Nation-Empire: Rural Youth Mobilization in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea 1895-1945 Sayaka Chatani Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Sayaka Chatani All rights reserved Abstract Nation-Empire: Rural Youth Mobilization Japan, Taiwan, and Korea 1895-1945 Sayaka Chatani By the turn of the twentieth century, “rural youth” came to symbolize the spirit of hard work, masculinity, and patriotism. The village youth associations, the seinendan, as well as a number of other youth training programs, carried that ideal and spread it all over the Japanese empire. This dissertation examines how the movement to create “rural youth” unfolded in different parts of the empire and how young farmers responded to this mobilization. By examining three rural areas in Miyagi (northern Japan), Xinzhu (Taiwan), and South Ch’ungchǒng (Korea), I argue that the social tensions and local dynamics, such as the divisions between urban and rural, the educated and the uneducated, and the young and the old, determined the motivations and emotional drives behind youth participation in the mobilization. To invert the analytical viewpoint from the state to youth themselves, I use the term “Rural Youth Industry.” This indicates the social sphere in which agrarian youth transformed themselves from perpetual farmers to success-oriented modern youth, shared an identity as “rural youth” by incorporating imperial and global youth activism, and developed a sense of moral superiority over the urban, the educated, and the old. The social dynamics of the “Rural Youth Industry” explain why many of these youth so internalized the ideology of Japanese nationalism that they volunteered for military service and fought for the empire. This dissertation offers a new perspective to the study of modern empires in several respects. It provides a new way to dissect the colonial empire, challenging the methodological trap of emphasizing the present-day national boundaries of Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. It highlights rural modernity, often neglected in the urban-centric historiography of colonial modernity. It also brings together global, regional, and local histories. The seinendan were part of the global waves of imperialism, nation-state building, agrarianism, and the rise of youth. I argue that the spread of the “Rural Youth Industry” most clearly exemplifies a central characteristic of the Japanese empire, which is summarized as its drive to pursue nation-building across its imperial domains, forming a “nation-empire.” This dissertation examines the operations of the “nation-empire” at the grassroots level by comparing the social environments of mobilized agrarian youth. Situating the practices of the Japanese empire in these broader contexts as well as the specific local conditions of village societies, it illuminates the nature of mass mobilization and the shifting relationship between the state and society in the first half of the twentieth century. Table of Contents Acknowledgement ii Notes on Romanization, Translation, and Abbreviation vii Map ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Making of the “Rural Youth” and the Seinendan in Imperial Japan 23 Chapter 2: Youth Discourse and Agrarianism in the Colonies 58 Chapter 3: The “Rural Youth Industry” in Shida Village, Miyagi (1900s-1920s) 92 Chapter 4: The Rise and Demise of Rural Youth in Shida, Miyagi (1930s-1945) 133 Chapter 5: Youth in a Mountain Village—Beipu in Xinzhu, Taiwan (1890s-1930s) 173 Chapter 6: Taiwanese Youth in the Nationalizing Empire (1937-1945) 205 Chapter 7: The Making of the Model Rural Youth in Colonial Korean Village— Kwangsǒk in South Ch’ungchŏng, Korea (1890s-1930s) 248 Chapter 8: The Mobilization of Korean Rural Youth for Total War (1930s-1945) 285 Conclusion 330 Bibliography 336 i Acknowledgement During my graduate work and field research, as well as in the process of writing and editing this dissertation, I incurred debts of gratitude with a long list of individuals and institutions. First and foremost, I would like to thank all of my interviewees and informers. This includes Huang Rongluo, Huang Yuanxin, Xu Chongfa, Chen Meizhu, Chen Jiakang, Wen Qingshui, Jiang Zhaoying, Kim Yǒng-han, Kim Hǔng-nam, Pak Kyǒng-jung, Katō Haruhiko, Yūki Tamiya, Katō Minoru, Taira Eishō, Yamashiro Shigemi, Fukuchi Zenji, and a number of anonymous interviewees. Only a few individuals appear in this dissertation, but all the stories they shared with me not only helped me analyze the subject of youth mobilization, but also powerfully influenced me as a person. Their generosity gave me the energy to finish this dissertation when I felt overwhelmed by the task. During my research years I relied on the expertise and hospitality of many researchers and institutions across East Asia. In Tokyo, Koichi Okamoto gave me an institutional home in the School of International Liberal Arts at Waseda University. Tani Teruhito at the Tsuruga Junior College and Kakeya Shōji at the Japan Youth Club accommodated