context political in which they at- contrary, the to essay, This trauma.4 cultural and artistic, personal, a fascism “ignores the fact that this development [fascism] was rooted in a in rooted was [fascism] development this that fact the “ignores fascism (European) of conception a such (following that argued Walter Benjamin) who Neocleous, Mark with agree I Instead, 1945. in ending and 1920s the in beginning fascism European of specificities temporal and geophysical limitthe term First, Idonot wantto On Fascism the two. by integrating with an equally general description of Kawabata’s aesthetics; and conclude follow term; the of problematic the with begin I term. the using am and understand I how of discussion a to essay this of percentage fair a devote differentforms of political fascism. and various the by shared aspects reveal will here, pursue I which thetics, the of analysis theoretical the Asia, in “mission” Japan’s for support voiced literally that Kawabata by texts no were there if even that, argue to as far so go would I Cabell.5 vealed in some of his wartime writings and convincingly argued by Charles re- enthusiasm an colonialism, and imperialism Japanese for enthusiasm acculturating aestheticentrism—that made possible his (largely disavowed) nationalized, a calling be will I what aesthetics—or (celebrated) very his was it that believe do I War.But World Second the in military Japan’s of actions fascist-imperialist the supported uncritically and enthusiastically who fascist card-carrying a was individual, an as Kawabata, that claim to fascist ideology. and believe, hope to show here, is a system of representation collusive with I that manner the in aestheticist more became instead Kawabata postwar, the of reevaluation their wartime ideology by most writers and artists in the the same time that Japan was becoming fascist ideology and that those attributes came to dominate his aesthetics at Because the word the Because However, let me also state up front what this essay is not attempting: attempting: not is essay this what front up state also me let However, fascism that underpins Kawabata’s aes- Kawabata’s underpins that signifying system means different things to different people, I people, different to things different means fascism assome to, have espoused, the politically fascist. Moreover, against Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 323 merely typology of images, content of these may vary) to enlist political form—one among a series a among form—one political merely [Fascism [Fascism is] a counter-revolutionary phenomenon engaged in the rrowing rrowing from Osborne the characterization of fascism as “no prevention an less to the of communism, but which seeks none provide alternate revolutionary impetus to the social forces of mass society by bilization for nationalist and counter-revolutionary aims, militarized activism and a drive for an elitist, authoritarian, and repressive state apparatus, articulated through a nebulous vitalist of philosophy nature will. and the Bo of alternatives to be listed in the catalogues of comparative politics as deep-manifestationof a rule—but organizationor of forms competing rooted historical, or even metaphysical, tendencies or possibilities of age.7 the to conventional forms of political and ideological analysis. Herein, in part, lies its significance:fascism problematizes “the political,” while tophilosophical up itself opens it itstruth.such, as itselfAs presenting as historyits on based while which, analysis interpretationand of forms From bounds. itsexceed necessityof politicalnonetheless a movement, no is fascism perspective, this Fascism is Fascism a politics implicit in modern capitalism, mo-mass involving As an object of reflection and inquiry, “fascism” is notoriously is resistant “fascism” objectan reflectionof As inquiry, and

political form,” political and form,” in the spirit of GriffinRoger and others, in this essay sentiments, and slogans (although the the masses in a nationalist, collective, vitalist movement. As a reactionary it it, puts Griffin as time—or, of politics specific a has fascism modernism, is palingenetic, moving forward toward “regeneration” as it looks nostalgically backward towardAnd, of course, a at mythicits core fascism past.9 Neocleous quote at greater length: To nationalism. on is dependent velopment velopment specific to themassification of society in relation tothe rise of modern, industrial capitalism that attempts to solve the problem class of struggle ideologically rather than economically. I also understand fascism as a signifying system that employs a specific I am interested in an analysis of the aesthetics of fascism as a signifying system that bears certain common markers across its otherwise variously particular historical manifestations, including fascist Nazi Germany, Italy and France, as well as I Japan.8 understand fascism to be a historical de- particular set of philosophical debates rather than in a coherently organized organized coherently a in than rather debates philosophical of set particular wrote:political As Peter movement.”6 Osborne or party 324 Nina Cornyetz differentiation between the two is itself potentially fascistic.”13 That is, That fascistic.”13 potentially itself is two the between differentiation traditional a maintaining that rather but politics and aesthetics confuses somehow fascism that simply not arguing “is Benjamin here that has written Hewitt Andrew opposite. the actually is it domains, of as conflation fascism a sees Benjamin that glance first at appear might it Although In Benjamin’s words: own Affron explain, andMarkAntliff to introduction effect), which, asBenjamin insisted, are equally integralto fascism. Intheir in “political” is that “culture”(but and “aesthetics” as known itself makes that ideology fascist of aspect the with concerned am I here activities, and institutions military and political in manifestations concrete more its on approached)by so concentrating oftenbeen has course, proached(and,of The growing proletarianization of modern man and the increasing for- increasing the and man modern of proletarianization growing The of groups favorable andconstituencies tofascism.11 does, ing fascist ideology as a form of “false consciousness” as [Robert] Soucy be considered separately when discussing fascism. Rather than dismiss- not should realms cultural and economic, political, the and society; of aspects all issuespermeated aesthetic which in politics aestheticized of Age of Reproduction”Mechanical (1936), fascismbe seen as can a form As Walter argues Benjamin in his seminal essay, “The Work of Artthe in eod a aray ugse, lhuh acs cn etil b ap- be certainly can fascism although suggested, already as Second, tured within the radically ofmodernity.10 conditions the radically altered tured within recap- be to past mythic a reaction, of light the by compass its set only can fascism capitalism, modern to central property private of structure of modern but society unwilling to lay down any serious challenge to the exploitation and alienation the to responding modernism: reactionary mobilizing them through an aggressive nationalism. . . . [I]t is a form of art.12 tion of aesthetics into politics. . . . Communism responds by politicizing the introduc- is . Fascism of . result themselves.. express Theto logical givingin chance a these instead salvation massesbut not right, their its sees Fascism eliminate. to strive masses the which structure property the affecting without masses proletarian created newly the organize to mation of masses are two aspects of the same process. Fascism attempts one should recognize the very real role of cultural production in the formation Fascist Visions: Art and Ideology in France and Italy and France in Ideology and Art Visions: Fascist , Matthew , Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 325 it is also important to acknowledge what Susan SontagSusan called what the important also toacknowledge is it crisis of modernity over the stability and reliability of forms of representation. While this crisis was manifested throughout the moderniz- In each case, what sustains the aesthetics of monstrosity is something eminently positive and decent.15 of being moved to tears by a Beethoven sonata being played by Jewish genu- also probably was surmise, may we officer, Japanese the prisoners, inely capable of being moved by the delicate feelings inscribed in cultured practices such as haiku poetry, calligraphy, or the tea ceremony. a positive one: rather than hatefulness and destructiveness, fascism is about love and idealism. Most of all it is a search for an idealized self- image through a heartfelt surrender to Japanese the race, his purify something to killed who officer higher Nazi the Like and beautiful. more soldier raped and slaughtered in total devotion to [his] and emperor in the name of achieving the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.” Like the Nazi concentration camp officialwho was genuinely capable Fourth, I understand fascism to be about a crisis in representation at What modernist discourse in Japan, and elsewhere, was confronted the The most important sentiment involved infascism isnot anegative but Third, perhaps its “deepest” level—or about the anxiety over the potential slip- of sense and anxiety the foremost and first course, of is, anxiety This text. or thatradical the alienationover social, shifts political, other and economic, marked the entry into modernity (and capitalism). As Harry Harootunian explains: page between realityand how that “real” is represented, in image, slogan, beauty of fascism,14 or what Rey Chow termed fascism’s positivism and positivity: there is no artistic stance or production that is purely objective or freed potential,interestsort.anytheFascism isfromof culminationfinal the of purification of domains that lies at theheart of artfor the sake of art, or the attempt to ignore the sociopolitical and historical context of artistic production. art,be it literary, filmic, or visual, is alwaysproduced and received con- or sumed in a political circumstance with its attendant ideological context. The commingling of politics with aesthetics canproduce murderous disinterest. a canWar bepotentially perceived as beautiful, and death may divestedbe affect.of More simply still, it can also be taken suggestto that 326 Nina Cornyetz

in fascist slogans andimages. “content” of evacuation the mirrors subjectivity evacuated this terms, otic other (refusal of difference). Hence, meaning itself is “evacuated.” In semi- the with identification performative a with replaced is other the ferenceof and “true” foundedsubjectivity on self-recognition through the radical dif- (meaning) itself order,“signification” fascist the representation.17 Within for the of sake representation own its in invested not—itnarcissistically is thetics thetics and fascism proper. Although I leave further elaboration of just how resentability.”18 all as a marker (if not a representation) of the dilemma historical of unrep- of least levels—not discursive of number any at frequency obsessive with represented been nevertheless has it somehow cism representation, defies fas- “if “unrepresentable”: remains itself fascism However, signification. fixing at attempt an in sign the of instability constitutive the of circuiting short- of sort a words, other in is, This same. the of image (“false”) the only is then, Permitted, communists). Jews, (the strategies annihilation of equivalent nese of sublation (the shared mission and communalism of the images of combination fora dialogue of rejection wholesale a constitutes Mo Th Finally, I want to note a distinction between what I am calling fascist aes- . speed, shock, andsensation. by splinters into shatteredbeing was that memory a to accessibility ing the of lived genuineexperience experience—the difference—and secur- communicating and relaying of capable most forms the over was then, crisis, . This . . body. communal the of experience the and . . . memory culture- of endowment auratic the . . . same ever the in new ever the by dominated circumstances social in experience lived represent to suited the over discussionsbest in form inflected was Japanit in . ing. . world ated forated 1930s.16 andwarinthe late mobilization national combining ideologemes subsequently thebut selectively state appropri- representation), political of problem the resolve to (aiming fascism to representation) of question the resolve to (seeking modernism yoke to this particular inflection ofthe crisis of representation invariably worked Yetcapitalism). of abstractions social the to immune thus (and history of outside community of forms eternal the recall to efforts diverse and e fascist solution to the anxiety caused by radical alterity (the Other) (the alterity radical by caused anxiety the to solution fascist e [In reover, as many have argued, fascism masquerades as that which it is Japan] the crisis was inflected into claims of cultural authenticity Japan] the claims into crisis was ofinflected cultural authenticity , that functions to elide class distinctions) and distinctions) class elide to functions that minzoku, Volk, or the Japa- Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 327 - , I mean the ideals of beautyof well work ideals that the mean aestheticsI fascist , a rejection of things “Western” and valorization of things “East the the East,” which I would like to make my own swan song. In it I will in sing, my a fashion, vision of the classics of the East. I die maybefore I can write it, but I like should it at least to be understood that I wanted to write it. I have received the baptism of modern literature and I have myself imitated it, but basically I am an oriental, and for fifteen years I neverhave lost sight of my bearings.21 Such I believe that the classics of the East, especially the Buddhist scriptures, believeBuddhist I especiallythe East, the classicsof that the are works the of supreme literature of world. the I revere the sutras not for their religious teachings but as literary visions. I have had in mind for the last fifteen years theplan for a work to be entitled “TheSong of

(before (before Japan had been tainted materialism Western by and rationalism) a excessive excessive Westernization, Kawabata sought to find inJapanese tradition mode mode of Japanese literature” inspired by Japanese literary conventions. In insisted: he 1934, so-called natural world.20 However, by “natural” Kawabata meant something quite specific:Japanese classical poetics, insisted Kawabata, were rooted in mediated impressions of the material—rather than purely psy- reveled (which modernism Western to superior thus were and chic—world in mental unbalance). From the 1920s forward, Kawabata sought a “new enced by Western modernist stream-of-consciousness writers such as James James as such writersstream-of-consciousness modernist Western by enced the was it that insisted he that then, curious, is It Proust.19 Marcel and Joyce Japanese classics alone that inspired him. Kawabata fiercely distinguished his ideal associative narrative from the Western avant-garde because they, Kawabata felt, reveled in psychological depravityand neglected the “real,” bata’s literaryaestheticsbata’s era. postwar grew in the less, fascist not more, Aesthetics Kawabata’s Kawabata’s expository writings on literature and many of his narratives— both the earliest and some of his influ- last—were decidedly “modernist,” I am conceiving of fascist aesthetics to the following sections, I will simply will I sections, following the toaesthetics fascist of conceiving am I by thatstate here systemswithin thatcertainlyfascist but are limitedthat to not are regimes politically fascist. With this distinction in mind, I will argue that Kawa- ern” in ern” the arts and was literatureby Kawabata’s no means uncommon for generation. As did many of his contemporaries, against the perception of 328 Nina Cornyetz though it did not end there). Throughout his corpus are woven of,citations feriority.22 in- technological Japanese of perceptions offset to superiority “spiritual” Kawabata’s reference to a literature that was as much about extra- and nonsense this In story. a tell to simply not and shapes, and colors, contrasts, that gests sug- text the of interpretation black.28Kuwamoto’svisual and white, red, Japanese Kuwamoto artist rary Tadaaki bold,shapes abstract in stark, with of translation English An such asthe haiku.EdwardSeidensticker wrote, poetics Japanese modern early of born believed are images contrastive on gently, andenveloped Fumiko.”26 and reliance Kawabata’s brevity episodic swayed cool.richly clusters is The white effect the are white, blossoms the against the thick green leaves is like the blaze of the summer sky; but when red the bloom, into oleander floods “when red a Cranes;(Thousand 1949): monogatari, such as the famous the sort of “fetishization of the trivial” that also informed so much classical is aspects. This descriptive to subordinated are elements plotted or Causal the scent of perfectly brewed ortea the crane pattern adorning a kimono.24 gatari (tale fiction)tradition, as attention is lavished on decorative details— Heian-period classic the to referential highly is writing Kawabata’s century).23 twelfth the around originating verse linked multi-authored of to likened been has rative. writing Kawabata’s Thus, nar- the of shape overall the to bound not but it surrounding immediately necessarily related theto each cumulative; is intricately words and imagery not times—are many rewritten then and years, the over to added1935, in notably, text—most onein perhaps, make together that images and episodes poetic separate the example, For convention. Japanese of signifiers as canonized been have era modern the in that (1600–1868) period Edo the through (794–1185) period Heian the from forms art and literary Japanese of markers other and to, references F heavily heavily on amingling ofthe senses.27 relies Kawabata Similarly stillness. and motion fuses characteristically haiku classical the Thus terms. incongruous or opposite of mating by a beauty of awareness sudden a convey to seek that poems syllable seventeen- tiny are Haiku masters. haiku seventeenth-century to back Kawabata has been put, I think rightly, in a literary line that can be traced or Kawabata, this Japanese inspiration began with formal concerns (al indeed uses a prose narrative to explore the play of play the explore to narrative prose a uses indeed Country Snow Snow Country Snow The Tale of Genji (Snow Country; 1948), begun 1948), Yukiguni (SnowCountry; was illustrated by the contempo- the by illustrated was .25 From Kawabata’s (long sequences (longrenga Senbazuru mono- - Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 329 , The The Kokinshū House House of the new mode of . Nonetheless, that fact that I Shin Shin kankaku , ha sometimes translated )” that permeates throughout the haikai haikai [renga] Snow Snow Country looks like Mallarmé’s symbolism, Yamato Yamato uta , Basho’s even seems like it is a sort of Platonism [means that] Shinkokinshū t is well known that prior to the war, Kawabata was affiliated withthe Accordingly, characterizations of Kawabata as continuous with tradition with continuous as Kawabata of characterizations Accordingly, I the the Sleeping Beauties this “essence” of our Heian aesthetics is imbued throughout with the essence of French symbolism.31 bolist bolist aesthetics are, however, after all, dependent upon a tradition of “Japanese verse ( think the passage in Lake assimilates George Bataille’s eroticism, and moreover As I lay down my pen, I now, think, maybe, Kawabata Yasunari’s sym-

of black hair and white skin, the sound of her voice, or the touch every- indeed of are contrasts renga, her and haiku the by inspired Perhaps finger. Japanese Japanese literary expression.32 Faithful to his own literary ideals as influenced by the Neo-Perceptionalists, narrativesKawabata’s accessworld the are characterizations his Accordingly, senses. perceptual varied the through contrasts the by described is woman a visual: and auditory, tactile,vibrantly lowed the principles of scientific observation and reportage. Kawabata’s narratives emerge as influencedby, yet distinct from, group. the “Shinshin sakka no shinkeikō In his kaisetsu (On the New Directions of Up and Kawabata elucidated his Writers),” belief thatsen- Coming foregrounding sory perception in the writing of literature would originate a literary issues and debates. The indeterminate, or overdetermined, nature of nature overdetermined, or indeterminate, The debates. and literaryissues convention artistic and literary Japanese of mining fragmentary Kawabata’s escape not did fact This evenmodernist.30 and modern clearly course, of is, Shinji mused: all Kawabata Kosai commentary. convention are never recapitulations of the same but thoroughly modernist in their redeployment of signifiers of tradition in innovative andnon- traditional contexts. must, I believe (as do many others who have written about Kawabata), be countered with the fact that Kawabata was also affected by contemporary narrative textualities, such as visual, aural, or figural elements, is clear.29 Yet I believe that Kuwamoto’s rejection of illustrations representative of traditional art forms in favor of modern abstract art was brilliant. What Kuwamoto appears to have understood is that Kawabata’s references to as Neo-Sensualist or New Senses School) during its formative stages in the the stagesin formative its during School) Senses New or Neo-Sensualist as coterieThe rejected 1920s. the then dominantnaturalist literature fol- that Neo-Perceptionalist literary coterie ( 330 Nina Cornyetz canonized canonized conventions is perhaps most overt in his Nobel Prize acceptance the brightness of red against black, purity the ofredagainst brightness black,against purity the soiled: where: stillness is offset by sudden movement, sadness by a moment of joy, ceremony heceremony wrote: tea extremity.”35the Onlast their in my eyes to comes it because beautiful is nature But suicide. contemplating am I when even nature love I forhere contradiction, the at laugh will you that doubt no have I before. been ever has it than beautiful formoreme “natureis Ryūnosuke: Akutagawa writer Ryōkan (1758–1831) and Ikkyū (1394–1481) he quotes the twentieth-century erature for eight hundred years.”34 In between a discussion of the Buddhists lit- Japanese controlled even and influenced which tradition a established period tale fiction ( Heian- of topic the later, on pages two Zen”; of influence the under spirit, Japanese the of heart the to awakening an see we Here enlightenment.’ pursued and flowers arranged ancients “‘The century. twentieth the into even and Edo to Heian from time over range that forms art ceremony; tea the and painting, landscape poetry,afteranother, including form art nese Japa traditional one to references through way its wound which speech, tradition. to he asareturn troped of in premodernity a quest for innovation and was originality—yet one that while gazing backward—or one that incorporated and combined signifiers forward moved that one as project literary Kawabata’s characterize easily ( stories hand the of “palm called he vignettes surrealist often and descriptive, career—short, writing his of beginning the toward with experimented had he that pressionistic writing im- of form abbreviated an to returned Kawabata life, his of end the At of mountains and rivers and grasses and trees, of all the myriad mani- myriad the all of trees, and grasses and rivers and mountains of they move one into another, include in the Japanese the tradition beauty as seasons the of expressive words blossoms, the moon, snow,the The This Shimamura glanced up at her, and immediately lowered his head. The head. his lowered immediately and her, at up glanced Shimamura a clearer black, touched with a purple sheen.33 apurple black,a clearer touched with tense, it seemed to be burning icily. Against it, the woman’s hair became inthe contrast. scribably fresh beauty inde- an was There cheeks. red bright woman’s the the were in it floating of middle and snow, the was mirror the of depths the in white Was the sun already up? The brightness of the snow was more inmore was snow the of brightness The up? already sun the Was incorporation or combination of references to or signifiers of now of signifiers or to references of or combination incorporation monogatari ) written by women, Kawabata holds: “so was tanagokoro no shōsetsu no tanagokoro ).” Hence, one can can one Hence, ).” - Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 331

- - mediated mediated impressions Thousand Cranes laments , written before and during the Snow Snow Country notion of “nature.”38 For example, Andrewexample, For “nature.”38 of notion cultured is facilely interpreted as symbolic of pre- of symbolic as interpreted facilely is Country Snow bata’s insistence that his literature, and that of the canon, is about about is canon, the of that and literature, his that insistence bata’s e aesthetic rendering of the natural world in Kawabata’s writings like writings Kawabata’s in world natural the of rendering aesthetic e ese different arts and personages are linked as continuous in signifi Th festations of nature, of human feelings as That well. spirit, that feeling one’s comrades for in the the moonlight, snow, under the blossoms, is toalso basic tea the ceremony.36 taken for the nihilism of the West. The spiritual foundation seem would spiritual The West. the of nihilism the takenfor Here Here we have the emptiness, the nothingness, of the Orient. My own works have been described as works of emptiness, but it is not to be Kawa Th

war, valorizes war, a preindustrial, pre-mass Japan in which nature dominates, albeitof a modern neatly context. bourgeois transposed into periphery the “nature” notwithstanding—as he himself may have intuited, given his description, that classical Japanese literature celebrated of the material world—premodern Japanese literature was less about “na- a about thanitselfture” industrialized Japan—a quest reiterated within the text in Shimamura’s (un- Shimamura’s in text the within reiterated quest Japan—a industrialized desire to find Chijimifulfilled) linen—purported to still besnow-bleached in the preindustrial manner. timeless essence of “the deep quiet of the Japanese “the spirit,” emotions thatpremod- the Claiming religiousa of faith.” heart the and Japan, old of ern “Ikkyū of Zen comes home to me with great Kawabataimmediacy,” speech with the following: the concluded ject.”39 turated apprehension and representation of nature has at its core a Zen Kawabataspeech, quoted Prize Nobel his Throughout sensibility. Buddhist poems about Zen written by Zen monks connecting them to a putative Feenberg Feenberg has noted: “Haiku . . . are often said to be concerned with the poetically world natural articulatethe they fact in But nature. of experience in all its rich emotional and historical associations without distinguishing a purely material content from the contributions of culture and the sub- wise celebrates a nature anchored in a cultural specificity—and his accul- the the deterioration of the (traditional art of the) tea ceremony in contempo- modern, rary, Japan; declining the mountainside to which the protagonist in travels Shimamura cation over history, in large part, because of the dominance of the “natu- “To it: Kawabata put Elsewhere inspiration. or conceit a as “nature” or ral” be natural, to be true to nature—this has been the basic principle pervad- ing all the arts in Japan, both past and present.”37 332 Nina Cornyetz immediacy.44 aesthetic anexperiential with asintertwined also conceived is it but Watsujionly aestheticized, notand Tetsurō, shi,is beingJapanese eminent modern Japanese philosophers such as Nishida Miki Kitarō, Kiyo- ontology or ontologization of transcendental aesthetics.”43 In the works of Time and Being in temporality of analysis whose Heidegger, Martin philosopher Socialist National (in)famous the of that unlike not manner a in itself being nese) being. Japanese of component constitutive a as “sensibility” particular ethnically Japan. That is, it showsthe prewar naturalization of an environmentally and tant aspect of how aesthetics were then conceived in a rapidly modernizing impor- an pinpoints think, I culture, and ontology on discourses from ics aesthet- of separation the to Rather, time. objection the the of Japanese to with this short digression is not that Japanese aesthetics were unimportant cal approach already self-evident to all Japanese?42 The point I wantto make moreover, was notthat Onishieverything discovered in this contorted logi- tility. There was no needto dissectthese categories, held one reviewer, and, choly or loneliness). Ueda Makoto notes that his studies were met with hos- and things), all of transience beautiful and sad the aesthetics: nese Japa- of core the as identified he categories three the discourses, thetical attempting and applyto, to rationalism integrate logical with Western aes- philosopherYoshinoriOnishithe by study thick a later and essays, several Japanesetraditional aesthetics. to Amonginquiry into so-called these were were apparently only limited philosophical treatments exclusively dedicated there theory; aesthetic Western of explications toward tended discourses coming1881.41 by the a within field university the However, high academic and hygiene; and other discursive and material imports), with aesthetics be- health on and technology and science on (alongside texts Japan novels;Western into poured inquiry philosophic other and aesthetics on theories the ages is,however, construct. amodern Kawabata’s rendering of Zen as Aesthetics Aesthetics was of paramount importance; it was inseparable from (Japa- B Let me digress for a moment. From the Meiji period onward, Westernonward, period Meiji the From moment. a for digress me Let immersed inZen.40 Reality,”he seasons the deeplyof was beauty hesangthe as of even and to be quite different. Dōgen entitled his poem aboutthe seasons “Innate y 1968, when Kawabata accepted his Nobel Prize, as Robert Sharf has RobertSharf as Prize, Nobel his accepted Kawabata when 1968, y Peter Osborne has summarized as “an aestheticization of aestheticization “an as summarized has Osborne Peter (mysterious depth), (mysterious yūgen the aesthetic sentiment of Japan throughout (strong emotive sense of sense emotive (strong aware (restrained melan- (restrained sabi Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 333 bata’s Nobel Prize speech expressed this Prize speech expressed sentiment as follows: Nobel bata’s with nature. The light of the“clear heart” of thepriest, seated in the meditation the dawn hall the dawn, in for becomes the darkness before moon its own light.47 Seeing Seeing the moon, he [the poet Myōe (1173–1232)] becomes the moon, one becomes nature, into sinks He him. becomes him by seen moon the Kawa Kawabata gestures toward defining thisaesthetic as when“Pan-Asian” he includes references to Chinese poets and substitutes the word “Oriental” must Asia common a toward gesture this But there.48 and here Japanese for tiquity, tiquity, completely aestheticized, stunningly a-historical, and originating in negative differencefrom the so-calledWest.The Zen beliefs and prac- China had become the People’s Republic of China, but also simply becausesimply also but China, of Republic People’s the become had China Ch’an Buddhism (the progenitor of Japanese Zen, originated in the early seventh century) and Buddhism in general in China had overwhelmingly yielded to the philosophic dominance of Neo-Confucianism by the four- teenth century.49 Kawabata’s “Asia” that is (still) unified through a Zen sentiment is therefore a thoroughly Orientalized Asia—frozen in its an- be recognized as an imaginary (mythic) Asia, not only because by 1968 the the masses and linked to nationalism. In short, Zen Buddhism had been re-conceptualized as “the ground of Japanese aesthetic and ethical sensibilities. Virtually all of the major Japanese artistic traditions are reinter- of pretedZen the as Zenexpressions experience, metaphysi- the rendering all now are arts various the Because itself.”46 culture Japanese of ground cal linked to Zen, and Zen is linked to both being, Japanese Zen and are being at once aestheticized, nationalized, and bound to a type of contemplative experientialism. convincingly argued, Zen Buddhism in particular signified something quite something signified particular in Buddhism Zen argued, convincingly be- fact, in had, and century twentieth the before had it what from different moder- aesthetic-onticWiththis for vessel constellation. favored the come individu- newly a in being Japanese with commingled become had Zen nity, alized formulation well suited to the modern subject.The result was that, “in lay now Zen modern of “heart” the Buddhism, Zen premodern in unlike a private, veridical, often momentary ‘state of consciousness.’”45 But this national and communal simultaneouslyis consciousness” “state of private because it is perceived to be (potentially) shared by all Japanese. In other words, with modernity, Japan’s the meaning of Zen shifted from an insti- aristocratic-military dominant a minorityby practice religious tutionalized to a subjectively individual, yet culturally communal, ontology available to 334 Nina Cornyetz its modern interpretation of Zen—disavows the radical differences that differences radical the Zen—disavows of interpretation modern its homogeneity. speech—in signifying The as read all day,are present the to writings recorded earliest Japan’sfrom Japan, and China through course) (discursively,meanders of he as everywhere discovers Kawabata that tices plains, that fascism relies on of an politics. As aestheticization Hewitt Andrew exclaim Benjamin’s Walter recall will I First, agenda. fascist a to amenable of convention—from an acculturated nature to Zen—might be particularly signifiers of mobilization Kawabata’s of core contemplative and sionate, The question remains, however, asto howthis avowedly peaceful, compas- Fascist Aesthetics new world.”51 a of direction the in ahead step a taking involved has but antiquity of culture and systems the to return a meant never has This past. the to return a Throne, Imperial the to return a always was there country,our of forward as theof theself-determination present. eternal . . . In this history step a always but past the to return mere a been never has It renewal. a of character the been always has nation our in past the of return “The war, the during it put Nishida As future. and present the in reborn be, should and be, can that past a past—but (Pan-Asian) Japanese mythicized the in is, moreover, grafted onto a culturally particularized nature and manifested in negation space, and vice taneous construct versa).50 This aesthetic-ontic self temporal-[human]-historical comes into being in relation to its simul- negation (or the dialectic of self-negation described by Nishida in which the sensory communal), of subjective experience internal transience, contrast, nationally (yet individualized an of form the in Zen from inspiration drew spiritualism.) “Asian”an of notions similar of use made WarWorld Second the during Japan under Asia of all unifying of mission the how remembers undercurrent one when ominous an has Pan-Asianism this that argue also might the differing meaning and practice ofZen itselfover time and regime. (One alone let poets, and periods, places, various the in discover would history The “aestheticization of politics,” which seems to entail a confusion of confusion a entail to politics,” seems of which “aestheticization The It is, then, as a particularity unique to being Japanese that Kawabata Kawabata that Japanese being to unique particularity a as then, is, It reaffirmations of the autonomy of the aesthetic— the of autonomy the of reaffirmations radical most the of one of basis the on functions actually discourses, l’art pour l’art pour l’art . Thus, . Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 335 - re- inflexible purification(or bracketing off ) of modernism).53 The criticKaratani Kōjincoined thephrase “aes- nd, if fascism is understood to be a nationalistic reactionary mod pearing pearing to be anticapitalist, it attempts to aesthetically sublimate the contradictions capitalist of the economy.54 Theaesthetic stance is established bybracketing other elements, but one should always be prepared to remove the brackets. . . . However, the characteristic of aestheticentrists is that they forget to remove the Theybrackets. confuse the reality of the other with what is achieved by beauty the for respect their with for respect confuse theyOr bracketing. other. . . . Furthermore, aestheticentrism is at the core of fascism. Ap- when Benjamin recommends “politicizing art,” he is arguing not simply not arguing is he art,” “politicizing recommends Benjamin when that fascism somehow confuses aesthetics and politics but rather that poten- itself is two the between differentiation traditional a maintaining tially fascistic.52 Seco Because the act of bracketing, or the purification of domains,depends on appreciationinvestigation, isolationor the of certain ob- the attributes for ject that emerges from that bracketing is of necessity partial. As Karatani points out, while this bracketing is essential the for advancement of many fields(such as scienceor mathematics), it is also essential that thebrack- eting be flexible, and that suchbracketing must be conscious and perhaps ernism—that is, a reaction against the threat to the dominant classes theticentrist in this sense. As such, he refused to unbracket his rendering of rendering his unbracket to refused he such, As sense. this in theticentrist Japanese as traditionalBenjaminOr, culture. might have put it, he refused to politicize art—that is, to refused he the de-politicizationrefuse of what is alreadyalways political—but steadfastlyheld to the decadence of art for art’s sake. deliberate. deliberate. Otherwise, the partial object of purificationmay be confused with the object in its totality and context. Kawabata, I think, was an aestheticentrism,” theticentrism,” to describe the aesthetics as a domain (that also undergirds Orientalist fascination with an aestheticized Asia) and that helps distinguish modernism proper from purification or of do- off, bracketing a on relies modernism While fascism. “aestheticentrist” the mains, purification: and fixes that naturalizes, Hence, Hence, it is an epistemological structure of purification of domains, both of in- base the at identifies Benjamin that aesthetics, as aesthetics cluding fascism and modernism. This isnot tofacilely and inaccurately claimno distinction between fascism and modernism (fascism is, of course, a actionary 336 Nina Cornyetz to “the sense of a new start or of regeneration after a phase of crisis or crisis of phase a after regeneration of or start new a of sense “the to modern modern with a “simultaneity of the non-simultaneous” (and vice versa; i.e., through an ideology (propagated by images) of national homogeneity and homogeneity national of images) by (propagated ideology an through moreover, one that attempts to unite the masses and obscure class struggle lizes those masses toward a new future that is overtly nostalgic for the past, mobi- that modernism reactionary a society; mass modern by on brought this this ‘past’ paraphrases Herf to postulate that modernism reactionary seeks “to realize in may facthave existed as never more than a possibility.61 Hence, Osborne but lost already something be to believed is revitalize to mobilize ments move- political modernist reactionary and revolutions conservative what that awareness an from stems time of politics this of nature paradoxical apparently the out, pointed has Herf Jeffrey As modernism.60 reactionary this is a “politics of time” that underpins both conservative revolutions and the of non-simultaneity the simultaneous).59 Peter Osborne has argued that glory.58 of “national” apurer time of course,isto new order with terms such as restoration, or regeneration; this restoration, in fact constitutes an to orientation the future.”57 Hence, fascism calls for a as much as the past . . . while appearing to be a turn to reactionary the past, the “refersto that rebirth)” of sense the (in past the of restoration a realities.”56 Palingenetic, then, connotes “a backward-looking nostalgia for secular as . . . mystical with much as just associated be can declinewhich term the uses Griffin ultranationalism.”55 populist of form palingenetic denominator”—“a common “lowest its lies fascism of core mythic the at that argued has Griffin Roger innovation. for quest its in tradition Japanese of signifiers canonized of host a with replete as and forward moves it as backward looks that one as literature premodern with aesthetics. cist or,agendasfascist by appropriationsimply, more fas- to with complicit as Kawabata’s mobilization of tradition can be easily understood as amenable superiority against an encroaching pollution threatened by modernity, then ary modernism that leads Osborne to claim: Osborne leads to that modernism ary Let me be more specific. I have characterized Kawabata’s relationship Kawabata’s characterized have I specific. more be me Let In of radical reaction within and against modernity—is of necessity contra- structure structure—the structure. This temporal its to internal diction contra- the of terms in but sense, political or moral a in primarily) not Reactionary modernism may be understood as a bad modernism; not (or this sense, fascism also counters the progressive temporality of the of temporality progressive the counters also fascism sense, this for the first time .”62 Moreover, it is this politics of time in reaction- palingenetic to refer to future Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 337 , of loss that had already happened already had of loss that , in comparison with the Westerner. The West- , The in comparison with Westerner. the crisis that was widely experienced as loss. From the Meiji the From loss. experiencedas widely was thatcrisis cultural lack as the absence of a historical and ontological (or national) presence. presence. national) (or ontological and historical a of absence the as lack can loss that ensures loss of ontologization the however, this, than More veryconditionnever of national identity.66 the be lost, since it becomes “recovery” “return.”63 or dictory, since one of the things it aims to reverse is the production of the the of production the is reverseto aims it things the of one since dictory, but reactioncannotsubject.Radical itself is it which verytemporalityto reproduce, and affirm, thereby performatively the form temporal ofthe very thing against which it is pitted (modernity). Hence the necessity for it to misrepresent its temporal structure to itself as some kind of Quite unlike Germany, Japan entered the Second World War the mili- That this politics of time requires, at its core, a sense of loss should What What losses we have suffered met have we while steps, ordered in forward move to able been has erner civilizationtoto had to had have we have and and it, surrender superior thousands of years. for leave followed a road we have in the reconstruction of a (national) very the identity, concept of “loss” is already recuperative: that something has implying been lost, it posits cultural purity result of a perception was the intertwined. But by the late 1920s and early 1930s, the mood had radically Najita and Tetsuo Harry Harootunianchanged. write, “It was precisely because Japanese saw the urgency of keeping their culture uncontaminated and hence preserving its essence against the threatened external pollution that many felt justified using militantforms of political and cultural action.”67 It is important to add that this urgency felt toward protecting tary victor of its recent wars (in Russia and China). But Japan was in the a of midst era through the early 1920s, Japan had eagerly and enthusiastically embraced modernity and the Westernization with which it was inextricably best describe: perhaps 1933 from words Jun’ichirō’s Tanizaki writer as the ment ment of palingenetic myth.64 Benjamin has suggested that the experience loss—was that represent to attempt the War—and World First the in loss of an integral element fertilizing the growth of German Rephras- fascism.65 Benjamin,ing Hewitt terms this the “ontologization of a (historical) loss” whereby, Griffin be stressesobvious. the importance of deca-a perception of decay, dence, and corruption of the present moment as integral to the develop- 338 Nina Cornyetz of modernization/Westernization. It laid loss cultural at was that least this process precipitous theJapaneseculture to with lost been had retrieved be must that something that anxiety the expressed collectively few—which a tions throughout Japanese society—philosophic, political, literary, to name impending ofthe death protagonist. Or, for example, from and age old toward decline the explores 1949) Mountain; the of (Sound Kawabata’s loss. lamenting statements straightforward blunt, melancholic a through ening mood of much of Kawabata’s fiction,took many different manifesta- ceremony master breaks an antique tea bowl: tea anantique breaks master ceremony of pagesconcluding the in Or

He spent muchofhistime watching in their insects agonies.death In Kawabata’s fiction, this sense of loss is communicated primarily primarily is communicated loss of sense this fiction, Kawabata’s In least as great as those ofthe asthose preceding andahalfcenturies.68 asgreat least three at be must 1867 of Restoration the since place taken have that changes ordinary.The the beyond somewhat go country own our in conditions before he her. couldstop put ittogether. to hunting abroken andtrying bowl east. admithisforefingerto wasmissing thefrom rim. The broken Shino laythe on stepping before stone the basin. stone collapsed, It wasaquiet death.69 and little a walked collapsed, and little a walked bee A again. feet their to get to unable were and backs their on Stiff-wingedfell insects room. This ing among the stones. he Immediately stopped. Each He put together four large pieces to form a bowl. A piece large enough He out. hadcried theagain. piecesdown He threw . Wondering if it might be somewhere on the ground, look he started H In recent years the pace of progress has been so precipitous that that precipitous so been has progress of pace the years recent In The evening before, Fumiko had flung the Shino against the basin the against Shino the flung had Fumiko before, evening The It seemed dreary in contrast to the fresh glimmer of the star, to be to star, the of glimmer fresh the to contrast in dreary seemed It sentiment of loss and an encroaching doom, hinted at in the dark the in at hinted encroaching doom, an and loss of sentiment e raised his eyes. A large star was shining through the trees to the to trees the through shining was star large A eyes. his raised e day, as the autumn grew colder, insects died on the floor of his floor of the on colder,grew died autumnday, insects the as 70 mood —a sense of loss and decay—rather than in than decay—rather and loss of sense —a , when the daughter of a tea- a of daughter the when Cranes, Thousand Snow Country Yama no oto no Yama : - -

Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 339 - con- , was imagined imagined was Country, Snow . . . . [T]he defeat of China remained remained a cultural loser reover, the link between the perception of cultural loss and the sanc the and loss cultural of perception between the link the reover, Success in war did not necessarily establish the nation’s cultural entities. Far from the corrupt cities and the sites of industrial capitalism,industrial of sites the and cities corrupt the from Far entities. believed,agrarianists the brotherhood, communal of possibility the a marked-off space as “brothers” under the divine protection of spiritual of protection divine the under “brothers” as space marked-off a worth. To Nagai, it Nagai, seemed that although Japan had been To a militaryworth. and diplomatic victor, she a great but not civilization.71 a great Japan power, made and Russia Like others of his generation, Nagai did not regard the “successes of Meiji” . . . as a Japanese. as a source of undiluted pride The people were seen as an embodiment of a common essence thatde- local the rived from land and tutelarythe all within that shrines defined Mo In this sense, one might adapt Hewitt’s argument and claim that the Japa- as loss positioned is, loss—that cultural that nation-state ontologized nese agrarianists advocated violent means to achieve these ends, but even for change, peaceful sought who those the the 1930s, nationalist activists such as Kita Ikki and the fundamentalist agrarianists Gondō Seikei, Inoue Nisshō, and Tachibana Kōsaburō called people the which in Asia communalist and agrarian an to “return” new a for Kawa- that time same the (at emperor Japanese the to naturally bound were bata was celebrating such locales in his The fiction).72 more radical ofthe tification ofnature inJapan (which, it must be reiterated, is“second” nature, or acculturated nature, not nature itself ) could not be more clear: as modernity/Westernization had irrevocably altered the relation of human to nature, Japanese traditional culture, which supposedly resided still in of that like provinces preindustrialized remote, to be a potential source for a new age of Eastern sensibility. Against the of “divisiveness modern political and social relations” from Meiji through intrinsic to current Japanese being. Hence, loss became a sort of “presence” of sort a became loss Hence, being. Japanese current to intrinsic traditionalitself(i.e., culture absent was which that for in” “stoodthat as ) War began. Asia-Pacific the prising) prising) support of the Asia-PacificWar. Nagai calledfor a unified Asia white imperialismagainst because, a portion of the ideological groundwork for the support of the Asia-Pacific the of support the for ideological groundwork the portionof a War by many intellectuals and politicians. In his short article on the Pan- Asianism of the Western-educated liberal politician Nagai Ryūtarō, Peter Duus places this perception of cultural loss at the matrix of Nagai’s (sur- 340 Nina Cornyetz

Maruyama Masao wrote that Tachibana Kōsaburō, a leading fascist ideo- fascist leading a Kōsaburō, Tachibana that wrote Masao Maruyama ogy’s need to sanctify nature and the nation: sanctify needto ogy’s While Zen itself was not, of course, intrinsically fascist, it met fascist ideol- over rational doctrine in a way that is not unlike religions, including Zen.)79 faithand sensibility. valorizes vitalism tal fascistcourse, of (And, ideology Orien- the of essence” “natural the as Zen of valorization Kawabata’s in configured is nature how to similar quite is think I that manner a in tual nese state.”78 In these renderings, nature becomes the hallmark of the spiri- of (ultra)nationalism, “explicitly connecting ‘blood and soil’ with the Japa- and of schoolsupport a nation Buddhists similar attempted naturalization Kyoto The character.77 national to environment natural linked 1935) ture; whose Tetsurō, Watsuji of that is example mous its and Japan philosophicaldiscourses. in made fa-being most populace The was ethnic of land the between connection naturalized a Moreover, have nature, “polluted” while to community.”75 isbelieved Modernity imagined an than rather entity “natural a as itself nation the of conceive to endeavored but landscape at halt not did agrarian-communalism nese logue, praised “the life the soilinthe following boundto words”: As The sanctification of nature is simultaneously the sanctification of the sanctification the simultaneously is nature of sanctification The beherself ifshenever can, from isseparated the soil.74 eternal, and this is especially the case with Japan. Japan never could, and humanof basis life? become . . . very country a Onlyby can agrarianism the not if soil the . tilling . is . What ground. the on planted are feet his Man’s world will be eternal so long as the bright sun is over his head and tacked by the forces.73 ofmodernity at- been had it times recent in though even reality, accessible an as exist to tinued nation nation as the natural collective unit. The integral connection betweenthe rationalist of product philosophyan artificial andscience.76 man natureand is For between fascism the it. philosophical distinction spiritualizes and sanctifies it nature: “respect” merely not does fascism [I]deologically . . . land. its and people racial a of unity the expressing theof theblood people (nation) and tween the soil of the land (nature), be- connection intimate an forof suggestive is doctrine, example, soil” and “blood Nazi The nation. the and people the to importance its and land of issue the highlight to fascism allows natural the on focusing in NaziJapaGermany,in prewar the by “naturalization”culture the of Fūdo (Climate and Cul- and (Climate - Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 341 Snow Snow Country opens on Shimamura aboard a train To To mobilize the masses in an anti-communist fashion, fascism The mountain sky still carried traces of evening red. Individual shapes Individual red. evening of traces carried still sky mountain The were clear far into the distance, but the monotonous mountain landscape, undistinguished for mile after mile, seemed all the more undistinguished for having lost its last traces of There wascolor. nothing to catchemotion. unformed in eye athe wide, along and it toseemed flow That was of course because the girl’sface floatedover Cutit. off the by face, the evening landscape moved steadily by around its outlines. The the the Theother. figures andthe background were unrelated,and yetthe figures, transparent and intangible, and the background, dim in the gathering darkness, melted together into a sort of symbolic world not the in shone mountains the of out light a when Particularly world. this of center of the girl’s face, Shimamura felt his chest rise at the inexpress- beautyof it.ible In the depths of the mirror the evening landscape moved by, the mir- and ror the reflected figures like motion pictures superimposedone on “nationalizes” “nationalizes” the masses, that is, reconstitutes the working class as part of the nation, presenting the struggle of the nation in terms of a real- by role historic its fulfils motion in nation the nature; of mysticism will to power.80 its natural spirit—the izing idea of a national spirit and the spiritual concept of nature focuses atten- focuses nature of concept spiritual the and spirit national a of idea in plays it role the and nation, this of land the is, that nature, this on tion nature specific geographically A identity. and character national shaping forms the mediating link between the sanctification ofnature and the nationalist . . . impulse. The “natural”The in texts, Kawabata’s however,wild is andnowhere rampant; made mountains the or hand, human the by tamed garden, cultured the is it for glass, through or mirrors in seen women) (and Objects poetry. in docile surpasses what they are. shining in the reflection ofYoko’s face, is toShimamura “inexpressible As beauty.”81 the modern train travels the old country, the shape and con- sen- light, the of changing play the face, tours landscapeof the and Yoko’s sations of coldness and steam, the high pitch of voice Yoko’s in the dark attention. narrative equal given all are space and time of flow the and night, yields: passage A sample example, are transformed into what they “should” or “could” be, which traversing a snowycountryside. reflected He oversees Yoko, the a woman, mountains, the from projected light A window. train the sceneryin passing 342 Nina Cornyetz dalism of the Edo period are obliterated in the recirculation of “tradition” of recirculation the in obliterated are period Edo the of dalism feu- centralized the and forbattle the power), in the sects various between warringMuromachi-of factions (which Kamakura includedwars religious the Heian, the of aristocracy empowered the of violences class varied The nature.”85 with it fills myth history,fascist of reality “havingemptied ogy: of the notion the in fixed becomes that human and nature between harmony of glory past the of notion the is Socialism, National of that like tory—much his- of place the takes thus and aesthetic Zen the to bound nature a with vents a non-changing over time, culturally particular, Japanese past imbued and rationalism. ofmodernity pollution of the past to be regenerated in the present and guard the future against the aesthetic essentialized and exceptionalized culturally a of domain purified the into retreated Kawabata praxis, political of place In modernism. ary reaction- a proposed 1930s, Kawabata early the through 1920sthe in ment move- proletarian growing a and Westernization, with intertwined tially essen- Japan in was that modernization precipitous against that postulate that postulates a of simultaneity the non-simultaneous.83 It is no to stretch time” of “politics a has also Kawabata by embraced Zen of form the that argued be can it addition, In influences. modernist Western of disavowal spiritualized nature are also evident in his ontologization of loss, and in his spired by the canon. This politics reactionary oftime, aestheticentrism, and literature that attempts to formulate) a new mode of Japanese literature in- (and for call that essays his do So aesthetics). transcendental ontologizes Japanized acculturation of nature as well as aestheticizes Japanese being (or a specifically Kawabata’s sanctifies dentThein Nobel speech speech. Prize of mythic re-conceptualization Zen as the “ground” of Japanese culture evi- the in present clearly are nature spiritualized and domain), of purification (orof and theaestheticentrism a simultaneity non-simultaneous), signifiers. theand fixing theof sign of short-circuiting a in representation of politics fascist recalling again hence reality, surpasses repeatedly Representation This mediated nature,to reiterate, is particularized as “naturally” Japanese. A The myth at the core of Kawabata’s reactionary modernism—that in- modernism—that reactionary Kawabata’s of core the at myth The face, andthe flow himbesureitwas to let not.82 did not stop had the illusion that the evening landscape was actually passing over the face too seemed transparent—but was it really transparent? Shimamura reactionary politics of time (looking backward while movingforward while backward (looking time of politics reactionary Volk.84 Indeed, Neocleous argues that this is endemic to fascist ideol- inflexible Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 343

