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A Young Lieutenant's Russo-Japanese Tadayoshi Sakurai. Human Bullets: A Soldier's Story of the Russo-Japanese War. New York: Kegan Paul, 2005. xvi + 270 pp. $127.50, cloth, ISBN 978-0-7103-0874-0. Reviewed by Colin Jaundrill Published on H-War (December, 2005) This edition of Sakurai Tadayoshi's classic and command of a company immediately prior to memoir, Human Bullets: A Soldier's Story of the the frst general assault on Port Arthur. Wounded Russo-Japanese War, includes the original 1907 in a failed attack on August 23, Sakurai lay among English translation and an introduction by Count his fallen comrades until rescued by another Japa‐ Okuma Shigenobu. While this remains a valuable nese soldier the next day. Owing to the severity of text, simply reprinting the original edition poses a his wounds, Sakurai returned to Japan for treat‐ number of problems, including a lack of basic ment, where he penned Human Bullets during his contextual information. A hundred years after the convalescence. Over the next decade, Sakurai's Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), readers might memoir was translated into English, Chinese, Ger‐ have benefited from the addition of footnotes and man, French, Italian, and Russian. a critical introduction. However, Human Bullets Human Bullets serves two purposes for read‐ remains a fascinating resource for readers inter‐ ers primarily interested in the military aspects of ested in the military history of the early twentieth the Russo-Japanese War. First, it provides an "on century or the history of modern Japan. the ground" perspective of what combat was like Human Bullets recounts Sakurai's experi‐ for soldiers and junior officers in the Japanese ences during the Russo-Japanese War. His unit, army. Sakurai gives us an idea of how Japanese the 22nd Infantry Regiment, arrived in soldiers and officers related to each other, how Manchuria on May 24, 1904, just in time to partici‐ they viewed the enemy, and how they prepared pate in the preparatory actions leading up to the for battle. In one of the memoir's more poignant siege of Port Arthur. Throughout the months of episodes, Sakurai describes the mood in camp on June and July, the 22nd Infantry (part of General the eve of the regiment's frst battle: "That night I Nogi Maresuke's 3rd Army) saw action at Waitu- could hardly sleep for excitement; I tossed and shan, Kenzan, and Taipo-shan. Sakurai's perfor‐ fretted in bed, pictured to myself the battle of the mance earned him a promotion to frst lieutenant morrow, or talked nonsense with the comrade in H-Net Reviews the nearest bed. I saw the occasional fickering of Japan had an opportunity to reposition itself with‐ small fres in the dark and knew that not a few in the hierarchy of nations as an empire coequal were awake, smoking and cogitating" (p. 79). Un‐ with the great imperial powers of the West. Ac‐ fortunately for most Western readers, Human cordingly, statesman Okuma Shigenobu's intro‐ Bullets is one of the few literary works of the Rus‐ duction to Human Bullets attributes Japanese vic‐ so-Japanese War to have been translated from Ja‐ tory not to military prowess per se, but to the kind panese. Many other fascinating works, including of national character necessary for a great power: Mori Ogai's Uta nikki (Poem Diary), Mizuno Hi‐ "[Our] soldiers vie with each other in offering ronori's Kono issen ( This Battle), and Tayama themselves on the altar of their country, (sic) the Katai's short story "Ippeisotsu" ("A Soldier"), have spirit of sacrifice prevails to a marked degree. yet to be translated. This is the true characteristic of the race of Yama‐ Second, Human Bullets should be of interest to" (p. x). In contrasting Japanese and Russian atti‐ to scholars and students of the First World War. tudes towards king and country, Okuma pre‐ Historians often approach the Russo-Japanese dictably regards Japan as the superior nation. war as an awful prelude to the horrors of the Human Bullets also emphasizes a message of western front. Sakurai depicts the violence of Japanese superiority vis-a-vis other Asians. For modern siege warfare in a fashion instantly rec‐ the most part, Chinese are absent from this two- ognizable to anyone familiar with the Somme: vir‐ nation contest. When they do appear, the resi‐ tually impregnable fortifications; massive, multi- dents of Manchuria either function as spies for day artillery preparations; and infantry mowed the Russians or coolies for the Japanese. On sever‐ down like grass as they struggle to move forward al occasions, Sakurai questions their humanity: in the face of machine gun fre. Missing, however, "Were they men or animals? With ill-favored is the criticism of general officers so characteristic faces, they would whisper to each other and pass of Western WWI literature. In Sakurai's account, on" (p. 33). The English translation hides even unsuccessful attacks are necessary frst steps to‐ more blatant racism. In the original Japanese, ward victory, not pointless tragedies. Recounting Sakurai refers to the locals not as "Chinese," but his reaction to the capitulation of Port Arthur, he as "chan," an ethnic slur used frequently in the writes: "Not only I, but all the wounded who had nineteenth and twentieth centuries. taken part in the siege, wept while we rejoiced. Despite occasional lapses, the translation it‐ The bleached white bones of our brave dead that self contains relatively few problems. Some pas‐ filled the hills and valleys of Port Arthur must sages seem overly jingoistic when rendered in have risen and danced with joy!" (p. 255). Had the English, but the original Japanese often sounds war gone on for four years instead of one, Saku‐ equally contrived. What really hampers this edi‐ rai's account might have more closely resembled tion of Human Bullets is the lack of crucial contex‐ memoirs of the western front. tual information. Readers should know that Saku‐ Beyond its value for military historians, Hu‐ rai had political connections to influential fgures man Bullets is a rich text on the history of Japan like Okuma. They should also know where Hu‐ during the early twentieth century. In the stan‐ man Bullets stands in the broader genre of Japa‐ dard narrative of modern Japanese history, the nese war literature. A solid critical introduction Russo-Japanese War marks the culmination of the would have remedied these issues and made this Meiji period's (1868-1912) modernizing efforts edition stand out from its predecessors. I recom‐ and Japan's arrival as an imperial power. With mend the University of Nebraska Press' 1999 edi‐ world curiosity aroused by its victory over Russia, tion, which includes a short introduction and has 2 H-Net Reviews a much smaller price tag. While these issues are significant, they should not dissuade readers from taking a look at Human Bullets. If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-war Citation: Colin Jaundrill. Review of Sakurai, Tadayoshi. Human Bullets: A Soldier's Story of the Russo- Japanese War. H-War, H-Net Reviews. December, 2005. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11272 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.
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