my repeated requests for materials on the seinendan. In Sendai, Teshima Yasunobu and Adachi Hiroaki at Tōhoku University, as well as Kanehira Kenji at the Miyagi Prefectural Archives, guided me through the local library and archival systems, making my short stays more productive than I could have hoped for. Nakamura Kazuhiko at the Ōsaki city hall, and Sasaki Ritsuko and Takeuchi Mitsuhiro at the Fukukawa community center, helped me find interviewees and primary sources in the Shida region, Miyagi. Although I did not include the Okinawan case here, I am equally indebted to Nara Hiromi at the Ogimi village history office, Nakamura Seiji at Meiō University, ii staff at the Nago local history office, and many others who helped me without expecting anything in return. In Taiwan, I owe a great deal to the staff and co-fellows at the Center for Chinese Studies, as well as the librarians and archivists in various institutions in Taipei and Xinzhu. In particular, Shu-ming Chung at the Academia Sinica and Huang Zhuoquan at the National Central University, as well as Lien Juichih at the National Chiao Tung University, offered me invaluable insight into the local histories of Taiwan. Nor could I have conducted research without the help of many people in Korea. Do-hyun Han at the Academy of Korean Studies offered me encouragement and guidance in pursuing local research. I was also moved by the generosity of Jong-Soon Kim in the Naju city hall, who provided me with rich local histories and arranged interviews with local residents. I owe gratitude to the residents and village administration of Kwangsǒk for helping me familiarize myself with the village as well. I would also like to mention the generosity of Itagaki Ryūta, Miyazaki Seiko, Christopher Nelson, Brandon Palmer, David Ambaras, Matthew Augustine, Neil Waters, Onitsuka Hiroshi, and Miyagi Harumi, who shared information and materials with me, even before meeting me in person. I also thank many other researchers I encountered along the way. Casual and academic conversations with them always gave me a fresh look at history and academic life. This includes Motokazu Matsutani, Shirley Ye, HyoungDuck Kwak, Albert Wu, Ryan Cook, John Schlesinger, Higashiyama Kyōko, Tadashi Ishikawa, Chen Chih-hao, Seiji Shirane, Jamyong Choi, Sugyeong Hong, Yi Hong-sǒk, Chang Mi-hyǒn, Nick Kapur, and many people I met at Waseda University and Tōhoku University, as well as here in the Max Weber Postdoctoral Programme at the European University Institute in Florence. iii Practically, without the help of a variety of organizations and donors located across East Asia and the US, I could not have even begun this transnational research. I am grateful for the funding received from the Social Science Research Council, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Shicho Foundation, the Center for Chinese Studies in Taiwan, the Japanese- American Association-Honjo Fellowship in New York, the Konosuke Matsushita Memorial Foundation, and Howard and Natalie Shawn, as well as the East Asian languages and cultures department, the history department, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Columbia University. At my home institution, Columbia University, I was fortunate to have been surrounded by an amazing array of scholars. In particular, Charles Armstrong guided me through the demanding graduate work and trusted my ability to handle the expansive topic. Carol Gluck inspired me with her passion, meticulous scholarship, and devotion to her students. Susan Pedersen and Kim Brandt, in different ways, showed me models of a compassionate intellectual and dedicated teacher. I am also grateful to Andrew Nathan and Gregory Mann for reading my dissertation and offering me extensive comments and suggestions as defense committee members. Noguchi Sachie at the C.V. Starr East Asian Library is an incredible asset to anyone who needs Japanese-language materials in New York. Her assistance was indispensable to my graduate work. My life in New York and Asia between 2007 and 2014 would never have been the same without a supportive cohort. Yumi Kim was not only an intellectual inspiration to me, but also a savior for my family when we faced a mad schedule of writing, job interviews, and infant care. I also owe a lot to Arunabh Ghosh, Chelsea Szendi Scieder, Sujung Kim, Alyssa Park, Liza Lawrence, and Gal Gvili, for their encouragement and support in all areas of my life. I realized iv how much their friendship means to me especially after I left New York. Tim Yang and Christopher Craig always shared their experiences, which helped me take each step towards graduation. Christopher, in particular, helped me in the archives and shared valuable materials on Miyagi. I thank many others, including Mi-ryong Shim, Yurou Zhong, Anatoly Detwyler, Andy Liu, Stacey Van Vleet, Jenny Wang Medina, Shing-Ting Lin, Reto Hofmann, Michelle Hwang, Matt Swagler, and Christina Yi, for reading or listening to my underdeveloped ideas and for sharing their knowledge and interests with me.