Kōgen Snow Coun- Snow Tōkaidō Tokaido(The Highway; 1943), sharpened his insistence that the essence Pastoral Pastoral Song in particular made an “anti- . One can also describe this as this candescribe also One representation. rtantly, rtantly, Kawabata fiercely Of course, the aesthetics and politics of representation that I am de- Impo toward Japaneseness and nature, Bokka (Pastoral Song; 1937–38) and seek peace and solace in a mythic past that is nationalized in a search to revitalize premodern Japan. Thesenarratives did reference(as did [Heights; 1943–45]), and even appeared to lament (through the voices of various characters), the context of Japan encouraging at some critics,war, including Kobayashi Yoshihito, to argue that alongside the wartime turn Japa- specifically acculturated, an into retreat this However, gesture.89 war” of his own writing was grounded in the tradition of “Japanese verse” during during verse” “Japanese of tradition the in grounded was writing own his of as such publications, wartime Kawabata’s of Many War.88 World Second the was awarded the third annual literary prize by this same (fascist) Literary (fascist) same this by literaryprize annual third the awarded was try Discussion In Group in fact, Kawabata,1937.86 like so many others of his war: “Kawabata indicated as ‘Japa-the generation, the supported that now nese race’ which had situated the at emperor its was there center, nothing war.”87 to but participate be done in the ber that at the same time that Kawabata resolutely turned rhetorically to the the to rhetorically turned resolutely Kawabata that time same the at that ber Japanese past, the Japanese nation-state was resolutely marching toward fascism. In 1934, Kawabata was appointed a member of the Literary Dis- cussion Group, a group organized by the Public Security Division of the Japanese Home Ministry to ensure literary cooperation with ever tighten- itsliteraturefascist-imperialistinterests.His in of control government ing aestheticentrism was at the very least not viewed as threatening to fascist of version early an that fact the is unsettling more and interests, a tension in which the real, or material reality (history), is disavowed and subjectiverep-and mediated, acculturated,aestheticized, an with replaced resentation real the of (myth). themati- even and structurally much share well may they although scribing, cally with those of fascist systems, might not seem particularly sinister in potentially become aesthetics these But movement. fascist a of absence the remem- should one Here brutality. justify to used are they when monstrous past imaginary, the current moment and its modernity were simultaneously were modernity its and moment current the imaginary, past disavowed. Kawabata’s mission, so to speak, was precisely to realize this termsof present—in the in past divested of history: class struggle and the brutality of the samurai the temples; class; various the of abuses the outcastes; the of dehumanization the contempo- the alongside disappear riots—all rice the and peasantsstarving aestheticized an into retreated Kawabata As fascism. toward march raneous 344 Nina Cornyetz ond World War. However, in the of context my argument about fascist aes- Sec- the in militarism and imperialism Japan’s with complicity from bata Kawa- exonerate to attempt his of part is war actual the of depictions for war “ideal” his substituted Kawabata how of Tetsuya’s description Hatori erences to the existingwar. to erences Rather, Tetsuya asHatori wrote: ref- exactly not are these narratives in wartime the“references like war” to look what that out turns it consideration, closer on Moreover, ideology. fascist with complicit itself in as understood be now should nature nese looks looks like an attempt to grapple with the war is more accurately the replace- one after Kawabata’s afictitious personal warinto actual preference. What (as context sociopolitical the outside such texts as those Even sublation. subject–object of images idealized with events its and even of transformation purposeful narrative”—a “depth for“history,” for“image” “myth” or substituting to similar structurally is This aesthetic. fascist a precisely indicates substitution very this thetics, flow.90 and the real war, Kawabata never finished writing ( writing finished never Kawabata war, real the and world. However, because there was a gap between his hope and his ideal ), zoku but instead be a war that took the form of dissolving Japan into the not be a war [fought] to promote the ego[ism] of the Japanese race (min- would it hoped war,hethe accepting while But fate. accepts one like it nese tradition. cultural attempt to introduce it as a solid foundation in the archaic basis of Japa- way both in there is notion other.This the with fused is self the which in sublation of war a with it equate could one or other, the into dissolves and perishes self nese] [Japa- the which in war a (minzoku). be to Tohave would contrary,it the ( group ethnic another of domination the Japanese supremacy and to oneservice notbe in could thesenarratives] in about wrote Kawabata [that the war culture, Japanese of spirit the of notion his accommodate war contemporaneous the make to order In sadness of individual ( individual of sadness single individual had power over, Kawabata could only fix his gaze onthe no that flowthe history thein of ageand up the war.caught end, the In with honestly deal to tried degree, some to least at that, Bokka—[texts] Kawa , I think, you can see it [the notion of this spirit] in [Kawabata’s] in spirit] this of notion [the it see can you think, I , bata could not opposebata the war during the war. He accept had to Pastoral Song that (originally) resisted a complete “bracketing” hitotsuhitotsu and SongPastoral ) lives that were tossed about in that that in about tossed were that lives ) Snow Country Snow , and in and Heights, ) by the Japanese race race Japanese the by minzoku) did) merely turned the turned merely did) chūzetsu The High- Tokaido current militarism current ) Tōkaidō or Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 345 downplays ) katakana “cosmo- disavows Japa- disavows Heights the loss of the war: “from now “from war: the of loss the after and Song Pastoral ut where, one might ask, are the “real” politicsthisacculturation“real” in of the are ask, might one where, ut In contrast to the harsh postwar self-reevaluation undertaken by the B economic and political issues in favor of foregrounding feelings and affects affects and feelings foregrounding of favor in issues political and economic and aims to incite the masses intuition, by images, using and sentiment.97 mythic, naturalized past in the present (palingenetic myth), aestheticen- the war.)96 the war.)96 It helps to remember that fascist propaganda largely Theaesthetic construct at the core of Kawabata’s politics of representation encompasses many elements that this such following essay, theorists as Griffin,Benjamin, Hewitt, Chow, Neocleous, andSontag, hasanalyzed as integral and endemic to fascist aesthetics,ideology, and propaganda: a cism.”94 In his Nobel speech, he spoke of a friend for whom “there is no art no is “there whom for friend a of spoke he speech, Nobel his In cism.”94 superior to death . . . to die is to live.”95 nature and aestheticization of death and war? (Kobayashi, after all, finds this aestheticization and retreat into nature to constitute a resistance to majority of Japanese intellectuals, artists, and writers, Tsuji Kunio quotes positioning this Kawabatafortifying as on I will probably tend toward Japanese style traditionalism and classi- not confused withattempt not at confused anyhistoricization) is thus in Kawabata constitutively paired with a reactionary modernism. Increasingly his protago- nists sought solace in mythic representations of Japan’s past and an aestheticization of The war. real war of“egoism” and tyranny is transformed self-depreciationapparent of and war acceptable, evenmore into a “pure,” cosmopolitanism (dare I a say, beautiful war?), and death becomes one of celebration the occasions of beauty.93 favorite for Kawabata’s that, “like waving a magic wand, his pen and eyes totally transformed the or ugly, that which one expects to be intofilthy, somethingbeautiful and Thepure,”92 aestheticization of war in someof hisnarratives is, I believe, ominous, given the context of actual war in wrotewhich he and published those texts. Thematically,or contextually, thisshort-lived gesture toward writing the “war” (which must be understood as I have described it and material, political reality and toward a mediated, imaginary transformation of this real (world). As Hirakawa Sukehiro has argued, it was during the war that Kawabata’s aesthetic sensibility was sharpened, to the point ment ment of the “real” war with an imaginary one. Against the background of soldiers being called into service and deployed, Suda, the protagonist in (mixed- biracialwith peopled world a reverie,into sinks imagining , Heights blood) children, Hatoriinspiring Kazuei to dub this (in of imaginary war The politanism.”91 nese “egoism” and in its place proposes a deflection away from the real,or from awaythe deflection a itsin proposes and place “egoism” nese 346 Nina Cornyetz beauty of beauty of Yoko, that with contrast the perfectly and Japanesethoroughly aesthetic two young women in Kawabata’s in women young two nity, loss,andmore. ofcultural anontologization commu- into self of dissolution the death), aestheticizes also (that trism fire, Shimamura is distracted by the by skies above: fire, Shimamura isdistracted the stunning vehicle for oneness with the “universal.” Hastening toward the and wild: tough is she imagines, Eguchi and, odor; unpleasant an exude breath and body her sweats; She girl. oily dark, a as described is other the beautiful; Beauties, Eguchi is put together with two drugged girls: one is pure, fair, and of pages last the In girls. virgin unconscious drugged, nist Eguchi’sa unique to visits brothel where elderly, menimpotent fondle protago- of account an 1960–61), Sleepingthe of (House Beauties; bijo reru

fell. Trembling violently, he the nextroom.”100went into ing. He felt her breast. There was no pulse. He leaped up. He staggered and facing up.was thecold. dark HerHegirl. She body started was not breath- Hewas daze. a in still hewas but head, his shook He groan. a awokewith beside him.99 There is nothing beautiful or in erotic her “Olddeath. Eguchi dead lies girl dark the that discover after to another,awakens Eguchistate nately touching the two girls and lapsing into one troubled memory-dream I will conclude this essay with a brief comparison of the depictions of depictions the of comparison brief a with essay this conclude will I up into it. it. into up him take to seemed it that near so Way.was Milky radiance the Its into floating himself felt he and up, looked too Shimamura Milky Way. The her up, face lay She wide. spread legs her with lying be to seemed She there, to wrap the night earth in its naked embrace. naked its in earth Thereto night there,the wrap terrible a was sea? stormy a over arched Way Milky surmises he Japanese, be cannot She and slippery.98 Thereto bea odor seemed faint the at armpits. the skin of the neck and breasts be called beautiful. She had a dark glow. a beautiful color in the light from the crimson velvet curtains. Nor could arms flung out. The nipples were large and had a purplish cast. It was not Th e “foreign” oily girl’s terrifying and revolting death makes a vibrant a makes death revolting and terrifying girl’s oily “foreign” e The oily skin of the dark girl was unpleasant behind him. It was cold was It him. behind unpleasant was girl the dark of skin The oily “ Life itself,”Life muttered Eguchi. . Yoko’s death in a burning warehouse is conversely is warehouse burning a . Country Yoko’sin Snow death Was this the bright vastness the poet Bashō saw when he wrote of the of wrote he when saw Bashō poet the vastness bright the this Was . After passing much of the night alter- night the of much passing After . Snow Country Snow The Milky Way came down just over just down came Way Milky The and his much later later much his and House of the Sleeping the of House Nemu- Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 347 ).102 Shima- ).102 House of the Sleep- the of House shisen shisen o suikonde itta (looked at disinterestedly, or “bracketed”), Yoko’s Yoko’s “bracketed”), or disinterestedly, at (looked Snow Country Snow voluptuousness about it. Shimamura fancied that his own small shadow shadow small own his that fancied Shimamura it. about voluptuousness was being cast up against it from the earth. Each individual star stood luminous the in dust evenand rest, silver particles the of the from apart of depth limitless The night. the was clear so out, picked be could clouds into up gaze his pulled it.101 Way Milkythe cific manner in which mediation of reality is obsessively attempted through attempted obsessively is reality of mediation which in manner cific all the aesthetic-acculturated devices (the culturally exceptional aestheti- appears as the denial of history and an elevation of myth, the mediation rep- the (especially things” “real of annihilation) equals thatit degree a (to resentation withOn aesthetics of women) and an imaginary Japaneseness. the in but self the and other the of sublation the level,is interpersonal it an spe- process—the this is It subject.nationalized-aestheticized the of image erates the otherness of the On the other.105 level of social discourse, this functions as the repository for Eguchi’s objects of abjection. Al-abjection. of objects Eguchi’s repositoryfor the as functions Beauties ing death) is though easily the aesthetic annihilation of Yoko’s the other in (as understood as a fascist aesthetic, the other side of this configuration,or fascist a be also can reality, mediated fiercely a into self the of diffusion the (in real the of reconfiguration a requires it foundation its at when aesthetic a into reconfigured “reality”104—thatis, same this into Lacanian sense) the the or culturally particularized “reality and communal nature,” second qua relentless mediation of reality with a mythicized “Japanese in convention” Emmanuel where is This difference. individual and historical of disavowal a thatoblit- invocation: integrationother an and is self callsit of Lévinas for experienced the stars. The coming together of human and nature is cultural- is nature and human of together coming The stars. the experienced disinter- ultimate the requires and de-historicized and particularized, ized, estedness of an aestheticized, (Japanese) female corpse. Successfully aes- in theticized diffusion. spiritual nationalized, communal, Shimamura’s facilitates death of girl non-Japanese oily, the aestheticized, Unsuccessfully sages is introduced as an experience related by the canonized, revered, medi- revered, canonized, the by related experience an as introduced is sages eval poet, Matsuo Bashō (1644–94). Great, universal nature—the heavens way that Bashō same the much in Shimamura into down themselves—flow On his way to witness Yoko’s apparent death, the limitless depth of the Milky the of depth limitless the death, apparent Yoko’s witness to way his On literally gaze ( Way up” “sucks Shimamura’s mura begins to disintegrate into a vast “nature”: “and the like Milky Way, a great aurora, flowed through his body to stand at the edges of the earth. astonish- voluptuous of sort a and it, in quiet, chilly loneliness a was There Thement.”103 motif ofWay the Milky that carries through thesefinal pas- 348 Nina Cornyetz

Notes fascist aesthetics. with collusive be to understand I described—that have I ontology) of cization

4 2. 6. 5. 3. 1. .

Almost everything that has been written on Kawabata in English and Japanese and English in Kawabata on written been has that everything Almost Mark Neocleous, Neocleous, Mark Ueda Makoto, “Kawabata Yasunari,” in idem, Yasunari,”in “Kawabata Makoto, Ueda ahhr Msai “aaaa ugk n eoihzm, in erotishizumu,” no bungaku “Kawabata Masaaki, Tachihara Cabell, Cabell, Empire, 1930–1945,” Ph.D. University, diss., Harvard Cambridge, Mass., 1999. 75;R. Charles “Maiden Cabell, Kawabata Dreams: Yasunari’s Japanese Beautiful heisoku,”no koto “Miru Hisaki, Matsuura 207–72; 1998), Press, University Cambridge (Cambridge: WakabayashiTadashiBob ed. D.“Japan’sH. Harootunian, Revolt againstthe West,”in and Tetsuo Najita in Kawabata on comments brief Harootunian’s D. Harry see him, of reading my with keeping in more Kawabata of historicizations For atic. problem- deeply find show,I will essay this as that, reading war—a the against read Kawabata’s and into aesthetics wartime “nature”retreat as a sort of protest Kawabata’s wartime writings within the context of Japanese fascism, they largely reconcile to try critics Japanese these Although 109–13. 1970): (February 3 no. kawabata,” to bungaku jyūnendai bigaku Yasunari:no Nihon Yasunari,” in Kawabata no jidai “SensōTetsuya, Hatori 157–71; 141–56, 1979), Senta, Shuppan Kyōiku (Tokyo: Bokka Kōgen, Yukiguni,himaku, no Kyojitsu 5: in both ron,” “Bokka Yoshihito, Kobayashi and ni,”chūshin o haikei jidai ron: “Kōgen Ichirō, Kobayashi see war: the to lation re- in publications wartime Kawabata’s of some read to attempts several clude in- but number in few are tendency this to Exceptions 1997). Press, University Washburn, Ken, N.Y.:Okude intheJapanese 100–20; Novel 1992),(Ithaca, Press, University Cornell “The Ideology of Aesthetics,” in idem, Pollack, David 1993); International, Kodansha(Tokyo: Tanizaki, Sōseki, Kawabata could be cited here. To choose a few, see, e.g., Van C. Gessel, sakka 13, Kawabata Yasunari (Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 1991), 116. 174–75. Calif.: Press,1976), Stanford University byEdwardG.translation Seidensticker isincluded. but completely but completely excludes reference any Japanese to fascism. Neocleous’s excellent, sweeping analysis covers virtually all of European fascism Kawabata Yasunari, Kawabata aaaaYsnr: uiui yomu o Yukiguni Yasunari: Kawabata Maiden Dreams. The Dilemma of the Modern in Japanese Fiction Japanese in Modern the of Dilemma The (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), Press, ix. Minnesota FascismUniversity of (Minneapolis: Utsukushii Nihon no watakushi no Nihon Utsukushii (Tokyo: Yūseidō, 1990), 146–51; Hatori Kazuei, “Showa Kazuei, Hatori 146–51; 1990), Yūseidō, (Tokyo: Nihon bungaku kenkyū shiryō shinshū 27; Kawabata Kawabata 27; shinshū shiryō kenkyū bungaku Nihon ouugk kihk t kōa n kenkyū no kyōzai to kaishaku Kokubungaku Reading against Culture: Ideology and Narrative Tko Mia Soe, 99; Dennis 1989); Shoten, Miiyai (Tokyo: , ed. Kawabata Bungaku Kenkyūkai Bungaku Kawabata ed. , Modern Japanese Writers Japanese Modern Tko Kdnh, 98. A 1968). Kōdansha, (Tokyo: aaaaYsnr kny sōsho kenkyū Yasunari Kawabata 6 (June 1992): 269– 1992): (June 6 Shinchō (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Conn.: Haven, (New Modern Japanese Modern Thought Three Modern Novelists: uz Nhn no Nihon Gunzō (Stanford, 15, , Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 349 - Dawn (Stan- Fascism, Fascism, Accomplices Accomplices of (Bloomington: , vol. 1, ed. Bill Nichols Nichols Bill ed. 1, vol. , (London: Verso, 1995), 1995), Verso, (London: TheDilemma of the Modern Nihon Nihon bungaku kenkyū shiryō Fascist Visions: Art and Ideology Ideology and Art Visions: Fascist Political Inversions: Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Inversions: Political , vol. 1 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Rinehart Holt, York: (New 1 vol. , Movies and Methods and Movies Kawabata Yasunari Kawabata Yasunari zenshū, vol. 33 (Tokyo: (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974), The Nature of Fascism. of Nature The ; Griffin, Fascist Modernism: Aesthetics, Politics, and the Avant-Garde the and Politics, Aesthetics, Modernism: Fascist Overcome Overcome by Culture, and Modernity: Community in History, Inter- , ed. Richard J. Golsan (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of , 111. of Silence Accomplices ; Masao Miyoshi, “The Margins of inLife,” idem, , ed. Matthew Affron and Mark Antliff (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton N.J.: (Princeton, Antliff Mark and Affron Matthew ed. , The Politics of Time: Modernity and Avant-Garde and Modernity Time: of Politics The (New York: Routledge, 1991). Routledge, York: Fascism (New of Nature The Ethics Ethics after Idealism: Theory–Culture–Ethnicity–Reading , xi; xii. Fascism The Politics of Time Politics The , 7 Inversions Political Almost any text dealing with the transition into modernity in Japan brings up Neocleous, Susan Sontag, “Fascinating Fascism,” in Fascism,” “Fascinating Sontag, Susan Andrew Hewitt, “Fascist Modernism, Futurism, and ‘Postmodernity,’” in ‘Postmodernity,’” and Futurism, Modernism, “Fascist Hewitt, Andrew See, e.g., Miyoshi, this late Taishō–early Shōwa sense of excessive modernization and the trauma of the speed of transformation. One culminating moment was the symposium “Kindai no chōkoku (Overcoming the Modern)” in 1942 of Japanese intellectuals and writers on the problematic of Westernization and modernization. For a good overview in English, see Najita and Harootunian, “Japan’s Revolt against West.” the , 53–59. 27 shinshū Harry Harootunian, Fascism, and the Modernist Imaginary 1996). Hewitt, in Japanese Fiction Silence: The Modern JapaneseNovel 94–121; Kosai Shinji, “Kawabata Yasunari shō,” in Indiana UniversityIndiana 17. Press, 1998), Princeton University (Princeton, Press, 2000), xxv–xxvii. war Japan N.J.: book, his in ernism,”; and 1993); Press, University Stanford Calif.: ford, Walter WorkBenjamin,Walter of “The Art in the Age of in Mechanical Reproduction,” Schocken Books, 241–42. 1968), York: (New Illuminations idem, Aesthetics and Culture 44–45. 1992), England, New (Berkeley: Press, 1976),of California University 45. in France and Italy and France in added. 9; emphasis University Press, 1997), 160. Griffin, Roger Peter Osborne, Osborne, Peter Matthew Affron and Mark Antliff, “Introduction,” in “Introduction,” Antliff, Mark and Affron Matthew Quoted in and translated by Donald Keene, “Kawabata Yasunari,” in idem, Yasunari,” Quoted in and translated “Kawabata by Donald Keene, Era Modern the of Literature Japanese West: the to Winston, 1984), The807. original is in 87–88. 1982), Shinchōsha, Ueda, “Kawabata Yasunari,” 206–208. Yasunari,” “Kawabata Ueda, See Hewitt, who has written about this extensively in his article, “Fascist Mod See Ueda, “Kawabata Yasunari,” 201–14; Washburn, Rey Rey Chow, Osborne, Osborne,

7. 7. 3. 8. 9. 11. 1 13. 19. 15. 10. 16. 12. 21. 18. 14. 2 22. 20.

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34 24. 29. 30. 28. 26. 38. 3 36. 25. 3 37. 3 27. 31. 5. 2. 3. .

, vol. 30(Tokyo:zenshū Shinchōsha, 1982), 172–83. Kawabata, Kawabata, David Pollack, however, finds the structure of structure the finds however, Pollack, David rn. dad . edntce (e ok Bree Mdlin ok, 1956), Books, Medallion Berkeley York: (New Seidensticker G. Edward trans. Kosai, “Kawabata Yasunari shō,” 59. In addition to to addition In shō,”59. Yasunari“Kawabata Kosai, Kawabata, Kawabata, Kōjin, “One Spirit, Two Nineteenth Centuries,” Nineteenth TwoSpirit, “One Kōjin, was more accurately “a weave of language” given signification by Karatani poetry: “the real landscape.” To borrow the critic Karatani Kōjin’s description, landscape describedscapes and painted in premodern were texts not attempts to represent inUeda,As quoted andtranslated “Kawabata Yasunari,” 208. 68. Ibid., 63–62. Ibid., the English to tions translation. theThat iswhy page numbers decrease (orcita- inmulti-page backward) appear order.Japanese the in continuous is however, Pagination, right). to leftreading Japanese order (and, like conventional English, starts thus at the the end reverses of the Japanese book, the of end the at appears that text English the strangely left, to right from reading and paginated being by convention Japanese lows anthologies; haikai for isanotherpoetry term renga , or linkedpoetry. The Kawabata. by written narratives and 1954–55) Lake; Press, 1999). Fantasy in Modernity and JapaneseThree Writers argument in detail about Izumi Kyōka in my Nativism Tokugawain his in Harootunian Harry Following Club,1990). Editions Limited 6–7. Publishing, 1965),Berkeley 125. school. phrase “fetishization of the trivial” to describe wonderfulthe used who Anderer Paul Professor was it correctly,remember I If Pollack, “The Ideology ofAesthetics,” 116. ics. analysis of the figural and otherextra-linguistic attributes of poet- Heian-period pathbreaking and fascinatingfor a 2000), Press, University Duke (Durham: tion See LaMarre, Thomas Kawabata Kawabata Yasunari, “Shinshin sakka no shinkeikō kaisetsu,” in Kawabata Yasunari, Kawabata Yasunari, Kawabata in “Introduction,” Seidensticker, G. Edward Yasunari, Kawabata I have written about this at length elsewhere, but to summarize briefly: land- briefly: summarize to but elsewhere, length at this about written have I Snow, 45. Country Utsukushii Nihon no watakushi no Nihon Utsukushii (House of the Sleeping Beauties; 1960–61) are 1960–61) Beauties; Sleeping the of (House bijo Nemureru (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), I make this this make I 1988), Press, Chicago of University (Chicago: nw Country Snow huad Cranes Thousand Uncovering Inscrip- Japan:and Archaeology An Heian Sensation of , trans. Edward G. Seidensticker (New York: (New Seidensticker G. Edward trans. , tas Ewr Siesikr Nw York: (New Seidensticker Edward trans. , and Kokinshū Things Seen and Unseen: Discourse and Ideology and Discourse Unseen: and Seen Things , 49, 47. Although the Japanese text fol- text Japanese the Although 47. 49, , (Stanford, Calif.:StanfordUniversity Dangerous Women, Deadly Words: Phallic monogatari when I was in graduate 87, no. 3 no. 87, Quarterly Atlantic South nō are Heian-period Heian-period are Shinkokinshū rm in drama Snow Country Snow nw Country Snow Kawabata Kawabata Yasunari , Snow Country Snow Mizuumi (The . See See . , Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 351 ; - (Minne- , ed. James W. , ed. W. James Rude Rude Awakenings Origins Origins of Modern Japanese , in Najita and Harootunian, “Japan’s “Japan’s Harootunian, and Najita in , ; Heisig and Maraldo, Culture and Identity: Japanese Intellectuals during during Intellectuals Japanese Identity: and Culture Watsuji Tetsurō Watsuji Moden Moden Thought Japanese (Cambridge: Cambridge University Culture Culture and Identity , 69,watakushi 41. 65, 58, no Nihon Utsukushii , 71–70.watakushi no Nihon Utsukushii Translation and Subjectivity: On “Japan” and Cultural Nationalism Cultural and “Japan” On Subjectivity: and Translation , 161. of Time Politics The As was more evident in Kawabata’s earlier eulogy to Yokomitsu Riichi, “Sufferer Riichi, “Sufferer As was more evidenteulogy earlier in Yokomitsu Kawabata’s to Ueda Ueda Makoto, “Yūgen and Erhabene: Onishi Attempt Yoshinori’s to Synthesize and translated in Yuasa Yasuo, Yasuo, Yuasa in translated and 272. West,” the against Revolt apolis: University of Minnesotaof Universityapolis: Press, 1997). Osborne, Osborne, Press, 1998); Rimer, Sakai, Naoki , 45. Awakenings Rude Ibid., 297–99. Kawabata Yasunari, Yasunari, Kawabata his depictions of spring mountains regardless of whether mist was present at “tran- a called Karatani has what is This site. physical the viewing of moment the scendental” vision of space. For Meiji-period artists and writers to see an actual landscape as an appropriate subject of artistic production, “this transcendental vision of space had to be overturned”: Karatani Kōjin, Literature (Durham: Duke University Press, 1993), 27. See also my discussion in , particularly chapters the Izumi Kyōka. on Women Dangerous brated in the literary canon. According to this logic, there were strict customs delineating how to express the putative “true essence” of the object—including appropriate and inappropriate combinations of particular birds, trees, and flowers,or example, such mountains dictumsfor as, are in depictedspring best with mist and clouds. Therefore the artist-diaristmade sure to include mist in (summer 1988): 619. Natural landscape, as described in medieval travel diaries or or diaries travel medieval in described as landscape, Natural 619. 1988): (summer The paintings. and texts antecedent canonized following depicted was drawings, medievaldiarist did not tryartist or to capture the essence of landscape or as he she actually observed it; rather, the requirements of a variety of rigid rhetorical dictatedforms description the sitesand appreciation of famous previouslycele- Ibid., 44–46. Yasunari, Kawabata Heisig Heisig and C. John Maraldo (Honolulu: Universityof Hawai’i Press, 1994), 155– 56. Andrew Feenberg, “The Problem ofModernity in of in Nishida,” the Philosophy Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, and the Question of Nationalism shi Wakabayashi, shi ed., Wakabayashi, For For critical commentary on these philosophers in English, see, e.g., Bob Tada of the New Asia that / fought West the Pioneer of the Tragedy in New the Asian smile a sending world the left you And / destiny a such shouldered You / Tradition to Heaven / this tradition of beauty as part of a larger Asian whole”: as quoted , ed. J. Thomas Rimer (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, University Princeton N.J.: (Princeton, Rimer Thomas J. ed. , Years Interwar the 284.1990), Japanese and Western Aesthetics,” in Aesthetics,” Western and Japanese Robert A. Sharf, “Whose Zen? Zen Nationalism Revisited,” in Heisig and Maraldo, and Heisig in Revisited,” Nationalism Zen Zen? “Whose Sharf, A. Robert

1. 9. 4. 4 47. 43. 3 48. 46. 40. 45. 42.

4

352 Nina Cornyetz

64. 54. 49. 6 66. 68. 59. 65. 70. 60. 62. 50. 58. 74. 72. 5 6 5 7 55. 53. 57. 67 71. 61. 51. 6. 9. 2. 3. 3. .

12 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1980), 136, 337. As explained in ibid. See also Jeffrey Herf, 1977), 8,39; emphasis added. Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, “Japan’s andHarootunian, Najita Revolt against the West,” 207. Osborne, Idem, Griffin, 167.Ibid., Neocleous, 33.Ibid., Walter Benjamin, “Theories of German Fascism,” in idem, aaai ōi, Ue o Ashtc: fe Orientalism,” After Aesthetics: of “Uses Kōjin, Karatani comp., and trans. Chan, Wing-Tsit e.g., see, China: in Neo-Confucianism affected deeply Ch’an that argue some Although Peter Duus, “Nagai Ryūtarō and the ‘White Peril,’ 1905–1944,” Peril,’ ‘White the and Ryūtarō “Nagai Duus, Peter Kawabata Iamthinking of hereKawabata include Kōgen,Bokkaand Tōkaidō. Studies 21,no. 3(Novemberemphasis 1971): 42–43; added. Kawabata, Hewitt, Press,1999), 312–21. University Harvard Mass.: (Cambridge, Smith Gary and Eiland, Howard W.Jennings, Michael ed. Osborne, 1984). Reich theThird in WeimarPolitics and and Hewitt, refermodernists predates the formation nation-states. ofmodern Griffin, (summer 1998): 152–53. Modernism For more on the question of fascism in relation to modernism, see Hewitt, “FascistHewitt, Modernism,” 44–45. and Maraldo, As translated and quoted in Agustin Jacinto Z., “The Return ofthe Past” in Heisig N.J.: Press,1963),(Princeton, 425–30. University Princeton nami Shoten, 1988), 3–236. mondai,”in no “Ishiki Kitarō, Nishida a new society and creating a new culture and a great revolution in world history history world in revolution great a and new culture a creating and society new a immediately establishing of dream rash the errors: dangerousof most that into And, against socialism, Marxist Tachibana insisted must that “we not be thrown emphasisIbid.; added. Najita and Harootunian, “Japan’s Revolt against the West,” 219. The texts by texts The 219. West,” the against Revolt “Japan’s Harootunian, and Najita reactionary many which to past the because here quotations in national put I Thousand Cranes, 140. The Nature of Fascism. The Nature of Fascism, 32. Political Inversions , 249. , 188–93. Fascist Modernism The Politics ofTime , 160–96. The Politics ofTime , 164. ; Osborne, The Politics ofTime Snow, 109. Country Fascism, 72. Rude Awakenings, 133, 144. The original is in In Praise of Shadows (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, University Cambridge (Cambridge: (New Haven, Conn.: Leete’s Island Books, ; Griffin, The Nature of Fascism. , vol. 3 (Tokyo: Iwa- (Tokyo: 3 vol. , zenshū Kitarō Nishida Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy Chinese in Book Source A Nishida Kitarō zenshū Selected Selected Writings, vol. 2, onay 2 Boundary Journal of Asian Asian of Journal 5 n. 2 no. 25, Fascist , vol.

Fascist Aesthetics, Politics of Representation 353 , , Nihon Nihon , chaps. Rude Awakenings Rude , trans. David A. , ed. Ivan Morris history essentially Kawabata Yasunari zenshū Translation Translation and Subjectivity , for excerpts in Eng- in excerpts for Dreams, Maiden Nihon Nihon bungaku kenkyū shiryō shinshū 27 , 133–94.Novelists Three Modern Last Writings: Nothingness and the World View Thought and Behaviorin Modern JapanesePolitics (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten bunko, 1979). For a thorough and thorough a For 1979). bunko, shoten Iwanami (Tokyo: Fūdo , 14–15.Fascism , 75. Fascism , 79. Fascism Snow Country, 9. Snow Hirakawa Sukehiro, “Kawabata Yasunari ni okeru aestheticizing,” in This is also evident in Kawabata’s“Eirei no ibun,” in Hatori Tetsuya, “Sensō jidai no Kawabata Yasunari,” 149. Yasunari,” Kawabata jidai no “Sensō Hatori Tetsuya, Tsuji Kunio, “Kawabata in Yasunari ron,” 46–52. Hatori Kazuei, ““Showa jyūnendai bungaku to jyūnendai Kawabata.” Hatori bungaku Kazuei, ““Showa , 105. 27 kenkyū shiryō shinshū bungaku , 27 338–82, a collection of letters from deceased soldiers at the front, to which Cabell, See commentary. his added Kawabata translationlish as well as commentary thison narrative. Kobayashi Yoshihito, “Bokka ron,” 170. ron,” “Bokka Yoshihito, Kobayashi 151. 150, Yasunari,” Kawabata jidai no “Sensō Hatori Tetsuya, see Nishida Kitarō, of Hawai’iDilworth University Press, 1987). (Honolulu: tory separated narrativefrom perspective. Here I word use the of domination.violence Marxistin the class struggle to and the sense signify Neocleous, simultaneous in the “delusion” of a split between the so-called physical biological and worlds that obscures their simultaneous mutual negation of one another. In the biological realm, time is both durative and progressive; human- the it includes and forms is myriad its in the world material the of manifestation historical physicalThe world. realm, to the contrary, isspatial, in which time is reversible rather than teleological. This is a realm of simultaneity in which the manifestation of the material individual is negated by the universal, or the One: 186. Neocleous, (Oxford: Oxford University43. Press, 1963), Oxford (Oxford: Neocleous, compelling discussion of Watsuji, see Sakai, 3–4. merely merely by means of the expansion of large-scale industryand the application of their productive power to achieve the level of the most advanced Japa- nations”: of Dynamics and as Ideology “The Masao, Maruyama in translated and quoted nese in Fascism,” On thisOn award, see Gessel, Kawabata, Ibid., 77, 15. Ibid., 77, Ibid., 76. Tetsurō, Watsuji Ibid., 15–16. At the heart of Nishida’s Zen is what one might call a simultaneity of the non- Kevin Doak, “Nationalism as Dialectics,” in Heisig and Maraldo, and Heisig in Dialectics,” as “Nationalism Doak, Kevin Of course, all history is narrative, and as such there is no one, singular, “real” his- “real” singular, one, no is there such as and narrative, is history all course, Of

. 9. 5. 91. 81. 87 83. 93. 77. 75. 8 79. 88. 92. 78. 90. 86. 76. 80. 82. 8 84.

354 Nina Cornyetz

104 102. 105. 100. 10 101. 94. 9 98. 96. 95. 97. 9. 3. .

Seidensticker (Tokyo: Kodansha 1969), 86, 96. International, able in consciousness or language; it is also that which causes desire. The real real desire. The causes which that also is it language; or consciousness in able The real inthe Lacanian sense refersto that which is constitutively unrepresent “Yukiguni,”Idem, in Emmanuel Lévinas, Emmanuel born. are we which into discourses cultural the and psyches individual our through filtered always is reality of perception Our reality. with confused be not must Kawabata, York: 144. M. 1980), E.Sharpe, 141, her. See Noriko Misuka Lippit, I do not think, Norikoas Mizuta hereads, because (Lippit) has somehow killed Kawabata Yasunari, Socialism”:by Neocleous, the different of the undertaken manifestations war mentsto corresponds which analyses are made, is capable of evoking as an undivided whole the a of made be cists, on how to mobilize the masses to support a socialist movement: “use fas- must many influenced writings whose Socialism National on theorists French 130–31. flections on Violence I have paraphrased Neocleous’s quote from Georges Sorel, one of the influential Kawabata Kawabata Yasunari, Tsuji, “Kawabata Yasunari ron,” 51. Kobayashi Yoshishito, “Bokka ron.” Idem, Idem, Yokomitsu Dazai Riichi, Osamu (Tokyo: 81. Shōgakukan, 1986), (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press,1969), Duquesne52.(Pittsburgh: University Snow, 165;emphasis Country added. Snow, 168. Country House ofthe Sleeping Beauties,97. which, by imageswhich, body of , trans. T. andUnwin, George 1915), E.HulmeAllen (London: House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories Utsukushii Nihon no watakushi, 62. Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority on Essay An Infinity: Totalityand Shōwa bungaku zenshū 5: Kawabata Yasunari,Kawabata Kanoko, 5: Okamoto zenshū bungaku Shōwa Fascism8. , Georges The in is Sorel, quote original Reality and Fiction in Modern Japanese Literature alone, and before any beforeany considered and intuitionalone, , trans. A. Linguis Linguis A. trans. , , trans. Edward G. mass of senti- (New Re- - Ji

m Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque in

R Edogawa Ranpo’s Demon of the Lonely Isle ei c hert

In the late 1920s, popular discussions of psychology, sexology, and criminology inundated the Japanese discursive field. Interest in these topics was closely connected to a highly commercialized formulation of modernism known as Erotic Grotesque Nonsense (ero-guro-nansensu), which revolved around explorations of the deviant, the bizarre, and the ridiculous. Capitalizing on the popularity of this stylishly modernist sensibility was a flood of publications, including magazines such as Hentai shiryō (Deviant Materials; 1926) and anthologies such as Kindai hanzai kagaku zenshū (An- thology of Modern Criminal Science; 1929–30). This trend in the publishing industry coincided almost exactly with the ascendancy in Japan of authoritarian political and social forces that strongly advocated the fascistic ideological fantasies of cultural harmony, ethnic purity, national power, and empire.1 At first sight it might appear that these two trends existed in direct opposition to each other, with the decadent and deviant elements of the modernist erotic-grotesque sensibility offering a challenge to an increasingly fascistic vision of Japanese culture and society. As I will demonstrate in this essay, however, the relationship between these developments cannot be reduced to a simple binary opposition. The tendency of erotic-grotesque 356 Jim Reichert “deviant” “deviant” practices and identities defied myths of cultural homogeneity and of celebrations erotic-grotesque hand, one the On outlook. fascistic the celebratory and alarmist manner resulted in a multivalent relationship with cultural products to treat the “bizarre” and the “deviant” in a simultaneously turn, turn, which manifested itself in the tendency to categorize individuals who fascistic the toward proclivity comparable a revealed assumptions winist Dar- Social production, cultural erotic-grotesque of context specific the In elements. “threatening” or “undesirable” of it rid and society regulate to sexology, eugenics, and criminology, all of which ultimately abetted efforts as such disciplines prewar degrees varying to shaped theory evolutionary of prism the through distinctions social view to tendency This practices. social and societies evolved less and evolved more between distinguish phenomena. cultural one could Darwinism, framework, Social as this known commonly Within and social evaluating and interpreting for model theoretical a as served also it but generations, successive over species of modification the involving process biological a as only not conceived was evolution say, to is That evolution.3 of principles the to adhered nomena phe- of orders all that 1930s, and 1920s the during Japan in current view, for wasone ofthe that defining science life. ofmodern features mania the exploited cannily discourse erotic-grotesque research, of form the in presented and jargon pseudoscientific with Replete them. rounded sur- that science of air vague the was products cultural decadent these of life ( modern as known lifestyle ernist mod- self-consciously cosmopolitan, the in participation their signified choices, these in implicit behavior “productive” and values “wholesome” of rejection paraphernalia, cultural thesimultaneous and erotic-grotesque of consumption edge, cutting the on ) (mobo boys modern and (moga) girls modern For audience. primary their constituted who sophisticates, urban to appeal their explain would This standards. aesthetic and moral tional conven- from themselves differentiated conspicuously phenomenon this with associated products Cultural quality. transgressive its is sensibility andinconsistencies.tions One ofthis ofthe distinguishing characteristics hegemony.2 andcultural interests tional na- with incompatible deemed subjectivities and outlooks or destroy nate, lated, or obliterated mirrored the fascistic compulsion to assimilate, domi- iso- cured, be to unwholesomecondition an as pathological deviance treat to discourse erotic-grotesque in tendency the hand, other the On purity. Complicating the signification of these consumer spectacles was the was spectacles consumer these of signification the Complicating contradic- with is rife phenomenon Nonsense Grotesque Erotic The ). Adding to the cachet cachet the Adding seikatsu). to modan Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 357 - tantei captured Asahi , the in particular, resonated particular, in Demon of the Lonely Isle the of Demon leaves little doubt that there was Demon of the Lonely the Demonof Isle (Demon of the Lonely Isle; 1929–30). Consisting Consisting 1929–30). Isle; Lonely the of (Demon (The Collected Works of Edogawa Ranpo; 1931–32). Ranpo; Edogawa of Works Collected (The Demon Demon of the Lonely Isle , Ranpo’s Asahinarrative, Ranpo’s renders an account of adventures Kotō no oni no Kotō ) of Edogawa Ranpo (1894–1965). Ranpo’s work celebrates the Clearly, Clearly, then, there is no denying that conspicuous engagement with The complexrelationship between erotic-grotesque culturalproducts Although Although this fare might not appeal to everyone, the unqualifiedcom Ranpo’s defines that practice a day, the of theories pseudoscientific reigning and oeuvregeneral in prewar powerfully with consumers during the 1920s Thequestionand 1930s. that arises, however, is why this kind of cultural product exerted such a strong that argued be could It audiences. over hold among Japanese readers at the time a sizable audience for such material. The The material. such for audience sizable a time the at readers Japanese among publication history alone attests to the popularityremarkable of work. the A few months after the story concluded its triumphant run in publishers at Kaizōsha rushed the novel out in book One form. year later, in 1931, the novel was published again as the fifthvolume in Heibonsha’s zenshū Ranpo Edogawa illustrator who worked with Ranpo on a number of occasions, Takenaka contributed otherworldly images that perfectly complemented the atmo- written narrative. of Ranpo’s sphere mercial success of about concerns fascist paranoid to appealed and period the of Zeitgeist the psychology, eugenics, sexology, and criminology, the story the child a involves criminology, and sexology, eugenics, psychology, assassin, a deranged villain, a gang of medically engineered freaks, a deviant sleuth, and a damsel in distress who suffersfrom an unusualphysi- calThe impactdisability. of these variousplot devices isfurther enhanced by the accompanying illustrations, created Eitarō.4 by A Takenaka famous ized in the novel novel the in ized of fourteen installments, which ran from January 1929 to February 1930 in the magazine experienced by a handsome young Tokyoite named Minoura Kinnosuke. Mining bits and pieces from contemporaneous discussions of evolution, and fascistic visions of Japan is epitomized in the detective fiction ( shōsetsu “bizarre” and the “deviant” aspects of society as it simultaneously articu- lates the necessity of containing and neutralizing these “dangerous” ele- One of the ments. detectivefeatures of distinguishing Ranpo’s fiction was criminological, latest the incorporated it which in manner conspicuous the medical, and sexological Thistheories. practice is most dramatically real- deviated from normative standards of respectability, fitness, and morality of communityimaginary the for, potentiallyproblematic and to, inferior as citizens. “wholesome” Japanese “respectable,” 358 Jim Reichert tion of meaning through signs and other symbolic means, or what I refer I what or means, symbolic other and signs through meaning of tion as a bastion against decadent, contaminating forces detrimental to Japan to detrimental forces contaminating decadent, against bastion a as stand that tools useful are sexology criminology,and eugenics, like plines sanctity of Japanese culture and national community. In this reading, disci- and security the threaten that elements “deviant” and “bizarre” thwart to science in advances latest the marshals skillfully protagonist the which in one narrative, heroic fascist of kind a as serves freakishness and deviance with encounter harrowingMinoura’s of account the words, other In sion. purity,ethnic cultural homogeneity, prowess, and imperial expan- military any single ideological perspective, it is more illuminating to highlight the highlight to illuminating more is it perspective, ideological single any “deviance.”physical, andpsychological simultaneously conveys unabashed enthusiasm for various forms of sexual, faith in repressive disciplines like sexology, eugenics, and criminology as it atic of the text’s complex and unstable ideological position is how it evinces Emblem- culture. consumer urban and modernism prewar of expressions extreme with associated transgression of forms other and perimentation, ex- sexual difference, of celebration unambiguous an as taken be cannot text the token, same the By interests. imperialistic or militaristic, alistic, cannot solely be as treated a covert propaganda tool fornation- reactionary decadence, modern of personifications transparent under a state of siege, at risk of being contaminated or weakened by various thethat novel on plays fearsfascistic thethat Japanese and race culture are fact the Despite suggest. would formulae rigid these of either than cated as hereafter to morality,timeless pure culture,andnaturalsexuality.5 of notions fascistic against gesture transgressive a as interpreted be could society,wholesome respectable, with odds at forces of (and display acceptance) implicit propriate topics. ostentatious its With inap- otherwise of discussions detailed justifying for means a device, ing reading, science would serve as nothing more than a transparent legitimiz- this In another. after experience “weird” exhilaratingly one undergoing them;with hehis interaction would function foras a substitute the reader, of the text would not be Minoura’s triumph over his adversaries but, rather, focus the perspective, this freakishness.From and deviance of celebration psychologies, and physicaland argue bodies that sexualities, non-normative personify who characters on lavished tention at- the to point also could one time, same the At race. Japanese the and I Rather than treat treat than Rather t is my contention, however, that in that however, contention, my is t Demon of the Lonely Isle Lonely the of Demon eo o te oey Isle Lonely the of Demon ’s signification, is far more compli- more far is signification, ’s Demon of the Lonely Isle Lonely the of Demon s sai cytliain of crystallization static a as Demon of the Lonely Isle of theDemon Lonely Demon of the Lonely Isle Lonely the of Demon Demon of the Lonely Isle Lonely the of Demon the produc- the is a

Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 359 Anthology Anthology to be a step down also capitalized on is its resistance to Demon of Lonelythe Isle Deviant Materials and embodies in its own signification Demon of the Lonely Isle Demon of the Lonely Isle Demon of the Lonely Isle , Ranpo’s , Ranpo’s ‘marked the beginning of my degeneration intodegeneration a of lit-the beginning my ‘marked Demon of the Lonely Isle of my early days as a writer, I had become satisfied with producing mediocre producing with satisfied become had I writer, a as days early my of work.’”9 Ōuchi clearly perceives from the more legitimate pieces of detective fiction thatRanpo produced as a young writer. Inscribed within this assessment, it turns out, are prewar as- Ranpo’s of historynarrative standard the from borrowed sumptions intellec-from decline a charts narrative typically master This career. literary immediately years the In artistic integritycommercialism. and crass totual of mostly consisted output Ranpo’s 1923, in writer a as debut his following critics or Thescholars.8 following statementfrom ŌuchiShigeo suggests why: “No doubt, the novel’s many shortcomings are a consequence of the that declared once Ranpo . . . magazine. storypopular a in serialized being Demon Lonelyof the Isle of Modern ScienceCriminal the popularity of pseudoscientific erotic-grotesque discourse. Despite its status as one of the crowning achievements of this vibrant cultural movement, however, the novel has received almost no attention from literary erary hack.’ Elsewhere he commented: ‘In contrast to the scrupulousness nifying nifying field, by which Imean bothRanpo’s writtennarrative andTake- naka’s images, that simultaneously enraptures and repels. In this sense, then, the text of veritable a is It characters. and storyitsassociatedwith quality freakish the Frankenstein’s monster, a disturbing conglomeration of formal elements and ideological signs that have been removed from their familiar context stitchedand then in unexpected together patterns. LonelyDemon of the Isle Emerging from the same cultural milieu as distinguishing distinguishing characteristic of easy categorization. Echoing the symbolic position inhabited by “freaks” extraordinarybody, an exhibit who individuals including stripes, various of an “exotic” a cultural or “deviant”identity, sexuality, “freakish” nature of the “freakish” text itself. My use of this term is influenced by re- “freakishness” define which discourse, freak of discussions theoretical cent as the quality that fascinates and horrifies by “blurring identities (sexual, corporeal, personal)” and by “travers[ing] verythe boundaries that secure subjectnormal the In the words, other in its given identityand sexuality.”6 occupies an unstable position that blurs boundaries relied on to separate different discursive,The and literary, result ideological is positions.7 a sig- 360 Jim Reichert rigorous explorations of the criminal mind, and clever surprise endings.11 surprise clever and mind, criminal the of explorations rigorous plots, intricate their in lie to said is narratives these of work. pleasure The ( fiction mystery “pure short written stories during the first phasecareer, of his often described as novels.10full-lengthThe to shifted 1927,he around Starting stories. short He wants the financeto money a nefarious scheme a create to scientifically tsan’s headquarters, they learn that he, too, is in hot pursuit of the treasure. a is treasure hidden somewhere on Ototsan’s island. After Oto infiltrating that evidence of piece another from ascertain men young the Jgor.Third, Moroto father, own his than other none is Ototsan that aware becomes gradually Moroto Second, pairtwins. a conjoined of of half oneshe is that in pathetic more even is plight Her Ototsan. evil the by heldprisoner been has who Hide-chan, named girl young a by written diary a uncover they after pity by moved are they First, factors. additional three by motivated is determination Their justice. to Ototsan mysterious the bring to attempts word “father”). the on variation (a Ototsan as known figure ominous an of service the in discovers Hatsuyo eventually that was murdered by a child trained assassin tion, bringing his considerable intellectual faculties to bear on the case. He investiga- the behind force driving the becomes fact, in Moroto, own. his theperpetrator. To on solve the to mystery the contrary, he trying been has fection for the Minoura. attractive It turns out, however, that Moroto is not af-his of secret madeno has who man homosexual a is he because mainly suspect prime the is Moroto Michio. Moroto named physician research a his, of acquaintance mysterious a by committed was crime the that pects sus- initially Minoura inside. the from secured been have entry of points all which in room a is in found body whose Hatsuyo, Kizaki fiancée, his of murder the to solve Minoura’s efforts on centers story the of half first The counted in the first person bythe novel’s Minouraprotagonist, Kinnosuke. re- are story of the events signification. text’s theThecussionsof fantastic Demon of the Lonely Isle perverted. too the and characters, horrific; the crimes, too fantastic; too became value. plots The intellectual scant and taste questionable of works in resulted aficionados detective-fiction of audience core a beyond appeal thesethat novelstion are excessively vulgar.12 Ranpo’s efforts his toextend less enthusiasm. The main reason behindthis disdain isthe shared percep- considerably with 1927 after composed novels the treated have Scholars A The second half of the story revolves around Minoura’s and Moroto’s and Minoura’s around revolves story the of half second The lthough a brief plot summary can never fully capture the bizarreness of , a basic outline of the narrative will facilitate later dis- jun tantei shōsetsu tantei jun ),” are thought to be Ranpo’s best Ranpo’s be to thought ),”are Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 361 Demon )” and henshitsusha ).” With equal fre-).” namamekashii )” and ( “alluring . The first. story line involvesMoroto’s unrelenting utsukushii as a scandalous deviation from the parameters of “pure” e characterization of as sexuality, Minoura’s it manifests itself in his Their investigation also uncovers some critical informationabout the Th The preceding plot outline helps to explain why critics have treated have critics why explain to helps outline plot preceding The Demon of the Lonely Isle when when Minoura seems open to the possibility of sexual relations with Mo- roto. For example, after Moroto firstprofesses his love, Minoura indulges response response to Moroto’s advances, is equally indeterminate. There are times The same basic scenarioplays itself outon numerous occasions. Moroto expresses his desire, only to have his propositions rebuffed by Minoura. Significantly, the terminology used todescribe Morotoshifts constantly. referred is He figure. desirable eminentlyan as depicted occasion,is On he to as “beautiful ( of the Lonely Isle detective fiction. Indeed, thedefining feature ofthe novel isthe erotic- grotesque atmosphere that suffuses the entire text. Examination of two specific story lines reveals morefully how the erotic-grotesque operates in though, the text quency, asserts the abnormalityof desire by Moroto’s uti- lizing such pathologizing sexological terms as “pervert ( corrective surgery to separate her from her “twin.” After recovering from the operation and claiming her sizable inheritance, she marries Minoura. Theonly remaining loose end in this happy scenario is Moroto, who still nurses an unrequited love for Minoura. Thisproblem is resolved when a life. fatal Moroto’s claims illness Thedesire for textMinoura. devotes a greatdeal of attention to this issue. the the rightful heir to the treasure that Ototsan coveted, which explains his decision to have her killed. It also becomes apparent that Hide-chan Hatsuyo’s younger is sister and that Ototsan had surgically attached her to child another in an earlyexperimental effort to create Mo- afreak. Finally, roto finds out, much to his relief, thathe is afoundling and not Ototsan’s actual son. Once matters on the island are settled, Hide-chan undergoes (seiteki invert ).” tsakusha “sexual resourcefulness, resourcefulness, the two young heroes succeed in foiling Ototsan’s plans treasure.and capturing hidden the lineage of Hatsuyo, Hide-chan, and Moroto. It turns out that was Hatsuyo race of Themotivations “freaks.” behind thisplot are complicated, but in (he profit of source a as both freaks of production the sees Ototsan essence ships his victims off tofreak commercialshows) and exacting afor means revenge on “normal” humanity (as Ototsana hunchback, has sufferednu- merous indignities in mainstream society). Due to Moroto’s considerable 362 Jim Reichert “normal” Minoura can appreciate, at least on the of level fantasy, “deviant” ostensibly the even that suggest this like husband.”13Comments my were man beautiful this that and . . . woman a become had I though as felt it moment a for but weird, sound might “this fantasy: erotic startling a in Moroto conveys the crazed intensity associated with male heartthrobs of heartthrobs male with associated intensity crazed the conveys Moroto expressions is significant, as well. With his clenchedteeth and staringeyes, theirMinoura’s submissive bottom. more of thethe on The representation with top, on is face Moroto’s assertive more the image, particular this In conventions for cinematic for example, evokes composing the passionate “clinch” shot. two faces, the of position relative The films. romantic ern recalling imagescomposition found photographsin still from taken West- its of aspects many with close-up, cinematic a resembles illustration this coincidentally, Not maze. underground an in languish they as comrades their relationship. of nature indeterminate the underscore Moroto and Minoura of images His accompanied. they texts the of signification the enriched thoroughly ing at the time, Takenaka was especially sought after because his images so cally heighten the impact of a narrative. Among the many illustrators work- realized dustry that securing the of services a artist talented could dramati- illustrated. 1930sfromprodigiously and 1920sThethe were publishing in- texts popular-fiction of majority vast the Indeed, fiction. popular of piece a as text the of consumption and marketing the in role vital a played tions illustra- these that reason simple the for overlooked be cannot text the of roto’s relationship are Takenaka’s stunning visualizations. This component engageabout Moroto. to fantasies undermined inerotic byhistendency homoerotic desire. The persuasiveness ofthis gesture, however, is seriously emphatically aligns himself with a community of readers not susceptible to readers that shares his views about what constitutes “deviance.” That is, he plicitly signals his inclusion in a larger interpretive community of “normal” im- Moroto device, this Through significant. especially is question torical by a form of desire supposedly foreign to his own his experience, final rhe- confronted when bafflement complete professes Minoura as Here, me?”14 . . . Is it not difficult to comprehend why he would harbor thesefeelings for intense. more became only it time, of course the over fact, In love. bizarre this of himself rid heto unable was that tell could I But Moroto’sheart. in feelings the fathom not could “I comments, he occasion one feelings.On sexual urges. Most of the time, however, he is simply perplexed by Moroto’s Figure 1 accentuates the erotic possibilities of the bond. It depicts the depicts It bond. the of possibilities erotic the accentuates 1 Figure F urther militating against any of neat Minoura’sinterpretation and Mo - Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 363 electronic rights to this image. image. rights to this electronic [Duke University Press does not hold hold not Press does University [Duke To view it, please refer to the print version of this the printplease to title.] To view refer it, freakish monstrosity, a chimera consisting of incongruous parts. The impli- The parts. incongruous of consisting chimera a monstrosity, freakish cation of these comparisons is They obvious. offer readers metaphoricala “animal” are also applied to him.15 In essence, Moroto is transformed into a into transformed is Moroto essence, In him.15 to applied also are “animal” of his head, Minoura evokes the cinematic heroine, overwhelmed by her passionate Comparison lover. with figure 2, aphotographic imagefrom a devotedseries to“erotic-grotesque”revealsto scenes, love degree 1931 the eroticize to film contemporary of idiom visual the on relied Takenaka which men. two the of visualization different very a offers 3 Figure encounter. this itSpecifically, coincides with the moment when Moroto’s umpteenthdec- laration of love devolves into an actual physical attack. Although most descriptions of Moroto focus on his physical beauty and sophisticated sense is He monster. grotesque a as him presents style,passage particularof this and The variously“leech.” terms described “dog,” “beast”as “snake,” and 1. Minoura and Moroto trapped in an underground maze. Originally published in Originally published 1. Minoura and Moroto maze. trapped in an underground with Diet permission National of the 142–43. Reproduced 1, 1930, Asahi 2, no. , vol. Tokyo. Library, the era. With his slightly open mouth, closed eyes, and the backward tilt 364 Jim Reichert around the conjoined twins, Hide-chan and Yoshi-chan. This plot device device plot Yoshi-chan.This and Hide-chan twins, conjoined the around furtherare justdiscernible the frightening highlights atmosphere. The dark background in which images of bats and other ghoulish creatures pression and thrashing limbs suggest the intensity of his effortsto escape. theimagewhosedesperateby thehaplessMinoura,ex- of conveyed also is sion and his hand clutching at Minoura’s throat. The horror ofthe moment expres- demented Moroto’s as details such by signaled is incarnation this tion by presenting Moroto as a terrifying monster. The monstrous nature of manifestation of Moroto’s deviant sexuality. Figure 3 duplicates this opera- Waseda Library, University Tokyo. Dagover. Reproducedand Lil ofthe the Division, Special permission Collections with filmUngarischeGerman Rhapsodie 1928), (Hungarian starring Rhapsody; Fritsch Willy from the Cutting EdgeWeirdness; ofContemporary 1931). comes This still thefrom Scenes),”Love sentanzukan(Images Gendai ryōki inthe whichappeared publication 2. titled, rabutaken This still shiin (Movie series “Eiga photographfrom a is pictorial To view it, Toview refertotitle.] please theprint of this version [DukeUniversity Press does not hold The second erotic-grotesque story line to be examined here revolves here examined be to line story erotic-grotesque second The electronic rights tothis image. Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 365 electronic rights to this image. image. rights to this electronic lex dynamic is explored further through Minoura’s response comp ic-grotesque cultural production.The narrative describes how Oto This erot [Duke University Press does not hold hold not Press does University [Duke To view it, please refer to the print version of this the printplease to title.] To view refer it, Minoura. Hide-chan, the female twin, strikes Minoura as the epitome of With her pathos. gentleness and uncanny she beauty, inspires in him feel- to Hide-chan and Yoshi-chan. Each twin elicits different reactionsfrom is particularly interesting because it offers readers what can bedescribed as metacommentary on the exploitative nature inherent in most instances of tsan kidnapped two infants; stitched them together; provided them with a catchy Hideyoshi; moniker, and raised them with the intention of sending them Theto signification a freak ofshow. this plot device isespecially becauseambiguous it implicates the erotic-grotesque industryas it simultaneously functions as a selling point for the erotic-grotesque commodity LonelyDemon of the Isle. , vol. 2, no. 1, 1930, 146–47. 1, 1930, in Asahi 2, no. , vol. Originally published Moroto Minoura. attacking 3. Tokyo. Diet with permission National the Library, of the Reproduced 366 Jim Reichert noura’s erotic attraction for Hide-chan are his feelings of pity and conde- and pity of feelings his are Hide-chan for attraction erotic noura’s Mi- complicating feelings.and Intensifyinghis to desire erotic of element (the blushing andthe pounding there suggests isanunderlying heart) that reaction his of pounded.”16physicality The heart my beauty,strange girl’s ment he lays eyes on her. mo- “I blushed and looked first away. Stunnedthe by the from young entranced completely is he Indeed, affection. of ings detrimental effects.detrimental pact of on deviance Japanese society and the utility of science to its contain im- the constituents: their and ideologues fascist to concern particular of manner in which complex the explore will I essay, this of sections remaining the In elided. completely never although destabilized, are era the of conceits ideological fascistic the of some underpin that concepts fundamental process, this of of freakish thefield ate signifying within moral instruction, and scientific research are reformulated whenthey oper- dynamic occurs. That isto say, discursivesystems such as political rhetoric, comparable a issues, contemporaneous of panoply a include to expanded notoriety. is their exploits cannily it as gories signification Whentext’s the cepted such categories, as normal or freakish. Rather, it vitiates these cate- ac- widely reify simply not does text The spectacle. erotic-grotesque the about the freakishfantasies world. denizens ofthe erotic-grotesque darkest his projects Minoura which upon cipher ultimate the as narrative the in function to is he if however, essential, is silence This position. his articulate to opportunity an given never is Significantly, basis. Yoshi-chan he that reports masturbates on a daily Hide-chan his “excessive” sexuality; be to out turns debasement Yoshi-chan’s of marker definitive the course, precedent established by more conventional pieces of dis- erotic-grotesque Yoshi-chan recognize debasedEchoingablea individual.to is as noura the Mi- then, character.”17 glimpse, petty one just warped, his With conveying never forget the frightening look on his face. It was a malicious expression, meme,at glared and face toward ugly undisguiseddark, with hostility. I’ll his turned “Kit-chan immediately. established is antipathy This Minoura. andmagazines.books of cache small a from gleaned has she that humanity “normal” of images as she conform numerousto gamely the tries to descriptions of Hide-chan contains narrative The circumstances. miserable her above rise to nation determi- her pathetic to reaction in mostly are feelings These scension. Demon of the Lonely Isle Lonely the of Demon Yoshi-chan, by contrast, elicits feelings of contempt and hatred from hatred and contempt of feelings elicits contrast, by Yoshi-chan, Demon Demon of the Lonely Isle thus offers a remarkably elaborate enactment of enactment elaborate remarkably a offers thus thematizes two closely related issues Demon of the Lonely Isle theLonely of Demon . As a result a As . Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 367 Psy- (The (The Hentai Hentai seiyoku ron seems to unquestion- Demon of the Lonely Isle was composed at a historical moment when deviations when moment historical a at composed was (1886), to which the authors refer explicitly throughout the text. And like their Viennese predecessor, Habuto and Sawada posed desires” “unnatural that threat destructive the by obsessed seemed At the the most socialJapanese for obvious level,order. aberrant sexual feelings underlay criminal acts of brutality, but of more concern to the antisocialof pattern widespread more but dramatic less the was authors sexes.19 of the confusion the thatbehavior arose from chopathia chopathia Sexualis In its firstfew chapters, The format of bookthe bears The a close resemblance to Krafft-Ebing’s modernism and urbanization state. prelapsarian this had on idealized As Roden observes, prewar sexology differentiated“natural” or “respectable” (the two categories were interchangeable) expressions of sexuality from “unnatural” or “deviant” sexual activities and identities. Ultimately, these sexological tracts deployed science to reinforce fascistic visions effects toxicof the decry to and order) social (and sexuality respectable natural, tracts. Habuto Eiji’s and Sawada influentialJunjirō’s of DeviantTheories was 1915) Sexual Desire; typical: in the West, these alarmist claims were lent further credibility when they offered sexology of discipline The “advances.” scientific with linked became an intellectually legitimate system for categorizing and evaluating different expressions of human sexuality. Despite their pretensions of scientific objectivity, Roden points out, most prewar studies of “deviant” sexuality amounted to nothing more than ideologically determined prescriptive such as Nogami Toshio and Tokutomi Sohō predicted, for example, that “feminine” passive, and women “masculine” aggressive, of appearance the these apocalyptic Fueling society.18 of would Japanese men be the undoing prophecies was the perception that modernism, and the resulting redefi- nition of roles, gender had overturned the “natural” and sexual con- order sequently threatened the basic fabric of society. Paralleling developments set of concerns that preoccupied the era. Therewas widespread concern, Donald Roden informs us, among early-twentieth-century Japanese ideo- Moralists vigor. its of nation Japanese the sapping was deviancethat logues The Meanings of Deviance Meanings The Isle Lonely the of Demon from respectability were frequently treated as a social problem with wide- This tendency various devi-to consider categories implications. of ranging ance as forms of socially disruptive dangerous or behavior reflects a wider 368 Jim Reichert dence points to Moroto. It is revealed, for instance, that on more than one than more on that for instance, revealed, is It Moroto. to dencepoints evi- the all revealed, gradually are murder Hatsuyo’s surrounding stances circum- specific the As Moroto. is fantasies paranoid these of focus The deviance. with associated stereotypes negative most the perpetuate ingly charged interaction.22 sexually their with associated connotations negative the neutralizes it as relationship Moroto’s and Minoura’s eroticizes narrative the ideal, this to loosely conforms Moroto with relation Minoura’s that implying By Men). the as known love samurai of form idealized an of representations literary (1615–1867) Edo-period from derived is bonding version of premodern samurai comrades. The model forthis pattern of male Moroto partnership with erotic overtones by presenting them as an updated In the particular case of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain’sMark from ranging texts energizes homoeroticism fact, In ture. litera- adventure of genre the for character of out not is component erotic implicit an with bonds male–male imbuing of pattern This gold. buried the find to expedition their on embark Moroto and Minoura after novel, the of sections story” “treasure the in occur mostly instances These tive. disrup- socially orinherently dangerous is sexuality variant that sumption ciety. so- civil a of operation smooth the to threat recognizable a criminality, to tantamount is words, other in sexuality,partners.Variant sexual his as men prefers he because merely suspect likely most the as figures Moroto the ishomosexual.Minouraexplains: simple Moroto fact that is evidence circumstantial this than damning more Even murder. commit the narrative implies, Moroto in all likelihood became desperate enough to far pursue Hatsuyo’s to as marriagehimself.in hand Afterplan failed, this so going even relationship, Minoura’s sabotage to tried had he occasion The reasoning here is echoedthroughout the firstfew chapters of thenovel. There are occasions, however, when the text undermines the facile as facile the undermines text the when however, occasions, are There [by conclusions ridiculous to jumping were I though as seem might It sane?20 in- the on border me for love his Didn’t excessive? marriage in hand of his homosexual desire for me? Wasn’t his to campaign win Hatsuyo’s because engagement my with interfere to tried had he that likely than more Wasn’tit sex? opposite the loving of incapable man a Wasn’the standards. normal by pervert a judge can’t you But Moroto]. accusing Demon Demon of the Lonely Isle (1885) to lwaya Sazanami’s , the text infuses the Minoura– shud Koganemaru (1891).21 Wyo Young of (Way - Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 369 ) daidan’en couple, Minoura Demon of the Lonely shud ). The text underscores underscores text The ). wakashu ). In this particular context, virtue equals ’s ’s reformulation of the kanzen chōaku Demon of the Lonely Isle The ambiguous way that the text thematizes male–male sexuality reflects sexuality male–male thematizes text the that way ambiguous The lar body passed through our soaking-wet clothes and enveloped me. I noticed that he gave off apleasant scent, which wafted allabout us. All of these things gave me the strength to carry on. Thanks to Moroto, I certainlywould have I him, for not were it If feet. my on stayto able was drowned.23 prevented me from seeing his face even though it was only about one or two inches away from mine. But I could hear his steady breathing and his feel breathwarmth Comforting his upon from muscu-my face. In Moroto put his arm around my waist Theand darkness held me tightly. ’s conclusion ’s seems to the uphold generic conventions of reward virtue Incidents Incidents such as this counteractsexuality that the impression Moroto’s is detrimental toinherently the establishment and maintenance of construc- “normality” and vice equals The“abnormality.” grand finaleconsists of a dis- the Ototsan, of apprehension the events,including of succession rapid and punish vice ( under under certain circumstances, intense, sexually charged male–male bonds achievement.concrete, useful can foster general. in abnormality of meaning the on position its of indeterminacy the This uncertainty isplayed out most dramatically in the novel’s concluding On one level, is noteworthy the chapter. denouement its for seemingly un- valorizationstatus Like the of quo. grand ( problematic the finale tive social bonds. To the contrary, the narrative suggests that his sexual attentions can have an energizing effecton Without Minoura. it, Minoura would never be able to contribute to the important narrativethat, implies thus The taskOtotsan.treasure buried overthrowing and of finding the of Edo-period drama and fiction, an association by the that is underscored use of this outdated term as the title of the last chapter, Isle Indeed, Indeed, mirroring the dependence of a youth on his adult lover, there are numerous occasions during their quest when the callow Minoura actually relies on Moroto to Thesave most his strikinglife. instance of thisdepen- dence occurs when the two young men are trapped together in a cave that revives Moroto up, his give about to is Minoura as Just water. with filling is spirit: flagging ( partner youthful the of role the plays clearly this position by having Minoura regularly acknowledge the spiritual and intellectual superiority shown by the older, more experienced Moroto. 370 Jim Reichert priately note. orthodox vice, punish and virtue reward of convention literary Bakufu-endorsed the of mannerreminiscent a In or assimilation. incarceration, death, through erased totally is society Japanese disrupting elements abnormal of threat the values; normative of primacy the asserts resolutions these of one Every Moroto. of timely death chan’s surgery,corrective the and marriageMinoura, and of theHide-chan Hide- of performance successful the lineage, true Hide-chan’s of covery illustration. Significantly, this is the final image in the text, the last visual last the text, the in image final the is this Significantly, illustration. the of viewer the extension, by and, composition) the of corner lower-left to the paternalistic gaze of her husband (the cigarette-smoking figure inthe outstretched arms she displays the results of this successful metamorphosis her bob. With modern-girl stylish her through sophistication her and ing signaling her through her domesticity choice Japaneseof traditional cloth- social/gender role; she has been transformed into the picture-perfect bride, The illustration also suggeststhat she race.”26 has successfullytakenhuman on a “normal” “normal the of part now is she terms, physical In chan. Hide- improved and new the of vision reassuring a offers 4 Figure tions. Minoura’s actions. of gallantry the appreciate fully she can condition, previous her of ness” “shameful- the accept to come has she after then, Only misconceptions. comes therealize “error” to of hersociety,respectable youthful Hide-chan of aesthetics and values the to exposed is she Once deficient.25 somehow come in different forms” and assumedthat a personwith only one head was “humans that from fara thehousewife is believed once cry youngwho girl a conventional as Hide-chan of image final order.The “natural” more the reasserts and sexologists and ideologues by bemoaned unnaturalness and deviance of type the overcomes text the manner this In marriage. and love into mainstream society, and, most important of all, “normal” heterosexual repatriation surgery, corrective of intervention triple the through fillment ful- achieved finally has she suffering, of years after that implies text The wife. his for choice suitable a becomes she changes, these With lect.”24 Tokyodia- standard the in speaks and kimono, beautiful a wears makeup, on puts hair, her “styles who woman “normal” a becoming Hide-chan of Minoura proclaims that nothing could be more satisfying than the thought tic imaginings of “natural” gender and sexual roles. After all of his travails, seems transformationto conform of Hide-chan most completely to fascis- Of The assimilation of Hide-chan is also reflected in Takenaka’s illustra- in Takenaka’s reflected also is Hide-chan of assimilation The all the events recounted in recounted events the all Demon of the Lonely Isle Lonely the of Demon Demon of the Lonely Isle Lonely the of Demon appears to end on an appro- an on end to appears ’s grand finale, the finale, grand ’s Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 371 Demon of electronic rights to this image. image. rights to this electronic Yet Yet the text simultaneously enables a more skeptical interpretation of [Duke University Press does not hold hold not Press does University [Duke To view it, please refer to the print version of this the printplease to title.] To view refer it, this outcome by gesturing to itsThe absurd absurdity. nature of the situa- philanthropic philanthropic institution. After returning from his quest with a beautiful four (approximately yen million one about of fortune immense an and wife billion yen in today’s currency), Minoura decides to use a portion of his newfound wealth to establish a haven “where the latest advances in medi- presented is act This humans.”27 normal into freaks turn to used be can cine decency. fundamental ultimateas the sign of Minoura’s impression impression Themade on tone the ofreader. this conclusion seems to suggest that, despite its gratuitous attention to the erotic-grotesque, standards. Heightening this impression is Minoura’s decision to open a 4. Hide-chan showing off her new appearance to her husband, Minoura. Originally 4. Minoura. husband, appearance Hide-chanher new her to off showing with permission of the 181. Reproduced 2, 1930, in Asahi 2, no. , vol. published Tokyo. Diet National Library, Specifi- order. social “natural” a and values “normal” endorses Isle Lonely the gendered and sexual, physical, of set rigid a toconformity valorizes it cally, 372 Jim Reichert comparison refers to the fact that Minoura’s hair has been permanently permanently been has hair Minoura’s that fact the to refers comparison kuhatsuki spective narrative Minoura describes himself as a demon“white-haired ( tion becomes apparent when the reader recalls that at the outset of his retro- narrow vision of “natural” and “respectable” sexuality and identity. vision of “natural”sexuality narrow and “respectable” edges the burdens endured by those who do not conform to an increasingly acknowl- narrative the word, last the Moroto giving By order. social this to sacrificed is that population the of segment a always is there inevitable, is prevails normalcy of regime the where world a although that, suggests novel the Moroto’s love, to reference a with By closing affection. ceaseless his of object the Minoura, but community, national the of constructions fascist of Mo- foundation family, biological mythical thehis liferoto’snot was in presence important most the suggest, words last his As events. of turn final the to aversion certain a conveys presented is demise roto’s death. The final lines of readasthenovel follows: triumph of fascistic values by providing the reader of details with Moroto’s comparable hisown. to tics their own sake and for individuals whosociety’s, show characteris- deviant or isolate for to both is cure, institute an solepurpose whoseof patron the himself appoint would Minoura that therefore ironic highly is balism.29It canni- and teratism, sexuality, male–male toward tendencies his through itself reveals which deviance, deep-seated Minoura’s of manifestation cal physi- a as functions also hair white the level, implicit an On strangers. fromcomplete comments and questions elicits it that unusual so is dition con- undergone.The has he experiences traumatic the by white bleached domestic situation. At the same time, however, the manner in which Mo- which in manner the however, time, same the At situation. domestic sionthe to story. His continued presence would only destabilize Minoura’s conclu- smooth a ensure to die must Moroto course, of terms, practical In Th repeated over repeated and over.”30 on his lips were not the name of his father or his mother, but your name, words last you. The from received had he letter a breast his to clutched Moroto breath, last his “Asdrew life:he Moroto’s of moments last the unhappily. letter out a describingme turned fatherwrote alone His this while visiting still his birth parents. After all of my fortune, recent good become the director of my new medical institute. But alas he passed away I anxiously awaited Moroto’s return, since we had arranged that he would e text further opens the possibilities for an ironic reading of the final the of forreading further ironic possibilities an thetext opens e ).”28 This is an explicit reference to his “weird” appearance. The appearance. “weird” his to reference explicit an is This ).”28 ha- Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 373 strengthen strengthen our physiques, extend our life spans, and create families without any trace of psychological weakness or hereditary illness. Sec- ond, we must commit ourselves to raising the level of our national culture, to familiarizing ourselves with the Imperial Constitution, and to potential citizens.32 as law-abiding our full realizing Theprimary goal of theJapanese EugenicsSociety is to ensure that in the future the Japanese people can this achieve maintain to us allow will their that steps essential two are position There of leadership. world goal. First, we must work to improve our mental and spiritual health, Criminology was another discipline that offered solutions to the deleteri- the to solutions offered that discipline another was Criminology predicated on the Social Darwinist belief that society is divided into two categories of people: In the the fit the and case unfit.33 ofthe criminology, context, prewar the In society. on have individuals aberrant that effects ous Japanese criminology operated in compliance with a set of assumptions also was criminology example, For eugenics. of those to similar remarkably Showing Showing a clear investment in the fascistic linkage of cultural purity, na- offered Society Eugenics Japanese the domination, global and health, tional con- could they subjects so imperial Japanese strengthening for blueprint a tribute to Japan’s success in the competitive arena of international rela- This tions. process didnot simply involve selecting the fittest members of a community and making sure that only they reproduced. It also entailed and vitality character the of society improving and national culture. tion of the national community through programs of selective breeding, birth control, and sterilization. But in its more popular formulations, eugenics dealt with questions of culture as as it frequently did with issues of Kyōkai Undō Yūsei Nippon statement by the issued following The heredity. (Japanese Society) Eugenics typifies in 1928 this tendency: Science and Deviance individu- deviant that impact the about concerns widespread to Responding 1930s and 1920s the of field discursive Japanese the society, on canhave als potential this contain to promising proposals “scientific” with overrun was eugenics, of discipline the was proposals these of source major One threat. or the science of improving the hereditary qualities of a race or breed. As consider- exerted eugenics out, points Zenji Suzuki science of historian the of proponents the Among policy.31 social Japanese prewar on influence able these social programs, certain factions worked under the assumption that the sole application of eugenics was in modifying the hereditarycomposi- 374 Jim Reichert inthe battlebest weapon against forces diminish society. to threatening offeredthe science that conviction absolute the shared they characteristic: important another common in had disciplines two betterment. The ciety’s so- to contributed behavior whose citizens law-abiding of consisted “fit” the of category the while society, disrupted actions whose centers, urban Japan’s of denizens mostly criminals, of consisted “unfit” the of category position that scientific disciplines such as eugenics and criminology pro- criminology and eugenics as such disciplines scientific that position the with engagement text’s the of complexity the demonstrates further it for characterizing grounds not is fiction detective of model standard the from deviation this the main reasons that critics dismissed it. I assert once again, however, that of one was coincidentally, not This, approach. this from departure its for earlier, mentioned I order.As and law of promotions conservative typically constituted for what justification lectual cates, science continued to function, even in the fictional realm, as an intel- indi- explicitly Hirabayashi as rigor. Moreover, scientific of air sufficient a show to expected were investigations criminal of accounts fictional even occurs in the context of a discussion of detective fiction. This suggests that nal behavior. for breedingground a crimi- as it treated criminology while degeneration, cultural and enervation physical of source a as landscape urban the modern treated eugenics environment; urban the of suspicion mutual their was disciplines two the linking Further science. of epistemology fallible in- the in foundation of their by asserting rationalized were disciplines these name the in committed Actions science. of imprimatur the legitimated through were rhetoric this of overtones authoritarian the eugenics, program: ous crime-prevention seri- any of component essential thescience an was that widespreadbelief ordered, and therefore empowered, the nation-state. As was the case with with case the was As nation-state. the thereforeempowered, and ordered, that discipline intellectual an as criminology envisioned thus Hirabayashi A Significantly, Hirabayashi’s commentary on criminological science science criminological on commentary Hirabayashi’s Significantly, fully the order body conceived of lawsmaintains of the nation-state.34 tion of suspects relies on the collection of physical and evidence, a care- convic- and investigation the scientific, nature by solvingcrimeare and outlook, analytical and a rigorous methodology. To put it simply, crimes an rationality, of establishment the words, other in science; of zation In abstract terms, the necessary condition is the establishment of a civili- comment by the cultural critic Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke exemplifies Hatsunosuke Hirabayashi critic cultural the by comment Demon Demon of theIsle as Lonely a failed exercise. literary Rather, was noted noted was Isle Lonely the of Demon Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 375 - dismisses sciencedismisses Demon of the Lonely Demonthe of Isle is not to say, however, that however, to not is say, e e results of this deductive tour de force are far too elaborate to sum Th That is is any truth to these “scientificfacts,” statements like thisplay a crucial Theyrole. lend a patina of verisimilitude toMoroto’s otherwise ludicrous committing such a heinous crime, Moroto explains, “Child specialists know know specialists “Child explains, Moroto crime, heinous a such committing that, contrary to our expectations, children are much crueler than adults. man; primitive resemble children evolution, of proponents to According . . . they are barbaric Leaving and aside the cruel.”37 question of there whether ible ible enough to conceal himself in a large vase committed the Of murder. course, the premise is fantastic; this is precisely what makes the narrative theo-scientific that way the is though, interesting, is What entertaining. so ex- For scenario. of this incredible ries are up used to plausibility the shore old year ten a of likelihood the questions Minoura dubious the when ample, the inside, the Moroto inside, makes clear that all of his conclusions have been based He on explains careful how reasoning.” “deductive he first conductedpre- and then liminary “developed finally“examined a hypothesis,” “research,” listen- After solution crime. a to the offering before evidence,” existing the ing to this report, Minoura can only marvel at the “systematic order” of approach.36 Moroto’s and then managed to escape leaving all the doors and windows locked from from locked windows and doors the all leaving escape to managed then and enough, the character that best exemplifies a scientific approach toward life life toward approach scientific a exemplifies best that character the enough, is not the novel’s protagonist, Minoura, but his comrade, Moroto. On the most basic level, his profession as a research physician signals his investment in this Thissystem. scientific background, heinsists, is what makes him an candidateideal to undertake a criminal investigation. reassuresHe detective. exceptional an be to out turn just might “I Minoura, uncertain an After all, didn’t I study science in medical school?”35 The reliability of the lengthy his During constantly. underscored is Moroto for method scientific explanation of an how intruder broke into room,Hatsuyo’s murdered her, in society. To the the endorses contrary, text the applicabilityTo frequently of in society. scientific rationality in such cases.These endorsements primarilyappear to contoursin sections the narrative of most faithfully of the that conform example, for present, conspicuously are They fiction. detective conventional pieces various analyze and collect Moroto and Minoura where scenes the in of evidence in the course of investigating Hatsuyo’s Interestinglymurder. vided a way to achieve a more wholesome, harmonious societyharmonious the through wholesome, achievewaymore to a a vided systematic containment and neutralization criminal. and unfit of the the elements unfit/criminal the by caused problems to responding of means a as marize marize here. Sufficeit to saythat aten-year-old acrobatprofessional flex- 376 Jim Reichert half, Yoshi-chan, and allows her beginto life anew as a “normal person.” worse lascivious herfrom her separates that procedure surgical the forms in the quest to deliver Hide-chan from her misfortunes, for it is he who per- niously concealed clues. Moroto’s scientificexpertise also proves invaluable inge- of trail followa to information the using then and message secret a the hidden treasure, for example, involves an elaborate process of decoding find to goals.race theseThe accomplish to Moroto allows what ultimately hidden treasure and rescue Hide-chan. Theto reason is ability scientifically of the narrative, which focus on Minoura’s and Moroto’s effortsto locatethe sections “adventure-story” the in prominently figures also Science theory. presented as a source of anxiety, the possible catalyst foralmost of crisis anxiety,a of catalyst possiblesource the a as presented is it hand, other the On problems. social perceived to solutions offers it generations.38 future to on passed be actually could victims, his on visited Ototsan that those as such characteristics, acquired that believed widely was it words, other In currency. common in still were heredity of theories Lamarckian theall morewas credible for 1930sthreat neo- readers thein early because bring about lasting changes in the composition of a racial community. This mula is the same: providesscience the know-how makesthat it possible to for- basic the Yet it. “improving” than rather population the minishing” “di- involves therefore and revenge for desire and hatred by motivated is to engender hereditary changes in the Japanese race. To be sure, his scheme program gone awry. proponents Like of eugenics, exploits Ototsan science subjects. Ironically, Ototsan’s effortscan easily be interpreted as a eugenics human on deformities physical various inflict to Ototsan enables mately ulti- that foundation intellectual the provide research and experiments cal Japan with an army of freaks. The flood narrative makes clear thatto Moroto’s planmedi- Ototsan’s involving subplot the in emerge however, ment, ofscience. logic the through incontrovertible attained on truths is founded it because assured, is hierarchy this of unfit.the legitimacy The and criminal the over “normal” the of triumph the with restored is society order“natural” theof order. of important, More state a to chaos of state a lineage are made clear. In short, science makes possible a progression from sure is achieved when the mysteries of the hidden treasure and Hide-chan’s the circumstances surrounding the murder of Hatsuyo. More complete clo- crises. In the first half ofthe story,things are resolved when Moroto deduces Throu Sc Questions about the utility of science as a system for social manage- social for system a as science of utility the about Questions ience, ience, then, is represented as a sword.double-edged On the one hand, ghout the novel, then, science is key to the resolution of various various of resolution the to key is science then, novel, the ghout Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 377 ’s ’s was produced at the Demon of the Lonely Isle was closely linked to the bourgeois con- Demon of the Lonely Isle Demon of the Lonely Isle t the same time, operating in accordance with the logic of the erotic- A precise moment when fascist precise concernswhen moment about issues such as respectability, racial purity, and productive morality were becoming ascendant in Japan. Challenging Challenging this permissive tone, however, was the text’s subscription to currents of Social Darwinist thought that were the intellectual foundation for such disciplines as sexology, eugenics, and criminology, all of which endeavored to contain or eradicate perceived abnormalities Japanese population. within Indeed, the Ranpo’s Ranpo’s sumer/cultural movement known as Erotic Grotesque TheNonsense. text audience’s the tacitlyby authorizing this of movement spirit embodiedthe with a medium at the audience least, by providing pursuit of pleasure—or, through which it could vicariously observe an assortment of “perverse” “bizarre,” characters indulging themselves in unsanctioned activities. ciation of its sensational pyrotechnics. This is anatural tendencyfor any piece of erotic-grotesque entertainment, since its success as a commodity is directly to proportional its capacity to attract an extensive audience. Conclusion grotesque spectacle, Moroto’s excessive rhetoric also invites titillation. Eugenic paranoia becomes grist for the mill of outrageous exploration of the bizarre. The text thusdeflects seriouscon- appre- ironic an encourages implications sober and more itstemplation of will seriously compromise the health of the Japanese national body. Indeed, Indeed, body. national Japanese the of health the compromise seriously will question the by entirely generated is half second narrative’s the in suspense pre-and plot Ototsan’s to foil able willbe Minoura Morotoand whether of in investment clear reveals a thus text The occurring. from disaster this vent bodynational Japanese the of sanctity the regarding principles fascistic the contamination need toand the protect it from and degradation. person person remains. If my father has his way, Japan will become crippled, a nation of cripples.”39 In diatribes such as this, the narrative expresses an physically by overrun being Japan of prospect the at revulsion unmistakable premised clearly is plan Ototsan’s by elicited outrage The freaks. “deficient” on the conviction that the presence of unfitness, regardless of itsorigins, unimaginable proportions. In bothproportions. unimaginable cases, the perceivedhowever, enemy is any threat to the vigor and purity of the Japanese bloodline. Moroto gives project:“whathis Ototsanand vilifying speech a in concerns these to voice a hideous nightmare, floodingJapan withfreaks untilnot a single normal 378 Jim Reichert

Notes andfreakishness.themselves around themfor andthose ofdeviance signs both monitor to need the readers on impressed that propaganda covert of nese society. At these moments, norms is treated as a potential threat to the homogeneity and purity of Japa- psychological and physical, sexual, accepted from deviation any which in text the of sections in legible is fantasies ideological these with Affiliation

10. 11. 4 5. 8. 6. 2. 9. 3. 7 1. . .

ciation for Studies Japanese Literary 5(1999): 156–74. Textuality,Sexuality,” “Imperial Imperial Driscoll, For more on Japanese manifestations of this fascist compulsion to assimilate, assimilate, to compulsion fascist this of manifestations Japanese on more For no kagaku 5,no. 30(1974): 40–48. Fujikawa see Chisui, “Kaiki e no naka no seishun: Takenaka suiron,” Eitarō Takenaka’scareer, of and lifeaccount detailed more Fora 1930s. and 1920s the of industry detective-fiction Japanese the for illustrator leading a Takenakawas sition ofIssun bōshisition (The 1926). Midget; Ranpo shifted his focus from short stories to full-length novels with the compo Two noteworthy exceptions to this institutional oversight are Taguchi Ritsuo, Ritsuo, Taguchi are oversight institutional this to exceptions noteworthy Two Rose- ed. in Limit,” the as/at Freaks Ambiguity: “Intolerable Grosz, Elizabeth Harootunian, “Overcome byModernity,” “Overcome Harootunian, 82–83. Edogawa Ranpo—Hyōronin Edogawa tokenkyū,148–49. (1973), yume” “Tojikomerareta Manji, Gonda 60–62. 1980), Kōdansha, (Tokyo: Ranpo—Hyōron tokenkyū(Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1980), 172. Suzuki Zenji, Knopf, 1947), 165–71. Reischauer, Edwin 184–203; 1934), Yohan, E. O. Taninand see subjectivities, and outlooks alternative destroy and dominate, Japan,” inInterwar course on the Social Parallax 79–84. , no. 2(1996): Dis- the and Life Everyday Fantasizing Modernity: by “Overcome Harootunian, Harry see Japan, in discourse fascistic this character of specific the on moreFor 27, no. 1(2001),113–41. in appeared originally article this of version earlier An Kotō no oni “Kotō Bodies (New York: Press,1997), Columbia University esp. 19–51. Thomson, Garland Rosemarie see individuals, or groups to signed as is “freak” label the that manifoldtheways of discussion detailed Formore a 64. Thomson, Garland marie Ōuchi Shigeo, “Karei na yūtopia—Ranpo no chōhen shōsetsu” (1975), in Nakajima Kawatarō, “Ranpo bungaku no chōkan” (1954), in in (1954), chōkan” no bungaku “Ranpo Kawatarō, Nakajima iiaim n Fsim n Japan in Fascism and Militarism ron,” Nihon no Shuppan, (Tokyo:yūseigaku 1983), Sankyō 136. Kokubungaku: Kaishaku to Kokubungaku: kanshō Kaishaku (New York: New York University Press, 1996), 1996), Press, York: York New(New University Freakery Demon Demon of the Lonely Isle Japan: Past and Present and Past Japan: Nw ok Itrainl Publishers, International York: (New 59, no. 12 (1994): 109–14; Mark 109–14; no.59, 12 (1994): Proceedings of the Midwest Asso- Midwest the of Proceedings can be read as a form Journal of Japanese Studies Japanese of Journal (New York: Alfred A. A. Alfred York: (New dgw Ranpo Edogawa Extraordinary Edogawa Edogawa Shisō - -

Disciplining the Erotic-Grotesque 379

- Ko- (Social kakusei iden Mark Twain’s Twain’s Mark Yūsei undō 3, , ed. Gerald Graff and Graff Gerald ed. , Hanzai Hanzai shakaigaku refers to sexual attraction for extraordinary Nihon Nihon jidō bungakushi o toinaosu: Hyōgenshi no shiten teratism Culture and Identity: Japanese Intellectuals during the Interwar Years Interwar the during Intellectuals Japanese Identity: and Culture (Tokyo: Sōgensha, 1996), 33. Sōgensha, Kotō no oni (Tokyo: no kanōsei: Nanshoku bungaku to shite no shōnen in bungaku,” ed. Nihon no yūseigaku, 99–141. no Nihon Kotō no oni, 394. Kotō no oni, 85. Kotō no oni, 346. In the lexicon of sexology, For a more complete discussion of expressions of male–male sexuality in Ranpo’s Ranpo’s in sexuality male–male of expressions of discussion complete more a For (inherent atavism) and consequently links it withatavism) and consequently eyebrows, traits(inherent such as bushy sloping forehead, prominent cheekbones and jaws, deformed skulls, brutish A representative example of this tendency to conflate the categories of the crimi the of categories the conflate totendency this of example representative A nal and the unfit can be seen in KatsumiAtsuyuki’s bodies. Minoura’s bodies. initialMinoura’s obsession with Shū-chan can be therefore categorized as an example of this condition. As for Minoura’s cannibalism, the occurs shortly incident after Hatsuyo’s death. On departing from her funeral, Minoura absconds with which a in charred of a body, fragment Hatsuyo’s moment of ex- consumes. he treme despair Ranpo, (Tokyo: Tokyo Shōseki, 1995), 35–54. 1995), Shōseki, Tokyo (Tokyo: kara Koku- naru jōnetsu,” hisoka no Ranpo Makoto,writing, see Furukawa “Edogawa Kaishaku 12 (1994): to kanshō 59,bungaku: no. 59–64. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy Critical in Study Case A Finn: Huckleberry of Adventures James Phelan (Boston: St. Martin’s Press, 1995), 528–34. Komori Yōichi, “ ganemaru Nihon Jidō Bungaku Gakkai, Criminology; 1922). Katsumi assumes that criminality is a sign of Edogawa Ranpo, Ranpo, Edogawa Rimer, Thomas J. ed. Ibid., 45–46. Ranpo, yume,” 148–49. yume,” (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University 44–45.(Princeton, Press, 1990), N.J.: Donald Roden, “Taisho Culture and the Problem of Gender Ambivalence,” in Nakajima, Nakajima, “Ranpo bungaku no chōkan,” 63–64; Gonda, “Tojikomoerareta Suzuki, Ibid., 393. Ibid., 11. Ibid., 293. Ibid., 177. Ibid., 393. For a more detailed discussion of the homoerotic inflections of these narratives, homoerotic inflectionsthe of these of detailed discussion more a For in (1948), Honey!”Ag’in, Huck Raft the to “Come LeslieFielder, see Ikeda Shigenori, Yūsei “Nihon Undō Kyōkai no shui oyobi shinjō,” no. 6 (1928): 18–19. 6 (1928): no. Ibid., 257. Ibid., 263. Ibid., 36. Ibid., 366–67. Ranpo, Ranpo,

. 3. 3. 9. 2. 4. 17. 13. 1 15. 31. 21. 12. 16. 18. 1 27. 3 2 25. 22. 3 29. 30. 20. 28. 26. 24

380 Jim Reichert

34. 38. 3 3 3 37. 6. 9. 5.

Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke, “Nihon no kindaiteki tantei shōsetsu: toku ni Edo- ni toku shōsetsu: tantei kindaiteki no “Nihon Hatsunosuke, Hirabayashi , 45–97. yūseigaku heredity,of Japaneseunderstanding Suzuki, prewar thesee on theories Lamarck’s de Jean naturalist French the of impact the on information more For 142. Ibid., 125–46. Ibid., Ranpo, gawa Ranpo-shi ni tsuite” (1925), Ranpo: Hyōron nitsuite” inEdogawa gawa Ranpo-shi , 9. tokenkyū Ganshōdō Shoten, 1922), 162. Atsuyuki, Katsumi left-handedness: and strength, Ranpo, Kotō nooni,359–60. Kotō Kotō nooni,121. Kotō azi shakaigaku Hanzai (Tokyo: Nihon no Nihon Keith Keith Hamaosociality: Narrative and Fascism in Hamao Shirō’s V

in The Devil’s Disciple c ent

To order my story properly I should start with the time you and I split up. —Hamao Shirō, Akuma no deshi

The detective novelist Hamao Shirō’s (1896–1935) family background, his education, and his profession gave him a privileged insight into the workings of the prewar Japanese state and legal system. His adoptive father, Viscount Hamao Arata, served as minister of education, as a member of the Privy Council, and as president of Tokyo Imperial University. Hamao’s grandfather was Baron Katō Hiroyuki (1836–1913), the towering scholar who lectured the Meiji emperor on Western legal thought and served as the first (and third) president of Tokyo Imperial University. In modern Japan it would be hard to come by a more elite pedigree.1 Hamao himself studied German law at Tokyo Imperial University and worked as a public prosecutor from 1919 until 1929. But in that year he gave up his prestigious position as a prosecutor to become Japan’s first practitioner of legal detective fiction. By so doing, Hamao transformed himself from an enforcer of the law into one of its harshest critics. Thus, a former prosecutor and the grandson of one of the founders of the modern Japanese legal system ended up writing detective fiction shot through with what Gonda Manji describes as a “deep skepticism about [the possibility of ] justice through the law.”2 The theme of the arbitrary violence that lurks at the law’s foundations 382 Keith Vincent that that its narrator works hard very to homosexuality establish—between and rative. In nar- of middle dilatory the in put stay to text, the with stick rather, but, to And yet the trick of them. avoid to need we instruction the provides also it but positions; cist might us fas-that lead into theory of fascism. It exposes us temptations to is fiction detective Japan. Classic in popularity wide gained had 1920s, the by that, and century nineteenth late the in emerged it as novel detective classic the from different so work his makes that law the in mistrust cal radi- his is It fiction. his in over over and to turn Hamao would that one is structure of structure narrative complex The communication. to language of reduction the and by undone) (and spectacle, architecture, or rhetoric), the focus here myth, will be as on the (such work done certitudes such producing of ways many are there While certitudes. insistent with problems these to responds which that is poses, pur- our for fascism, of culture The itself. modernity by raised problems promises, disingenuously,cism thecourse, of resolve.are, aporias Such to fas- of culture the that representation and subjectivity of aporias same the of reader the state, purgatorial a such in Suspended threatened. is order national the and undermined is law the juridical are certainty possible and a hell of perversion and addiction where a struggle between homosocial heaven in which both closure narrative and unresolved an stages and fiction detective modern of work stabilizing the was giving way to unchecked militarism and colonial expansion, it reverses democracy Taishō so-called of promise the as just Written reassurance. his crime. of thepredicate to tight him tying by subject determinate a as thecriminal itfixes ratiocination, ofscientific the andthrough application narrative its of thecourse plot. with Over for character strives of correlation airtight an also novel detective the form, “whodunit” classic its In herrings. red of pool a of out narrative coherent a fish to details, mere from clues guish distin- to works herself, or himself detective the like novel, detective the readerof menace,”3the and meaning, weight, equal given is sign external “every which in paranoia generalized of state a into initially restored. Cast order social the and justice to brought be eventually will criminal the that the crime gruesomeand however the murder, the rules of the genre dictate disturbing However reassure. to and frighten to both serves that genre a Hamao’s novella The Devil’s Disciple, this is a space in between a series of oppositions The Devil’s DiscipleThe Devil’s in the transformation of subjects into identities identities into subjects of transformation the in narrative The Devil’s Disciple Akuma no deshi , I will argue, works as a kind of participatory participatory of kind a as works argue, will I , (The Devil’sDisciple; 1929) offers no such is not simply to follow the instructions is confronted with with confronted is Disciple Devil’s The Hamaosociality 383 The Devil’s, Disciple thus placing a homosexual revolves around its narrator Shimaura Eizō’s TheDevil’s Disciple ccused of a crime he did not commit but burdened with the knowledge knowledge the with burdened but commit not did he crime a of ccused While Shimaura claims to have learned to love women since Tsuchida A represented represented by homosexuality onto another man. writes“Tsuchida-san,” the the integrity and character of Shimaura against that of Tsuchida, without what to believe. of knowing us any means giving the On homosexual. exclusively remains believesTsuchida that he him, left most basic level, then, Hamao’s short novel shows us the attempt of one man to up shore his compromised heterosexuality by projecting the threat relationship and getting him addicted to the sleeping medication that has causeddeath Sueko’s and Thislanded him letterin jail. toformer his lover constitutes the entire text of frame around what is otherwise a heterosexual story. More a stream invective of than an accusation of any specific criminal acts, the letter sets is compromised by Shimaura’s relentless diatribe against the prosecutor himself. Shimaura accuses Tsuchida of seducing him into a homosexual on on him, turns out to be smart enough to know how much medicine overdose, an of she dies Sueko thought. he than dumber is mistress his needs,4 murder. with jail charged ends up in her and Shimaura of his murderous intentions, Shimaura can neither protest his innocence the in prosecutor public the to letter a writes he Instead, guilt. his plead nor court where he is being tried, Hachirō, Tsuchida one who also happens to above summarized events the relates letter The ex-boyfriend. Shimaura’s be for the prosecutor’s (and the reader’s) benefit.But thisnarrative function same same amount of sleeping medication as he. Since a normal dose for him is an overdose he hopes for her, that will die Tsuyuko and whole the thing will look like an With accident. his wife out of Shimaura plans way, the to on based marriage happy a into down settle and Sueko, mistress,marry his love genuine and Butaffection. his attempt to use his own addiction to rid takestakes Sueko unexpected the turnan cloyingwife when his of himself bait instead. While his wife, whom he despises for her abject dependence heterosexuality, instruction and seduction, insomnia and sleep, and speech speech and sleep, and insomnia seduction, and instruction heterosexuality, mod-experimentationof formal between the space a also is It writing. and ernist narrative melodrama. instruments of fascist blunt and the Hetero-Narrative Theplot of attempt to murder his Heavily addictedTsuyuko. wife to sleeping medication, Shimaura tries to takeuse subliminal tomessages Tsuyuko the make 384 Keith Vincent , to develop individual freedom in the Western sense.”9 While Doi held Doi While sense.”9Westernthe in freedom individual develop to far, that accounted for the “childishness” of Japanese society and its “failure, “dependence,”of or theory his elaborate to later, Doi Takeo resorted to the same notion of the stalled Oedipal narrative happyending.8 one only decades Three is there presumes that yet” “not of matizing work ofnarrative. of Tsuchida, or disrupt unbind to the (hetero-)nor- which threatens is that is in that homosexuality equation this of corollary itself.The heterosexuality of that with narrative of power redemptive the equates also homosexuality,but from “recovery” of narrative Shimaura’sown anchors only not belief same . theThis remained still be a bachelor ( bachelor a be still must you believe I So sex. opposite the in “Youinterest Shimaura, no have this tendency toward “amae” by following that narrative through to com- to through narrative that following by “amae” toward tendency this overcome (yet) might Japanese (heterosexual) the that possibility the out the of homosexual.”7 position theThis is psychological women. other or mother the toward attitude their in love and sexuality of instincts the combine to able been have norfather independencethefrom and manhood own their established securely neither have who those “are terms, uncertain no in Jones Ernest biographer Freud’s paganda,”argued the to of “Thewiles people terms. Nazi pro- subject most are who political and sexual both in understood subjectivity—now fortified to and normality path Oedipal the along way his lost has who person a as stalled, has story whose one as hypostatized thus was homosexual the or pervert The sphere. public liberal-democratic the and domesticity heteronormative of fascismoutside andhomosexuality both the interlocking domainscontain (most typically embodied by the male homosexual). This made it possibleto and often (mis)appropriated to read fascism in relation to sexual perversion easily was work Freud’s fascism, of rise the of explanation psychoanalytic a sought later who those for And us. of all in pervert the on insistence ful care- Freud’s overlooked epigones his of many too far constitution,”6 mal nor- the as passes what of part a form must but rarity great no of itself is normal with the normative and insisted that “the disposition to perversions the confuse to not text that in careful was himself Freud sexuality.While hetero- genital in ends and perversion with begins that Shimaura’s) like Sexuality of Theory the on Essays Three Shimaura’s followsstory the Freudian theory of sexual In development. his In Th e “homofascist” subject is thus a case of failed development, a story story a development, failed of case a thus is subject “homofascist” e its its insistence on narrative as that which secures heterosexual identity, ).”5 While Shimaura has dokushinShimaura).”5 While The Devil’s Disciple, through the phantasmatic figure (1905), Freud crafts a narrative (much narrative a crafts Freud (1905), . It was amae, he argued, he amae, was It amae. moved on, moved Tsuchidahas so Hamaosociality 385 servesas narrative occupies a moment when two verydiffer- two when occupies a moment The Devil’s Disciple Devil’s The all of these examples suggest (and all I of could others), these there examples (and is citesuggest many .”10 As I have argued elsewhere, not even Ōe Kenzaburō could resist resist could Kenzaburō Ōe even not elsewhere, argued have I As .”10 amae As a whole mess of a mess theories whole in which the Oedipal narrative of sexual development differentiation and is gender read that alongside of developmentthe story the so astray, goes or stalls narrative the When subject.political the of goes, you get (homo)fascists, and when it comes to maturation, you have heterosexual, democratic What subjects. I want to argue here is that these narratives of narratives are themselves symptomatic of a paranoid fascist subjectivity. In my reading, the narrator of novella Hamao’s is an example of such a fascist subject. abuses) narrative He uses as (or what Judith Roof calls “a structural defense against a chaotic world” to reassure and stabi- Japan Japan when Hamao was writing. Thus, in the largernarrative of Japanese cultural history, “homosexuality”) posed less of a threat to narrative coherence. If homosexuality remained a disease and untilan unspeakable well sin West in the into the twentieth century, it had only recently become pathologized in fascist fascist subjects seek to stabilize themselves. Indeed, there is no end the kinds of enemies a fascist culture tocan conjure up. But the figure of the whom for those to useful particularly proves homosexual a defense against chaos. As the introduction of difference into sameness, of the hetero into the homo, narrative serves as a means of differentiation attemptsdesperate to from differentiate himself Shimaura’s and othering. through narrative insistent an ownhis of achievement Tsuchida hetero-of sexuality is clearlya means of warding off“homo-ness” the that threatens him. to engulf From Instruction to Seduction long too not time, a was There Japan. in waythisalways not were things Yet before this story was written, when male–male sex (as distinguished from lize himself through the production/projection of an imagined male homo- male imagined an of production/projection the through himself lize Thissexual.12 imaginedmale homosexual is sexuallypredatory, politically dangerous, prone to addiction, and fromsuffering arresteddevelopment. Obviously, the production of such a fantasy is not the only way in which (too) Americanized father turns him from the left to the right until he ends he untilright the to left the from him turns father Americanized (too) emperor.11 beloved of his (too) image over the up masturbating pletion, homosexuals were stuck by definition. “The essence of homosexual of essence “The definition. by stuck were homosexuals pletion, Jones, from heard finalitywe flat-footed same the with wrote Doi feelings,” “is the easy appeal of showing us a teenage “fascist” whose indifferent and 386 Keith Vincent atTsuchida’s andboth endsofthe tale, both expense. hypostatize to possible it makes what is undecidability interpretative this exclusive“homosexuality.”13modelof chologized modern shallsee, we As called was what of tradition premodern the of tive ship between Shimaura and Tsuchida is to be understood from the perspec- dominance. This sets up a undecidabilitycertain asto whetherthe relationfor competing still were sexuality male–male understanding of ways ent in which male–male eroticism was neither pathologized nor seen seen norpathologized neither was eroticism male–male which in nanshoku tive. the misogynous is This narra- of magic retroactive the through only exists that something of loss to nanshoku from “transition” historical the level personal the on recapitulates also it that extent Tothe true. it make not does that But corruption. and seduction of for narrative the necessary is affair love their of days early the of evocation nostalgic accusation that Tsuchida is “the most dangerous person in the world,” this even coming and letter same the in space Sharing setup. in awe ofyou.”15and stand you respect teacher,”“I “my writes. and Shimaura brother” oldermy were contemporary (non-derogatory) student slang for male–male couples. “You Their dorm mates referto them apart. as anever “ are they years two for and studies, his with Shimaura helps student, brilliant a ).”otōto is Tsuchida,whono (muni brotheryounger only Tsuchida’sbecame and he “onewhen moment the as relationship their of form. Shimaurabeginningtherefers undistorted, not uncensored,if to an such in narrated be can story love men’s two the that fact the for count brother.” “older exemplary an is he Shimaura, to faithful remains and benefactor teacher and of ). Tsuchida role seido the fulfills (ie that To extent system the hood and forparticipation both parties in the homosocial corporate family adult- “responsible,” reproductive toward development of form the in arc clude marriage to a woman. As such, it retained the possibility of a narrative nogamy from his younger brother, but the practice of nanshoku did not pre- intimate access to his person.”14 The older partnerexpected loyalty and mo- aid,” terial and respect, theobedience, and through younger “reciprocated ma- and model, role a protection, social and physical youth the “offered brother older the where men, two between fraternity fictive of lationship In Echoes of the nanshoku model abound in aboundnanshoku modelthe of Echoes Of course, none of this can be read at face value, since it is all just a just all is it since value, face at read be can this of none course, Of its ideal(ized) form, the nanshoku model involved a hierarchical re hierarchical a involved model nanshoku the form, ideal(ized) its but not yet homophobic yet not but , it works nostalgically to evoke the evoke to nostalgically works it , dōseiai Paar ,” the German word for “couple,” a and may ac- may and Disciple Devil’s The practice and discourse of discourse and practice , or in the psy- the in or nanshoku, Shimaura’s after - Hamaosociality 387 and as a “homosexual” out- “homosexual” a as and nanshoku us it is that Tsuchida’s ability (in Shimaura’s letter) ability toas both appearus (in it Shimaura’s is that Tsuchida’s nfortunately, however, this first attempt at differentiation crashes and and this differentiation attempt at first crashes however, nfortunately, U Th that made no difference. The point was that Sueko had chosen someone else someone chosen had Sueko that was point The difference. no made that to be her Betrayedhusband.” and disillusioned by Sueko, Shimaura loses burns when his beloved Sueko succumbs to the pressures of that homosocial same family system by agreeing to marry the man her parents have chosen for her. Shimaura construes Sueko’s acquiescence as a failure of heterosexual love to overcome the force of the patriarchal family system. me for but sake, parents’ her for this doing was she said Sueko time the “At “the “the opposite sex may as well not have existed for But us.” after Tsuchida overcome has he that time a believesfor he Sueko, meets he and him leaves baneful influence by hisTsuchida’s shedding misogyny and learning to be a heterosexual. “I had come to know the beauty and sanctity of women of which you are utterly ignorant.”16 promoting promoting him to modern and enlightened subjecthood. And yet it is only by accusing Tsuchida of being an exclusive “homosexual” rather than an “older brother” in the discourse of nanshoku that Shimaura can accomplish this Tsuchidadifferentiation.Thus, must be homosocial and homosexual, premodern and modern at once for Shimaura to assert himself as a modern heterosexual. When he was together with Tsuchida, he writes, women women are considered objects of exchange, marriage for love is unheard continuum homosocial seamless a along exist men among relations and of, from friendship and mutual support to sexual relations. lieves Shimaura at a certain be- point that heterosexual love will differentiate himfrom Tsuchida, both exonerating him from the misogyny of the ie seido and an “older brother” in the discourse of discourse the brother”in “older an the side bonds of filiation in discoursethe of modern sexology allows him brother” “older an corruption. As Shimaura’s dutyfiguring in double todo in the nanshoku mode, he stands in for the misogynous ie seido in which put put things in order works to isolate what are in fact overdetermined and coexisting Theideologies. pair/series “instruction/corruption” is just one example of “tradition/a set that also includes “nanshoku/homosexuality,” and “modernism/fascism.” modernity,” as a threat to one’s masculinity or patriotic duties. But whatever kind of histori- of context the in possible been have might relationship male–male cal nanshoku toward which Shimaura’s reminiscence seems to gesture, it is clear that what we have here has as little to do with that (unknowable) Im- the of with conduct the historicalto had do values” reality “samurai as perial Japanese ThisArmy. is an instance in whichnarrative’s tendency to 388 Keith Vincent to comehaunt me.to back Icursed allwomen.”17 began said he“Andalways you writes. what that then Tsuchida-san,was it Tsuchida’swomen,”all cursed is “I this fault. course, of And, seido. ie the of misogyny the homosocial to his faithloveandregresses inheterosexual form of form a is narratives transitional these of both of fascism. endpoint The to ment enlighten- modernizing a from transition the of that argue, would I and, generally more Japan in sexuality male–male of discourse historical the of that echoes thus predator perverted to pedagogue loving from formation becometo a example quintessential of the modern homosexual. His trans- altogethernanshoku sphere of premodern guidance, theleft Tsuchida has sleeping to medication. dicted ad- him gotten and alcohol to him introduced also has He “seed.”19 his with him impregnated has and “strongpersonality” his of sway the under “plaything.”Shimaura brought his has He into fly” a hurt “wouldn’t erally lit- who boy” “innocent an from Shimaura turned has Tsuchidawell.” as to body your strange love, but I bear cannot the thought that I sold my soul my sacrificed I that fact the live with to have will I knowledge.for soul my becoming In Tsuchida’s enthrallment. “disciple,”sold “I writes, Shimaura olderthequasi-religious of for terms thein read now youngeris “brother” another language of seduction and indoctrination. A benign paternalism of is there beneficial, mutually and uncoerced remains structured, archically hier- though men’srelationship, two the which in tutelage and respect of language a with in mixed letter, Shimaura’s of beginning very the From Tsuchida with something far worse than the of evils premodern patriarchy. associates also Shimaura that clear makes tone his in evident irony bitter ated by the homosocial traffic in women exemplified by the seido.ie But the tells Tsuchida: ploit. “This marriage was not based on love (at least on my part).” Shimaura into a marriage with Tsuyuko, whom he does not love and only wants to ex- As if to confirm into histhe re-entry homosocial world, Shimaurarushes a woman or two so that I could grow up into abig one.18 upinto Icouldgrow sothat a woman or two sure I’m devil. there you that would agree was no notsacrifice reason to little a was shame.I any without this Tsuchida-san. shesaved. had say I money little the and loyalty,kindness, herrequired I because was It As the agent of seduction and corruption rather than instruction and instruction than rather corruption and seduction of agent the As Shimaura’s renewed identification with Tsuchida is thus clearly medi- clearly thus is Tsuchida with identification renewed Shimaura’s (be it “homosexual” or “Japanese”) in which development development which in “Japanese”) or “homosexual” it (be identity Hamaosociality 389 ) triebhaft , “a compulsion compulsion “a , Principle Pleasure the Beyond course, repetition can also work as a means of mastering traumatic Of You told me that life wasn’t a rose-strewn path. That it was a battle that I that battle a was it That rose-strewna path. wasn’t life that me told You You get off on would have to learn to fight. fighting youBut like. it isn’t take destructionboys You . who’ve . never. had a drink and make them yousuffer while stand back andYou watch. lovenothing . more . than . towatch them destroy themselves with you alcohol while never touch a drop.20 experiences or anxieties about the future. Recurrent nightmares are one ex- one are nightmares Recurrent future. the about anxieties or experiences that extent the to themselves, pleasurable be not may they Although ample. they pave the way for mastery and pleasure Freud considers such repetitions such considers Freud pleasure and mastery for way the pave they of that is gives Freud example The principle.” pleasure the serviceof the “in a little boy who tries to master the anxiety caused by his departure father’s to repeat . . . [which] exhibit[s] to a high degree an instinctual give[s] ( principle, pleasure the to opposition in act they when and, character the appearance of some ‘daemonic’ force at work.”21 Tsuchida represents Shimaura. for force precisely such a demonic Rather than mentoring them into maturity, Tsuchida corruptspromis- one Tsuchida intothem maturity, than mentoring Rather Tsuchida’s Both pleasure. viewing own his for another after man young ing serial seductions and the addictions that on his foists victimshe are mani- calls,Freud festationswhat of in identity as a modern homosexual. In this instance, homosexuality figures as a pathologyof repetition and destruction: only one of many younger men that Tsuchida has corrupted is another point another is corrupted has Tsuchida that men younger many of one only his to way gives seido ie the of embodiment the as position Tsuchida’s when by his retrospective its rancor, beginning colored by its end. Vampire-like, Tsuchida has poisoned Shimaura with his “strange love,” and they have both of time. stepped outside and Recovery Repetition As of letterreaders the we alreadyhave poi- gotten a glimpse of this other, sonous side of account in Tsuchida of Shimaura’s how the uncere-former is he thatrealization Shimaura’s boy. younger a for him dumped moniously and instruction are superseded by seduction and indoctrination. And yet it is crucial to recognize that these “transitional” narratives are not in fact events,howevertheymight much or stagesdiscrete of series a to reducible present themselves as so. Shimaura’s storyline is constantly undermined 390 Keith Vincent Brooks, that drives narrative. In his reading of narrative dynamic through through dynamic narrative of reading his In narrative. drives that Brooks, Peter to according repetition, of kind this is it And on. move and it” over “get to trauma, imagined or actual master an to attempts are repetition of These departure.forms that of scene the re-enacting repeatedly by forwar itous paths to death,” Freud writes, “faithfully kept to by the conservative conservative the by to kept “faithfully writes, death,”Freud to paths itous life linethinner between and death. “These circu-treading an creases, ever in- tolerance their as dosage their increasing keep Tsuchida) (and maura Shi- you. kills it and much too but need, you rest the get you and enough drive. the death just of Take nature contradictory the perfectly figures also in suicide and murder of means a and alive Tsuchida the drive. death with Freud associates that repeat metaphorforto a compulsion theas serves addiction his light, his compulsion to repeat that narrative in a futile attempt at mastery. In this force of his recovery story will be weakened even further. This wouldexplain which he will be faced with those unconscious drives, in which the binding in sleep a fears he because medication sleeping to addicted become has version that Tsuchida figures forthe paranoid Shimaura. Perhaps Shimaura per- the terms formal in reproduces thus quality unbound That narrative. uncompleted and unbound(or deliciously) achingly an itself Disciple Devil’s maura’s letter, let alone whether he ever did or would receive it, makes of when they away forare no longer the narrative. necessary them throw form,” to “serviceable only into all them recruit will latter the text, a of details “trivial” the over unhurried linger may former the While tion to is repetition also what distinguishes the pervert from the paranoiac. rela- over.24This and over story same the reading or hearing of tire never professors)and people old adds, Roland as Barthes (and, children ingBut . happens” we are able to put the book down and go to sleep, to “what close its out find we immediately.”23When it re-read to her] or [him suade per- to possible hardly is “It end, the to through narrative a reads adult an a sated, be never will hunger that a addiction, an is It sight. in mystery of it “whodunit?”), sets off a compulsionto repeatthat has no end murderthe the and typically most is this novel, detective the (in motion in narrative the set that excitations the “bind” to fails repetition such when But text.”22 the of economy energetic the within ‘bundles,’ usable form, serviceable into them putting by mastered be to them allows that energies Freud’s Th The fact that sleeping medication is both what keeps Shimaura and Shimaura keeps what both is medication sleeping that fact The e fact that we do not know whether Tsuchida ever responded to Shi to responded whetherever Tsuchida know not do we that fact e Beyond the Pleasure Principle Pleasure the Beyond , Brooks writes of a “binding of textual textual of “binding a of writes Brooks , The Devil’s Disciple Devil’s The drive. When bind- The -

Hamaosociality 391 his bind ), weren’t we? Beyond the Plea- sōshite watashi watashi wa sono koi- sōshite ). But once I was abandoned by you and fascism is of course rooted etymologically in the same notion and functions as the motive force of narrative. In the face of e term Shimaura Shimaura is culturally fascist to the extent that what he perceives as Shimaura Shimaura is stuck somewhere between the unbound and a-temporal bito ni suterareta ni chigai arimasen So we were we So lovers of a sort (isshu no koibito dōshi datta deshō And sure enough, I was dumped by that lover ( Th past homosexual acts into a narrative that begins with his sexual innocence, sexual his with begins that narrative a into acts homosexual past moves through and a ends homosexual with“stage,” his achievement of a self: differentiated (hetero) “daemonic power” drives Tsuchida’s him towrite his long, accusatory letter. His desire to tell his own story is formu- tolevel, fundamental both more a on an and, law attempt the of eyes the to in straight” “get his story late an He identity thathimself that is separate of prosecutor. the for from containand to Tsuchida by seduction own his of story the tell must the more benign injunction to “share” narratives of recovery in a culture ob- culture a in recovery of narratives “share” to injunction benign more the sessed with addiction (“I will always be a recovering alcoholic”), narrative culture fascist purpose, our For place. their in drives the keeps which that is become themselves recovery of narratives which in one as thought be might compulsoryand addictive. of “binding” that appears as a central concept in Freud’s sure Principle an eminent of collapse identityand subject–object relations, culture the of normative into drives errant bind to narrative of force the to resorts fascism “nationalist calls Slane Andrea what of form the takes it Whether channels. melodrama” in her discussion of fascist culture in the United States,28 or his control and yet part of himself. Perhaps it is for this reason that his accusations of homosexuality and seduction fail to stick to the prosecutor. Instead, they linger in the air and threaten to undermine his narrative by boomeranging right back to Thus, him. thehomosexual “frame” to his heterosexual narrative himself. threatens Shimaura to frame time (narrative) work of the ego instincts.27 As a self-described “devil’s Shimaura disciple,” experiences Tsuchida as a “daemonic power” beyond instincts, would thus present us to-day with the picture of the phenomenon phenomenon the of picture to-day the withus present thus would instincts, of life.”25 insom- his light, this In day. waking the narrativesof the and statesleep of a-temporal the drives, the of energies unbound the of fear a as emerges nia and thus non-narratable energies of the primary process (“with its hint of possession by some ‘daemonic power’”)26 that threaten to undo the day- 392 Keith Vincent as a relentless persecutor who as arelentlesspersecutor looking notwill stop athim. but be, should prosecutor a that justice” “blind of embodiment the as not imagination Shimaura’s in appears Tsuchidaslept, already has Shimaura for unbiased As judgment. a prosecutor who sleep, and whomcannot with condition the create otherwise should) (or would that private and public Shimaura as the prosecutor in his trial, thus blurring the boundary between the fact that his former lover is now in the position of passing judgment on by helped not is else. This anything of or gaze the of subject the as status myself.”32 of afraid became I stronger. and stronger getting me inside planted you realization that he is the indeed “the devil’s to disciple.” back He writes, him “I felt thelead seed will story his Eventually long. last not will identity and “you,” too. And yet this assertion of Shimaura’s separate (heterosexual) ( yourself “you but this time as a separate subject confronting its other: “I ( Finally, fortified bythethus distance gained, he enters again into dialogue, narrative.31 person third a into and dialogue the of out narrator the yank ( “we progression—from similar Tsuchida.to a undergo pronouns personal The ( through see “to second, the and himself, is object the when unflinching and responsible ( hard look “to first, the seeing, of verbs transitive active two ( ),”“movedaway (suterareta intransitive the to then dumped be “to verb passive the of iterations two to on moves Shimaura into into active subjectivity. Beginning with a conspiratorial copula ( state passive a fromemergence an chart which passage, the in used forms he what from Tsuchida, Shimaura is cured of blindness and able to see Tsuchida for can he because himself see can culminates in a self-knowledge attained through knowingness.30 Shimaura

The more afraid Shimaura becomes, the less certain he is of his own his of is he certain less the becomes, Shimaura afraid more The moved away ( moved away As no desu).29 thing about you, all the through way (anata jishin o zenbu mitōshite shimatta shi wa, jishin o mitsumeru ga koto dekita wareware this rather strangely worded passage suggests, Shimaura’s narrative suggests, passage worded strangely rather this —a “devil” and a homosexual. This process is echoed in the in verb echoed homosexual. is a and process This “devil” is—a )” to an objectified “that lover ( lover “that objectified an to )” ).” The “I” does the seeing now. It can see itself itself see can It now. seeing the does “I” jishinThe ).”anata ) hanareta from you, I was able look to hard at myself ( mitōsu ),” contemptuous and withering when it switches it when withering and contemptuous ),” Tsuchida. By separating himself separating Tsuchida. through By see ), and at the same see time every- to sono koibito sono ),”hanareta to finally and )” that works to to works that )” watashi mitsumeru datta deshō), )” versus wata- ),” Hamaosociality 393 ).”36 ).”36 And soon he begins serves Shimaura as a displacement for the The Devil’s Disciple fuminshō fuminshō ni kakete wa senpai de aru anata t was sleeplessness that brought Shimaura and Tsuchida together when when together Tsuchida and Shimaura brought that sleeplessness was t nights had been made miserable for the previous month out of an in- had yourself You words. these by moved deeply were You abilitysleep. to fromsuffered insomniafor two yearsUnder the already. darkskies our conversation drifted towards those sleepless nights and as we spoke a beau- a in bound were two we dawn By intimacybetweenus. grewwarm yūjō).35 (utsukushiki friendship tiful they find themselves at two in the morning standing in a schoolyard overgrown with fall grasses. The first thing I saidto you was that my Until then you and I had never spoken a word to each other. But there is nothing strange in two dormitory mates having a conversation when I and solipsistic repetition. As insomnia, it is taken out of the narrative of taking sleeping powder under Tsuchida’s direction. This “education” in medication leadwould sleeping to terriblea addiction mentioned I as and, narra- a have we again Here men. both for doses larger progressively earlier, corruption. to studying) night all up (stayingeducation from decline of tive Not sleeping has been unmoored from its “use value” to become a perverse Insomnia Insomnia in homoerotic bond that once united the two men and continues to subtend his ambivalent relation to TheTsuchida. narrator goeson to explain that he complained of his insomnia on every occasion when he met Tsuchida. way it came towhen “who the one as the me showed Tsuchida to refers He insomnia ( he he wanders the campus, he meets Tsuchida, who also has trouble sleeping, and they immediately bond over their common affliction. Shimaura narrates their meeting first that in language evinces connection a clear between and homoeroticism: sleeplessness according according to his friend Edogawa Ranpo,33 but we need not resort to the biographical to appreciate the possible meanings of sleeplessness in his and his thatprotagonists wonders, kept the author What was it, one work. up at night?34 Insomniac HomosocialityInsomniac In Shimaura’s account, insomnia is the only thing he and Tsuchida have always had in common. Hamao himself suffered terriblyfrom insomnia, the the two were still at boarding school. Unaccustomed to life in the dormitories and overworked with preparations for college entrance exams, Shi- maura finds himself unable to sleepfor nightson end. Lateone night as 394 Keith Vincent the same add upto (homo)sexuality thing.37and addiction perverse which of shadow the in drive, death the of echoes hear we again self-improvement and sent spinning into the circle of drug addiction. Once wonder ifIhadnotpossessedbymywife’s been living ghost ( to began and myself stand longer no could I mercilessly, her tormented “having end,” writes, he the “In indiscretion. every his permitting meekly more submissive, becomes only Tsuyuko back, fighting than rather But “plaything.” personal his into soul and body her turning selfishly himself, of Tsuchida’streatment describe to earlier used expression an employing and, weather, bad in errands trumped-up on out her sending purposely ion, away fromstaying home for days on end carousing with other women, of her submissiveness, heher treat begins in to the most abominable fash- to her. These “feminine” qualities beginto drive him mad. Totest the limits him tity,” attracted first “obedience,”had in “goodness”Tsuyuko that and thedisciple.” devil’s After just six months heof the tired grows “chas- very But that, Shimaurajust I a had “was writes, daydream. forgotten that I was Inside andOut Misogyny he andTsuyuko neednowisachild. All sleep. some gotten have might he suggests even text the in evoked is it as period this of coziness narrative. idyllic familyThe heteronormative the into entry his reconfirms further Shimaura property, father’s his herited in- and household own his up set Having income. couple’s the plements His father dies at the same time, and the small inheritance he receives sup- himself.38 for life heteronormative comfortably a imagine to begins and suburbs,”the in house “little a in down settles translator, a as job a gets me getting stronger and stronger.”)41 His desire to murder the child/fetus the murder to stronger.”)41desirestronger and gettingHis me inside planted you seed the felt (“I devil the of spawn the and disciple”) der andakindofsuicide,an abortion aswell. Tsuyuko, he will be able kill to the fetus at the same time, making the mur- about murdering Tsuyuko to actually planning the deed. By doing away with fantasizing frommerely moves he that point this at is seed.”40It “devil’s a of which the hehomo-ness is so afraid. it Hea both “second calls me” and to connection his materializes “gaybie”Tsuchida that strous reaffirms and mon- a as but name family the on carry to ability his of confirmation a as F This When he finds outthat Tsuyuko is pregnant,the baby appearsto him not or a brief period in the beginning of his marriage to Tsuyuko, Shimaura “devil’s seed” is both Shimaura himself (as the eponymous “devil’s ).”39ikiryō Hamaosociality 395 ambivalence” between the active and passive positions from Tsuchida. But when Tsuyuko is in the picture, this re-this picture, the in is Tsuyuko when But Tsuchida. from differentiation But the “devil’s seed,” the “second me,” is not really a baby born between born baby a really not is me,” “second the seed,” “devil’s the But By this point, Shimaura’s dead father, from whom he has inherited prop- inherited has he whom from father, dead Shimaura’s point, this By No position of the libido which had once been established was ever com- ever was established been once had which libido the of position No in existence by side was side It rather left one. a later pletely replaced by tothishim maintainallowed and vacil- incessant others, an withthe all lation which proved to be incompatible with the acquisition of a stable character.43 move move on. It is “incessant Shimaura’s vacillation” that both drives him to the the vertical narrative of succession and filiation has been replaced with a lateral, vampiric cloning. Shimaura shares his insomnia and his soul with devilish identification. “What do you think?Tsuchida-san! Had Inot be- of your soul?”46 inheritor perfect the come very whose has soul beenhas eclipsed lover, by completelyhis erty, former process the in and soul Tsuchida’s by infected been has He him. into passed over their common hatred of women.44 After explaining to Tsuchida how he he how Tsuchida to explaining After women.44 of hatred common their over would comfort himself on sleepless nights with images of Tsuyuko dying sleep- her on smilingly gaze would he how murder, or suicide, by disease, by ing face knowing that only her death would bring him satisfaction,45 he addresses Tsuchida yet again in the second person. But this time around, into back pivots devil,he the Tsuchida from himself distancing than rather two men, however much Shimaura might fear (and desire) it to be so. It is, Tsuyuko after all, and Shimaura’s revulsionShimaura’s baby. at having for desire negated a as reading are we (which Tsuchida by impregnated been such impregnation) registers a threat both to his active masculinityand to his vulsion is intotransformed a bond mediated by the misogyny that courses Tsuyuko. and Tsuchida, Shimaura, among triangle homosocial the through Indeed, as the misogynist crescendo of narrativeShimaura’s grows, it be- former his to close as come to desire his by fueled is it that apparent comes lover as a homosocial libidinal economy will allow—by bonding with him This is also, of course, adescription of thefailure ofnarrative, afailure to reach certainties for they(whether be sexual, historical, otherwise) or and prevents ever him from them. finding is a negation of the homosexual fantasy Freud describes in his analysis of “to be Wolfman copulated the with by and the boththerefore father, to be born of him and to present him with a child.”42 descriptionFreud’s of the “constant Wolfman’s a descriptionsounds like of Shimaura: 396 Keith Vincent that Tsuchida (who hates “sentimentalism”) would find his continued at- continued his find would “sentimentalism”) hates (whoTsuchida that establishing first After differentiation. of thework to returns he so, doing In life. his into back came Sueko how of story the with immediately most al- narrative of thread the up picks Shimaura men, two the between bond up all night together, relishing of his murdered “devilish fantasies” wife.47 staying them of two the imagines he now and companion, nocturnal his receiving end of Shimaura’s fulminations, inspiringinevitably some level of reader the alongwith Tsuchida the positions on person second the of beat might who has received a letter that is forty pages long. Theceaseless drum- read To The Insistent Voice men acloudofguilt. together beneath the two bring that sentences unfinished of intentions, and subjectivities of mash prosecutor. The death of Sueko seemsto have resulted from a strange mish- forthe love his mediate and Sueko’sTsuchida death implicate in both will differentiated misogyny. It isthis sharedthat misogyny Shimaura imagines tute, as we will see later, one “she” for another in a kind of paroxysm of un- to our philosophy, she would be killed.”49 Sueko’s death will simply substi- way out of my dilemma. Only one way. Namely, death. To die. And according the killing and who will die. “All I could come up with was a terribly prosaic that he wants Tsuyuko dead. He seems to stumble initially over who will do decides he moment the describes Shimaura which with wording strange the in evidence in also is agency regarding ambiguity This all. at subject “suggestion” ends up as an occurrence (Sueko’s death) without a transitive through intransitive made already was intention subjective which yuko)in Tsu- murderof intended (the act an as began what overdose, by death her again Shimaura’sreverses work of separation and formation. identity With clean. wiped slate a on develop and grow to freedom the promises bond sexual their love returns stronger and hotter than ever. And once again, the hetero- and Shimaura, with together back gets Sueko seido, ie the of structure the past. Suddenly become a free agent able to make her own decisions outside survives, perversely freed, like the city of Tokyo itself, from the bonds of the 1923.of Earthquake aloneSueko Kanto Great the in killed were family tire tachment to her laughable,48 Shimaura relates that Sueko’s husband and en- As if in reaction to the description of such an intense and non-narratable But tragically, by falling into a trap set for someone else, Sueko once once Sueko else, someone for set trap a into falling by tragically, But The Devil’s Disciple Devil’s The is to feel suffocated and embattled, as anyone as embattled, and suffocated feel to is Hamaosociality 397

staging who he is . “You . him “You . While the letter the While . Disciple Devil’s The acute or synchronic instance of the of theme . As a trope that “calls up and animates the . And the only way that this can happen is if he can he if is happen can this that way only the And . at all. He wants to keep yelling at Tsuchida without at wantsTsuchida yelling to read at all. keepHe what he says he what The Devil’s Disciple e form of the letter makes it impossible for the reader to get outside Hamao’s Hamao’s choice to make a novel out of this letter is his way of Th These are the last lines of a letter bound together by repeated apostrophes apostrophes repeated by together bound letter a of lines last the are These same same binding that enables diachronic narrative, apostrophe is exemplary of political rhetoric in general, and fascist rhetoric in particular. Barbara Johnson has analyzed apostrophe in a way that sheds light on the way it functions in absent, the lost, and the apostrophe is, dead,” to paraphrase Johnson, the the and letter Shimaura’s of mode his to homo the other, Shimaura’s as Tsuchida into life breathe to struggles a apostrophe, of use This “Tsuchida-san!” to its recipient: “Tsuchida-san!” mode perhaps more suited to a lyric than a is letter, another way in which Shimaura struggles to push forth his own identity through the appeal to writ-in tospeech gets one vocativeItsclosest the moodis other. absent an ing. As what might be thought of as an the ground of ground the Shimaura far,” thus said have I what believe will who person only the be may will writes. believe“You that I have told no lies. . . . I call out toyou in the believing in And me. believe please shared, once we friendship that of name believe I say.”50 what me, Shimaura’s desire for unmediated (and unreciprocated) communication. Shimaura depends on the possibility of such communication to make his narrative of recovery believable and to reaffirm hiswants to make heterosexuality.an identity out He of a grammatical subject, to make get someone not only to believewhat he says, but to believe (in) control of how the text will be read. In fact, one senses that he does not want the text to be hushed rather a produces paradoxically yelling this of All interrupted. being somewhere position embarrassing almost an into put is reader the as mood between that of an eavesdropper and a voyeur. Or perhaps we are simply theatergoers. Shimaura’s head to find out how much of what he says is “true.” Moreover, Moreover, “true.” says is he what of much how out find to head Shimaura’s the paranoid and accusatory nature of the writing renders it suspect from the start and gives the impression that Shimaura is desperate to maintain sympathy and identification with the prosecutor. And yet to the extent that yet And to the identificationand prosecutor. sympathy with the have we whom with prosecutor the seriously, calumnies Shimaura’s take we just identified emergesas a diabolical figureall the Our same. sympathies Tsuchida for hatred whose be, to seem Shimaura’s as much divided thus are only intensityof his spurned affections. by the is matched 398 Keith Vincent Escape fromEscape the Third Person nounce the “homosexual lifestyle.”52 Disciple Devil’s The and the “no,” is course, of answer, The alone?”51 language through healed be loss this Can bridged? be gap this “Can question, the poses novel the hetero, doing in Sueko’s death. My failure to write her name has brought about a about brought has name her write to failure My death. Sueko’s in doing wrong- homicidal of evidence as served have not would letter the ‘her’ of itwasshethat and not Sueko whom he kill. hadplanned to thetucked into when she comes to visit him in jail, the sight of a packet of sleeping powder killed Sueko. As for Tsuyuko, he does not even remember having a wife. But ory and only the letter to go by, Shimaura at thatfirst believes he has in fact to kill “her ( plan a only of tell pageslong,emergeforthe so to after failedhe room his into came who maid the by Discovered pages. surviving those in partially preserved but overdose the by out wiped temporarily is affair thewhole of pages of the letter in which he told of his plan to kill Tsuyuko. His memory murder,of accused station somehowdestroy having theto of all neglected had imagined. An unspecified number of days later, he wakes up in a police sleeping powder die. to and liesdown of overdose enormous an takes he penance, guilty.In is he which of crime grab at some stable form of subjectivity, Shimaura renders retroactively it a last a like looks what in But accident. an was death Sueko’s committed. been has crime actual no noted, already have we as course, Of it.54 burns and solved” be never will that crime a behind leave to interesting more is “it that decides he than document the composing finish he does sooner no But death. accidental Sueko’s to up led had that all of account an ing the “homosexual” position. and circlinghave a repetition back fromof narrative, the “heterosexual” to a smallto inn in Kiso, “where you and I went as a couple.”53 Here again we train the took he Sueko’s death, discovered he after Tsuchidatells that He that it was the ambiguity of writing that landed him in jail in the first place. Shimaura’s preference for speech over writing is also understandable, given B B I t is at this inn in Kiso that Shimaura resolves to kill himself after writ afterhimself kill to resolves Shimaura that Kiso in inn this at is t ut by then it late. is “If too I had written ‘my wife’ or ‘Tsuyuko’ instead ut Shimaura’s tolerance for the medication proves greater than even he seems to know this. But Shimaura keeps trying. As readersknow this. novel Butto seems of Shimaura trying. keeps ),”kanojo and this is what lands Shimaura in jail. With no mem- obi of her kimono jogs Shimaura’s memory, and he realizes , we watch him try as we might watch Pat Robertson de- Robertson Pat watch might we as try him watch we , - Hamaosociality 399 , writes Shimaura. The letter ends, as we have seen, have we as ends, letter The Shimaura. writes , gives us a clear sense of the genocidal consequences The Devil’s Disciple Read this letter to the end the to letter this Read of this storynarrative us by how showing Shimaura’s gets out of hand and starts to devour its own The airtightcharacters. plot of thedetective novel

believable after all. And now that the narrative is subjected to doubt, all that all doubt, to subjected is narrative the that now And all. after believable canour I belief “Tsuchida-san! call is himself. anchor Shimaura out you to three times in the name of that friendship we once shared. Please believe veryis course, of Shimaura, say.”59 I believingbelievewhat in And me, me. toattempts his us show to genius Hamao’s is it believed. be toBut unlikely by apart pulled and together held both is that narrative a through beliefcoerce redemp- seductively the is Such bond. homosocial a of force ambivalent the tive narrative. lure of fascist with a plea to Tsuchida to believe him and to believe the story it tells. But it But storybelieveto tells. the believeand it to him Tsuchida to plea a with under- will reader the and Tsuchida that end the to it reading by precisely is the letterthis is whether doubt as to stand of this “probably,” the meaning ter we have been reading turns out (according, as always, to the letter itselfletter the to always, ) as (according, out turns reading been have we ter loss total the from recover to began Shimaura after just written been have to in cognitivehis and memoryhis of “Everything abilities. shrouded seemed mist. the I letter understanddidn’t says. myself,” “I evencouldn’t remem- cut thus has memory of loss his and death with brush His was.”57 I who ber the Knowing narrativeradically his unreliable. rendered twoand talein his way the letter ends, if the reader goes back to the beginning (which is, of course, to treat the as letter a written narrative rather than the act of com- not is Shimaura that reminded are we be), to it wants Shimaura munication so sure of his story after all: “Prosecutor Tsuchida, I am imprisoned here right. That’s guiltyparty. the not probably am I But murder. of suspicion on Probably not. . . . I regret that I have to say it in such a way. But strange if you read this letter to end you will the surely understand why.”58 bizarre result.” The free-floating, third-person pronoun “she,”55 like the un- the like “she,”55 pronoun third-person free-floating, The result.” bizarre a clear sub- without a crime speaks of the text, suffuses guilt that specified Shimaura coincidences!” of together coming strange a “What object. or ject now from And loved! I woman the and wife hateful “My Tsuchida. towrites will ever I when on, to really be able sleep?”56 Story Hole The sleep-near-overdose on Shimaura’s tale.this totwist more one is there But ing medication has introduced a black hole in the middle of the text that The let- it bind together. to motivates) efforts his of indeed all undoes(and 400 Keith Vincent Tsuchida: tells he dead, Sueko finds Shimaura When stranglehold. a becomes here his heterosexuality-as-identity. But the story that perate attempt to differentiate himself fromthe prosecutor andto (re)claim inside the letter of his attempted escape from Tsuchida’s influence is a des- tells he story the seen, have we As seduction. and Tsuchida’sinstruction the personality of acriminal.”62 me gave you but crime, now.me prison taught in have be notYou not may would boy,”young“I Shimaura,a as writes you met not had I “If become. Tsuchida not for the crime he has (not) committed but for the the is prosecutor homosexual this that Shimaura believes factthethat of what And prosecutor? a and homosexual a both is to) lie to trying (or municate com- whom to with person Tsuchidathe trying that facttheis of what But Persecutor The Perverted fears andbrings “It was the resultofallmyplanning.” about. both fascism that unbinding ultimate the is It history. of end the figures tinguishable from any other and outside the confines oftime and narrative, child,”“last the themselves.As in indis- ends flesh, comeSueko’s of lump a sexual aim unsoldered from its object, Shimaura’s machinations have be- “planned and planned ( ( thought and thought . . . tada) (tada just “just He by and repetition doubling the verbsdescribe that Shimaura’svery actions. and the death drive. The Japanesetextevokes this tension between narrative “happy-makinggazea on repetition of the realm flesh”of enter lump to is to But narrative. a be would one loved a lost woman. Tohave other any or fromindistinguishable Tsuyuko and narrative the unhingedfrom present, pure the in here child”),61 exists “last means name (whose Sueko present, the in felt lack a for up make to retroactively animated is object lost the In a stunning of reversal the structure of melancholy or in nostalgia, which I saw in it the result of the murder I had so carefully thought out ( out thought carefully so had I murder the of result the it in saw I As keikaku ni keikaku shitaof allmyplanning).60 nikeikaku (keikaku happy-making lump of flesh,there before myeyes. And it wasthe result ( just I loved. I someone lost having of kangaeta ni gae only one who will believe what he Shimaura says? blames the prosecutor the “devil’s disciple,” Shimaura has become who he is as a result of result a as is he who become has disciple,”Shimaura “devil’s the ). Strangely, at that moment, I did not feel the sadness the feel not did I moment, that at Strangely, ). keikaku ni keikaku shitakeikaku ).” Like what Freud would call ) looked at this strange, this at looked tadatada) The Devil’s Disciple kangae ni kangaeta ni kangae person he has as a novel )” and )” kan- Hamaosociality 401 narrative in the remains a homosexual with a Tsuchida to be a homosexual. This is an essential an is This of part to homosexual. a be needsTsuchida single and thus outside the narrative of reproduction as well. If e homosexual predator Tsuchida is at the same time a prosecutor, the the prosecutor, a time same the at is Tsuchida predator homosexual e himaura himaura Not only did you mercilessly transform me into your plaything,now your but into me transform mercilessly you did only Not you see me languishing in prison. But you, who taught me everything, have used your talents and intelligence to your live without life a single S Th very embodiment of the law, the enforcer of social order. In a move that will that move a In order. social of enforcer the law, the of embodiment very inter-Shimaura discussion of “homofascism,” earlier our be from familiar twines the story of Tsuchida’s sexual perversion with that of his alleged perversion of corruptedthe only socialNot Tsuchida Shimaura; has order. he has also weakened and poisoned the law itself. Consider the following passage: hope hope that it will tell him that he is not. And part of that narrative depends on casting Tsuchida as somehow outside narrative, like the death drive repetitionseduction,endless addictionand of the in around circling itself, remaining Sueko as a dead lump of flesh existedonly in thepresent because severed lives onlyTsuchida in the from the past, present because he has no future. “Tsuchida-san. I hear you’re increasing your dosage as well. And not even end up.”64 you’ll where you in all your brilliance can see the story he needs to tell. His is a story of recovery from homosexuality (and (and homosexuality from recovery of story a is His tell. to needs he story the suc- been have not may or may that insomnia) even perhaps and criminality, cessful. But has Tsuchida no story. He simply criminal personality who suffersfrom insomnia and addiction. Shimaura may be all of these things as well, but he is also addicted to such a figure serves to isolate and contain the scourge of sexual perversion in the “Homosexualityother. is constituted writes as Leea category,” Edelman, “to name a condition that must be represented as determinate, determi- the undo threatens to it as insofar precisely identifiable, legibly as nacy of identity itself; it must be metaphorized as an essential condition, a sexual orientation, to contain the disturbance it effects as aforce ofde- orientation.”63 tells suggests to the reader the impossibility of his ever extricatingever his of impossibilityhimself the reader tothe tellssuggests that say to mean not do I this by that emphasize should I influence. that from Shimaura is “really” Thisa isclosetedno demonstrable more homosexual. What homosexual. exclusive an is Tsuchida that idea the than text this from the text shows is the attempt of one man to shore up his own identity by holding these two “orientations” apart. Indeed, there is no “homosexual” in this text (any more than there are in “reality”) except to the extent that

402 Keith Vincent ing of narratives heteronormativity, and made figureto a fixation tomatic and instructive. Occupying the constitutive outside of the naturaliz- symp- both is homosexual the of person the around often so surface tivity representation. political of unmediated form fictive, some restore to seeks that revolution fascistthe of root surely the is at voice, its hear to est,”cease will they that inter- people’s“the represent to cease and own its lifeof “daemonic” a on take will government the and system legal the that fear make.67This they decisions the for threatened are lives judges’ where today, States United the in climate the to comparison in pale to almost homosexualiza- Tsuchida seems of tion and hatred Shimaura’s throats.66 their down marriage gay shoving by people” the on will arbitrary their forcing judges “activist over States United the in right the on uproar recent the with victimhood to claim Shimaura’s of resonance the by struck be but help cannot One “frail” and “powerless” in the face of this Trojan horse of a homosexual. a of horse Trojan this of face the in “powerless” and “frail” as it by casting justice of ideal(impossible) his salvagerather, ableto heis power.Or, legal of arbitrariness the homosexualize to manages Shimaura managed cleverly to dissimulate his homosexuality so has who Tsuchida, of that with state powerless own his contrasting By them”: detective novel except to the extent that there might be something “behind a of reader the to interesting not are themselves of and in scenes”69 “love 1931, in writing Hatsunosuke, Hirabayashi critic Marxist the to According Conclusion values” isanindispensable figure.68 he is imagined by fascists like Shimaura and our own crusaders for “family that reproductive and redemptive narrative can proceed, the homosexual as Th appropriate.65 gerous as you. You’re the prosecutor and I’m the criminal. How perfectly dan- as someone stop to anything do to powerless are that nation this of laws the of frailty the at appalled being help cannot I time same the at But heart. my of bottom the from you admire and respect I misstep. crime and its investigation are not necessary in the detective novel. Thedetective the in necessary not are investigation its and crime the to relate not do that Details . . . work. a destroy to enough is love] Indulging oneself (hitori de etsu ni itte of accounts [sex and ) in drawn-out e fact that these anxieties over narrative, representation, and subjec and representation, narrative, over anxieties these that fact e while personifying the law past past which - ,

Hamaosociality 403 a fantasy is a knowledge that most detective and detective most that knowledge a is fantasy a is Lacan and the Ghosts of Modernity: Masculinity, Tradition, and the (Tokyo: Yūshisha, 1992), 179. 1992), Yūshisha, tantei (Tokyo: sakkaron Nihon (New York: P. Lang, 2004), 57. P. York: of Influence (NewAnxiety I thank Nina Cornyetz, Douglas Crimp, and Kota Inoue for their for rigorous and Tansman Alan to grateful extremely also am I essay. this of critiques generous his and unstintingcriticismencouragement, help, at every stage of what turned out to be a very process. long Devil’s [The no deshi Disciple], 86. Akuma Shirō, Hamao Epigraph: Marshall Needleman Armintor, “Paranoia: Schreber, Lacan, and Fount,” Thein idem, Sacred Hamao’s son is currently a Roman Catholic cardinal. a Roman is currently son Hamao’s Manji Gonda, writer must work towriterevery work make must everyand line into together come letter a single point at the end, like the spokes of a radiating highway system dōro).70 (hōshasen

1. 3. 2. The ideal reader ofThe idealdetective reader the novel should beable to standfirm against sexual temptation, like a spy will who not be waylaid by feminine charms.

most cherished fantasies of modernity. For the fascist subject it becomes an becomes it subject fascist the For modernity. of fantasies cherished most it that fact The obsession. to refusal principled or failure chronic Their suppress. to work fictions legal toseeksthat fascism resistancesof symptomsand culture toare of a so do cure itself fictions. production through the of increasingly implausible Notes novel finds such clean closure indispensable, its precondition is to be found be to is precondition its indispensable, closure clean such finds novel in another impossible project, described famously by Hirabayashi in an completethrougha nationalorder the of maintenance “the as essay earlier (kansei sareta) system of The usewritten oflaws.”71 writing “complete”to a system of laws and to a bring novel to a single closural point is the among might suggest such centripetal figuresfor narrative closure as a closing eye or the tightening of a if sphincter it the fact thatwere not for (1) “radiating” happens outward; and (2) the cars on the highway system are most (inadvertently?)the his simile figuresThus, in both directions. likely going impossibilityof closure through written narrative. If the modern detective And the ideal detective novel should help him out by binding sexual and necessary”) “not rationaland is a intowhich (that waste and excess textual satisfying ending. For Hirabayashi, “every line and every letter” must be recruited to this end, lassoed in to close up some gaping hole in the heart system” highway “radiating Hirabayashi’s once. at novel the and city the of

40 Keith Vincent

1 18. 16. 10. 12. 1 13. 17. 11. 4. 4. 9. 6. 5. 8. 5. 7.

sexology. But Hamao’s text, as I will demonstrate later, discourses two straddles sex in the psychologizing terms associated with the newly emergent discourse of homosexual here to designate those moments when the text represents male–male terms the use I text. the in evidence in clearly nonetheless are See Ernest Jones, “The Psychology of Quislingism,” quoted in Andrea Slane, Andrea in Quislingism,” quoted of Psychology “The Jones, Ernest See Takeo Doi, Doi, Takeo in James (1905), Sexuality” of Theory the on Essays “Three Freud, Sigmund Ibid., 90. Ibid., 86,Ibid., 93–94. Ibid., 96. Ibid., Hamao, (Berkeley: University University of California Press,1999), 41. (Berkeley: course Pflugfelder,M. Gregory 1930, 58–65. Fujin , Saron September 1930, and Dōseiai “Futatabi ni 136–42; tsuite,” November the earliest advocate of what is now known as gay rights: see idem, “Dōseiai Kō,” Ulrichs, Heinrich Karl activist and writer German the of work the from derived two articles written in 1930, Hamao used the term the polarizedof gender notion informs that the hetero–homo modern divide. In sex” “opposite neologism the of text the in use frequent the time, same the at But passivity. effeminate an than rather masculinity exaggerated an of lexicon the to belongs that term a 100), deshi, no Akuma uses he example, For sexuality. male–male of in xxxi. Press, 1996), okeru homofashizumu sono fuman,” to Hihyō Kūkan 2,no. 16(1998): 129–54. 1981), 175; emphasisInternational, added. benot man enough.thought to are they precisely, More men. be to thought always almost are subjects these Despite Jones’s misleading use in passagethis of the gender-neutral term Press,2001),116. University Duke Not So Foreign Affair: Fascism,Sexuality, and the Cultural Rhetoric of Democracy Freud, vol. 7, Press,1995), Hogarth 171. (London: Strachey et al., eds., Ibid., 118. Ibid., Judith Judith Roof, kill me, (Ara, silly! anna ninondara shinjimau wa)”:Hamao, yo Akuma nodeshi , 113. would it much that took I If “What? with, she would) hoped he(as he as dose a Tsuyuko blithely replies to Shimaura’s query as to whether she has as taken large Ibid., 98. Ibid., I should point out that Hamao does not actually use the word Moon Books, 1996); Vincent, “Ōe Kenzaburō to Mishima Yukio no sakuhin ni sakuhin no YukioMishima to Kenzaburō “Ōe Vincent, 1996); Books, Moon Ōe, Kenzaburō in “Seventeen,” See . Neither does he use the term term the use he does Neither Disciple. Devil’s The Akuma nodeshi , 8 The Anatomy of Dependence of Anatomy The Come as You Are: Sexuality and Narrative The StandardEdition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Male Sexuality in Japanese Dis- Japanese in Sexuality Male– Desire: of Cartographies 5 –86, 90. –86, Seventeen and J and Seventeen , trans. John Bester (New York: Kodansha York: (New Bester John trans. , onnagirai (New York: Columbia University dōseiai : . The two discourses two The nanshoku. Two Novels Two but also the term (woman hater; Hamao, hater; (woman and implies and nanshoku homosexuality (New York: Blue York: (New and homosexuality points to to points isei (Durham: ( Urning dōseiai people, A ) , Hamaosociality 405

, per- , Reading Reading The Standard Standard The The Standard The Standard The Standard (New York: York: (New Hamao Hamao Shirō triebhaft , insofar as as it , servesinsofar to con- The Freudian Body: Psychoanalysis and Art and Psychoanalysis Body: Freudian The to translate Freud’s term Freud’s translate to (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Mass.: University (Cambridge, a form of ignorance instinctual Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography Gay a Towards Foucault: Saint “bears much more of a feeling of urgency“bears much more of a thanfeeling Trieb , trans. Richard Miller, (New York: Hill and Wong, 1974), uses the word word the uses here in the sense given it by David Halperin. He writes, He Halperin. David by it given sense the in here knowingness , knowingness that is, which is not only distinct from ‘knowledge’ but . Affair So Foreign A Not S/Z: An Essay , 97. no deshi Akuma , 87. no deshi Akuma Standard Edition Standard The The Ibid., 86, 88–90,Ibid., 86, 97. Ibid., 88. Oxford University 16 Press, 1995), Oxford the the very antithesis of haughty—a gentleman who nervous a had radiated He crane. a as kindness, thin and tall and dressed kimonos of simplest the in casually Hamao, Hamao, ceal from the supposedly knowledgeable the nature of their own personal and political investments in the systematic misrecognition and abjection of homo- Halperin, M. sexuality”:David thinks of “thatOne woman.” Edition, 35. Edition, 39. but ‘knowledge,’ innocuous politically or serene, disengaged, a not is sex gay and knowledge-effects: murderous seem, now would it and, contradictoryof array an an illusory is opposed actuallyto it, is actually Bersani, “Pleasures of Repetition,” in idem, idem, in Repetition,” of “Pleasures Bersani, Masterplot.” University Columbia Press, 1986); “Freud’s Brooks, York: (New See Slane, Freud, “Beyond in StraceyJames the et Pleasure al., Principle,” eds., Barthes, 16. Freud, “Beyond in StraceyJames the et Pleasure al., Principle,” eds., haps because of the difficulty offorming an adjective out Asthe of “drive.” editors note, the German term ‘instinct.’” Sigmund “drive”: English as the rendered better is thisit reason, For eds., al., et Strachey James in Principle,” Pleasure the “Beyond Freud, Edition, 1–64. On On the non-narratable and a-temporal qualities of the primary process, see Leo for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative and Plot:Intention in Design the for Press, 1984), 101. Ibid., 36. “Those who fail to reread are obliged to read the same story everywhere”: Roland Roland story everywhere”: same the read to obliged are reread to fail who “Those See Peter Brooks, Masterplot:“Freud’s A in Model for idem, Narrative,” In his Seishi memoirs records of his his careeras Yokomizo a detective novelist, expectedHamao I prosecutor, a occupationas his “Given Hamao. of impression to have a dignified, ifnot aBut haughty demeanor. the person whom Imet was Ranpo Ranpo Edogawa, “Hamao-shi no kotodomo,” in ed. Oshita Udaru, I use the term the use I “What our culture typically produces, or recognizes, as ‘the truth’ about gay men men gay about truth’ ‘the as recognizes, or typically produces, culture our “What 3. 1936), Shunjusha, (Tokyo: zuihihitsushei Hamao, Hamao,

. . 3. 3. 2. 19. 21. 31. 27. 3 2 25. 32. 2 20. 26. 28. 29. 30. 24 34

406 Keith Vincent

4

49. 48. 45. 40. 42. 46. 50. 3 3 43. 52. 3 3 47. 37. 41. 51. 4. 9. 6. 8. 5.

Sigmund Freud, “From the History of an Infantile Neurosis,” in James Stracey Stracey James Neurosis,”in Infantile an of History the “From Freud, Sigmund Ibid. 99. Ibid., wareware no tetsugaku nishitagaeba,wareware notetsugaku desu koto gakorosareru kanojo Shikamo desu. Shinukoto deshita.desu. shiSunawachi michi no tattahitotsuSore wa desu. Hidoku sanbun teki na hōhō de shika kono kyōgū kara nukederu michi wo miidasenakatta no the yourpersonality andmine”: ibid.,100. “That is differencebetween triangle even tighter without stepping without overthe line. tighter triangle even Sōseki’s in K two men enter into a homosocial relation (as in the classic example of Sensei and over rivalry While romantic a single woman isthe mostcommon mode inwhich Ibid., 97,Ibid., 99. 106. Ibid., Ibid., 97.Ibid., 102. Ibid., (New (New sexuality York: Library, New 1989), American 29. Lewes, Kenneth from paraphrase a is This Dōka watashi wo shinjite kudasai. Sōshite watashi no iu koto wo shinjite kudasai shinjite wo koto iu no watashi Sōshite kudasai. shinjite wo watashi Dōka Hamao, Hamao, (Baltimore: The Johns Press, Hopkins1987), (Baltimore: 184–99. University Johnson,Barbara “Apostrophe, Animation, and Abortion,” in 12 imasutaorete ): Hamao,Akuma nodeshi , 116. ( asleep” if as dead out “sprawled as described is sheforTsuyuko, planned had he overdose the from dead Sueko discovers Shimaura when Later, al.,eds.,et TheEdition Standard, 26–27. instance, for She inBritish literature. drug addiction “In writes, (Tokyo:gojūnen Kodansha, 1977), 161–62. YokomizoSeishi, eyes”: one’s before away waste to seemed body crane-like scraggy, that in left lifewas What medication. sleeping of quantities enormous consume to had he that insomnia by plagued so was and disposition Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick notes the same tendency to figure homosexualitythrough The repeated use of this term by the homophobic right is telling in the way it way the in telling is right homophobic the by term this of use repeated The Akuma nodeshi, 103. Hamao, him: murdered he after body Hallward’s Basil dissolve to used Dorian that acid powerful the had hebody, wife’shewishes his of dispose to way fora 134. Hamao was certainly familiar at least with idem, Will,”the in of demics abusers”: substance Eve of Kosofskytales solitary as Sedgwick, cautionary “Epi- up end and men, between tensions erotic of stories like looking by begin books both prohibition: its and desire same-sex male of dynamics the for expression 3–24. Akuma nodeshi, 97. Akuma nodeshi, 91. Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hydeand Dr. Jekyll ), I am arguing that virulent misogyny may work to draw the draw work to may arguingmisogyny am I ), virulent that Kokoro (Durham: Duke University Press, 1993), Press, University Duke Tendencies (Durham: , drug addiction is both a camouflage and an and camouflage a both is addiction drug , The Psychoanalytic Theory of Male Homo- Male of Psychoanalytic Theory The Dorian Gray. As Shimaura searches The Picture ofDorianGray asin, : ibid., 99. A World of Difference Tantei shōsetsu shōsetsu Tantei Nemutta yō ni yō Nemutta : ibid., : Hamaosociality 407

: ibid., New York York New nanshoku Fujin saron Fujin . culture In response to this first article Hamao )” than Europe. This did not mean, however, that homopho- that however, mean, not did This Europe. than )” , along with all the other words that are now considered “pro- considered now are that words other the all with along kanojo, sue of Sueko is written phonetically we in cannothiragana, so know bunka-teki , 90. no deshi Akuma , 118–19. no deshi Akuma , 118. no deshi Akuma , 107. no deshi Akuma See John Files, “From Chicago Judge, a Plea for Safety and Softer Words,” Softer and Safety for Plea a Judge, Chicago “From Files, John See received letters from lonely, suicidal “Urnings” (see n. 13) all over Japan who wrote of the pressure their families put on them to their marry, sense of shame Hamao’s revealed.be Reading should it that fear their and homosexuality, about accounts of these letters, it is perfectly clear that the unstigmatized model of male same-sex relations had beenoverwhelmed by largely the modern discourse of homosexuality by 1930. response Hamao’s to these letters came in of all to letter open an as later months two published article second a of form the Japan’s “Urnings” that reads like a 1970s pamphlet on gay liberation. Hamao’s in 1930, homosexuality was not subject to legal prohibition in Japan as it was in Europe at the time, and for this Japanese homosexuals might be thankful. more was Japan signthat a as homosexualitytoleranceof legal citedthis Hamao ( “cultured bia was not an issue in Japanese what character (if any) it is standing in for. But the sound does suggest the word word the suggest does sound the But for. in standing is it characterany) what (if for “last (or youngest) Thephoneticchild.” renderingmakes for yet another instance between of undecidability text, in the hovering speech and writing. , May 2005. 19, Times Actually the Hamao, Watashi wa fushigi ni mo kono toki, ai suru mono wo ushinatta to iu kanashimi wa mattaku mattaku wa kanashimi iu to ushinatta wo mono suru ai toki, kono mo ni fushigi wa Watashi jibun Tadatada, wo yorokobasu kanjimasendeshita. fushigi na niku no katamari wo me no mae ni mita nomi desu. Shikamo jibun ga keikaku ni keikaku shita sono kekka desu 116. nouns” in Japanese, is a modern neologism, an abstraction of personhood incon- personhood of abstraction an neologism, modern a is Japanese, in nouns” ceivable in premodern Japanese, where people were nominated either through wife” “my the words, other names—in proper through or others to relations their innocence. Shimaura’s that proved name” would have “her or Hamao, immobilizes “homosexuality” as something that cannot be narrated (as opposed opposed (as narrated be cannot that something as “homosexuality” immobilizes to a “life”). Hamao, As Hamao himself pointed out in an article he wrote for the magazine magazine the for wrote articlehe an in out pointed himself Hamao As Watashi Watashi wa kangae ni kangaeta satsujin no hōhō no kekka wo koko ni miidashimashita. George W. Bush, “State of the Union Address,” January 2005. 20, Address,” Union “State of the Bush, W. George Ibid., 90. Ibid., 84–85. Ibid., 124. 14. “Homographesis,” Edelman, Hamao, Ibid., 120. Ibid. Significantly, Significantly,

. . 3. 3. 8. 61. 67. 57 55. 5 56. 6 58. 60. 62. 65. 6 59. 66. 54 64.

408 Keith Vincent

6 70. 71. 9.

tsunosuke bungei, vol. hyōron 3, zenshū (Tokyo: Bunsendō Shoten, 1975), 401–4. tsuite” (1925) in in (1925) tsuite” ni shi Ranpo Edogawa ni Toku shōsetsu: tantei teki kindai no “Nihon Idem, Bunsendō Shoten, 1975), 220–27. usesthe EnglishHirabayashi word in ni tsuite.” the theme in his detective fiction: see Hamao, “Dōseiai kō” and “Futatabi dōseiai makesno it the at time ture wonderhe that with dealable intelligently was so to understandingextraordinary of the way homophobia functioned in Japanese cul- Hatsunosuke Hatsunosuke Hirabayashi, “Tantei shōsetsu sakka ni nozumu” in iaaah Htuoue ugi yrn zenshū hyōron bungei Hatsunosuke Hirabayashi katakana. vl 2 (Tokyo: 2 vol. , Hirabayashi Ha Ja Literary Tropes, Rhetorical Looping, m

es Dorsey es and the Nine Gods of War: “Fascist Proclivities” Made Real

On March 6, 1942, Captain Hiraide Hideo, section chief in the Kaigun Hōdōbu Kachō (Naval Information Bureau), delivered a radio address relating details of the top-secret submarine component of the tre- mendously successful surprise attack that Japan had executed three months earlier at Pearl Harbor. The story he told, and the manner in which he told it, struck a cord with the Japanese people, setting off an avalanche of retell- ings, additions, and commentaries across a wide spectrum of media out- lets. A transcript of Hiraide’s broadcast was carried in all of the major newspapers the following day; it was reproduced in a host of periodicals the next month. There then followed a veritable flood of cultural artifacts dealing with the men and the mission: nonfiction books, poems, essays, a Kabuki play, short stories, novels, songs, and educational material. Perhaps the most memorable was Iwata Toyoo’s novel Kaigun (The Navy) and the director Tasaka Tomosaka’s feature film based on it. The 1943 release of the film, produced with the full support of the Imperial Navy, represents the completion of a circle: ideologically motivated government propaganda had inspired public participation in a discourse that was subsequently reclaimed by agents of the state to further promote its agenda. This “looping” pattern 410 James Dorsey communal myth propagated andconsumedcommunal nation. myth bythe entire the Imperial Navy tween and somethingImperial into Army much larger: a be- competition public-relations the in round another but as began what thein theopeningof Asia-Pacific production days War,transformed it and cultural of distinguishinga is characteristic bindingstate the publicthe to tween the citizenry and the wartime regime, between traditional genres of genres traditional between the regime, and wartime citizenry the tween be- past, the and present the between looping culture, of many corners so in endlessly repeated is that myth the though, important, Most state. the envelopesthat the myth individual a is essence totalizing that in an eternal in participation through modernity of anxieties the assuaging population the of swath large a finds one it In fascism. of culture a of elements the intheembodied praxis generatingmyth. that andsustaining therefore is myth the of subject the is that state the to surrender through binding the in two a communal act of mythmaking. The very erasure of self telling, too, loops from the state to the citizenry and back to the state again, marine attack thereby becomes somehow also eternal, timeless. Thetask of sub- the of event singular The representations. the of contents and mode nation; it ties the present incident to historical precedents through both the all-encompassing an to ubiquitous.uniquebindsItis locales it and versal, the uni- to myth. communalthethe particular loopingfuses to action This same manner as each uniquely inflected of reiteration the story contributes the much in nation the is that concept abstract the mergesbirthplace with hero’s the of specificity concrete the phenomenon: cultural this of levels asawhole. the nation to all the more tightly sons native paradoxically,their bindthat, customs and landscapes natural ( hometowns origins, rural of points (3) and (theirsons); warriors its and nation the both to unwaveringdevotion their and pragmatism down-to-earth their by distinguished figures mother (2) war; the of motivations political the transcend they that spirit in pure so their prominence in the media firestorm: (1)the heroes as guileless agents, for out stand tale the of components Three portrait. overall the to texture adding elements, the of configuration particular the varying by story the inflect would mission submarine the of retelling each but announcement, original Navy’s the in presented those to limited largely were components The modular. was discourse the sense, a In tropes. charged emotionally of core same the into tapped them of all virtually style, and focus, genre, This hl te niiul riuain o te umrnr’ ae aid in varied tale submariners’ the of articulations individual the While The discourse surrounding the submariners of Pearl Harbor shows all shows Harbor Pearl of submariners the surrounding discourse The third third feature also demonstrates the trope that is repeated at various ) noted for distinctive fordistinctive noted furusato) Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 411 )”—the )”—the euphemism for those gyokusai Five Five such subs were deployed in the attack, and they were manned by crew members selected according to the following criteria.The submariners submariners criteria.The following the to according selected members crew were to be (1) strong in mind and body; (2) enthusiastic and filled with an day, when they ac- when would target afloat.remained ships whatever After day, U.S. complishing this mission, the submariners were to leave the harbor and rendezvous with the mother ships at one of two points near Lanai Island, where the vessels would be scuttled and the crewmen would escape. their board for submarines larger the the the waters under cover of darkness on the night before the aerial attack. Infiltrating the harbor by either squeezing under the anti-submarinenets or slipping through undetected in the wake of a U.S. unison in vessel, either attacking wait, the and floor midget ocean the to sink then would subs with the morning’s aerial attack or, alternatively, after nightfall the next below, one designed to take advantage of Japan’s secret weapon: a “midget” a weapon: secret Japan’s of advantage take to designed one below, twoin twenty-fourand meters but length in Measuring meters submarine. diameter, these battery-powered vessels were armed with two torpedoes.1 Leader by Squad hatched plan In the Captain tinySasaki Hanku, these ves- transportation within for tosubmarines toattached be would full-size sels striking distance of Pearl Harbor, where they would then be released into subject a military exploit that in the postwar years came to be all but en- Pearl on attack Pacific today the the of sides both on While tirelyforgotten. bombers and planes fighter of stream endless the with associated is Harbor that attacked an unsuspecting Pacific Fleet earlyon a Sunday morning, in wartime Japan that opening salvo conjured up images of an attack from as active producers and sometimes as passive consumers—in the commu- myth.nal InitialActThe of (Attempted) Violence The radio address that so inspired theJapanese nation in1942 took as its meeting meeting a glorious death against hopeless odds—in either futile charges against superior forces or in kamikaze missions from which there was to be no return. and Shocking unthinkable as those episodes are to us at this historical remove, they were apparently not so to the participation—sometimesparticipants. the through rehearsed Such been all, after had, deaths representation and new media, is one that invariably concludes in an apoca- an in concludes invariably that one is media, new and representation lyptic act of glorious, violent self-destruction. Such acts were to Japanese of become thousands upon thousands as war the of year final the in normal military became “shattered jewels ( 41 James Dorsey 2 of the enemy forces just as the Japanese planes fiercely struck from above; from struck fiercely planes Japanese the as just forces enemy the of heart the lives.Someattacked their them cost could realized they that tion and Ensign Ueda Sadamu, First FurunoLieutenant Shigemi and Ensign Yo- Iwasa Naoji and Ensign Sasaki Naokichi, First YokoyamaLieutenant Masaji Chosen for the mission were the followingLieutenant crews: two-man five obligations.2bindingfamilial without (4) and single; (3) spirit; aggressive it is most significant for its use ofthe label “Special Attack” Force ( come. Other than its (mis)representation of the submarines’ grand success, to months theproportions in mythic attain would that missionthe of sion that “have yet return.”4to This theshort constitutes bulletin firstnews ver- of Japan’s losses during the attack, this report mentions the five submarines enemy fleet quivering in fearover their grand feat.” military In its summary battleship aforementioned the sank submarines these least very the At attacks. nighttime launch to independently acted others marines ( “in this same naval battle our special attack force, composed of special sub- tion of this terse four-point bulletin is dedicated entirely to the submarines: sec- entire one However, lost. airplanes twenty-nine the of being mention only the underemphasized, was assault the of component aerial the Here 1941. 18, December later,on days ten came Headquarters Japan’s Imperial lost theirlives. Army, and personnelcivilian had wounded,been and more2,400 than Navy, 1,100 than More devastating. were casualties Human aircraft. nese forbombing Japa-thestrafing and targets madeplaneseasy these islands, the on Americans Japanese the from sabotage anticipated against tection pro- easy for together grouped been inoperable—having rendered were island the on aircraft military U.S. of numbers large Furthermore, aged. seriously dam- also were vessels other and destroyers, number cruisers, of five others had been sunk and completely, most thenotably mighty damage, heavy sustained had battleships U.S. three done, was members origin. wereofrural crew all design,by if as and, Etajima, at Academy Naval prestigious the of graduates all were officers The twenty-two. the Hiroo was only youngestat and twenty-nine, at oldest the was Sasaki young; all were men The shi.3 Kiyo- Inagaki Ensign and Kazuo Sakamaki Lieutenant Yoshio,Second and Katayama Ensign and Akira Hiroo Lieutenant Second Shigenori, koyama As The first detailed report of the attack issued by the Naval Division of Division Naval the by issued attack the of report detailed first The is well known, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a success. When day day success.When a was Harbor Pearl on attack the known, well is tokushū tokushū senkōtei ), exercised the in utmost a caution harbor infiltra- and left the left and Arizona U.S.S. . Arizona A tokubetsu tokubetsu Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 3 41 ). This label was to become tokkōtai ).” tokkōtai U.S.S. Arizona was sunk by U.S.S. the aerial attack, and though it ; often abbreviated as simply e December 18, 1941, appraisal of the submariners’ accomplishments accomplishments submariners’ the of appraisal 1941,18, December e ot surprisingly, the ot mechanical surprisingly, problems rendered the men unable to N The most fascinating escapade of the submarine squad was undoubtedly was squad submarine the of escapade fascinating most The Th ashore, ashore, Sakamaki did, but only to fall unconscious as soon as he pulled Sergeant consciousness, regained he When sandybeach. the on up himself Nisei,stood thus a Kazuo Akui, withSakamaki Davidhim pistol. M. over a POWof becoming achieved honor dubious the 1.6 number stealthily enter the harbor, and they repeatedly suffered damage to their craft. Still, it was only after nightfall on December 7 that the crew of this submarine decided to abandon the mission. Floundering in search of the rendezvous point, however, their submarine ran aground on a coral reef, swim the survive not did Inagaki While expired. then supply power its where “It was unthinkable that I abandon [the operation] at this point. A powerful powerful A point. this at operation] [the abandon I that unthinkable was “It of and responsibilityfeeling a sense of mission bound me tightlyand gave me With courage. energy and enthusiasm . . . I answered, I ‘Commander, will go!’”5 Harbor. that of Second Lieutenant Sakamaki Kazuo and Ensign Inagaki Kiyoshi. navigational key submarine’s their revealed preparations last-minute When device as malfunctioning and beyond repair, their commanding officer asked Sakamaki how he wished to proceed. Sakamaki would later recall, seems that two submarines did succeed in infiltrating the harbor,neither was able to use its torpedoes effectively.Furthermore, at leastone of the midget submarines was spotted by a U.S. naval vessel outside the harbor hours before the aerial attack began and, had it been dutifully reported rather than dismissed as a false alarm, the Pearl above Pacific skies the in Fleetappeared planes might the when very prepared better been well have it is true, however, other than the fact that no submarine returned from The the mission. kōgeki tai the generic term used to describe all future military assignments carried out with the expectation that they would end What in are death. known in the as to referred universally Japan in are kamikaze the Statesas United the Attack ( Forces “Special remained remained the Almost accepted the of durationnone war. version for of the 41 James Dorsey 4 By any objective account, the midget submarine “Special Attack Forces” Attack “Special submarine midget the account, objective any By The Guileless Hero Propaganda fromPolitical Headquarters(I): Imperial would only appear ofthe communal mythmaking.at the nextstage whole— a as nation the for synecdoche a as serving locale rural specific a of trope—that third The nation. the and heroes the both grounded firmly who figures mother the of that and their act dimensionsof political the to immune agents childlike almost innocent, as heroes the of that myth: the drive would that tropes charged emotionally three the of two introduced successfully release press the that here was It front. home the on porters dotes of the submariners in their final hours andthe paeansto selfless sup- anec- poignant the specifically, appeal: an exercised bulletin Hiraide’s of ment that resonated in the communal psyche. Rather, the other dimensions ever, indicate that it was not the hackneyed diatribes in Hiraide’s announce- spokesman, thethe fallen Navy that insists seamen were tions of Western imperialism and decadence. For example, Captain Hiraide, denuncia- vitriolic also but mission the of narrative journalistic a only not includes It modes. rhetorical and tones of variety a from together stitched press release providing details of the submarine squad, a curious document that succeeded far beyond its wildest dreams. It began with the March 1942 from declaring the mission a success and initiating a drive public-relations Navy Imperial the prevent not did however, knowledge, That fact. this of aware certainly almost was Japan in back Headquarters Imperial dispute, some of matter a is time the at intelligence military of quality the though and failure, military a were Harbor Pearl on attack the in participated that The deluge of media representations prompted by this press release, how- release, press this by prompted representations media of The deluge hearts; were they acting on their conviction that we must exterminate— our in lurks that America and England the of annihilation an enacting Hiraide’s portrait of the Nine Gods of War ( War of Gods Nine the of portrait Hiraide’s too, our heroes have provided us all with a good example to follow.7 ourheroesexampleto have provided agood too, usallwith perspective, this From materialism. and egotism of concepts invisible their of hearts our cleansed and Asia East on American and England by exercised influence tyrannical visible concrete, the expelled both have ofJapan.citizens and philosophy has over long years wormed into theits way spirit of the culture through that egocentrism English and American destroy—the W e can hope for Asian East thein Greater can e success War when only we kyūgunshin ),8 as the fallen the as ),8 Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 5 41 lies in that pure, sublime, and bushidō erestingly, erestingly, this selflessness is so complete that it transcends even a This artlessauthenticity of themen isfurther developed through Hi- Int lunchboxes lunchboxes and some cider, and they even gave us some chocolate. I feel school a Pleasantmemories of hike.’ childhood a on off I’mlike going just raide’s raide’s introduction of various anecdotes from their final moments, anecdotes that highlight their guileless nature by returning them to childhood characterizationThis military. the of evenmarks them the of stripping and appears when Hiraide describes the simple pleasure the men took in the special supplies provided them for the mission. “I am told that valiantly boarding his submarine, one of these young officers said,‘We’ve got our treatment as a second-class citizen of the world, not an obligation to secure to obligation an not world, the of citizensecond-class a as treatment access toJapan’s colonies and resources—all of which would a imply con- subma- the abstractTo cerncontext within act.with which they larger, the ships. of sinking a matter is simply mission the rine crew, their deaths. Still, the pinnacle of Here body.”11 the with realized are convictions one’s wherein realm selfless the heroes are intent on their mission, but it is not a mission to free Japan’s Asia for redress gain to assignment an not West, the by subjugation from scribes them, the men do not sacrifice themselves for nation lib- or or race for sacrifice not do themselves men the scribesthem, en- them. Instead, they for erty; meaning have such abstractions longer no gage the material world in a most concrete sense: through their corporeal being. “The squad truly transcended thequestion of life anddeath, and concentrated to the very end on the destruction of the enemy There ships. was no thought of returning alive in their heads. . . There. are more than examples a of few men who have in the heat of the willingly battle togone instead on an almost religious selflessness:“each and everyone of them theypromotion,and rejectedall had for completely was withoutthe desire concepts of glory, pleasure, personal comfort—even the very idea of the ‘self.’”10 conception of surrendering themselves to a larger cause. As Hiraide de- submariners submariners came to be known, rendered them heroes more for their at- tainment of a spiritual, egoless state than for their military dedication to a exploits political or ideological or cause. The submariners, as Hiraide paints them, are utterly guileless to the point where they assume childlike a political does himself acknowledge for Hiraide Though context qualities. the attack on Pearl painting it Harbor, as the moment when “the sword of on trampled has which tyrannicalStates, the United on lowered was justice the great spirit of a Japan dedicated to world nowhere peace,” does he at- insists Hiraide themselves.9 submariners the to consciousness tributesuch 41 James Dorsey 6 trip.” childrenoff on a“field as innocent and ideological context framing their mission erased, the men are depicted political The death.”12 his of site the towards cheerfully danced hero this hero for a moment. His heart filledwith the dear memory of such fieldtrips, young this of mind the to back flooding come have must ) (ensoku trip field reasons for the public’sresponse the myth. enthusiastic to charged image into this of narrative early the mission is one of the primary squad as havinga childlike innocence.15 achieved Thethis of incorporation this case, the sinking of enemy ships. Thus, Hiraide’s anecdotesthe portray act—in concrete simple, a to single-mindedly themselves devoted instead and “ism” abstract any to appeal an by act their rationalize or explain to desire the transcended had submariners the espousing: been had writers these that all embody to seem War of Gods Nine the portrayal, Hiraide’s fathom.14In to attempting were they realities very the from humans ated discourse ultimately a nagging alien- intellectual suspicionprotracted that by marked modernity,crisis of a crisis perceived a to responses were ideas ( conversions widespread the of significance the of ing tachiba no mu (shutai-teki ingness his student Nishitani Keiji’s privileging of the “position of subjective noth- ( experience “pure of conception Kitarō’s Nishida losopher phi- The trends. cultural and literary contemporaneous roughly by charge emotional enormous an with infused been had that trope a into tapping world. material the with ingenuousunmediated,interaction an suggests lessness art- childlike whose one hero, selfless genuinely apolitical, an of image the establish depictions These hand. at task concrete the on focus simply they clothes work their in interests; national nor glory military personal neither for act men the uniforms, Without motivation. reasoned scious, con- any from men these further distancing in succeeds Hiraide nation, is that notion abstract the to dedication of symbol quintessential the forms, uni- military their clothes.”13of menwork thestripping my By goingin of liberty the take just I’ll that hot so they’re but uniforms, our wear should suppose “I we said, submarine, his board to about men, the how of of one tells crew.Hiraide the of innocence the sully might that motivation stract hm” neeet o otie nraooia srtge—l o these of strategies—all narratological contrived to antecedent “home” literary a for longing Hideo’s Kobayashi critic the orientation, Marxist a A seco In this portrait of the heroes Hiraide is, consciously or unconsciously,or consciously is, Hiraide heroes the of portrait this In nd telling anecdote related by Hiraide also serves to erase any any erase to nd tellingabby Hiraide related anecdote alsoserves ),” the writer Hayashi Fusao’sunderstand- Hayashi ),” writer the tenkō ),”keiken junsui ) away from away ) - Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 417 ne of the heroes enjoyed nothing more than using his furloughs, no no furloughs, his using than more nothing enjoyed heroes the of ne O lived lived on as a powerful force within the heroes. If not for these grand mothers of Japan we would be bereft of men capable of selfless service throughtheir on live who mothers egoless these nation.short, to In the nation the itself.17 for live who children are mothers Such devotion attests heroes— valiant to these raised lovingly mothers these which with the strength immensity of the behind-the-scenes they toiled endlessly and without thought for themselves, dedicating everything to their families, their children, their husbands, and therein mothers these of spirit self-sacrificing The happiness. supreme a finding matter how short, to return home and spend a day in his mother’s com- mother’s dayhis a in spend and toreturn home short, how matter This gives uspany. a glimpse of thedevotion theyfelt to their mothers. Still, in acknowledging the mothers of Japan in this ode to the fallen I must point out thathere this grand spirit of sacrifice in which self the is extinguished in becoming a martyr for the nation was made possible all design, by if As mothers. exceptional of influence the through largely piety. their filial for famous were of our heroes This tribute todepiction mothers, likethe ofthe submariners asthe guile- taps heroes, less into tropes cultivated rarefied literarymore in texts in the hero male of the model Unlike the War. Asia-Pacific to the up yearsleading submariners, Hiraide is incorporating another charged image that would resonate in the public imagination. Hiraide’s announcement included the lines: following were incorporated into the national agenda through the mobilization of the local chapters of the Kokubō Fujinkai Defense (Women’s League), an organization charged with planning and executing the village-wide “cele- duties, the these for women on Depending militaryof brations” call-ups.16 propaganda bureaus of the armed services surely recognized the need to tendto their morale. There were, to be sure, practical reasons for him to pay tribute to this sector this to tribute pay to him for reasons practical sure, be to were, There With of the the conscriptionhome-front population. of an ever increasing percentage of able-bodied men laying a onerous burden on the communities that depended on their labor, it was the women left behind who were called on to maintain production on the farms and in the factories. They Political Propaganda from Imperial (II): Headquarters Political from Propaganda Nation and the ServingMothers Sons mother. the of tropeliterary potent the into taps also release press Hiraide’s 41 James Dorsey 8 Seas rooted in the realities of the material world, unperturbed by complex ab- complex by unperturbed world, material the of realities the in rooted women—and in particular mothers—had frequently been painted as firmly engagementunmediated an concrete the to world), with return a in stance analytical alienating ultimately an of transcendence the includes (which zines.20 Even the recording industry capitalized on the craze: the craze: the on capitalized industry recording the Even zines.20 maga- and the newspapers in appeared poets offeredpatriotic verses by of number infinite seemingly a and count, to many too were topic the with theGods to War Birth Gave Mothers Who The Gods Attack War Special Nine the of Story The True Gods the War of Traces Force: Attack Special The Harbor: Pearl after so or theyear in published books full-lengthnine least at of subject the were of War Gods Nine The subject. the with dealing representations of lanche Captain Hiraide’s press release on the submarine mission prompted an ava- National to The Navy Fuses Local The Popular Imagination Responds: enthusiastically, and acrossawide of genres.variety respond, did populace The submariners. the of myth the of construction continued the in participation popular invite to served mission the of tive narra- the modes, rhetorical and perspectives, tones, varying of pastiche a citizens.”As the of spirit the into way its wormed [has] . . . that centrism ego- English and American exterminate—destroy—the “must Japan that assertions clichéd its and mission the of facts the to itself restricted had it if than powerfully more populace the to appealing in succeeded Navy and that of the selfless mother fully integrated into her world—the Imperial in the image ofmothers andnurturing women. Navy had the co-opted emotional charge that such literary texts had infused Imperial the account, its into mothers longs.18incorporating he which By apprehension for of mode “natural” the embodies who figure mother a is it essays, Kobayashi’s In Shimamura. Tokyoite intellectual the of nerves frayed the soothes that Komako geisha country the of character coming forth- and impetuousness the is it work, Kawabata’s In Literature.” and Country and Kobayashi Hideo’s Home” of and the “Literature “History Lost Yasunari’s Kawabata including texts, of range broad a in presented is women of image This emotions. their to attuned keenly and stractions By By weaving into its narrative both of these images—that of the pure hero ; Aa, The Nine WarGods! Ah, The Special Attack Force! Attack Special The Ah, ; Submerged at Pearl Harbor: The Record ofLieutenant X .19 Short stories and essays dealing essays .19and stories Short ; War God Special Attack Force of the of Force Attack Special God War ; Mothers of the War Gods Warthe of Mothers ; Biographies of the War Gods Warthe of Biographies Yomiuri ; and ; Snow ; ;

Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 419 - on July 1, 1942, Asahi Shimbun kimi no tame ni shisuru toki ni shisuru no tame kimi 21 nakazu no haha gunshin aa to oboshimese kō o togeshi ste ni suruchichi hohoemite ha kaoru isao no zeppitsu o kaoru isao no zeppitsu (The Navy; 1942), by Iwata Toyoo, and Toyoo, Iwata by 1942), Navy; (The Kaigun ) straddling a torpedo coursing through the sea, oni he mother of a War God never God War of a mother he hin this deluge, the most compelling and widely consumed reitera your sake, my lord, en I die for al lines written before my written before al lines weeps! filial dutyfilial brave deed brave nsider it the fulfillment of my of fulfillment it the nsider aking them in hand, father smiles them in hand, father aking Wit Fin T Hoping Hoping to capitalize on the novel’s success, the once wary Naval Pro- Iwata began serializing the novel in the Co Wh And t These songs were later approved by the Ministry of Education and distrib- educational use. uted for to schools public promptly promptly commissioned a film treatmentfrom theShōchiku studios. Di- com- was film the Akira, Yamauchi starring and Tomotaka Tasaka by rected indicates had already that novel the through six printings.23 gone paganda Division of Imperial Headquarters performed an about-face and leagues, agreed to help Iwata with the portrait of the Naval Academy at Navy.22 in the Etajima basic facts of a life and the year. same the of 23 December on there published installment final the with After garnering the Asahi Bunkashō (Asahi Cultural Prize) 1942, for it was initialThe run of fifty in releasedvolume 1943. thousand as copies a single soon out.sold decorated in itsAn December 1943, editioncover published with a bluish demon ( tion of the myth was the novel novel the was myth the of tion liminary five-page treatment was cleared byNavy officials. Thisis not to say that he wrote as a spokesperson for the Imperial Quite Navy. the contrary: no naval official was enthusiastically behindthe project, and it was col- of one Hiraide’s only with Kengo, serious reservations that Tomonaga the the film by the samename directedTomotaka.Tasaka by Although Iwata had originally hoped to tell the story of the entire squad, he soon realized that such an undertaking was beyond him, and he opted instead to create Yokoyama First Lieutenant on largely based character fictional composite a Masaji. Because was he participating in owned” a discourse, “communally Iwata was cautious and waited nervously over for a month before his pre- newspaper’s recording division released both “TheSpecial Attack Forces” follow- the latter included The God” in 1942. War Iwasa, and “Commander verse: ing 420 James Dorsey on Pearl Harbor is executed by a pure, artless hero whose engagement with the vicissitudes moment, of theand thehistorical daring submarine attack through touchstone imperturbable an as figurethe mother functions film, the and novel the both In statement. original Hiraide’s Captain in duced intro- suggestions and anecdotes same the their cores at incorporate both novel; the from slightly only deviates film The 1943. December in pleted career. She is the simple, salt-of-the-earth figure of Hiraide’s statement; statement; Hiraide’s of figure salt-of-the-earth simple, the is She career. dangerous this on out sets he as son her of support quiet and expressions film version, Waka is largely silent, offering little more than poignant facial the in appears she together.As society of all but family the only not holds fromservice) death or the military domestic Shelandscape. is the glue that to (due absent increasingly males the to threat a pose not does family the that she can replace the father, and yet her rise to the position of “pillar” of industrious so is She Japan. wartime for mother ideal the is mother sato’s her trust to rely and her,on theand herworldaround thesame.”24did Ma- grew children her But adept. particularly she was neither men, to came it when shoulder her on chip a with women those of one not Shepillar.was some point a new pillar had been erected. Waka [Masato’s mother] was that at because possible father. was a This without being of feeling empty that that the family not only survives but flourishes: “intime the children forgot mother this hardworkingis So other careers. started have who sonsher of help the refuses she where shop, rice family the in work to returned then week, fora mourned has mother Masato’s that illness. Wesuddenlearn a from died already has father Masato’s open, film and novel the As figure. father a of absence complete the by furtheremphasized is god war future school. Her importance to the family’s well-being and the production of the her sons—she refrained from accompanying Masato to even his first day of especially children, her coddle not does she families, such for custom the is As mother. hardworking strict, a by managed family Kagoshima large a to born is Masato protagonist Masaji, Yokoyama model his Like pilot. at Etajima, and the early years of his career as a naval officer and submarine Naval Academy the at studies his Kagoshima, in years childhood and birth asawhole.the nation ( locale rural distinct a in roots his of depiction the is hero the of image this to warfare.Contributing violent of act an than transcendence spiritual ego-effacing of narrative a more is death his to leading process the that single-minded so is task concrete a The Navy The (novel and film) follows the life of Tani Masato through his through Masato Tani of life the follows film) and (novel ) that serves as a synecdoche forsynecdoche a as serves furusatothat ) Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 1 42 Meiji Meiji , furusato hero. Both the novel novel the Both hero. national e concrete rendering of this sylvan origin is necessary for a convincing convincing a for necessary is origin sylvan this of rendering concrete e orking orking in parallel with the mother figureis the trope of the tain except in photographs and paintings, and yet all the same it was a was It ago. long since intimately known had he that landscape mountain already that time when the white, green, and purple running lights of the ship began his Turning to eyes glow. briefly towards the darkening shore, he discovered a most startling sight. “My God, it’s Mount Fuji,” he thought. It had been an overcast day, but fortunately the mountain alone had burst through the cloud cover. He had not seen the moun- After After dinner Masato had made his way to the stern of the ship. It was It was while they were gliding through the seas off the coast of Shimizu. of coast the off seas the through gliding were they while was It Th W palace sends shivers down his spine, and he visits the Meiji Shrine ( from spied site the is however, striking, Most Shrine.26 Yasukuni and ) jingū capital the as it approaches city: of his ship deck the the rural hometown. Masato is a native of Satsuma (Kagoshima), and in his his in and (Kagoshima), Satsuma of native a is Masato hometown. rural the youth is he painted as very much a part of the distinctive landscape of that locale. The movie, infact, opens with ashot of Sakurajima, the off-shore and its film treatment engage thisproblem, and both are careful to craft a “dual citizenship” for this local boy–cum–national While hero. Masato comes of age in a distinctive rural locale, he is also painted into the land- his naval training When cruise takesscape of him intothe nation. the port imperial The sites. the see to proper Tokyo into hurries Masato Yokosuka, at the the Satsuma shores.”25 This rural locale allows Masato to grow up“natu- free from rally,” the distractions and temptations of a Westernized urban setting. it however, specificity, its In childhood. wholesome and pure a of depiction a as Masato of appeal the from detracting risks was raised: “the sandy shores stretched out forever, and the children could could children the and forever, stretchedout sandy “the raised:shores was roll about on them without endlessly, ever reaching Thetheir end. flowers crinum and moonflowerblossomedon the sands was andnobody there to pines. the off branches snapping and stones skipping children the to object The children were kept company bynothing but this exceedingly beautiful nature—the most beautiful scenery in the realm, the natural vistas of volcano that spews an endless pillar of ash high into the air, and revisits Iwata’s film. the throughout repeatedlyhometown Masato’s of symbol this novel, too, provides great detail on the landscape within which this hero she she inculcates through example the simple sincerity and selflessness that eventually lead Masato to heroism. 422 James Dorsey chitecture, and he bows deeply before the icons of naval history display on deeplybeforehistory navalhe bows iconsof and the chitecture, ar- cathedral-like monumental, by dwarfed him of shots feature museum academy’s the to visits Masato’s strategies. military or learning higher of more a temple for training promotingan than institute ascetic the mastery as one strikes Etajima at Academy Naval the novel, the of treatment film ( world the secular of the dirt off wash communal bath for the firsttime, an upperclassmantells them, “Be sureto Masato and the new recruits in the Etajima Naval Academy are led offto the as thewar. For example, and military the deeply enmeshedin more comes be- Masato as increase actually spiritualpurity and innocence this of signs rationality.”29 modern from away sealed terrain, psychological special a themselves for it as one of the wartime “spiritist ( categorizes High B. Peter that treatment pronounceda elementthefilm of such is state transcendent spiritually this toward Masato of evolution The truly “genuine man.” True to his name, he is always frank, honest, and true. read character the by lowed the character nature: his reflects name very whose Masato, hero the in embodied course, of is, Asia-Pacific subjectivity War.the This of hero the tinguishes hometowns.28 From these sources emerges thethat dis- artless subjectivity that had been infused texts into by the literary images of mothers and rural Navy The for the hometown. established been has that nation the for bond nostalgic emotional, same the inculcates hometown pristine and dialect guileless his of top on scape through the layering of a national language ( Masato citizenship” for “dual a of Kagoshima. construction of The dialect the to addition in Japanese standard speak to learns Masato as language of realm the in forged is citizenship” “dual same This locale. rural ticular par-a of product a as marks Masato that theSakurajima, mountain of that The image of Mount Fuji,symbol parexcellence ofthe nation,overlaps with Just as had been the case in Hiraide’s naval press release, both Iwata’s both release, press naval Hiraide’s in case the been had as Just Masato’s guileless nature is attested to throughout the novel, and the and novel, the throughout to attested is nature guileless Masato’s heart ofJapan.27 the at feltheindeed arrived had that Masato Fuji, SeeingMount erence. in snow. Still, the had mountain a that inspiredmajesty in Masato a rev- covered was it not whetheror determine not could he and silhouette, a and its film treatment avail themselves of the emotional charge emotional the of themselves avail treatment film its and shin (or, alternatively,(or, hito makoto , meaning “person,” mark Masato as the as Masato mark “person,”meaning , seishinshugi )!”30 Indeed, particularly in the in Indeed,particularly shaba)!”30 ), meaning “true” or “honest,”fol- or “true” meaning ), ) films,” worksthat “stake out hyōjungo) and a Japanese land- Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 423 Masato’s Masato’s purity continues to grow even after graduation from the classmates about Japan’s predicament, “the camera views the scene from followed is This impatience. by overcome if as room, the in places different an abrupt by cut to a groundparade where thousands of white-clad cadets are singing and marching in a series of vast concentric circles. The whole should) (or can war the that assertion the of subversion subtle a is sequence be placed in a rational historical context. Although the boys listen and re- feel and cause the to themselves givenalready have they respectfully, spond tocompulsion reason ‘why’ out the particularno matter.”34 of the explicitly nationalistic stances and, more important, from that analytical presented is balance delicate this how out points High Peter being. of mode visually in filmTasaka’s version. While a teacher lectures Masato and his a minimum. The film version only hints atthe international situation by newspaper headlinesflashing across the screen tomark marchthe toward problematic increasingly Japan’s to references other only The Harbor. Pearl position world communityin come the in the of form lectures todelivered Masato and his comrades by teachers, advisers, and military officers. As in Hiraide’s original announcement, these diatribes against Western imperialism provide the viewer/reader with a context for the actions of the heroes while simultaneously divorcing the heroes themselves from such dency to shed his naval uniform in favor of “civvies.”33 Finally, as this return this as Finally, “civvies.”33 of favor in uniform naval his shed to dency historico- the anysustained concern innocencefor tochildlike precludes a political are mission, kept of such toreferences the upcoming dimensions throughout him with remain blush tendencyto his does only Not academy. his short life; he actually takes on more and more of the luster of youth as his In fatalhis press mission statement,approaches.32 Hiraide had emphasized the childlike innocence of the men by relating the anecdote of the crew member who compared the suicide mission to and a this “hike,” The original film. is reproduced episode in bothnovel and Tasaka’s Iwata’s press release’s muting of a military identity is here, too: Masato has a ten- is rounded is asceticout rounded by practices, the filmdetailed a including treatment of the annual boat race. The scenefeatures young, beautifulmale bodies covered in sweat as they move in unison and an endless line of countless bodies standing along the course as they scream encouragement to the rowers—all staples imagery.31 of fascist there. In addition to the photos of heroes such as Tōgō Heihachirō, the mu- the Heihachirō, Tōgō as such heroes of photos the to addition In there. snowy whiteon ink jet-black the calligraphy, of samples with filled is seum producing language than fetish or iconography religious as more presented meaning in the conventional sense. Thespiritual training of the academy 424 James Dorsey friendperished. Takao’s reborn. also filled is Once Eda sister high-spirited his which in attack Harbor Pearl the from scenes paint to required is and painter official Navy’s the as up Takao reborn ends the novel, the of turns acquainted with Masato the naval officer. In one of the many melodramatic heas becomesre- decadentmendsways his life debauchery of artist, an as him friendis His reborn. childhood Takao, who himselfa had thrown into ih re ovcin bt gd ad eos ihrw ( withdraw demons and gods both conviction, true with “wheretreads Masato’sone in too, personal motto: reflected, is context of mission is as portrayed the pinnacle of a quest for spiritual purity. This lack essence through the through communalofmythmaking.essence act The looping, or spiral- national timeless a to populace the bound that trope rhetorical looping a of repetition its was myth this of characteristic distinguishing second The years. many over produced texts literary many through images those portions. of the respondby to development primed been The had audience mother) was one reason the discourse on submariners reached mythic pro- hero,his selfless a pure of support the landscape, unchangingnatural idyllic, an (the in roots here outlined images the charged of co-opting The The Ties That Bind selves. authentic lying subjectivity dormant beneath their intellectualizing modern an to return a of form the in present anxiety-ridden the to alternative an Warof Gods Nine with provide same: the much nation thedo promisedto and villages untouched by the complexities of modernity.37 The myth ofthe the simpleand back toward lifestyles values of the Westernizedurban, of trends decadent the from away inhabitants its and ent.”36 Masato’s purity permeates the world around him, turning that world obedi- fully be to continuing and self-assertion any fromrefraining while wildly hearts theaflametheir have could all Satsuma while passion of with women these how aware fully also Takaowas Satsuma. of woman tional tradi- a into Eda transformed had it, knowing even without Masato, that realized Takaolove. is her in change violent a such elicited have possibly men treated thewith respect that they deserve, so the only thing that could Masato reforms her. At one point Takao with notices the change: “shecontact had hernever Tokyo, in education college or career a of dreams with kishin).”35 mokoreosaku The isirrelevant. the nature of conviction S Everywhere Everywhere the larger context is erased, and in its place the submariners’ o powerful is Masato’s that underpurity its influencethe world around furusato , thetowns rural ajt okonaeba danjite Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 425 - Human Human (beau- bidan gunkoku gunkoku bidan as the task of TheNavy (Nikudan, 1906), Shimazu argues, were is but one example; evennovelists example; one but is Navy The , their modern lineage can be traced back The TalesThe of the Heike wever, wever, while the example from early in Japan’s modern period sug e rhetorical looping also works diachronically, fusing the singular act singular the fusing diachronically, works rhetoricalalso e looping Ho Th Thelooping motion whereby the civilian population ismerged with the (beautiful tales of the militarized state).While the latter surely have roots calls “the Shimazu Naoko what state’sstrategicof Meiji tothe deployment myth of the patriotic Novels soldier.” such as Sakurai Tadayoshi’s Bullets: A Soldier’s of StoryPort Arthur rural in patriotism instilling of purpose the for disseminated and produced populations not yet fully incorporated into the ideology of state.39 At some level, the the Navy’s nation- press release most certainly had similar intentions, and it employed similar means. through the press release’s invocation of the genre known as the the as known genre the of invocation release’s press the through tiful tales of exemplary behavior) and, more specifically, the dating back to the touching tales of warriors depicted in the thirteenth- century epic mythmaking mythmaking looped back around to its origin. The state and the civilian his strategicallyin employed alternativelanguage an as serving later before Kagoshima/Satsuma of both native a as identityhis negotiationof ongoing This action looping and of Japan. ties particularthe with the universal, the local with with national, individual the the state. the of the Nine Gods of toWar heroes of earlier days.This looping is worked citizenship,” his identity as both a native of Satsuma and a citizen of Japan. Japan. of citizen a and Satsuma of native a both as identityhis citizenship,” Sakurajima, the landscape feature that defines his roots in Kagoshima, is associated with Mount Fuji, that symbol of the nation, and Masato’s local Academy Naval the in uses he Japanese standard the for traded first is dialect agents of the state is echoed within the tales of the Nine Just Gods as each specificof articulation ofWar. the story contributes to the entirety of the universally shared myth, so, too, does each representation of a unique individual or specific location contribute to the construction of archetypal heroes and the abstract concept that is the nation. In Iwata’s novel and film,Tasaka’s thisprocess is evident inprotagonist Tani Masato’s “dual then then prompted the Navy to commission the film productionpopulation in the bound together myth. were thereby of the ing, ing, motion operated at many levels. It is evident in the manner in which the by appropriated be to only texts,literary by generated were images these once embraced being before purposesclearlyideological for NavyImperial Iwata’s literaryfigures. by again Yokomitsu Riichi andfelt Sakaguchi compelled Ango as as different to ad- response popular This writing.38 their in submariners the of topic the dress 426 James Dorsey One such bidan of told thewas that Russo-Japanese War hero Commander consumption. and participation, interest, communal of degree creasing in- an demonstrate state” militarized the of tales “beautiful subsequent indoctrination, ideological at attempt top-down unidirectional, a gests resents] the height of glory. There is, of course, no hope that I will return return will I that hope no course, of is, glory. There of height the resents] rep- do to about am I [What . . . lives. our of autumn the face demandswe increasingly crisis “the fame: bidan of Hirose Commander the to himself of comparison explicit an home letter final his in included Shigemi, runo Fu- twenty-four-year-old Harbor, Pearl at died who pilots submarine the of One cause. national the for self-sacrifice and patriotism inspire indeed tradition. cyclical timeless, a of part a simultaneously singularevent their and heroes unique the ders them as inspiration for new acts of selfless sacrifice. The layering effect ren- the heroicsubmarinersinstalling loops back previous tales, incorporate to of tale the is that way,bidan the this museum.43 In academy’s the of walls the on hangs it as portrait same that before reverently bows and admiral, the of portrait a beneath exams entrance Academy’s Naval the for studies the subject of various heroic tales. Masato pays his respects at Tōgō’s grave, and Satsuma Masato’s of native a himself Heihachirō, Tōgō Admiral hero WarRusso-Japanese the is bravery budding Masato’s young for model the to drown as their damaged vessels fillwith water.42 In Tasaka’s film version, waitingwhile posts their diligentlyat remaining by themselvestinguished an extended, detailed rehearsal of naval submarine heroes, all of whom dis- bidan theis into incorporated explicitly works. In his includesnovel, Iwata of tradition the myth, the of development the of stage next the in ously, Pearl Harbor is, in its portrait of the heroes, reminiscent of this genre. Curi- stage.41 the Kabuki even and film, radio, newspapers, productions, puppet-theater sions, but also a spate of representations in other media, including comics, ver- schoolbook and poetry, songs, only not inspired bidan attack. This an enemy the holein defensesa open forto deployed device crudeexplosive a Human Heroic “Three Bombs ( the of tale the by elicited was response popular greater Kanda, even Tokyo.40in An statue bronze a of construction the in and song; it was later includedmemorialized in and school even textbooks poetry in commemorated was tale Hirose’s ship. sinking his on crewman Hirose Takeo, who died at Port Arthur after searching valiantly for a missing Evid ay ati Hries rs rlae ocrig h sbaies of submariners the concerning release press Hiraide’s Captain Navy ence ence suggests that such “beautiful tales of the militarized did state” Bakudan sanyūshi ),” the privates who, in 1932, died while detonating Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 427 ) of Commander Hirose’s Hirose’s ) of Commander shinjū The myth of the submariners at Pearl Harborshows in its contents, its toward the aestheticized act of apocalyptic self-destruction that centers the the centers apocalypticthatself-destruction of act aestheticized the toward for rehearsal a represents War of Gods Nine the of myth the such, As myth. of a diverse population integral elements of a single nation. Finally, the in- varied their all tale,for submariners’ the rearticulationsof innumerable all- textured, increasingly an origin, ultimately of points reify flections and of efforts joint mythsustainedthe constructedthrough and encompassing space, time, through tale the of “looping” This population. its and state the and multiple discursive zones generates a centripetal force that draws all of “beautiful tales of the militarized state” fuse the nine submariners to present that illusion the the well creatingas heroes, bidan of pantheon the roots unique whose makepara- him, depictionhero of a The is eternal.the a national doxically, “everyman” similarly functions toall elements render anxieties of the hyper-conscious, alienated modern individual living in a cold, industrialized world, and it depicts an act of spiritual transcendence This nation. eternal the of collectivity the with self the of merging a through the contemporary) particular, to of the individual (the the state fusion (the universal, the eternal) is then replicated in both the rhetoric and the pro- corpus the to explicit, and implicit both allusions, The myth. the of duction the communal myth. communal the fascism. of culture a of elements the all circulation of mode its and rhetoric, rootedin hero guileless (the images charged emotionallyof composed is It a concrete world; the self-sacrificing,salt-of-the earth mother; the idyllic, the easeto attempt the in produced hometown) rural eternallyunchanging of those who were to follow: the journalist Ushijima Hidehiko, author of numerous works on the Nine Gods of recalls War, how, as a fifth-grader in 1945, he had been inspired by the story of Tani Masato and was deter- present heroes with past heroes Linking footsteps.46 his in follow to mined through the invocation of the bidan genre propels the looping action into sustain to ready individuals of source unlimited an guaranteeing future, the blockade blockade squad and the three heroic human bombs. Of course, the issue of life and death is something we Furthermore, do just not as consider.”45 their embodiment of the recurrent myth was inspired by those that came so, too,before, did the tale shape of the subjectivitythe Nine Gods of War alive. It is a task no less valiant than that undertaken by Commander Hirose; Hirose; Commander by undertaken that than valiant less no task a is It alive. than worthwhile less no something as act my of memory the treasure please his.”44 the Similarly, twenty-two-year-old submariner Hiroo Akira, in the document he left behind, wrote that the mission they were setting out to ( missions suicide was the “like accomplish 428 James Dorsey

enactment, the fascist proclivities often identified in Japan’s cultural dis- cultural Japan’s in identified often proclivities fascist the enactment, re- physical its and myth this In odds. insurmountable against launched ing of the ten million jewels ( “shatter-the nation: eternal the with individual the mergingof actual that Notes course aremade real. 4. 5. 6. 2. 3. 1.

Sakamaki, “Tokushū senkōtei hasshin su,” 48. Sakamaki’s statement to his his to statement Sakamaki’s 48. su,” hasshin senkōtei “Tokushū Sakamaki, Various sources transliterate the names differently. I follow the follow I differently. names the transliterate sources Various Ushijima, kamaki had a very successful career with Toyota, the automobile manufacturer, automobile the Toyota,with career successful very a had kamaki Harbor Pearl Attacked Japanese Prange, William Gordon also see capture, his after (New York: 1949). Press, Associated immediately OnSakamaki’s fate thein days and 1949), Shinchōsha, 1947), kōdankai, Tokyo kaiko no yonkanen katsu include: publications other su.”His hasshin senkōtei “Tokushū essay 1964 his on mostly based is above account fascinating.The is story Sakamaki’s there nohe chance was virtually alive. would return phrase for men sent off on a mission, Sakamaki was acknowledgingthe factthat ( back” be “I’ll than rather context ( go” will “I simply saying By him. below,to attributed never was commander would enter the of myth the submariners but, for reasons explained Kyūgunshin wakatarazu , 83–84. Ushijima, Kyūgunshin , 241. 1995).rather Ueda Books, notbut Potomac mention Others al., et. Goldstein Yokoyama to instead refer may sources (Tokyo).Some the of edition 1942 March 7 the of pagefront the on providedings sensō kaisen, vol. 4ofShōwasensōbungaku (Tokyo: zenshū 46. Shōeisha, 1964), in Forth] Sets Submarine Special [The su” hasshin senkōtei “Tokushū Kazuo, Sakamaki in listed are qualifications basic same The 26. 1999), Bunko, famy (Annapolis,, ed.Paul Stillwell Md.: Naval Press,1981), 57–73. Institute Fukudome,“HawaiiOperation,” in II War World of Weapons O’Neill, Richard in available also is marines Naval Institute Press, 2002). Details on the history and uses of these midget sub- Burlingame,Burl see perspective, can Ameri- the from mission the of account sensationalist somewhat if lively a For This press release from Imperial Headquarters is reproduced in Ushijima, in reproduced is Headquarters Imperial from release press This Kyūgunshin wa katarazu: Shinjuwan tokkō no kyojitsu Shinjuwanno Kyūgunshinkatarazu: tokkō wa (Dulles, Va:(Dulles, Photographs Harbor, Original Pearl The Was: It The Way [Reflections on Four Years as a Prisoner-of-War](Tokyo: a as Four Years on [Reflections (London: Salamander Books, 1981), 21–54, and Shigeru and 21–54, 1981), Books, Salamander (London: Horyo daiichigō Horyo Atce Pal Harbor Pearl Attacked I (New York: Wings Books, 1991). After the war Sa- war the After 1991). Books, Wings York: (New ichioku ichioku gyokusai ), which was the standard parting standard the was which kimasu), itte Air Raid Pearl Harbor:Recollections of a DayIn- a of of PearlHarbor:Recollections Raid Air Advance Force Pearl HarborPearl Force Advance [Prisoner-of-War Number One] (Tokyo: One] [Prisoner-of-WarNumber )” in desperate, suicidal attacks Suicide Squads: Axis and Allied Special Allied and Axis Squads: Suicide , translated by Toru Matsumoto Matsumoto Toru by translated , December 7, 1941: The Day the Day The 1941: 7, December Masaharu (Tokyo:NF Kōjinsha Sadamu; see see Sadamu; Kamita (Annapolis, Md.: (Annapolis, ; see Donald M. Donald see ; ) in this this in ikimasu) furigana Asahi shinbun Asahi Furyo sei- Furyo Taiheiyō read- Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 429

Shin- not live through , vol. 2 (Tokyo: (New Haven: Yale (Tokyo: Asahi shinbunsha, shinbunsha, Asahi (Tokyo: Kusa no ne no Nihon fashizumu: Shōwa hihyō taikei Kokubō fujinkai: Hi no maru to kappōgi War Without Mercy: War Race and Power in the (Dixon, Calif.: PacificShip and Shore, An Inquiry into the Good )” was kyūgunshin widely used by the media , ed. Takeuchi Yoshimi (Tokyo: Toyamabō, (Tokyo: Ryōdō Shuppan, 1979), 138–44. I have (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1950), or the translation , trans. Edward G. Seidensticker (New York: York: (New Seidensticker G. Edward trans. Country, Snow refers to the “code of the samurai” established during the Kindai Kindai no chōkoku Zen no kenkyū in April 1942, which has in turn been reproduced as Hiraide Hiraide as turn reproduced beenin has which 1942, April in Murasaki Bushidō On to Pearl Harbor—and Beyond Heitachi no sensō: tegami, nikki, taikenki o yomitoku o taikenkinikki, tegami, sensō: no Heitachi Ibid., 141. See Nishida, On ways in which women were incorporated into the war machine, see Fujii Tada- Fujii see machine, war the into incorporated were women which in ways On Knopf, Knopf, 1956) and Kobayashi, “Kokyō o ushinatta and bungaku,” also “Rekishi , vol 3, (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1978), 29–37. 1978), Shinchōsha, Hideo Zenshūtei (Tokyo: Kobayashi 3, , vol 2000), particularly 10–21; Fujii Tadatoshi, (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, Yoshiaki, 1985); Yoshimi Tōkyō 1996), (Tokyo: no sensō taiken Daigaku 83–85. Shuppankai, minshū Yasunari, KawabataSee Ibid. 1990), 18–37; Hayashi, “Tenkō ni tsuite” in toshi, Ibid., 140. Ibid., 142. University Press, 1990); Nishitani, “‘Kindai no chōkoku’ in shiron,” Kawakami Tetsutarō, et.al., in bungaku,” ushinatta o “Kokyō 239–61;Kobayashi, 1978), Shobō, Banchō Hiraide, “Ōkimi no hotori ni shinamu,” 138. hotori “Ōkimi no ni shinamu,” Hiraide, period (1600–1868). Tokugawa Thedesignation “Nine Gods War of ( in spite of the fact that the Navy had asked explicitly that the squad be referred fact The confusion. toavert order in AttackForce” “Special the as toconsistently NavyImperial the that suggests heroes nine only yielded squad ten-man the that would who officer the Kazuo, Sakamaki of fate the of aware partiallyleast at was attack. in the tenth been but perished have the had he Hideo, Hideo, “Ōkimi no hotori ni shinamu: Ikun kagayaku tokubetsu kōgekitai” in Nihon daizasshi: Shōwa senchū hen Tokyo the of page front the on appeared that one that to transcript this compared 1942, , and Asahi March the two7, Shimbun The linesvirtually trans- are identical. 143. hotori no “Ōkimi ni shinamu,” appear in Hiraide, lated here rising eventuallyrising to head of operations in Brazil. He died 29 on 1999,November at eighty-one. On the reaction to the submarine squad in the United States., see Jackson, 1982). I base my discussion of Hiraide’s statements on the transcript that appeared in journal the by Masao Abe and Christopher Ives, Hiraide, “Ōkimi no hotori ni shinamu,” 143. Hiraide seems oblivious to the irony the to oblivious seems Hiraide 143. shinamu,” ni hotori no “Ōkimi Hiraide, of his statement:would were most mothers certainly who these their sons, all of whom had died in the waters of Pearl Harbor. had died in the all of whom their sons, This type ofspiritual purity was amainstay of wartimepropaganda inJapan, as Dower so W. John argues convincingly in Pantheon Books, 1986). York: War (New Pacific

7. 7. 8. 9. 8. 5. 11. 1 13. 1 16. 10. 12. 1 14.

430 James Dorsey

24 34. 26. 28. 30. 29. 20. 3 2 2 35. 23. 3 27. 21. 31. 19. 2. 5. 2. 3. .

betsu kōgekitai o utau [The Nine theutau o to OdeNavy kōgekitai An Harbor: betsu Pearl of War Gods Kaedei Kinnosuke, Kaedei High, Iwata, Iwata, Ibid., 12. Ibid., eliciting apuzzled remarkfrom hissister. Ibid., 131, 256. In the filmtreatment, Masato wears a suit on his final visit home, 177.Ibid., Ibid., 174. Ibid., The rural hometown ( hometown rural The (Madison: University (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003), 388–89. Sign (New ofSaturn York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1980), 73–105. On fascistin film,imagery see Susan Sontag, “Fascinating Fascism,” in High, The Screen, 388. Imperial (“Kokyō bungaku”). oushinatta YasunariKawabata aforementioned( the ing includ- writers, of range wide a in apprehension and existence of modes ral” Iwata, Keisuke, in1944. wasreleased Kinoshita by directed version, film A 1945). Shimbunsha, Asahi (Tokyo: Army] Ashihei’s Hino year: following the own its of novel a missioned 186–87. Poetry Rabson,Steve in available is poem this of translation partial A 1942. Force],” Attack Special Shimbun Shuppanbu, ed., moto Hatsutarō, Ken’ichi, 200–223. bungaku,”in to the film version. Iwata, men. military Iwata, inUshijima,Quoted One such poem is Fukuda Masao’s “Shinjuwan no gunshin kyuchū: kaigun toku The novel was perceived as such a Navy public-relations coupthat the Army com ibid.,See 94. Tokubetsu kōgekitai: gunshin no omokage no gunshin kōgekitai: Tokubetsu Kennosuke, Hata Shobō, 1942); Seikanji Ken,Shobō, Seikanji 1942); Gunshin ounda haha (Tokyo: Kyōa Nihonsha, 1943). Natsuko,Yoshio 1942); honsha, TokyoShinbun ed., shinbunsha, Asahi 1943); (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1998), Michigan, of University Studies, Japanese for Center Arbor: (Ann Kaigun, 99. Referring to the civilian world as “shaba” was common among The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Years’ War, 1931–1945 War, Years’ the Fifteen in Culture Film Japanese Screen: Imperial The Kaigun, 347, but see also 38, 85. The motto is also featured prominently in Kaigun, 280. Kaigun (Tokyo: Shobō, Hara 1967), 19. Umi no gunshin tokubetsu kōgekitai Righteous Cause or Tragic Folly: Changing Views of War in Modern Japanese Shintei Kobayashi Hideo zenshū Hideo Kobayashi Shintei Aa gunshin kyūhashira Gunshinden Aa tokubetsu kōgekitai tokubetsu Aa Kyūgunshin wakatarazu , 208. ) serves as a metaphor forunselfconscious,metaphor“natu- a as serves furusato) Shinjuwan senkō: OO taii ki Tko Cōukk, 92; uuu Yutaka, Fukuyu 1942); Chōbunkaku, (Tokyo: Tokubetsu kōgekitai kyūgunshin seiden kyūgunshin kōgekitai Tokubetsu (Tokyo: Nihon Kōen Kyōkai, 1942); Yomiuri (Tokyo: Kikō Seinensha, 1942); Tsuchiya 1942); Seinensha, Kikō (Tokyo: (Tokyo: Shunyōdō Shoten, 1942); Yama- (Tokyo: Kokumin Shimbunsha, 1942); 1942); Shimbunsha, Kokumin (Tokyo: ) and Kobayashi HideoKobayashi and ) Country Snow , vol 7. (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1978), Shinchōsha, (Tokyo:7. vol , (Tokyo: Misaki (Tokyo: haha no Gunshin (Tokyo: Yomiuri shinbunsha, (Tokyo: Asahi (Tokyo: Rikugun Under the [The - -

Literary Tropes, Nine Gods of War 431

Kami- 19, no. 2 gunkoku bidan. gunkoku (April 1942) (April Bungei Righteous Cause or Tragic Tragic or Cause Righteous War War and Society , 35–39; Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1988), 100–105. For 100–105.For 1988), shoten, Iwanami (Tokyo: The Imperial Screen , 43. wa katarazu Kyūgunshin (war song) detailing the men; see Rabson, Rabson, see men; the detailing song) (war produced following the Manchurian Incident of 1931, includ- 1931, of Incident Manchurian the following produced bidan Gunkoku bidan to kyōkasho to bidan Gunkoku gunka The Imperial Imperial Screen, 410.The , 17. Shinjuwan , 288–302.Kaigun Roger Roger Griffin arguesconvincingly for the centrality ofthe myth of “purifying, Quoted 46. in ibid., Ushijima, Naoko Naoko Shimazu, “The Myth of the‘Patriotic Soldier,’” On the statue and Yosano Tekkan’s poem “Aa, Commander Hirose,” see Rabson, Rabson, see Hirose,” Commander “Aa, poem Tekkan’s Yosano statue and the On Righteous , Folly Cause 69–71;Tragic or the military song, produced by the Ministry of Education, is “Hirose Chūsa”; on the inclusion of the tale in textbooks, see Nakauchi, an analysis of analysis an ing a comparison of them with earlier tales such as Hirose’s, see LouiseYoung, (Berkeley: Imperialism Uni- Wartime of Culture the and Manchukuo Empire: Total Japan’s 90–114. Press, 1999), of California versity Ibid., 326. kaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History Japanese in Aesthetics of Militarization The Nationalisms: and Blossoms, Cherry kaze, the of tion , 73–74. Folly novelist novelist Natsume Sōseki and later head of the Army’s propaganda division, was not does Shimazu 1906. in Mifflin Houghton translationby English in published explicitly link this patriotic “myth of the soldier” of to genre the transla- a includes 113–14.Rabson 2002), Press, Chicago of University (Chicago: (October 2001), 69–89, esp. 70. Shimazu writes that the Meiji government also intended these stories to instill a belief in Japanese exceptionalism among Western audience, a and notes how this novel by Sakurai, once a student of the (London: Pinter, 1991), xi. 1991), Fascism (London: Pinter, of Nature The Griffin, Iwata, Cf. High, Cf. cathartic national rebirth (palingenesis)” in all fascist movements; see Roger (June in Bungei originally 1942). published “Shinju,” Ango, and Sakaguchi See Yokomitsu Riichi, “Gunjin no fu,” originally published in originally published fu,” no “Gunjin Riichi, Yokomitsu See Quoted in Ushijima, Quoted in Ushijima, On On this tale, see High,

3. 8. 4. 41. 37. 36. 4 39. 3 45. 46. 42. 40.

4

Con PART V c lu d in g

E ssay

A

le The Spanish Perspective: j

an Romancero Marroquí and the Francoist

d Kitsch Politics of Time ro ro Y arza

In “Narrating the Nation-ality of a Cinema: The Case of Japa- nese Prewar Film” in this volume, Aaron Gerow argues that any fascistic element to Japanese cinema “lies less in the vision of the nation represented or the cinematic aesthetic itself than in the process involved in creating a national cinema.” For Gerow, Japanese national cinema was always subject to hybridity and contamination; it is precisely this hybrid, contaminated state of Japanese cinema that paradoxically constitutes for him the condition of possibility for a fascist Japanese cinema. As he writes, “The fascist ideal of a pure, controlled cinema was based on its own impossibility.” Therefore, fascism in wartime Japanese cinema, he concludes, is rather a process than a state. Michael Baskett’s exploration of intra-Axis cooperation on film legislation also reveals similar cracks and fissures in what to the eyes of the Western allies was supposedly a unified fascist aesthetic. Baskett’s analysis of Arnold Fanck’s The New Earth—a German–Japanese co-production about the Japanese colonization of Manchuria—for example, shows how the intra-Axis collaboration “did not lead to the successful creation of a collective ‘fascist’ identity.” Although the colonial film genre created a strong 436 Alejandro Yarza nese experience ofmodernity.”nese experience Japa- the understanding Germans’ of impossibility the of “because cisely Baskett writes, writes, Baskett Akira, Iwasaki critic film Japanese the for cultures film Axis among link nial films that ultimately to failed fullythat ultimately nial films their address intended audiences. contradictions, and attempted to stimulate the production of a line of colo- cohesive film aesthetic, producedearly film legislation plagued by apparent the Imperial Japan described by Gerow and Baskett, Franco’s Spain lacked a which fascist regimes attempted to secure ideological hegemony. Much like in ways contradictory apparently and hybrid the illuminate helps politics film Francoist of case The counterparts. Japanese or Italian, German, its Alcázar of Toledo by Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War.2 the renowned Italian fascist director Augusto Genina about the siege of the Film-Produktion, and in the shooting in 1940 of in less than two years through the Spanish–German joint venture Hispano- man and Italian production companies, resulting in five feature films made Ger- with projects film of variety a in collaborate1938did early try,as it as Franco’s Spain did not have any official tiesAlthough with wartime Japan’s agenda. filmfilm indus- intra-Axis legislative and collaborative the of out truly over dominate ever another.” not all cut from the same political or cultural cloth; nor did any single entity propagandists, Japan,Allied Imperial Nazi Germany, were and fascist Italy wartime by out churned purpose and power in united Axis an of images enduring the “Unlike writes, he As be. to out them made propagandists Allied observes, Baskett as that, front cultural and political homogeneous cultural differencesright fromthe start.never The Axis nations formed the to one another, were weighed down by inner contradictions and substantial out reach to their as attempts well as fascisms,the national of various cies governance than is normally assumed.1 Thisthat indicates the cultural poli- laissez-faire of degreehigher a implying thus channels; cultural of variety a using citizenry its on hegemony ideological impose to attempted state In fact, as Lutz Koepnick has observed regarding the Nazi case, the German the various a fascist to high achieve states degree of ideological hegemony. of failure ultimate an to amount not did policy, successful co-production intra-Axis a Japan, in aesthetics cinema “fascist” totalizing sponsored national cinema, Francoist film policy was even more relaxed than that of that than relaxed more even was policy film Francoist cinema, national Des wud ru, oee, ht hs ald tep t cet a state- a create to attempt failed this that however, argue, would I Focusing on Japanese cinema, Baskett naturally leaves Francoist Spain Francoist leaves naturally Baskett cinema, Japanese on Focusing pite several grandiose but short-lived attempts to create a Francoist Francoist a create to attempts short-lived but grandiose several pite ultimately failed Japanese Thewith ultimately audiences Earth pre- New Assedio Assedio dell’Alcazar , a film by The Spanish Perspective 437 , religious (dir. Carlos (dir. Romancero meant to Romancero Romancero Romancero , marroquí the state- Romancero marroquí Romancero , a film with a clear political intent, was officially Romancero was rejected by high Moroccan officials and it turned out, wever, wever, as will we see in the example of As we shall see in the following analysis of of analysis following the in see shall we As The kitschy mythicalplace the filmevoked was preciselythe Spanish Romancero Romancero marroquí As Ho signify and and thatsignify was at the core of the Francoist kitsch politics of time and space. was never dubbed into Arabic for its intended target audience. It contention, however, is that its mythical representation my served the Francoist Spanish Morocco was not a geographical reality but a mental space, an ideo- an space, mental a but reality geographical a not was Morocco Spanish logical fantasy—“the immortal cradle of the [Francoist]as it movement,” Thiswas was sometimes ideologicalcalled.the fantasy estab-that ideology fascist kitsch eclectic Francoism—that where Morocco Morocco in began that military a uprising of means by Spain in itself lished and was waged against Republican legality—was born. For Francoism, iconography helped create helped a mythicaliconography representationoffer- of ByMorocco. Moroccans portrait ing a highlyof the High themselves, Spanish favorable Commission in Morocco aimed to pay homage to the Moroccans who had already enlisted in Franco’s colonial but, army, more important, they also hoped to procure a constant flow ofnew recruits. By doing so, however, Romancero wrongly presupposed a Moroccan audience that would respond obediently to its kitschy message. suturing suturing that these Francoist kitsch fascist texts were supposed to attain ultimately unraveled. Through thisfailure, the inner contradictions—but, clear. patently strength—of Francoism were made also the paradoxically, sponsored by Franco’s provisional government.5 In By a totalitariana By aesthetican thattoresorts mean kitsch aesthetic,simply I indi- of “every words, display artisticKundera’s erases,Milan and in cliché . . . ; everyvidualism doubt . . . ; all irony.”4 planned attempt to secure consent from the Spanish citizenry ultimately failed—as Gerow suggests it did in the Japanese case—as the ideological kitsch aesthetic, a kitsch aesthetic functioning in much of the cultural work work cultural the of much in functioning aesthetic kitsch a aesthetic, kitsch aes- kitsch This volume. this in described as years, same the in Japan in done a a series of (amemoir, script, film textsa war thetic is by best exemplified political treatise) written by Franco as himself, well as a by series of films, artists. fascist Spanish prominent several by produced novels and memoirs, Spanish about documentarya 1939),3 Rodiño, Dominguez Enrique and Velo Morocco, Francoism attempted to achieve ideological hegemony in post– Civil War Spain by means of what could be characterized as a totalitarian 438 Alejandro Yarza against the Republicans. forty thousand Muslim “Moors” on Spanish soil during Franco’s “crusade” deploying of legitimacy the of Spaniards conservative persuading of goal double objective in mind: to help create a patriotic mood in Spain “againstmood helpa patriotic in mind: to create double objective a had War of Ministry the effort, this in aid cinema’s requesting In lilla. Me- of city the in positions Spanish attacking tribes” Moroccan “hostile The Ministry of War enlistedcinema as part of its effort military against the Morocco. Spanish in conflict military the of onset the at 1909 as early as begun had 1936, in War Civil Spanish the of beginning the Francoist at ideologues by renewed fervently although state, Spanish the of interests ish cinema.8 Giménez Caballero mused, could very well be the spiritual mission of Span- cinema, Catholic and universal, European, such of creation The armies.”7 and cannons with than more shutters camera their of drumbeat the “to Europe over advancing were warned, Caballero Giménez “empires,” ful whelming predominance as it appeared in American film.over- These two ’s power- self the and film Russian in appeared it as self the of appearance dis- the both supersede to society and self between synthesis mystical a achieve to be would cinema new this of goal the Caballero, Giménez For state. Spanish new the of construction the in play should cinema role the Franco’s Caballero, theorizedGiménez secretary, first about press Ernesto visual propaganda.6 the control state’s to fascist leaders such as Important and cinema “nationalist” supervise to both created dewas Cinematografía 1938, still in the midst of the Spanish Civil War, the Departamento Nacional fascism didnot preclude itfrom gaining similarly forms ofconsent. Japanese behind agenda “unified” a of lack the that here suggest would I subject. Francoist submissive a create to attempt political and cultural the stroyed Spanish film industry, seemingly undermining Franco’s official as in compulsory 1941—such dubbing—which almost de- single-handedly were theseexpressed contradictions most in clearly filmpassed legislation sphere, cultural the In accommodate. to tried it interests ideological and political, and cultural agenda due to the vastly different political, economic, social, unified a of lack its clear: made were Francoism of contradictions inner the “failure,” this Through failed. have to ultimately seem Spanish citizenry the from consent secure to attempts state-planned the how of question the into insights valuable agenda—provides identificatory edged Romancero’s I Francoism took the political potential of cinema seriously. As early as early As seriously. cinema of potential political the took Francoism should point out that the idea of using film politically to advance the advance to politically film using of idea the that out point should failure to connect with its intended audience—and its double- The Spanish Perspective 439 (1922), attempted should capture in Romancero Romancero was a hybrid product. In its Romancero marroquí. Romancero marroquí. Romancero part of its recruitment effort, the Spanish Ministry of War supported War supported MinistrySpanish of the of part its recruitment effort, ecause of this double objective, It is in this historical context of the Francoist shift in the film representa- film the in shift Francoist the of context historical this in is It According According to the High Commissioner of the Spanish Protectorate in B As Pre-Francoist films had depicted Morocco and the Moors through a typi- a through Moors the and Morocco depicted had films Pre-Francoist and encouraged Spanish filmmakers toproduce documentariesabout the visual idealization of the Moroccan lifestyle, it was influenced byRobert Flaherty’s visually stunning documentaries— Nanook of the North marily responsible for its narrative concept, documentary format “all the natural and artistic beauties of the area,” as well as its “regional traditionswhile at and the same costumes,” time, “by means of its story line,” pay homage to “the fervent participation of the Moroccan people our glorious in uprising.”14 cans to enlist in Franco’s army; this representation in turn helped convince helped turn representation in this army; Franco’s in enlist tocans conservative Spaniards of the moral soundness of enlisting “Muslims” in “Christian crusade.” Franco’s was pri- was produced, and who moviethe auspices whose Morocco under situate would I that Morocco of tion Moroc- persuade to Morocco northern of representationmythical a stage to cally self-righteous colonial lens. But the films of 1936 through 1942 could through 1936 of films cally the But lens. self-righteous colonial as out, pointed has Búrdalo Domínguez as enough, oddlycharacterized, be nuanced more a with clichés colonial old replace to attempt an representing and positive representation of Morocco and its inhabitants.13 This was a radical move for Francoism, which had aligned itself ideologically with a Spanish ultra-Catholic and nationalist conservatism that had traditionally it seeing other, Muslim the to opposition radical in essence Spain’s defined as a heretical intruder. foreign General Franco in Franco 1921.11 himself was enthralled by the seductive contemporarya As cinema. of took witnesspower1924, in the reported he time amid enemy fire to personallyfilm the withdrawal ofSpanish troops Moroccan the cityfrom of Xauen.12 Spanish Spanish colonial army’s fight against Moroccan tribes hostile ish interests in to Span- Morocco. Even General Millán Astray, one of the most re- glamor- to medium a as cinema used time, the of generals Spanish nowned Foreign ize the Spanish Legion, the new military body co-founded withhe the waves waves the of protest that the conflictproduced in a widesector of Spanish society” and to propagate Spain’s “mission civilisatrice” in North Africa as Martin “the beginning, Corralesfrom has suggested, the Thus, abroad.9 rifles.”10 directionmovie same Spanish camera in the as the aimed 440 Alejandro Yarza a spiritually unified community un-fractured by the alienating forces of forces alienating the by un-fractured community unified spiritually a Protectorate—supposedly Spanish the of area Yebala the from habitants in- Moroccan environment—the its with harmoniously blending munity Moana that, unlike the old one, this new crusade was not launched to extermi- to launched not was crusade new this one, old the unlike that, Spaniards conservative persuade to had It Spain.)15 Franco’s in town cial ( soil. Spanish on Republicans against crusade “Christian” their enemies—in traditional lims—Spain’s Mus- enlist to decision the behind righteousness moral the of Spaniards helping in Franco’s cause, its main goal was in fact to convince conservative ‘peoples’ flourish inaluminous ourtwo unite future for both.” that ties blood the “let wish: poetic a with ends text forces.The ancestral part in took “ourlike thethey Crusade” protagonist, voluntarily, guided by pure.”and brave that, simple, “nobleFinally,us and as reminds but also it depictions, traditional past of infidels heretic the or as tribesmen barbaric as not hero, film’s the as well as people, Moroccan the describes text The fact, it wants to pay homage “for their virtues” and their “generous loyalty.” in whom, to brothers,”Muslim our towards respect and love deep “with that us informs also text written a shot, initial this Following cause. ideological Francoist the and visual icon, thus establishing a visual parallel between the Islamic tradition style in the background with “the yoke and the arrows,” the Phalange’s own of thefigure1). film(see shot first the in means exclusive by visual exemplified paradoxically is tary generated by the friction between the visual images and the verbal commen- signification.meaningvisual tension down close The and restrict to ability kitsch, film into a perfect kitsch with exampleaesthetics, its oftotalitarian albeit crafted, beautifully otherwise an transformed voiceover the selves, them- images silent the by generated ambiguity possible any eliminate to functioncue to thebest how interpret to images.into viewers tary’s Trying commen- the is it natives; Moroccan its of images the over commentary ever, documentaries, unlike Flaherty’s graphic repertoire in which dissolves and close-ups clearly stand out. How- beautiful cinematography,visual composition, and an extensive cinemato- choreographed highly a through “natives” Moroccan these of world cal” modernity. And Th for eye detail, painstaking a With e opening shotstill of the film joinsthe Islamictraditional decorative (1927), and (1927), yet, yet, despite Man of Aran of Man Romancero Romancero ’s goal stated of paying homage to Moroccans (1934). The film portrays an organic com- organic an portrays film The (1934). Romancero was made “thinking of Franco,” and Franco,” of “thinking made was tries to capture the “mythi- the capture to tries Romancero adds a voice-of-God-style Romancero adds a voice-of-God-style did open in every major provin- major every in open did The Spanish Perspective 441 .16 Spaniard ’s representation, northern Moroccans resemble resemble Moroccans northern representation, ’s is structured around a notion of messianic time, Romancero , Romancero en its hidden propagandistic and ideological agenda, it is no surprise no is it agenda, ideological and propagandistic hidden its en Romancero did not really attempt to seriously explore the cultural and ne ne of the defining traits of early Francoism was this politics of time. O Giv that ethnographic differences of Moroccans living underSpanish rule.On the Specifically starker reality of a hungry and disease-ridden Spanish Moroccan Protec- torate in 1938 (see figure 2).For Francoism,Spanish Morocco was thus a de- Cornyetz Nina that countryside Japanese the like place, mythical kitschy space, mentalreality a geographical but a not was It volume. this in scribes an ideological fantasy that was at the core of the Francoist kitsch politics of time. lievers.” Thus, in Thus, lievers.” robes flowing white in tribesmen Semitic of images biblical the more much toplayingor land, musicaltending their flocks,their plowing their instru- the of catechisms Catholic Spanish standard the filled that ments—images the to correspond would that realisticimages more the do theytime—than contrary, and without ever abandoning the use of ethnographic cliché, it set out to reveal the deep similarities between Christian and Muslim “be- (dir. Carlos Velo, 1939). Velo, Carlos (dir. marroquí Romancero 1. Still from nate “pious” Muslims brothers but to eliminate Spanish now Republicans termof the traitorslabeled and unworthy to fatherland the 442 Alejandro Yarza the mythical Moor slayer of the Spanish Reconquest—he finally stops his stops Reconquest—hefinally Spanish the of slayer Moor mythical the tiago “Matamoros” (Saint James of Compostela), patron saint of Spain and San- to reference obvious horse—an white a messengerriding Francoist a pilgrimagewith encounter brief After a higherFranco’s cause. of disguisedembrace his toward a but nothing is weddings ritual and markets ful ethnographic excuse for photographing white mosques and villages, color- supposedly former fatherland. his fromSpain, back receives Aalami call ancestral underlinethe to meant is here which bullfights, at played music the of reminiscent soundtrack the on chords musical few by a underlined headox’s an of close-up the by receiving an ancestral call while he is plowing his land, visually represented fillsthe preceding one.Aalami firstfeels compelled toleave his village after home from Spain in time forEach segment prefiguresthe harvest. and ful- return Aalami’s the Franco’s and in depicts fourth army; colonial hefights whereSpain, to followshim third thefor work; search in Morocco around travels Aalami’s on focuses second the time; sowing around village native his in life family Aalami’s around revolves one first into four the segments: main subdivided is film The fulfillment.”17 and “prefiguring Benjamin, called Walter following Anderson, Benedict what by characterized from2. Still Romancero marroquí (dir. Carlos Velo, 1939). He travels on foot around Morocco in search of work. The narrator’s narrator’s The work. of search in Morocco around foot on travels He The Spanish Perspective 443 Roman- ’s ’s attempt to persuade Moroccans Romancero ’s ’s narrative, whose explicit goal was military mobilization, to ’s ’s narrative thus “moves” cyclically, revolving around agricul- et this notion of kitsch only goes so far in explaining the film’s political film’s the explaining in far so goes only kitsch of notion this et ’s narrative is built is what Mark Neocleous sees at the heart of fascism, fascism, of heart the at sees Neocleous Mark what is built narrativeis ’s This circular, a-historical, Francoist temporality around which Romancero Y Romancero sch that, I suggest, Francoism shared with fascism. Francoism shared sch that, Japanese I suggest, mobilizing mobilizing function: its emotionally coded and readily available message is presented aesthetically, not rationally, thus eliciting from its audience un- audience that making automatic“unreflective response,” emotional an aware of the ideology being imparted. It is the harnessing of the powerof kit make Francoist soldiers out of starving Moroccan peasants by promising united people our of blood generous the with watered roses “best the them to join Franco’s army, it is important to recall Saul Friedlander’s crucial which kitsch,” “common kitsch: of types different twodistinctionbetween “tends to and universality,” “uplifting kitsch,” which “is rooted, symbol- centered, and emotionally linked to the values of a specific group.”20 This uplifting kitsch, which exploits “obvious mythical patterns,” has a clear aesthetic. To fully To aesthetic.understand the the power of fascist kitsch is its hallucinatory power, “its compulsion to escape from abstract to sameness,” use Adorno’s phrase, from the empty homogeneous time of Kitsch, modernity.19 like Francoism (and like Japa- nese cultural fascism), promised a refuge against the modernity. of center the at thatBenjaminaura saw the of decay passing the against of time, of offear This and, change the ultimately, inevitability ofdeath impliedby the modern teleological conception of historyaccounts the for emergence of political kitsch as a refuge, “home”—as the Spanish avant-garde writer la Serna calls into into not de future. past, the the Gómez it—looking and never spills out into the empty, homogenous time of history, the linear the history, of time homogenous empty, the into out never spills and historical time modern of the nation. cero which can also be said to At characterizethe heart of all of forms kitsch.18 the the harvest not only brings the narrative to a close but also implies that even nature itself rewards his courage forfightingfor the right with cause crop. a bountiful tural events inextricably tied to the religious, the political, and the transcendental. Time is contained within an organic community of believers wandering at wandering the recruitment office tojoin this army;Franco’s put simply, has been a pilgrimage in search of a destiny that has already been determined for him. His fighting inSpain—where he receives three wounds— fulfills thispredetermined Finally, his“destiny.” returnhome in time for 444 Alejandro Yarza as a closed ideological system, which, to be made more effective, it renders message political own its prepackagesIt inhabitants. its of values ditional tempts to link the pristine natural landscape of the Moroccan Rif to the tra- appealing emotion in to “tribal” Moroccan order to mobilize. in one ideal” is carefully constructed around this notion of uplifting kitsch; Karl Freund’s Karl with light.” flooded get fields the and arrived, has day the up, wakes Morocco life. to called has seas, the and skies the valleys, and mountains through and natural, thethe spiritual:social, “the Muezzin’s voice, extending itself the connecting utterance first its makes scene, the see to how on viewer voiceover,the guidingthepoint, this At head. his around turban eninghis tight- himself Aalami of shot finally, a and Fatima; mother, his with later a into blanket his transforming immediately and wakingup Ahmed, oldestson, his cradle; the in ingbaby the resting people inside. indicating of the house—metonymically frontin slippers Moroccan traditional of pairs mediumtwo shotona with tion blending harmoniously (see 4).figure cameraThe comes finally to rest tree branches surrounding the small house, suggesting nature and civiliza- the to linked metaphorically is roof palm The rest. idly implements rural few a walls whose against dwelling white pure immaculate the accenting take panning long a by followed village, Aalami’s of shot panoramic long a gives camera the shots, these after 3).22 Immediately figure (see fascism forthat “curative imagery of Kennethunity” Burke of was so characteristic that in cuts—rendered visible hardly any shots—with linked “organically” of series a in spiritual the and natural the conflate visually shots lishing estab- These dissolves. of chain a through waters ocean and mountains arid prayer combineof shots to calling with muezzin the with tower white the mosque’s and upliftingof cacti kitsch. terns giant The of shots various pat- mythical the of land the into directly and Morocco Spanish of ment for that Hermann Broch istheofkitsch.21 essence category” aesthetic the with ethical the of “confusion that producing aesthetically, and city life, and in city emphasize new rhythms and patterns in celebration of modern technology shotsopening whose documentaries, those unlike CameraHowever, Movie . Th Th These first shots, then, visually follow the pattern set by films such as such films by set pattern the follow visually then, shots, first These e next series of shots progressively introduces Aalami’s family: a cry a family: Aalami’s progressivelyshotsintroduces of series next e e first section of the film introduces us to the harsh natural environ natural harsh the to us introduces film the of section first e or the opening of Dziga Vertov’sDziga of opening the or Symphony Berlin anything artificial that distracts thatthe distracts from Romancero anything artificial organic (robe), leaving the house moments house the leaving (robe), chilaba Romancero at- Man with a with Man - - 3–4. Stills from Romancero marroquí (dir. Carlos Velo, 1939). 446 Alejandro Yarza beginning “let there be light” a faithful visual representation. Therefore, fromthe very narrative model, from the biblical Genesis, in an attempt to give the phrase old an on draws voiceover The sight. from removed been has life of flow Francoist film legislation. In helping its own cause, Franco’scause, could regime own In helping its legislation. film Francoist highly visible in the cultural and political arena in apparently self-defeating tions that plagued Francoism right fromthat are the start—contradictions however, allows us a precious glimpse into the inner ideological contradic- Romancero’s Spain’sadvance colonial expansion inAfrica. of a be soon to abandoned linenew of “Africanist cinema” would that help Spain. in shortrun very a had also It Arabic. into dubbed soundtrack its with released never was it fact, in protectorate; Spanish the within distribution limited very a had mancero place.24 backward premodern, poor, a as Morocco northern depicted it because film the rejected ultimately officials Moroccan high modernity, New Earth by Japanese critics because it failed to come to terms with Japan’s Fanck’s of rejection the like much and Ironically, audience. target can cause. Franco’sfor die to persuadeMoroccans young to attempt war,foran cry a death. of appearance beautiful seemingly the and punishment, repentance, guilt, faith, blind and irrationality with content: political and moral with filled metaphorically is cliché mentby historical a flattening out of a distinct geographical and cultural reality and its replace- reconquest.23 that Franco hoped to restore and bring back to Spain by his new crusade of term, Olalquiaga’s Celeste use to aura, the of fragment” “scattered the of the Spanish Morocco depicted in democracy. andparliamentary materialism itself—modern Francoism opposing—likeparadise kitsch biblical a imitated, be to model a becomes tion, paradoxically in inferior, other to the colonizing metropolis in need of progress and civiliza- albeit alluring, an becomes colony the representations colonial traditional in While time. historical linear outside stands that structure structure—a narrative familiar immediately an of parameters the within audience ish B In this kind of Francoist kitsch, the “empty space” opened up by the by up opened space” “empty the kitsch, Francoist of kind this In that life of way premodern a of idealization visual kitschy this in is It ut as I already mentioned, already I as ut difficulty in successfully addressing its intended audience, audience, intended its addressing successfully in difficulty frames an unfamiliar Moroccan reality for the Span- the for reality Moroccan unfamiliar an frames Romancero Romancero was supposed to be the beginningthe be to supposed was Romancero ’s representation, Spanish Moroccan society failed to connect with its Moroc- its with connect to failed Romancero Romancero becomes the ideal embodiment was, after all, after was, Romancero Ro- The The Spanish Perspective 447 Raza, a 1941 film basedon Franco’s than through the popularity of American films and Romancero legislative measures undermined the efforts of the more genuine ancoism practiced above all a very successful politics of survival. It is t has often been said that because Francoism (like Japanese fascism, as fascism, thatbecause(likeJapanese Francoismsaid been often has t Fr I Such fascist fascist elements within Franco’s regime. As a result, their attempt to con- American conquerors into a democratic, neoliberal state, Franco died in securing consent, Francoist Spain shared much with Nazi Germany, fascist fascist Germany, Nazi with much shared Spain Francoist consent, securing and Imperial Japan. Italy, Ital- by executed was Mussolini while that all, after coincidental, purely not ian partisans and his body upside down hung in Loreto Square, and Hitler killed and in by himself Japan was hidden itsa transformed lonely bunker, ous, but the Hollywood films Spanish audiences loved to watch. In the end, the In watch. to loved audiences Spanish films Hollywood the but ous, cohe- systematicand a lacking though Francoism, that argue would I then, sive cultural politics, was able to secure ideological consent less through centralized, grandiose projects such as script, and sentimental comedies. It might be argued that in this diffuse mode of sett’s sett’s well-known definition:“fascism is A andB.” In reality, Francoism, its in seen as Francoism, Ultimately, C. and B, A, was fascism, Japanese like regime “the concerned: all suited that arrangement an was legislation, film got its films, theproducers massive profits andthe publicthe Hollywood films they liked.”26But perhaps in the end what the regime really needed was not its propaganda films, whose effect on audiences is at best dubi- duct a uniform process of ideological interpellation never really worked, though its effects were certainlynot negligible. In this way, the Francoist case, riddled with internal contradictions fascista unified cul- and lacking case. greatly Japanese tural the agenda, resembled in introductionthe to was an this“er- volume) Tansman by Alandescribed satz” form of fascism from the start formed by competing political interests, it might have outlasted of other forms fascism. Francoism was a perfect example of Ernesto Laclau’s empty signifier, which can be filled with Gas- y Ortega fit perfectly it such, as and contradictorycontent, of kinds all have have created screen quotas or prohibited the import of foreign, ideologically suspect films. Instead, as early as1941, and under the excuse ofpre- serving Spain’s imperial language from foreign contamination, it passed of producers only that ruled and dubbing compulsory enforcing legislation Spanish films could importforeign This films. legislationsingle-handedly struck a powerful blow to the Spanish filmfromindustry, which it would never fully recover. As expected, Spanish audiences flocked to Hollywood theaters.25 Spanish in available and widely intoSpanish dubbed films 448 Alejandro Yarza

Notes allthe honors with buried ofahead ofstate. bed softlyat eighty-two, uttering the words, “How hard it is to die.” He was

10. 11. 4. 8. 6. 5. 2. 9. 3 7 1. . .

vos de laFilmoteca 27 1997): (October 53 See Ferrán Alberich, “Raza. Cine y propaganda en la inmediata posguerra,” facultad de laciudad universitaria de de Filosofía Madrid yLetras Caballero, Giménez Ernesto viding me acopy with film. of this pro in generosity forNacionalEspañolahis Filmoteca of Herrera Javier thank I diense de Estudios,forthcoming. Hispánicos de Aixa,’” singularidad canción racial de ‘La frente1938–1942.a La 1925–1935español: africanista cine “El Búrdalo, Domínguez José see Morocco, on Forcentered ibid.,695. Spanish See of film overview production excellent an calamidad que hemos padecido hemos que calamidad en creo eso que llaman civilización arábiga y considero que su paso por España la como mayor apenas antipatía, profunda una profeso les nada, decir quiero no árabes los (De endured” civilization and think that their stay in Spain has Arabic been the called worst we been calamity have has what in believe not do I them, for dislike deep a have I Arabs. about anything say to want not do “I Arabs: the of indictment crash a España,” de porvenir “Elespañol,”for In offered example, Unamuno 11. canista afri- cine “El Búrdalo, Domínguez Morocco: about rhetoric colonial Spanish of characteristic be would that reasoning double-edged of kind the provided who one the was Unamuno de Miguel out, points Búrdalo Domínguez as War), can Spanish–Ameri- the in Cuba of Spain’sloss to response in identity national ish Span- on reflected who writers (various 1998 of Generation Spanish the of bers mem- the of all From Morocco. in intervention Spain’scolonial justify to serve and Miguel de Unamuno provided the “ideological arsenal” that ultimately would Flor en lasombra 1997), Cátedra, (Madrid: , ed.JulioPérezPerucha 123. 1906–1995: Elena, “Romancero See Alberto marroquí, 1939,” in 1987), 252 canción de Aixa (dir. FloriánRey, 1939). 1939 (dir.Perojo, paña Benito 1938); Perojo, Benito The five filmsproduced were by Hispano-Film-Produktion (1999): 51–73. See Lutz P. Koepnick, “Fascist Revisited,”Aesthetics Hispania 55, no. 190 (1995): 708. (1896–1994),”de Marruecos “Elguerras españollas Corrales, cine y Martin Eloy 33.Ibid., Domínguez Búrdalo explains how Spanish intellectuals such as Joaquin Costa Costa Joaquin as such intellectuals Spanish how explains Búrdalo Domínguez Kundera Milan See h Ubaal Lgtes f Being of Lightness Unbearable The Mariquilla Terremoto1938); (dir.Perojo, Benito ). But at the same time, Unamuno considers “Spain considers Unamuno time, same the at But ). El cine y la culturacinehumana. la y El Conferenciala pronunciadaen ); Carmen la de la TrianaCarmen (dir. Rey,Florián 1939); and NwYr: HarperCollins, York: (New Antología crítica del cine español 6,Modernism/Modernity no. 1 (Bilbao: Ece, 1944), 32 1944), (Bilbao: Ece, El El barbero de Sevilla (dir. Suspiros de Es- deSuspiros Revista Cana- Revista Archi- La La - The Spanish Perspective 449 marroquí ”: ibid., 12. The Romancero Kitsch: An Anthology of Bad Bad of Anthology An Kitsch: (Madrid: Martínez Roca, : ibid., 15. : ibid., , nos. 85–86, nos. 203. (1990): Salmagundi cuando interesa, el legado árabe es ninguneado; también también ninguneado; es árabe ellegado interesa, cuando Los moros que trajo Franco Five Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Deca- Imagined Communities: Imagined Reflections on the Origin andSpread of (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 1997), Press, Minnesota of University (Minneapolis: Fascism El cambio de imagen del magrebí es más agudo y positivo y en positivo las cintas es más agudo del magrebí El imagen de cambio See María Rosa de Madariaga, , ed. Gillo Dorfles (New York: Universe Books, 1975), 63. 1975), Books,Universe York: Gillo Dorfles (New , ed. Taste See Herman Broch, “Notes in the Problem of Kitsch,” in Kitsch,” of Problem the in “Notes Broch, Herman See See ibid., 15. About this new, more favorable, representation of the moor, Domin- moor, the of representation favorable, more new, this About 15. ibid., See dence, Kitsch, (Durham: 208. Postmodernism Duke Universitydence, Press, 1987), The moors were now ‘the good guys.’ . . . Morocco was now what it was necessary was it what now was Morocco . . . guys.’ good ‘the now were moors The to retain and Spain what had to be conquered”: see DionisioViscarri, “Political (1921– War Moroccan the Narrative of Pre-Fascist Orientalism:The and Ideology 1999, 75. Columbus, Ohio State University, diss., Ph.D. 1923),” See Benedict Anderson, filmadas mientras aún continuaba la Guerra Civil. Lógico es deducir que una de las razones de de razones las de una que deducir es Lógico Civil. Guerra la aún continuaba mientras filmadas bando el en moras tropas las de participación decisiva la en radicaba representación nueva esta nacional, pero formaba también parte de una estrategia política de mayor calado tendente a las aprestaron se que lo a algo Alawita, reino el con España de anexión)(la unión la consolidar Civil la Guerra finalizada franquistas tropas In fact, very satisfied with its outcome, Franco himself gave the green light. Its Spanish release was set for July 17, the third anniversary of 1939,” marroquí, “Romancero Elena, See Republic: the against uprising Franco’s 123. In Dionisio Viscarri’s words, “The I and the Other gotfused and confused. . . . 24. 1983), (London: Verso, Nationalism Kingdom, a goal toward which the Francoist troops rushed once the Civil the once rushed troops Francoist the which toward goal a Kingdom, Alawita ( was finished” War See Martín Corrales, “El cine español y las guerras de Marruecos (1896–1994),” 694, 696. guez Búrdalo writes, “Theshift in the Maghreb’s image is more acute and posi- is only It logical on. still was to going Civil War while the tive movies in the shot decisive the in representationresided new this of reasons the of one that assume participation of Moorish troops on the Francoist side, but it was also part of a wider political strategy tending to consolidate the Spanish union . . . with the cuando interesa, cautamente se lo emparienta con lo andaluz, dándole así carta de españolidad, españolidad, de carta así dándole andaluz, lo con emparienta lo se cautamente interesa, cuando algo que se reitera especialmente en la filmografíadel primerfranquismo translations are mine. and the Rif as one and the same”: Miguel de Unamuno, “España y el Rif es uno y uno es Rif el y “España Unamuno, de Miguel same”: the and one as Rif the and convenient is it “When notes, Búrdalo Dominguez As ibid. in quoted mismo,” lo Anda- to linked is it convenient it is when also but diminished; legacyis Arab the lusia, endowing it with Spanishness, something that gets reiterated specially in ( filmography Francoist first the 72–73. See Mark Neocleous, Mark See Quoted in Matei Calinescu, Saul Friedlander et al., “On Kitsch,” Kitsch,” et al., “On Friedlander Saul 2002), 354.

7. 5. 8. 4. 1 13. 19. 1 21. 16. 12. 1 1 20.

450 Alejandro Yarza

24 26. 22. 2 2 5. 3. .

Pantheon Books, 1998), 95.Pantheon Books, Celeste Olalquiaga, Celeste Aurora Bosch and M. Fernanda del Rincón, “Franco and Hollywood, 1939–56,” Hollywood, and “Franco Rincón, del Fernanda M. and Bosch Aurora Cinema, 53. Review Left New National Routledge, Cinema (London: 2003), 53. Triana-Toribio,Nuria see legislation, film Francoist on discussion a For Elena, see “Romancero Franco, with aligned marroquí,1939,” 124. On the problematic reception the film hadwith Moroccan nationalists politically ary Form:Studiesary in Symbolic Action(New York: 1957), Books, Vintage 177. Kenneth Burke, “The in Rhetoric idem, of Hitler’s ‘Battle,’” 3 (98: 1–7 qoe i Triana-Toribio, in quoted 112–27, (1998): 232 The Artificial Kingdom: A Treasury of Kitsch Experience A Kitsch Kingdom: of Treasury Artificial The The Philosophy ofLiter- pns National Spanish (New (New York: Spanish Contributors

Noriko Aso is an assistant professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has published essays on cultural history and is completing a study of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japanese cultural institutions as they negotiated new forms of publicness.

Michael Baskett is an associate professor of film studies in the department of Theatre and Film at the University of Kansas, where he teaches courses in East Asian cinema and film history. He is the author ofThe Attractive Empire: Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan (2008).

Kim Brandt is an associate professor of history at Columbia University. She is the author of Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan (Duke, 2007).

Nina Cornyetz is an associate professor of interdisciplinary studies at the Gal- latin School, New York University. She is the author of The Ethics of Aesthetics in Japa- nese Cinema and Literature: Polygraphic Desire (2007).

Kevin M. Doak holds the Nippon Foundation Endowed Chair in Japanese Culture at Georgetown University, where he also chairs the Department of East Asian Lan- guages and Cultures. He is author or editor of several books and has written over thirty articles on nationalism, ethnicity, and political thought in modern Japan. His most recent book is A History of Nationalism in Modern Japan: Placing the People (2007).

James Dorsey is an associate professor of Japanese literature and cultural history at Dartmouth College. In addition to publishing essays on and translations from the writer Sakaguchi Ango, he has recently completed a study of the critic Koba- yashi Hideo.

Aaron Gerow is an assistant professor of Japanese cinema and culture in the departments of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Film Studies at Yale Uni- versity. His publications include Kitano Takeshi (BFI, 2007) and forthcoming books on A Page of Madness (dir. Kinugusa Teinosuke, 1926), and Taishō film culture. 452 Contributors Mirror of War. on Japanese war memory and material forms, study of women in ascetics northeastern Japan. She is currently completing a book Mountain Sacred Japanese a Transcendenceon and Labor Wishes: Immortal author the of sheis anthropologist, BrandeisUniversity.sociocultural at A pology ture and visual cultures for wartime propaganda, memory works associated with with associated works memory propaganda, wartime for cultures visual and ture at the University of Michigan. She has taught and published on the use of architec- Japanese print culture. nineteenth-century of history a on working currently is He (2006). Literature Meiji sity. He is the author of Japan after 2006). Japan (Duke, sity. His most recent publication is a book of essays edited with Tomiko Yoda, titled vation, and politicization of Asia-Pacific ofAsia-Pacific andpoliticization vation, War in memories Japan. She cities. of workingis preser- manuscript on theonbook a collection, struction recon- and destruction the and catastrophes, natural and human other and war Japan’s Animal, ed. Life M. PflugfelderGregory andL.Brett Walker (2005). Japan,” Nineteenth-Century in Culturesin Canine and Civilization, Imperialism, Bark? Subaltern the “Can of author the is He sity. photography. Japanese on work to begun also has He architecture. Japanese twentieth-century of history theon primary Columbiaand University.concentrated has research His (2007). Japan. He andmodern iscompletingon exhibitions abook in Japan,” Modern in Cultures Other “TheLogic of Spectacle c. 1970,” in include articles recent His London. of Studies,University African and Oriental of published arangeand mass inJapan. mediation on modernity ofessays of author the is University of Chicago, and adjunct senior research professor at Columbia Univer-Columbiaprofessor at research senior adjunct and Chicago, of University Jonathan M. M. Jonathan Ji A Marilyn H Ak A E llen llen n aron aron arry arry m i g

k R us us o o ei Sc T c H L a Sk hert o hatts arootunian I k vy ck a ena b is an associate professor of anthropology at Columbia University. She yer elun is an associate professor of Japanese literature at Stanford Univer- Stanford at literature Japanese of professor associate an is R k c Discourses of theJapan Vanishing:of Phantasm,Modernity, Discourses eynol hnei a is a lecturer (assistant professor) in Japanese history at the School is an assistant professor in the Department of the History of Art d is an assistant professor of history at Brigham at professorYoung history assistant of an is Univer- d er d is the Max Paleusky Professor of History, emeritus, at the at emeritus, History, Professorof Paleusky Max the is In the Company of Men: Representations of Male–Male Sexuality in s is an associate professor in the Department of Anthro- of Department the in professor associate an is is an associate professor of art history at Barnard College Art History Art (2007), and “National Museums and Museums and Difference and Museums Facing the Dead: Japan and Its Dolls in the JAPANimals: Cultureinand History , ed. Daniel Sherman Daniel ed. , (Duke, 2003), a 2003), (Duke, (1995) and has and (1995) Contributors 453

(forth- Rough Living The Aestheticsof JapaneseFascism The Fiction ofTokuda Shūsei and the Emergence of (1994) and the translator of Tokuda Shūsei’s is an associate professor in the Department of East Asian Lan- Asian East of Department the in professor associate an is is an associate professor of Spanish at Georgetown University. University. Georgetown at Spanish of associateprofessor an is e c is a professor of East Asian languages and culture at the University the at culture and languages Asian East of professor a is is an assistantof Japanese and professor comparative literature at (1999) and is completing a book on kitsch and fascism in Spanish arza an Y ent m orran c Un caníbal Un en Madrid: Lael y reciclaje camp de sensibilidad la historia en el cine de T ro

in d d ans V T an j har c le lan i A R Keith A Boston University. His research interests include modern Japanese literature, queer queer literature, Japanese modern include interests research His University. Boston a completing currently is He theory. translation and novel, the of theory the theory, book homosocial on narrative fiction. in modern Japanese guages guages and Literatures and director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at Ohio State University. He is the author of Japan’s New Middle Class (2001). of California, Berkeley. He is the author of 2009). coming He He teaches contemporary Spanish literature, film, and cultural history.He is the of author Pedro Almodóvar literature and film.

index

Page references in italics refer to illustrations

Abe Hirozumi, 20–21n2, 50n6 dormitory, 120–21, 131, 137n60; ide- action (kōiteki), 86, 150 ology, and symbolic value of, 15, 19, actuality of daily life, 85, 86, 95, 97 27n46, 237, 250n8, 251n12, 264, 270– Adorno, Theodor, viii, x, 80, 83, 443 71, 274n25; Japaneseness in, 269, aestheticentrism, 322, 335, 342, 343 283–84, 292–93n23; modernity, and “Against the Nazi Control of the Arts” types of, 242–43; national unity rep- (Tosaka), 3 resentation in, 267–69, 270, 275n38; Agrarian Literature Harmonious Discus- plans for Manchurian capital, 27n46; sion Society, 75 political culture, and relation to, 237– Ahen sensō (film), 198 38, 250n9, 270–71. See also chūreitō Akita breed, 155, 165, 166, 178 memorial construction; Imperial Diet Akuma no deshi (Hamao). See Devil’s Dis- Building ciple, The (Hamao) Arendt, Hannah, 17–18 The Alpine Lancers (film), 221, 224–25, Arishima Takeo, 67 233n36 arrests, mass, 72–73 amae, 384–85 Arupus no Sokitai (film), 221, 224–25, Amakasu Masahiko, 212 233n36 Anderson, Benedict, 185, 192, 194, 442 Asahi Corporation, 240, 419 Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936, 31, 224, Asahi Cultural Prize, 419 231 Asahi Shimbun (publication), 239, 240– antifascist arguments, 16–18, 27–28n49 41, 245, 252n40, 267, 269, 419, 429n7 anti-Semitic rhetoric, 215, 223, 224 Asia-Pacific War, 249n2, 297, 309 anxiety ( fuan), 6, 9–10, 11, 13, 25n29, Atarashiki tsuchi (film), 214, 225–29, 32, 162, 206 231n5, 234, 234nn50,53, 435–36, 446 Aono Suekichi, 4, 25, 65, 66, 71, 74 Axis film culture: allies in, 213, 222, aporias of representation, 18, 81, 85–86, 233n37; anti-Semitic rhetoric in, 90, 105, 107, 109n1, 382 215, 224; anti-Western films in, 222, apostasy writers, 33, 52n26, 196, 205–6, 223–24; censorship in, 216–18; China 211n65, 416 in, 228, 233n35, 234n49; colonial Araki Sadao, 178–79 identity of, 214, 220, 221, 233n33; co- architectural style: factory girl project productions, and ideological limits ex Axis film culture (continued) 298–99, 315; on photographs of d of, 14–15, 19, 224–29, 436; distribu- human image, 299, 315; “The Work in tion practices in, 213–14; exhibition of Art . . .”, 207n5, 298, 324 practices in, 220–24; fascist aesthet- benshi, 188, 190, 192, 193, 198–99, ics in, 16, 435; film blocs and, 213, 208n24 216–17, 218, 230; imperialism, and Berezin, Mabel, 20n1, 186 themes in, 220–23; legislation, and Bergson, Henri, 8, 86, 103 influence of, 194, 213, 214–16, 230; Berlin, Isaiah, 17 localization in, 220, 233nn35–36; Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Freud), 389, marketing solidarity of, 213, 219– 390, 391 24; mechanical and technological bidan, 240, 425–27, 431nn40–41 themes in, 220, 232n28; Olympics, Bi to keizai (Yanagi), 148 and ideology of, 224; Orientalism in, Bourdieu, Pierre, 47, 54n41 226, 228, 229; significance of, 222, bourgeoisie. See middle class 230–31; South Africa in, 223; unity in, bravery, and ideology of fascism, 179– 19; Venice International Film Festival, 80 213, 219–20. See also film industry; bride dolls: amae and amaeru, and sig- France; Francoist film industry; Ger- nificance of, 310; ambiguous, and many; Italy uncanny associations with, 313; Bud- Axis nations, 212–13, 217, 228, 436. See dhist memorializations (kuyō), and also Germany; Spain significance of, 297, 305–7, 312, 313, 315; kamikaze, and significance of, Banpaku: finances, and profits from, 302–4; kinship dynamics, and sig- 286–88, 291, 294nn34–35,37,41; nificance of, 311–15; memorials, and groups, and diverse support for, function of, 297–98, 303–4, 306–8, 286–88, 291, 294nn34–35,37,39,41; 317n14; pain of loss, and impact of, Japaneseness in architecture style of, 311, 313–15; spirit marriage, and dedi- 283–84, 292–93n23; Jimmu and, 280, cation of, 305–6, 307; symbolic func- 284, 288, 292nn12–13; material form, tion of, 302–3; Tohoku dedications and commemorative space for, 282– of, 305–7; war dead restlessness, and 85, 292–93nn23–24,26,30; multiple significance of, 309; Yūshūkan Mu- meanings vs. fascist interpretation of, seum, and displays of, 304, 307–8, 16, 19, 278–79, 288–89, 290, 294– 309, 311–12. See also Yasukuni Shrine; 95n44; origins narratives, and imperi- Yūshūkan Museum alism themes for, 279–82, 289–90, Buddhism: doll memorializations 292nn11–13, 20 (kuyō), and references to, 297, 305–7, Barthes, Roland, 91, 390, 405n24 312, 313, 315; fascist aesthetics, and Beauty and Economics (Yanagi), 148 references to, 227–28; historical Beauty of Labor campaign, 130, 132, 150 temporality, and references to, 100; Being and Time (Heidegger), 332 swastika, and references to manji Benjamin, Walter: fascism, and beliefs in, 227, 228; ultranationalism, and of, viii, 186, 204, 207n5, 324, 334– role of, 340; Zen, 331–34, 340–41, 35; on mass image reproduction, 352n49, 353n83

456 in

Bungakkai (journal), 56 of, 239, 244, 252–53n43; examples d bungei hyōronka. See culture critic of, 246, 247; funding for, 241, 244, ex Bungei Konwakai, 57, 63, 64, 65, 66, 248, 253n47; history of, 239, 247, 78n30, 343 251n18, 253nn49–50; ideology, and “Bunka bōeiron” (Mishima), 105 effect of, 246, 248; jury members, Bureau of Cultural Affairs, 164 and design competition for, 243–44, bushidō ethos, 171, 187, 207n14, 415, 252n40; kitsch power, and design of, 429n11 239, 244; mass media, and promotion of, 239–42, 248, 251nn19,22; mass Capital (Marx), 84 movement and, 236, 239, 245–46, capitalism: culture, and role in, xi; ex- 248, 251n18; military, and associa- cesses of, viii–ix; exhibits, and mass tion with, 238–39, 243, 244–45, 246, spectacle version of, 277–78; fascism, 249–50n6; Nihon shumi-style, and and relation to, viii, ix–xi, x, xi, 48, design competition for, 242, 243, 59, 76n5, 85, 277; fragile, 35–36; 244; process of, 238–39; professional middle class, and effects of, 35–36, architects, and design competition 50n8; nation-state, and development for, 242–44; prototype for type-three, of print, 185; sound, 35–36, 50n8; 246, 253nn48,50; sacrifices, and unevenness produced by, ix, x, 80–84, participation in, 239, 241, 246, 248; 91–92, 107, 142, 226, 293 scholarship on, 237, 249–50nn6–7; censorship: in Axis film culture, 216– school curricula, and design competi- 18; culture critic, and role in, 13–14, tion for, 241; Shintō, and association 26n41; in film industry, 14, 193, 196, with, 249–50n6; significance of, 238, 198–99, 209–10n51, 216–18; of mass 239, 246, 248, 249–50n6; Wakayama media, 13, 26n40; nationalization of, City memorial, and construction of, 193; shaping public opinion using, 245, 246, 253n47 27–28n49; of songs, 13–14. See also cinema. See Axis film culture; film indus- propaganda try; Francoist film industry; Germany; Ch’an Buddhism, 333, 334, 352n49 Italy Cheat, The (film), 216 Clark, T. J., 81, 88, 92 “Chihōsei no bunkateki kachi” (Yanagi), Cold War, 91, 291 142 Collected Works of Edogawa Ranpo, The (Hei- Children in the Wind (film), 220 bonsha), 357 China, as setting for films, 228, 233n35, colonial identity: in Axis film culture, 234n49. See also Manchuria 214, 220, 221, 233n33; in Francoist China Incident of 1937, 71, 244 film industry, 221, 233n33, 436, 437; “Chōsenjin o omou” (Yanagi), 140 in German films, 222–23, 233n38; in Chow, Rey, 325 Spain, 437, 446, 448–49n11 chūreitō memorial construction: ama- communism, 36, 41, 60 teur architects, and design competi- Communist Party, 41, 45, 56, 72, 177 tion for, 124, 128, 240–41; described, Condottieri (film), 221, 224–25, 233n36 236–37; design competition for, Confessions of a Nazi Spy (film), 217 239–40, 246, 248; design significance conservative revolutionary tradition, 8

457 ex Contemporary Architecture (journal), 243 Dai-Nihon Chūrei Kenshō-kai (Greater d Continental Colonial Development Japan Committee to Exalt the Loyal in Literary Harmonious Discussion War Dead), 239, 244, 245 Society, 75 Darwinism, 157, 356–57, 373, 377 Criminal Affairs Bureau, 53n32, 63, 72 Davis, Darrell, 186, 187, 207n14 criminology, 355, 356–58, 373–74, 377, Dazai Osamu, 90–91 379–80n33 DeMille, Cecil B., 216 Criticism of Japanese Fascism (Hasegawa), democracy, x, 49, 52n29, 76n5, 302, 177 340n22, 382; and relation to fascism, Critique, The (publication), 58 x, 49 culturalist ideology, 2–4, 5, 37, 41–44, 48 Demon of the Lonely Isle (Ranpo): contra- “Cultural Value of Regionality, The” dictions and inconsistencies in, 356; (Yanagi), 142 deviance in society, and narrative culture: capitalism, and role of, xi; farm of, 367–72, 377–78, 379n29; erotic- village, 129; modernity, and effects grotesque story lines in, 361–66, 363, on, 8–11; pain of loss, and effect on 365, 377; freak discourse in, 357–59, crisis of, 337–38; the political, and 361, 363, 365, 366, 376–78; illus- role of, xi; technology, and relation trations in, 357, 362, 378n4; liter- to, ix, x; universality vs. organically ary scholarship on, 359–60, 378n8; unified, ix, 346–47; work, 129, 131. modernism, and resistance using See also Axis film culture; daily life fascist ideology in, 12, 19, 355, 357– culture; folk culture; national cultural 58, 367, 373, 377–78; normal subject identity and values in narrative of, 361–62, culture critic: censorship, and role of, 366, 369–72, 376–77; plot of, 357, 13–14, 26n41; fascism, and role of, 360–61; pseudoscientific proposals, 3, 7, 24n26, 26n41, 43, 74, 105; ide- and deviance in, 357, 359, 373–77, ology, and role of, 33, 65, 70–72, 93, 379–80n33; publication of, 357 96–99; re-historicization of moder- Department of Overseas Affairs, 75 nity, and role of, 93, 96–99 dependence, 310, 384–85 detective fiction industry: fascist nar- daily life culture: actuality of, 85, 86, 95, rative in, 12, 399, 403; fright and 97; culture of reforms, and role in, reassurance in, 382; love scenes in, 7–8, 18; exhibits, and role in mold- 402–3; radiating highway system ing, 18, 277; factory girl project and, image, and narrative in, 403. See also 18, 120, 122–23, 122–25, 135nn34,38; Demon of the Lonely Isle (Ranpo) fascism and, 115–82; historical deviance: criminology vs., 355, 356–58, temporality vs., 86–88; industrial 373–74, 377, 379–80n33; eugenics workers, and emphasis on aesthetics vs., 358; homogeneity vs., 356, 358, of, 18, 120, 131–32; modernity, and 378; pseudoscientific proposals and, concreteness of, 84–85, 87, 98, 100, 357, 359, 373–77, 379–80n33; in so- 105; New Order and, 117, 120, 122–23; ciety, 367–72, 377–78, 379n29 reality of, 85, 145. See also factory girl Devil’s Disciple, The (Hamao): arbitrary project; Hachikō; Yanagi Sōetsu violence in, 381–82; fascism, and

458 in

temptations and avoidance in, 382, discourse on, 157, 160, 168, 178, 179; d 403; fascist narrative in, 12, 399, indigenous, 157, 158, 160–66, 165, ex 403; hetero-narrative of, 383–85, 169, 179; indoctrination, and tales of, 404n4; homophobia in, 407–8n68; 175; loyalty, and character of, 18, 156, homosexuality in, 383, 385–89, 386, 160, 170–77; master, and relation- 400–402, 404n13; insomniac homo- ship to, 157, 164, 165; middle class, sociality in, 383, 393–94; instruction and clientele for, 160; military use of, to seduction in, 383, 385–89, 404n13; 178–79; nationalism, and character letter form, and insistent voice in nar- of, 12–13, 18, 156, 160, 161, 179; police rative of, 396–98; misogyny, in naruse of, 178; racial purity, 12, 18, 156, rative of, 387, 388, 394–96, 406n44– 160, 179–80; urbanization, and clien- 45,48; oppositions, in narrative of, tele for, 160–61; Western bred, 178. 382–83; paranoia culture in, 12, 19, See also Hachikō 382, 390; quote from, 381; repetition Doi Takeo, 310, 384–85 and recovery, in narrative of, 389–92, dolls, 302–9, 313, 317n14. See also bride 401, 405nn24,30–31; sleep, and hole dolls in narrative of, 383, 390–91, 403; dormitory architecture proposal, 120– sleeping medication near-overdose, 21, 131, 137n60 and hole in narrative of, 399–400; dōrō bunka, 129, 131 speech over writing preference, in Dower, John W., 429n15 narrative of, 383, 392, 398–99, 400, Duus, Peter, 20–21n2, 339 405n31, 407nn55,61; unresolved struggles, and justice through law in, earthquake in Tokyo (1923), 9, 24n26, 381–82, 401–2, 403 286 Dialectic of Enlightenment (Horkheimer and East Asia Institute, 45 Adorno), viii Edogawa Ranpo zenshō (Heibonsha), 357 Die Diktatur (Schmitt), 52n23 Edo period aesthetics, 328, 330, 342, Diet (building). See Imperial Diet Build- 368 ing “Eiga rabu shiin” (pictorial series), 364 Diet (state organ), 254, 255–56, 267, “emergency” rhetoric, 9, 24–25n28, 272, 275nn41–42 162 Discourse of Japanist Ideology, The (Yanagi), emperor: dogs, and character of, 165– 151 66, 169, 175, 178; film industry, and dogs: eugenics, and breeding, 167, contradictions about, 196; histori- 168, 373–74, 376–77; Germany, and cal temporality, and role of, 106–7; significance of, 156–60, 164, 168, imperialism during Meiji period, 170–71, 179; indigenous, 158, 164, 175; Jimmu, 165, 278, 280, 284, 288, 165, 169, 170; wolves, and character 292nn12–13; mass media, and dif- of, 167–68, 178 fused image of, 26–27n45; mass dogs in Japan: bravery, and character of, mobilization under system of, 5; 156, 160, 175, 178–79; definition of modernity vs. cultural tradition of, native, 167, 170; emperors, and char- 89, 106, 107; organicism, and role of, acter of, 165–66, 169, 175, 178; fascist ix; origin, and role of, 280–82; ori-

459 ex emperor (continued) war dead in, 237. See also specific coun- d gin and projection role of, ix. See also tries in Banpaku; specific periods everyday life. See daily life emperor-system fascism, 5–6, 23n16, 91 evolutionary theory, 356–57 Enlightenment project, x, 93–94 exhibits, exhibitions: capitalist version entertainment, workers, and programs of mass spectacle in, 277–78; daily for, 128, 136n51 life molded by public entertainment ero-guro-nansensu formulation of mod- and spectacle in, 18, 277; fascist ernism, 355, 377 version of mass spectacle in, 276–79; erotic-grotesque cultural products: France, and role of, 282, 292n20; contradictions and inconsistencies in, Germany, and role of, 276–79; inter- 356; criminology and, 355, 356–58, national model for, 284–85, 287–88; 373–74, 377, 379–80n33; defined, Italy, and role of, 276–79; mass spec- 355; deviance in society, and role in, tacle, and significance in, 279; Meiji 367–72, 379n29; fascism, and multi- period, and role of, 286; universalism valent relationship with, 355–56; film and national commemoration in, love scenes, 363, 364; freak discourse 282, 292n20; U.S. nationalism and, in, 361, 363, 365, 366, 376–78; homo- 282, 292n20. See also Axis film culture; geneity vs. deviance in, 356, 358, 378; Banpaku; chūreitō memorial con- pseudoscientific theories in, 356, struction; film industry; Imperial Diet 357, 359, 373–77, 379–80n33; publi- Building; Yasukuni Shrine cations, 355; representation of, 357; Social Darwinism, and categorization factory girl project: daily life culture of, 356–57. See also Demon of the Lonely and, 18, 120, 122–25, 135nn34,38; Isle (Ranpo) dormitory architecture for, 120–21, Erotic Grotesque Nonsense formulation 131, 137n60; farm village and urban of modernism, 355, 377 factory culture reconciliation under, “Essay on the Defense of Culture” 120–25; furnishings proposed for, (Mishima), 105 120, 121; leisure time management Ethiopia, 220, 232n28, 299 and, 127; proposal for, 7, 115, 119; ethnic culturalist ideology, 2–4, 5, 37, questionnaires, 123–25, 135nn34,38; 41–44, 48 women’s conflicting role, and pro- Etō Jun, 90 posal for, 123–25, 135nn34,38; work eugenics: deviance vs., 358; dogs, 167, aesthetics and, 18, 120. See also women 168, 373–74, 376–77; evolutionary fascism: bottom-up, 13, 37, 38, 42, 46; theory shaped by, 356–57; German circular temporality and, 443; “cool,” fascism, 168; nationalism, and role 21–22n12; cultural sphere of, xi, 1–2, of, 168–69, 358, 372–75, 376, 377 6, 13–18, 32–33, 46–47, 151, 289–90, Europe: fascism, and ideology behind 323; defined, vii–viii, 57–58, 143, policies in, 20n1, 21n3, 322–23, 185–86, 447; historical application 348n6; films from, 218, 219; Japanese of, viii, 5–6, 8, 20–21n2, 21–22n12, fascism compared with fascism in, 22–23nn14,17, 23n18; as illusion, 21–22n12; memorials representing 31; “mythic core” of, 6–7, 23–24n21,

460 in

186, 336, 372; organizations opposed discourse on, 197, 209n37; Japanese- d to, 60; political manifestations of, 1, ness of, 187, 200; lecturers in, 188, ex 2, 20–21n2; as populist movement, 190, 192, 193, 198–99, 208n24; local 46; radical, 5, 22n13; as reactionary vs. national contradictions in, 188, movement, 34–37, 40, 51n11, 323– 192, 193; modernization of, 192–93, 24, 335–37, 342–45, 353nn83–84; 197, 209n36; nation, and contradic- scholarship on, 31, 50n1, 57, 126, tions in discourse on, 195–98, 203–4, 142–43; slippage between non-fascist 210n61; national, 15, 18, 187, 194, and antifascist discourses about, 16– 195, 197–98, 203, 204, 209–10n51, 18, 27–28n49; sociopolitical enact- 435; nation-ality of, 186, 187, 192–95; ment of, 186; top-down, 34; universal production modes in, 187, 193–94; theory of, 32, 34–41, 50n6; unseen purity, and contradictions in, 206–7; cultural, 34, 37–40, 46, 47; use of spectatorship and, 187, 196, 198–200, term, 2, 4, 5, 20–21n2, 22–23n14, 46, 209n45; studio system in, 193; war- 54n40, 59 like nature of, 206, 211n68; Western Fascism: Past, Present and Future (Laqueur), style internalized in, 188–91, 201–2, 32 203, 208n24. See also Axis film cul- fascist aesthetics, x, 3, 7–8, 15, 16, 19– ture; France; Francoist film industry; 20, 116, 324–25 Germany; Italy fascist binding concept, 10, 12, 143, 391, Film Law of 1939, 194, 213, 214 410 First World War, 7, 34–35, 37, 337 fascist European countries. See Ger- Five Scouts (film), 220 many; Italy; Spain; Vichy France Flaherty, Robert, 439–40 fascist fantasies, viii, x–xi, 20 Folk-Craft Association: factory girl fascist literati ( fuassho bunshi), 61–663, project proposal from, 7, 115, 119; 63, 72 furnishings proposed for, 120, 121, Fascist Visions (Affron and Antliff ), 324 131, 137n60; magazine publications Federacio de Proletaj Kultur Organizoj of, 115, 117, 118; New Order, and Japanaj (KOPF), 72, 73 role of, 117, 119–20, 125–26, 134n14, Fenollosa, Ernest, 259, 273n14 134nn14,18; tradition of culture, and Fight for Peace (film), 218 beliefs of, 117–18 film industry: anti-Western films in, Folk-Craft Monthly, 115, 118, 121, 123, 126, 222, 223–24; Asian spectators, 131 and contradictions in, 201–4, 206, folk culture: in Europe, 118, 132; health 210n61; censorship in, 14, 193, 196, of body, and significance of, 145; 198–99, 209–10n51; cultural aesthet- individualism vs. community and, ics and material conditions conflict 144–46; industrial workers, and in, 188, 194–95; diplomatic protests transfigured, 132; mediating masses, from, 216, 217–18; emperor, and and significance of, 145. See also min- contradictions in, 196; export of, gei; traditions 189–91, 201–4; fascism, and enforce- “folk” label, 84–85 ment in, 204–7; historical conditions formulated expressions, and national for, 187, 211n68; humanism, and goals, 292n11

461 ex France: exhibits, and nationalism in, Beauty of Labor campaign in, 130, 132, d 282, 292n20; fascism, and infiltration 150; colonial identity in films from, in into, 158; Vichy, 116, 118, 221, 251n16 222–23, 233n38; cultural worker pro- Franck, Arnold, 225–29, 234, grams in, 116, 117; dogs, and role in, 234nn50,53, 435, 446 156–60, 164, 168, 170–71, 179; enter- Franco, Francisco, 26–27n45, 137, 139, tainment for workers in, 128; eugen- 439, 446–49 ics, and fascism in, 168; exhibitions, Francoist film industry, 16, 20, 221, and role of mass spectacle in, 276–79; 233n33, 436, 437, 439, 447, 448– fascism in, ix, 24n23, 31, 32, 37, 38, 49n11. See also Morocco 50n8, 51nn13,15, 337; female factory freak discourse, 357–59, 361, 363, 365– workers in, 135n32; folk culture, and 66, 371, 376–78 social ideology in, 118, 132; joint film Freud, Sigmund, 384, 389–91, 395, 400, ventures with, 217, 436; legislation for 405n21 film industry in, 215; leisure time for fuan (malaise), 6, 9–10, 11, 13, 25n29, workers in, 127, 130; marketing films 32, 206 from, 222–23; nationalization of film Fuashizumu undō ron (Imanaka), 34 industry in, 205; national socialism, Fujin saron (magazine), 407–8n68 and role in, 51n13, 78n30, 130, 168; furusato, and components of, and com- Olympics in, 224, 277; politics of ponents of submariners myth, 410, despair in, ix, 9; racial purity advocacy 414, 420–24, 430n28 in, 15, 38, 51nn13,15, 168; Strength Futurism, 10, 25n30, 220, 300 through Joy program in, 116, 130, 131; Futurist Manifesto, 10, 299 wolves as symbol in, 159, 168 Fuwa Suketoshi, 198 “ghost” marriage, 305–6, 307, 316n12, 317n14 Gakugei Jiyū Domei (Alliance for Free- Gluck, Carol, 23n16 dom in Academic Research and the Godzilla (films), 272, 275n41 Arts), 60 Goebbels, Joseph, 26n34, 26–27n45, Gassett, Ortega y, 447 187, 205, 223 Gekkan mingei (publication), 115, 118, 121, Gonin no Sekkohei (film), 220 123, 126, 131 goodwill film genre, 229, 234n52 Gellner, Ernest, 185 Gordon, Andrew, 126 Gendai ryōki sentan zukan, 364 government. See state government genjitsu reality, of daily life, 85, 145 Gramsci, Antonio, 93, 96 Genroku Chōshingura (film), 186–87, 194, Grande illusion, La (film), 217 198, 202 Grand Shrine at Ise, 106 Germany: aesthetics for films from, gratitude indoctrination, 175 228, 234n49; architectural style, and Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, ideology in, 237, 251n12, 270–71; 201, 202, 204, 280, 325 artistic propaganda for shaping pub- Greater East Asian War, 249n2, 297, 309 lic opinion in, 14, 15, 26–27n45, 32, Griffin, Roger, 6, 185–86, 323, 336, 337, 436; Autobahn construction workers 431n37 model barracks in, 130, 136–37n58; gyokusai euphemism, 411, 428

462 in

Hachikō: animal-welfare activists, and High, Peter B., 197, 209–10n51, 422, d tale of, 174; character of, 155–56, 423 ex 162, 172–74, 177, 179; death of, 177; “Hin to bi” (Yanagi), 147 economic profit from fame of, 171; Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke, 374, 402, as guest at first dog show, 166; ideal 408n69 dog, and tale of, 156, 159; indoctrina- Hirato Renkichi, 10 tion tool, and tale of, 174–77; nation- Hirohito, 89, 106, 107 alism, and significance of, 162; purity historical reality, 95, 100–102, 387 of, 170, 171; statues of, 155, 159, 166, historical temporality: Buddhism, and 171–72, 172, 173; tale of, 12–13, 176– references in, 100; daily life vs., 86– 77; taxidermy of, 155, 156, 170. See 88; emperor’s role and, 106–7; in fas- also dogs cism, 107, 109, 336–37, 342, 353n84; Hamada Shōji, 140 in modernity, 107–9 Hamaguchi assassination, 40, 59 Hitler, Adolf, ix, 26–27n45, 156, 168, Hamao Shirō, 381–82, 393, 403n1, 447 405–6n34, 407–8n68. See also Devil’s Hollywood: Axis film culture, and power Disciple, The (Hamao) of, 213, 230; embargo against, 218; Hana-bi (film), 230 film style of, 191, 193, 198, 210n61; hanayome ningyo. See bride dolls racism, and influence of, 216, 218; Harootunian, Harry: on fascist tem- studio structure of, 193, 216 perament, 6, 326; on modernity’s holy war (seisen), 11, 27–28n49 fragmentation, 10, 277; on nation- Home Ministry, 53n32, 63, 66, 72, 193, alism, 52n31, 161, 325–26, 337; on 264, 343 re-historization, 46; on scholarship homogeneity: deviance vs., 356, 358, about fascism, 143 378; homogeneous time, 88, 443; Harumi Befu, 48 kitsch, and role in, 300, 309, 310, 314; Hasegawa Nyozekan: on fascism, literature, and modernity vs., 334, 21–22n12, 50n4, 58–59, 66, 76n5, 336; modernity, and temporal, 88, 177; on film industry, 200, 202; on 443; national cultural identity, and Hachikō myth, 13, 176–77 beliefs about, 64, 69–70, 106, 169; Hayashi Fusao, 41, 416 Yasukuni Shrine, and role in, 298 “Healthiness and Beauty” (Yanagi), 145 homophobia, 386, 406–7n52, 407–8n68 health of body, 10, 11, 127–28, 129, 131, homosexuality: cultural history of, 385– 136n49, 144–45 88, 404n13, 407–8n68; drug addic- Hearst, William Randolph, 217 tion, and narratives about, 393–94, Heian period aesthetics, 187, 328, 329, 406n37; fascism and, 384, 404n8; use 330, 342, 350nn31,34 of terms for, 386–87, 388, 404n13, Heidegger, Martin, 9–10, 21n6, 86, 95, 407–8n68 332 homosexual lifestyle, use of term, 398, Herf, Jeffrey, 144, 153, 336 406–7n52 heteronormativity narrative, 384, 394, Horkheimer, Max, viii, x 402 Hotta Shōichi, The Landlord’s Son Goes to Hewitt, Andrew, 186, 324–25, 337, 339 War, 70

463 ex House of the Sleeping Beauties (Kawabata), and, 267–70, 268, 274–75nn35–37; d 329, 346, 347, 350n31 international perceptions of, 269–70, in humanism: beliefs in, 16–17, 27n47, 271–72, 274–75nn35–36; Japanese- 120, 139, 141–42, 151, 153n27; film in- ness, and designs for, 257, 258–59, dustry, and discourse on, 197, 209n37 260, 261, 264, 273n6; materials for human subjects, qualities of, 156 construction of, 259; national unity representation in, 267–70, 268, 274– identity. See national cultural identity 75nn35–37; neoclassical designs for, ideological-philosophical domain, ix, x 264–65, 266; publicity, and opening ideological-political domain, x of, 269–70, 271–72, 274–75nn35–36; Ihara Saikaku (author), 65, 67, 69 significance of, 255–56, 270, 272; Imamura Taihei, 194, 197, 204, 209n36 temporary buildings for, 262, 263; Imanaka Tsugimaro: on bottom-up Western designs for, 256–60, 257, fascism, 37, 38, 40, 42, 46; on capital- 261, 262, 264, 273nn4, 6. See also ism, 35–36, 50n8; on ethno-cultural architectural style representation of fascism, 37–40, Imperial Household Museum, 269, 271, 51nn13–14; fascism, and approach 272 of, 31, 36, 37, 41–42, 43; On the Fas- imperialism: Axis film culture, and cist Movement, 34, 50n6; on German themes of, 220–23; Banpaku, fascism, 37, 38, 50n8, 51nn13,15; and themes of, 279–82, 289–90, ideological criticism, and beliefs 292nn11–13,20; during Meiji period, of, 33; on Italian fascism, 37, 50n8, 175 51n13; as liberal antifascist, 44; on Imperial Navy, 409, 410, 414, 418, 419, middle-class movement of fascism, 425, 429n8, 430n23. See also sub- 52n23; on minzoku concept, 38–40, mariners myth 51–52n19; On National Socialism, 37; Imperial Rule Assistance Association, political biography of, 33, 42–43; 11, 26n34, 53n35, 117–18, 126, 128, revolutionary and reactionary move- 129 ment of fascism, 34–37, 40, 51n11; individualism vs. community: fascism universal theory of fascism, 34–41, ideology and, 138, 146, 157, 277; 50n6; wartime studies on fascism of, folk culture, and beliefs of, 144–46; 34, 50n4 Japaneseness, and beliefs about, 8–9, Imperial Diet Building: burning of, 144; Yasukuni Shrine rituals and, 297, 262, 263; commissions, and designs 298, 314; Yūshūkan Museum displays for, 262, 264–70, 274n18; competi- and, 311 tions, and designs for, 264–65, 270, Industrial Patriotic Organization, 126, 274n24; construction of, 265; cultural 129 politics, and designs for, 259–60, industrial production, ix, 120, 131, 271; Diet’s failed power, and ambiva- 134nn14,18 lence about, 254, 255, 272, 275nn41– industrial workers: Beauty of Labor 42; funding for construction of, 259; campaign for, 130, 132, 150; daily life Godzilla, and threats to, 272, 275n41; culture aesthetics and, 18, 120, 131– international architectural practice 32; entertainment for, 128, 136n51;

464 in

leisure time reintegration for, 120–25, 257, 258–59, 260, 261, 264, 273n6; d 127–31; managed productivity ideals individualism vs. community, and ex for, 117, 125; recreation activities for, beliefs about, 8–9, 144; literature of, 127–28; Strength through Joy pro- 3; progressive vs. idealists in, 42–43, gram for, 116, 130, 131 53n32; as revival of ancient times, 68; Inoue Kaoru, 256, 259, 269 Zen Buddhism, and link with, 333. See intelligentsia, 34, 57 also national cultural identity International Exposition in Paris (1937), Japan External Trade Organization, 290 269, 272 Japan-German Cultural film Exchange International Popular Front against Agreement, 217 Fascism, 56, 72, 73 Japan Illustrated (annual), 269 Inukai Tsuyoshi assassination, 38, Japanism. See Japaneseness; national 51n14, 162 cultural identity IRAA, 11, 26n34, 53n35, 117–18, 126, “Japanism into Literature” (Tosaka), 3 128, 129 Japan Recreation Association, 127, 129, Irokawa Daikichi, 5, 23n16 131, 136n49 Ishiwara Kanji, 53n35 Japan Romantic School, 41, 65, 67–68 Italy: architectural style, and ideology Japan World Exhibition. See Banpaku in, 15, 237–38; artistic propaganda “Jewish Problem,” 215, 223, 224 for shaping public opinion in, 14, Jimmu, 165, 278, 280, 284, 288, 26–27n45, 32; conservatives’ reaction 292nn12–13 to fascism in, 76n5; cultural worker Jinmin bunko. See People’s Library, The programs in, 116, 117, 128, 131; Ethio- Jinmin Sensen jiken, 72–73 pian invasion by, 220, 232n28, 299; Jinminsha (publisher), 68–69 exhibitions, and role of mass spec- jinshu, 39, 51n15, 169 tacle in, 276–79; fascism in, 24n23, jissai of daily life, 85, 86, 95, 97 31, 157–58, 210–11n63; film industry Johnson, Barbara, 397 in, 216, 220–21; Film Law in, 215–16, Jones, Ernest, 384, 404n8 219; folk culture, and promotion in, 118; leisure time for workers in, 127, Kaeriyama Norimasa, 189, 191, 192, 130; lions, and symbolism in, 157–58 208nn20,24 Itami Mansaku, 198, 223, 225–26 Kaigun (film), 409, 419–24, 425 Itō Chūta, 265, 275n38 Kaizō (journal), 76n5 Itō Hirobumi, 260, 267 Kamiizumi Hidenobu, 128–29 kamikaze: assemblages, and memorial- Japan Culture Association, 63, 287 ization of, 301, 312; bride dolls, and Japanese Eugenics Society, 373 significance for, 302–4; culture of Japanese Folk-Craft Movement, 7, 18, fascism, and acts of, 411; dolls, and 138, 145, 148 significance for, 302–4, 307, 317n14; Japaneseness: architecture style to dolls in museum displays dedicated reflect, 283–84, 292–93n23; in film to, 304, 307; paintings of, 304, 309; industry, 187, 200; ideology of, 3; “shattered jewels” euphemism for, Imperial Diet Building designs and, 411, 428; use of term, 413; visitor

465 ex kamikaze (continued) Kaze no naka no Kodomotachi (film), 220 d participation in memorialization of, Keene, Donald, 74 in 300–301, 307. See also submariners “Kenkōsei to bi” (Yanagi), 145 myth Kigen 2600 nen Kinen Nihon Bankoku Kaneko Mitsuharu, 69–70 Hakurankai. See Banpaku Karatani Kōjin, 46–47, 54n40, 335, Kikuchi Kan, 84, 99 350–51n38 Kinema rōkodo (Kinema Record) (news- Kato Norihirō, 90–91 paper), 190 Katsumi Atsuyuki, 379–80n33 kinship dynamics, and significance of Kawabata Yasunari: aestheticentrism, bride dolls, 311–15 and writings of, 321, 322, 335, 342, Kishi Kazutoshi, The Story of the Loyal Dog 343, 344, 346, 347; fascist aesthetics Hachikō, 155, 159, 165, 173, 175. See of, 4, 17, 321–22, 339n72, 343–48, also Hachikō 348n4, 354n97; historical tempo- Kitabatake Chikafusa, 101 rality, in writings of, 342–44, 350– Kita Ikki, 5, 22n13, 51n11, 339 51nn24–25,31,48, 353nn83–84; his- Kitano Takeshi, 230 toric literary forms, and writings of, kitsch: chūreitō memorial design, and 327, 328–31, 336, 343–44, 350nn24– power of, 239, 244; circular tempo- 25,31; House of the Sleeping Beauties, rality, and heart of, 443; common 329, 346, 347, 350n31; “Japan, the vs. uplifting, 443; complexities of Beautiful, and Myself,” 321; modern trauma, and neutralizing effect of, literature, and writings of, 327, 329, 299, 310, 311, 314; death features, and 330, 349n22; “natural” nation myth, significance of, 299–300; defined, and writings of, 330–32, 339, 341–42, 299; fascist aesthetics, and signifi- 343, 345–48, 348n4, 352n72, 430n28; cance of, 299; Francoist film industry, Nobel Prize for Literature, and accep- and significance of, 436, 437; homo- tance speech by, 321, 330, 331, 333, genous racial people, and significance 342, 345; “On the New Directions of of, 300, 309, 310, 314; memorial, Up and Coming Writers,” 329; pain 310–11; uplifting, 443–46, 445; war of loss, communication in writings dead restlessness, and significance of, 338–39; Pan-Asian aesthetics, and of, 309–11 writings of, 333–34, 351n48, 352n49; Klein, Melanie, 312 Pastoral Song, 343, 344, 345; Snow Kobayashi Hideo: on aporias of repre- Country, 338–39, 341, 343, 344, 346– sentation, 7, 81, 84, 88, 100; on his- 47, 350n24, 354n104, 418, 430n28; torical temporality, 18, 80, 84–85, 87, Sound of the Mountain, 338; Thousand 88, 99–103, 108; Motoori Norinaga, 103; Cranes, 328, 331, 338; The Tokaido High- promotion of ideology of fascism way, 343, 344; war, and support from, by, 3; on re-historicization, 103–4; 343–45; Zen Buddhism, and writings on spirit of prose literature, 104–5; of, 331–34, 340, 352n49 women’s role during wartime, and Kawai Eijirō, 52n29, 59, 79n44 writings of, 418 Kawakita Nagamasa, 201, 219, 220, 224, Kodomo no shi kenkyō (Research on Chil- 225 dren’s Poetry), 176

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Koepnick, Lutz, 436 leisure time, 120–25, 127–31, 132 d Kogeō (Kawabata), 343, 344, 345 Let Old Acquaintance Be Forgot (Takami), ex Kōjō no tsuki (film), 220 68–69 kokka shakaishugi. See state government Lévinas, Emmanuel, 347 kokka sōdōin. See national mobilization Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), 90, 91 kokumin eiga, 187, 194, 195, 197–98, 203, liberalism, 34, 42, 43, 44, 52n23, 204, 209–10n51 52n29, 57 kokutai. See national essence Literary Harmonious Discussion So- Kokutai Meichō Undō, 172 ciety, 57, 63, 64, 65, 66, 78n30, 343 Kokyū wasureubeki (Takami), 68–69 Literary World (journal), 56 Konoe Fumimaro, 11, 45, 53n35, 119, literature: Buddhism, and scriptures in, 161 327; fascism, and analysis of, 60–61, Korda, Alexander, 221 62; fascism, and critics in, 33–34, Korea, ix, 70, 140, 169, 170, 210n53, 74; fascist aesthetics in, 19, 32–33; 210n61, 296 homogeneity vs. modernity in, 334, Kōseishō, 127, 128, 129, 131, 136n49 336; modernity, and revolt in, 9, Kotō no oni (Ranpo). See Demon of the 24n26, 327–28, 349n22; resistance Lonely Isle (Ranpo) to fascism in, 65, 74; spirit of prose, Kraft durch Freude, 116, 130, 131 67–70, 104–5; state control of, 66, Kuki Shūzō, 81, 85, 99 73, 75, 78n30, 79n44; tales of virtue Kume Masao, 61, 62 in, 240, 425–27, 431nn40–41; war Kundera, Milan, 437 support from writers and, 343–45; Kurashiki Silk Company, 120, 122, 123, Western aesthetics theory, and effects 125, 128, 131, 136n51. See also factory on, 332. See also Kawabata Yasunari; girl project People’s Library, The; specific writers Kurosawa Akira, 220, 230 localization, 10–11, 188, 192, 193, 220, kyūgunshin, 414–16, 425, 427–28, 233nn35–36, 251n16 429n8, 429n15. See also submariners love scenes in cultural products, 363, myth 364, 402–3 Loyal 47 Ronin, The (film), 186–87, 194, laborers. See working class 198, 202 Laclau, Ernesto, 447 “Loyal Dog.” See Hachikō Landlord’s Son Goes to War, The (Hotta), 70 loyalty, 18, 155–56, 160, 162, 170–77, Lane, Barbara Miller, 251n12, 271 179–80 language, control of, 13–14 Luciano Serra Pilota (film), 220–23, Laqueur, Walter, 21n3, 32, 33, 35 232n28, 233n37 lecturers, film, 188, 190, 192, 193, 198– 99, 208n24 Maid of the Deep Mountains (film), 193 left, the, 57, 61 malaise, 6, 9–10, 11, 13, 25n29, 32, 206 legislation: film industry, 194, 213, 214– Manchuria: architectural plans for 16, 219, 230, 447; justice through, capital in, 27n46; co-ideology in 381–82, 401–2, 403; preservation Axis film culture and, 225–26, 227, and, 164 229; film spectators in, 202–3; good-

467 ex Manchuria (continued) mediating masses, 139, 144, 145, 147, d will film genre, and relations with, 153n27 in 229, 234n52; locations for Axis film “Mediating the Masses” (Noriko), 138– culture in, 228, 233n35, 234n49; pup- 54 pet state in, 5, 22n13, 27–28n49 Meiji period: cheng yu (formulated ex- Manchurian Incident of 1931, 5, 20n2, pressions), and national goals during, 162 292n11; conservative authoritarianism Manchurian Motion Picture Studios during, 44; Diet established during, (Manei), 212, 216 255–56, 267, 272; doll symbolism manji, and image of swastika, 227, 228 during, 302; emperor, and imperi- Manshukoku no danmen (Muto), 212 alism during, 175; exhibitions, and March of Time (film), 217 role during, 286; ideological indoc- Marinetti, F. T., 8, 10, 26n45, 299 trination, and literature of, 425–26, Maruyama Masao: on agrarianism in 431n39; indigenous dog of, 159; infascism, 131, 340, 352–53n74; on fas- stitutions of, 205; militarism during, cism as movement without violence, 71; modernity prefigured in, 81, 281, 4–5, 21–22n12; literature as site for 292n11; mystification of state during, fascist culture, 32–33; periodization 5; “natural” nation myth in litera- of history advocated by, 89, 90 ture of, 350–51n38; social activism Marxism: fascism and, 31, 41, 42; ide- during, 72; state government during, ology of, 7, 21–22n12, 24n22, 39, 255. See also Imperial Diet Building 61, 100, 353n84; literature and, 22– memorials: bride dolls, and function 23n14, 100, 402–3, 416 in, 303–4; European war dead repre- mass arrests, 72–73 sented in, 237; modernity, and sig- “masses” label, 84–85 nificance of, 248–49n1; scholarship mass image reproduction, 298–99, 315. on, 236, 248–49n1. See also chūreitō See also photographs memorial construction mass media: censorship of, 13, 26n40; middle class, 35–36, 52n23, 58–59, emperor’s image diffused through, 91–92, 160 26–27n45; fascism, and use of term Miki Kiyoshi, 9–10, 25n29, 81, 86–87, in, 57, 59, 64; fascist literati, and role 96, 109n1, 332 of, 63; memorials, and promotion by, militarism: “emergency” rhetoric, and 239–42, 248, 251nn19, 22 role in, 9, 162; fascism, and role of, mass mobilization, Francoist, 438–41, 47, 52, 77n15; Hachikō phenomenon 443–44, 446, 449n15 and, 156; history of, 4–5, 11, 21– mass movement, and memorials, 236, 22n12, 162, 382; literary resistance to, 239, 245–46, 248, 251n18 71–72, 74. See also mass mobilization; materialism, 12, 24nn22–23, 43, 97, national mobilization 327, 414, 446 military: chūreitō memorial construc- Matsumoto Manabu, 63, 66, 75, 78– tion, and role of, 238–39, 243, 244– 79n35, 287, 294n41 45, 246, 249–50n6; secular world Matsuo Bashō, 347 (shaba) term used by men in, 422, media. See mass media 430n30; use of dogs, 178–79

468 in

mingei, 116–22, 125. See also folk culture; mountain film genre, 228, 234n49 d traditions Movement for the Clarification of the ex mingei manufacture, 120 National Polity, 172 Mingei Kyōkai. See Folk-Craft Associa- “Movie Love Scenes” (pictorial series), tion 364 “Mingei undō wa nani o kiyo shita ka?” Murata Minoru, 208n24 (Yanagi), 134 music, 123. See also specific songs Minstry of Comunications, 271 Mussolini, Vittorio, 220, 232n28 minzoku, identification with, 9 minzokushugi. See nationalism Nabeyama Sadachika, 36, 41, 60 Mishima Yukio, 81, 88, 105–7 Nagatsuka Takashi, 227 Mitsubishi corporation, 63 Nakano Seigō, 53n35 Mitsui corporation, 60, 63, 273n6 Nankai no Hanataba (film), 232n28 Miyama no otome (film), 193 national cultural identity: dogs, and Miyamoto Musashi (epic) (Yoshikawa), 61 promotion of, 12–13, 18, 156, 160, 161, Mizoguchi Kenji, 186–87, 196, 202 179; homogenous racial people, and modernity: periodization of, 88–93; beliefs about, 64, 69–70, 106, 169; re-historicization of, 93, 96–99; mingei, and promotion of, 117–19, representation of fascism in, 83–88; 125; mixed racial origin, and beliefs science and rationality for the masses about, 166, 169; national socialism, in, 93–96; solution of fascism for, 4, and supporters of, 45; organicism 10–13, 11–13, 21n4, 105–9, 325–26, and, 47; pain of loss, and recon- 382; trauma of transition into, 337– struction of, 337; racial purity, and 38, 349n22; Zen Buddhism, and link ideology of, 169, 180; Shintō gods, with aesthetics of, 331–34. See also and subordination to, 66; symbolic capitalism violence concept, and totality of, 47, Moon over the Ruins (film), 220 54n41; unseen fascism, and role in, Mori Iwao, 201, 202 34, 37–40, 46, 48–49. See also Japa- Mori Tamezō, 169 neseness Morocco: contradictions in discourse national essence: aporias, 109n1; de- on, 221, 233n33, 439, 448–49n11; fined, 158; dog, and values of, 18, mythical representation of, 436, 437, 159–60; emperor system, and under- 439–40, 441, 441, 442, 444, 445, 446; standing of, 23n16; film audiences, national mobilization, and colony of, and recognition of, 203; historical 16, 20, 437, 440–41, 449n15; Spain, fascism, and significance of, 48; lan- and contradictions in discourse on, guage, and damage to, 3; modernity, 439, 440–41, 448–49n11, 449n16 and restoration of culture found in, Morocco (film), 221 158; repression of masses, and sig- Morris-Suzuki, Tessa, 169 nificance of, 42. See also Japaneseness Mosse, George, 15, 143, 147, national film, 187, 194, 195, 197–98, 153nn24,27, 238 203, 204, 209–10n51 Motoori Norinaga, 88, 101, 103–4 national government. See state govern- Motoori Norinaga (Kobayashi), 103 ment

469 ex national homogeneity. See homogeneity Neo-Perceptionalists (Shin kankaku), d nationalism: defined, 185; ethnicity and, 329 in 24n25, 35, 37, 52n31; eugenics, and neo-romanticism, 65, 73 role in, 168–69, 358, 372–75, 376, Neo-Sensualist (Shin kankaku ha), 329 377; fascist ideology and, 179–80, New Earth, The (film), 214, 225–29, 323; mingei, and escalation of, 118; 231n5, 234, 234nn50,53, 435–36, modernity, and conditions for, 185, 446 187; scholarship and practicality New Order policy of 1940: daily life union in, 94–95 culture and, 117, 120, 122–23; film nationalist humanism. See humanism industry under, 221, 228–29; Konoe, nation-ality, defined, 207n9 and formation of, 11, 53n35; leisure national mobilization, 5, 11, 248. See also time, and ideology of, 132; mingei, and mass mobilization, Francoist ideology of, 117–19, 125; renovationist national socialism: aesthetics of, bureaucracy under, 116, 118, 133n5, 354n97; communism, and conver- 336; women, and conflicting role in sions to, 36, 41, 60; Germany, and fascist social ideology of, 124. See also role of, 51n13, 78n30, 130, 168; na- national cultural identity tional cultural identity and, 45; past New Senses School (Shin kankaku ha), glory, and ideology of, 342; state 329 government, and reaction to, 37, 45; NHK, 164, 173, 300–301 working class, and role of, 52n26 Nietzsche, 8, 21n6 national symbols, 156 Nihon Bunka Chūō Renmei, 63, 287 nation-state: national cultural identity, Nihon fashizumu hihan (Hasegawa), 177 and formation of, 49, 54–55n45; Nihon Ken Hozon Kai (Society for the print capitalism, and development Preservation of the Japanese Dog), of, 185 161, 164, 165, 166, 173, 176 “natural” nation myth: and emphasis of, Nihon Kōsei Kyōkai, 127, 129, 131, fascism, 7, 340–41; fascism and, 7, 136n49 340–41; Kawabata, and writings on, Nihon Rōman-ha (journal), 67 330–32, 339, 341–42, 343, 345–48, “Nihonshugisha no bungakka” (To- 348n4, 352n72, 430n28; literature, saka), 3 and descriptive use of, 331, 350– Nihon shumi-style, 242, 243, 244, 283 51n38 Nikutai no tsumi (Hirabayashi), 70 Naval Academy at Etajima, 412, 419, Nine Gods of War tales, 414–16, 425, 420, 422–23, 425, 426 427–28, 429n8, 429n15. See also sub- Navy, The (film), 409, 419–24, 425 mariners myth Navy Ministry, 258, 287 Nippon (publication), 269, 274–75n35 Nazism. See Germany; Hitler, Adolf Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, 164, 173, 300–301 Nemureru bijo (Kawabata), 329, 346, 347, Nippon ideorogii (Tosaka), 41–43 350n31 Nippon Yōsei und Kykai, 373 Neocleous, Mark, 2, 6–8, 150, 322–23, Nishida Nishida Kitarō, 332, 334, 342, 343, 348n6, 354n97 353n83, 416 Neo-confucianism, 333, 352n49 Nishikawa Nagao, 49, 54–55n45

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Nitta Jun, 66, 68 Pacific War, 249n2, 297, 309 d Nōmin Bungaku Konwakai, 75 pain of loss impacts, 311, 313–15, 337– ex non-fascist discourses, 16–18, 27–28n49 39 non-human subjects, fascism, and defi- palingenetic myth, 186, 323, 336, 337, nition of patriotic, pure, faithful, an 345 ferocious qualities of, 156 Pan-Asianism, 333–34, 339, 351n48, nōson bunka (farm village culture), 120– 352n49 25 paranoia, culture of, 12, 19, 382, 390 Parkes, Graham, 23n18 Oedipal narrative, 384, 385 Pastoral Song (Kawabata), 343, 344, 345 Ōe Kenzaburō, 385 Payne, Stanley, 45, 143 Oguma Eiji, 210n61 Peace Preservation Law, 25–26n33, 44, Ōhara Sōichirō, 119, 131–32 45 Ohinata Mura (film), 227 Pearl Harbor attack, 409–15, 420, 424 Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko, 317n14 people, identification with, 9, 24n24 “Ōkimi no hotori ni shinamu” (Hi- People and Beauty, The (Yanagi), 139, 142, raide), 429n7 144, 147 Okimoto, Daniel I., 20–21n2 “people” label, 84–85 Olalquiaga, Celeste, 446 People’s Front Incident, 72–73 Olympia (film), 220 People’s Library, The: fascism concept and, Olympics, 224, 277, 278, 287, 289, 57, 75; fascist label for, 57; govern- 290 ment opposition to, 72–74; history Omoidasu shokunin (Craftsmen I Have of, 56–57, 63; ideological criticism Known; Yanagi), 149 in, 65, 70–72; objectives of, 64; Onishi Yoshinori, 332 opposition to fascism in, 65–67, 73; Only Angels Have Wings (film), 232n28 resistance to fascism in, 65, 74; “shit “On o Wasureru na,” 173–76 realism” label, and writers for, 68; On the Fascist Movement (Imanaka), 34 spirit of prose literature, and fiction “On the New Directions of Up and in, 67–70; women writers for, 66, Coming Writers” (Kawabata), 329 70, 71 Opium War, The (film), 198 Perloff, Marjorie, 25n30 organicism, ix, 47 “Philosophy of Crisis, The” (Miki), 81 origins narratives, 166, 169, 279–82, photographs: death, and effects of, 300; 289–90, 292nn11–13,20 optical unconscious, and effects of, Osaka Expo (1970), 290, 291 299, 315; Yūshūkan Museum, and sig- Osborne, Peter, 107, 323, 332, 336–37 nificance of, 298–99, 300, 301, 304, “Other,” the, 156–57, 189–91, 208n22, 306, 307–8, 310, 311, 315 326, 347 Picturing Japaneseness (Davis), 186 156–57, 189–91, 208n22, 326, 347 Pincus, Leslie, 6, 148 Ottosei (Kaneko), 69–70 political culture, fascism, and role in, Ōuchi Shigeo, 359 45–46 “Overcoming Modernity” symposium, Pollack, David, 350n24 24n26 Popular Front, 56, 72, 73

471 ex positivism, 3, 7, 92, 96, 325 437, 439–40, 441, 441, 442, 444, 445, d “Poverty and Beauty” (Yanagi), 147 446; national mobilization, and nar- in Preston, Paul, 20n1 rative of, 439, 440–41, 443–44, 446, propaganda, 11, 14, 26–28nn34,45,49, 449n15; politics of time in, 441–43; 409–10. See also censorship totalitarian kitsch aesthetic, 436, 437, pseudoscientific theories, in erotic- 440, 441, 441 grotesque cultural products, 356, 357, romanticism, 10, 31, 62, 68, 73 359, 373–77, 379–80n33 rural hometowns, and components of purity. See racial purity submariners myth, 410, 414, 420–24, 430n28 Quo Vadis? (film), 220–21 Russo-Japanese War, 71–72, 236, 262, 426 Rabinbach, Anson G., 132 Rabson, Steve, 431n41 sacrifices, 239, 241, 246, 248. See also racial purity: dog as symbol of, 12, 18, kamikaze; Yasukuni Shrine; Yūshūkan 160, 166, 168–69; fascistic link with, Museum 373; film industry, and contradictions saisei itchi concept, 68, 78–79n35 about, 206–7; German fascism and, Sakaguchi Ango, 425 15, 38, 51nn13,15, 168; mixed racial Sakurai Tadayoshi, Human Bullets, 425 origin vs., 166, 169; race defined, 39, Same (Kaneko), 69 51n15, 169 samurai, 60–61, 368, 429n11 radical fascism, 5, 22n13 sanbun seishin, 67–70 radio broadcasts, 13, 26n40 Sano Manabu, 36, 41, 60 Ranpo, Edogawa, 357, 359–60. See also Satō Kōichi, 246, 253n49 Demon of the Lonely Isle (Ranpo) Saussure, Ferdinand de, 156 Rashomon (film), 220, 230 Schmitt, Carl, 52n23 rational positivism, 3, 7, 92, 96, 325 Schnapp, Jeffrey, 210–11n63 Raza (film), 447 Scipione l’africano (film), 221 realism, 65, 67, 103 Seal, A (Kaneko), 69–70 reality, of daily life, 85, 145 secular world (shaba), 422, 430n30 “Regarding the Koreans” (Yanagi), 140 Sedgwick, Kosofsky, 406n37 re-historicization of modernity, 31, 34, Seidensticker, Edwin, 24n27, 156, 328 46, 93, 96–99, 103–4 seikatsu bunka. See daily life Rekishi tetsugaku (Miki), 86 Sei no kagayaki (film), 193, 208n24 renovationist bureaucracy, 116, 118, Sein und Zeit (Heidegger), 86 133n5, 336 Sekai no ittan to shite no Nihon (Tosaka), 82 rhetorical looping, 19–20, 409–11, Senbazuru (Kawabata), 328, 331, 338 424–26 service to the state (messhi hōkō), 11, Riefenstahl, Leni, 26–27n25, 143, 220, 27n–28n49 224, 225, 227 Sharf, Robert, 332–33 Romancero marroquí (film): Moroccans, “shattered jewels” euphemism, 411, and rejection of, 437, 446; mythical 428 representation of Morocco in, 436, Shepherd dog, and national symbols

472 in

in Germany, 156, 158–59, 160, 164, coist film industry in, 436, 437, 439, d 168, 179 447, 448–49n11; German joint film ex Shestov, Lev, “Dostoevsky and Nietz- ventures with, 436; ideological hege- sche,” 9 mony, 436, 437; mass mobilization Shiba breed of dogs, 165 in Morrocco under, 438–41, 443–44, Shibuya railway station, 155, 159, 162, 446, 449n15; Morocco, and contra- 171, 172, 174 dictions in discourse in, 439, 440–41, Shiga Naoya, 84, 99, 100, 140 448–49n11, 449n16. See also Morocco shin shin kanryō, 116, 118, 133n5, 336 Special Attack Forces, 412–13, 419. See “Shinshin sakka no shinkeikō kaisetsu” also kamikaze (Kawabata), 329 “Special Attack Forces, The” (song), 419 Shintō, 66, 249–50n6, 305; and relation Special Higher Police, 23n16, 44, 53n35 to, fascism, 66 “Special Submarine Sets Forth, The” (Sa- shisōsen, 14 kamaki), 428–29nn26, 428–29nn2,6 Should We Go to the Skies (film), 220–23, spectatorship: Asian film, 201–4, 202–3, 232n28, 233n37 206, 210n61; Hollywood film style Shō Kenkyōkai, 11 and, 203; national film industry and, Shōwa period, 89, 106, 107 187, 196, 198–200, 209n45 Shōwa Research Center, 11 Speer, Albert, 26–27n45, 116, 136– Shūshū monogatari (Yanagi), 148 37n58, 153n24, 237, 251n12, 271 Sino-Japanese War, 70, 236, 239, spirit marriage, 305–6, 307, 316n12, 251n18, 252n42 317n14 Sins of the Flesh (Hirabayashi), 70 spirit of prose literature, 67–70, 104–5 Snow Country (Kawabata), 338–39, 341, Stalin, Joseph, 39, 51–52n19, 72, 290 343, 344, 346–47, 350n24, 354n104, state government: conservative authori- 418, 430n28 tarian description of, 45; cultural Social Darwinism, 157, 356–57, 373, nationalism, and relation to, 49, 54– 377, 379–80n33 55n45; fascism, and ideology of, 10– social elite, 34, 57 11, 25–26n33–34, 34, 37, 48; health, social production, 120, 125, 137n59 and intervention of, 10, 11, 127–28, songs, censorship of, 13–14. See also 129, 131, 136n49; industrial produc- specific songs tion, and role of, 131; lifestyles, and Sontag, Susan, 4, 186, 300, 325, 345 intervention of, 10, 11; literary world, Sora Yukaba (film), 220–23, 221, 232n28, and opposition to, 66; local control, 233n37 and intervention of, 10–11; national Sound of the Mountain (Kawabata), 338 socialism, and reaction of, 37, 45; South Africa, in Axis film culture, 223 rites of passage(celebration of life’s Spain: artistic propaganda for shaping progress), and intervention of, 10; public opinion in, 14, 26–27n45; Shintō gods, and subordination to, colonial expansion by, 437, 446, 66; spiritual values, and intervention 448–49n11; fascism, and ideological of, 10, 11 contradictions in, 446–48; fascism State Shintō, 66, 249–50n6, 305 vs. fascist regime in, 20n1, 447; Fran- Stern, Fritz, 9

473 ex Strength through Joy program, 116, 130, dition, and essays of, 66; The People’s d 131 Library, and role of, 56, 63–64, 74; on in submariners myth: anecdotes in, 415– spirit of prose literature, 67; on state 16; attempted violence in, 411–13; control, 75 bushidō ethos, and components of, Takenaka Eitar, 357, 362–63, 370, 371, 415; childlike nature of heroes, and 378n4 components of, 410, 414–16, 423, Takeuchi Shinshinchi, 267, 274n25 430n33; culture of fascism, and dis- Tale of Genji, The (classical tale), 328 course around, 410–11, 418–24, 427– tales, (kyūgunshin), 414–16, 425, 427–28, 28; dual citizenship, and components 429n8, 429n15. See also submariners of, 421, 422, 425; literature, and sub- myth ject of, 418; mother figures, and com- Tales of Collection (Yanagi), 148 ponents of, 410, 414, 417–18, 420–21, Tales of the Heike, The (thirteenth-century 429n17; propaganda, and discourse epic), 425 around, 414–24; qualifications of tales of virtue, 240, 425–27, 431nn40–41 submariners in, 411–12, 428n2; Tami to bi (Yanagi), 139, 142, 144, 147 recording industry, and subject of, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, 337 418–19; rhetorical looping, and sig- Tasaka Tomosaka, 196, 200, 409, 419–20 nificance of, 19–20, 409–11, 424–26; technology. See industrial production rural hometowns, and components tenkō writers, 33, 52n26, 196, 205–6, of, 410, 414, 420–24, 430n28; spiri- 211n65, 416 tual purity, and components of, 422– tennōsei, 5–6, 23n16, 91 24, 429n15, 430n35, 431n37; tales of Tennō. See emperor virtue and, 426–27; tropes that drive, “Tetsugaku no gendai igi” (Tosaka), 98 414. See also kamikaze Tetsuo Najita, 161, 337 swastika, and references to manji, 227 Thousand Cranes (Kawabata), 328 symbolic violence concept, 47, 54n41 Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (Freud), 384 Tachibana Kōsaburō, 339, 340, 352– Thunder in the Orient (film), 218 53n74 Todorov, Tzvetan, 141–42 Tairiku Kaitaku Bungei Konwakai, 75 Tōgō Heihachirō, 423, 426 Taisei Yokusankai, 11, 26n34, 53n35, Tohoku bride-doll dedications, 305–7 117–18, 126, 128, 129 Tōjō Hideki, 44–45, 53n35 Taishō period democracy, 52n29, 76n5, Tokaido Highway, The (Kawabata), 343, 302, 340n22, 382 344 Takami Jun, Let Old Acquaintance Be Forgot, Tokaido (Kawabata), 343 68–69 tokkōtai, 412–13, 419. See also kamikaze Takanashi Katsushige, 283–84, 293n24 tokubetsu kōgeki tai, 412–13, 419. See also Takaoka Hiroyuki, 127, 129, 136nn50,55 kamikaze Takeda Rintarō: antiwar activities of, 71, “Tokushū senkōtei hasshin su” (Saka- 79n38; biography of, 63–64; death of, maki), 428–29nn2,6 74; on human experience, 67; Ihara Tokyo Court building, 258, 273n12 Saikaku, 69; modern literature tra- Tokyo Olympics, 278, 287, 289, 290

474 in

Tosaka Jun: “Against the Nazi Control Uncle Krüger (film), 223–24 d of the Arts,” 3; aporias of represen- Ungarische Rhapsodie (film),364 ex tation, and discussions by, 81; on United States: Axis film blocs against, culturalist ideology of fascism, 2–4, 213, 216–17, 218, 230; dogs, and 5, 41–44; death of, 43, 44; Enlight- nationalization in, 164; exhibits, and enment, and beliefs of, 93–94; fas- nationalism in, 282, 292n20; fascist cism, and approach of, 3, 21n6, 41; culture in, 158, 391; film industry historical temporality, and beliefs of, in, 188, 208n24, 216, 217, 218, 221, 85, 87, 100, 108; ideological criticism, 232n28; management of leisure time and beliefs of, 33, 93, 96–99; impris- in, 127; Olympics in Los Angeles onment of, 43, 44, 79n44; Japanese- (1932) and, 277; Pearl Harbor attack ness, and approach of, 42–43, 45–46, against, 409–15, 420, 424; scholar- 52n31; “Japanism into Literature,” 3; ship on fascism in, 20–21n2; spiri- on labor unions, 43; liberalism, and tually and materially colonization by, ideology of, 42, 43, 52n29; Marxist 90; state architecture in, 237, 264, ideology, and influence on, 42; mod- 271, 274n25. See also Hollywood ernism connection with fascism, and unity of religion, culture, and politics writings of, 82, 84, 92; Nihon ideoro- concept, 68, 78–79n35 giiron, 94; Nippon ideorogii, 41, 42, 43; universalism, ix, 197, 209n36, 282, on philosophy, 98; political biogra- 292n20, 346–47 phy of, 33; science, and beliefs of, universal theory of fascism, 32, 34–41, 94–95; Sekai no ittan to shite no Nihon, 50n6 82; “Tetsugaku no gendai igi,” 98; urban culture, 119–20, 120–25, 160–61 top-down fascism, and ideology of, “Utsukushii Nihon no watakushi” 42, 45, 48 (Kawabata), 321 Tōyama Shirō, 76n5 Toyoda Shiro, 227 Venice International Film Festival, 213, traditions: beliefs about, 117–18; cate- 219–20, 230 gories of cultural, 118, 133n8; em- Verein für deutsche Schäferhunde (So- peror, and modernity vs., 89, 106, ciety for the German Shepherd Dog), 107; film industry, and contradictions 160 between modernity and, 187–88, Vichy France, 116, 118, 221, 251n16. See 190–91, 196, 208n24. See also Folk- also France Craft Association; folk culture violence: arbitrary, 381–82; attempted, Treasury Ministry, 264, 265 411–13; fascism as movement with- Tripartite Pact in 1940, 31, 231n6 out, 4–5, 21–22n12; ideology of fas- Triumph of the Will (film), 143, 220, 228 cism and, 179–80; symbolic violence concept, 47, 54n41 ultranationalism: Buddhism, and sup- Virilio, Paul, 211n68 port of, 340; coups and, 22; fascism, virtue, tales of, 240, 425–27, 431nn40– and label of, 57–58, 61–62, 75, 89, 41 126, 186, 336; the left, and label of, visitors at memorials, and identification 57, 61 with war dead, 300–301, 307

475 ex Volk concept, 39, 51n13, 169, 326, 342. 187, 207n14; fascist social ideology, d See also national cultural identity and conflicting role of, 120, 123–25, in 135nn32,34,38, 137n59. See also fac- Wakayama City memorial, 245, 246, tory girl project 253n47 work, farm, 122, 125, 129. See also indus- war: historical temporality, and trans- trial workers muting, 89–91; holy war concept and, work culture, 129, 131 11, 27–28n49; mingei, and promotion Worker Housing Research Group, of, 118; re-historicization of, 31, 34, 137n60 46; women’s role during, 417; writers, working class, 33, 52n26, 150. See also and support for, 343–45. See also First industrial workers World War World’s Fair in New York (1939–40), 277 war dead: bride dolls’ significance, World War I. See First World War and restless, 309; Europe memorials Wrath of the Gods, The (film), 208n20 representing, 237; kitsch, and significance of restless, 309–11; Shintō Yama no oto (Kawabata), 338 rites, and commemoration of, 305; Yanagi Muneyoshi. See Yanagi Sōetsu Yasukuni Shrine, and appeasing, Yanagi Sōetsu: aesthetics, and beliefs 308–9; Yūshūkan Museum, and visi- of, 118, 120, 138–39, 142; Beauty and tor identification with, 300–301 Economics, 148; biography of, 139–41; war memorials. See chūreitō memorial Craftsmen I Have Known, 149; “The Cul- construction; memorials tural Value of Regionality,” 142; The war of ideas, 14 Discourse of Japanist Ideology, 151; em- war song (gunka), 222, 426, 431nn40– battled attitude of, 148, 149; fascist 41 aesthetics of, 16–17, 139, 142–46, 147, War Without Mercy (Dower), 429n15 148–51, 153n27; folk-craft movement, “Wasuretawa iya yo!” (song), 13–14 and role of, 139–40; health, and Watsuji Tetsurō, 85, 99, 332, 340 beliefs of, 144–45; “Healthiness and Way of Young Men, 368, 369 Beauty,” 145; humanism, and beliefs Welfare Ministry, 127, 128, 129, 131, of, 16–17, 27n47, 120, 139, 141–42, 136n49 151, 153n27; individualism vs. com- Western cultural style: film industry, munity, and beliefs of, 138, 144–46; 188–91, 201–2, 203, 208n24; Imperial Japan Folk-Craft Museum, and role Diet Building designs and, 256–60, of, 139; mediating masses, and be- 257, 261, 262, 264, 273nn4,6 liefs of, 139, 144, 147, 153n27; mingei “What Has the Folk Craft Movement manufacture, and beliefs of, 120; “The Contributed?” (Yanagi), 134 New Order and the Question of Craft “What Kind of a Canine Is a Japanese Beauty,” 119; objects of folk craft, and Dog?” (radio address), 164, 170 beliefs of, 148–50; Okinawan lan- Wolfman analysis, 395 guage, and support from, 27n47, 142; wolves, characteristics of, 159, 167–68, The People and Beauty, 139, 142, 144, 178 147; on poverty, 149, 150; “Poverty women: bushidō ethos, and role of, and Beauty,” 149, 150; “Regarding the

476 in

Koreans,” 140; social elite, and beliefs Yuasa Katsuei, Tabako (Tobacco), 70 d of, 139, 142, 148, 151; Tales of Collection, Yuibutsuron Kenkyūkai (Society for the ex 148; “What Has the Folk Craft Move- Study of Materialism), 93, 96 ment Contributed?,” 134, 144–45 Yukiguni (Kawabata), 338–39, 341, 343, Yanagita Kunio, 87–88, 94–95, 148, 168 344, 346–47, 350n24, 354n104, 418, Yanushi no musuko shusseisu (Hotta), 70 430n28 Yasuda Yojūrō, 53n35 Yūshūkan Museum: bride-doll displays Yasukuni Shrine: bride-doll dedications at, 304, 307–8, 309, 311–12; contro- at, 297–98, 306–8, 317n14; controversies over, 296; facial symbolism in versies over, 296–97; fascist aes- mirror, and memorial assemblages thetics project at, 298, 309, 311, 314; in, 312, 313, 315; fascist aesthetics function of, 237, 244, 249n3, 252n42; project at, 297, 298, 300–301; film, homogenizing force of, 298; individu- and significance in, 299, 300; Futur- alism vs. community, and rituals at, ism and, 300; individualism vs. com- 297, 298, 314; overlapping and in- munity, and displays at, 311; memo- consistent aesthetic projects at, 298, rial assemblages in, 312, 313, 315; 315–16; symbol of, 297; war dead, and photographs, and significance in, appeasement at, 308–9; Yūshūkan 298–99, 300, 301, 304, 306, 307–8, Museum, and transposition with, 310, 311, 315; visitors, and identifica- 300. See also bride dolls; kitsch tion with war dead at, 300–301, 307 Yokomitsu Riichi, 41, 42, 351n48, 425 Yomiuri Shimbun (newspaper), 60, 61, Zen Buddhism, 331–34, 340–41, 178, 251n19 352n49, 353n83 Yomota Inuhiko, 207n14, 231n5 Žižek, Slavoj, viii, x, 6, 189–91, 202, Yoshikawa Eiji, 61, 84, 99 208n22 Yoshimi Yoshiaki, 27–28n49

477 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The culture of Japanese fascism / edited by Alan Tansman. p. cm.—(Asia-Pacific) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8223-4452-0 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn 978-0-8223-4468-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Fascism and culture—Japan—History—20th century. 2. Japan—Civilization—1926–1945. I. Tansman, Alan, 1960– II. Series: Asia-Pacific. ds822.4.c85 2009 335.60952´09043—dc22 2008051102

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