Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney - Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History

EMIKO OHNUKI-TIERNEY

In memory of Kurata Iku

My grandmother who bore an incredible pain throughout her life

Losing two sons to the war

Part is THE SYMBOLISM OF CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN PRE-MEIJI JAPAN

Part 2: THE ROAD TO PRO REGE ET PATRIA MORI: NATURALIZATION OF IMPERIAL NATIONALISM

Part 3: THE MAKING OF THE TOKKOTAI PILOTS

Part 4: NATIONALISMS, PATRIOTISMS, AND THE ROLE OF AESTHETICS IN MECONNAISSANCE

Gallery following page 154

1 Courtesan with two attendants under a cherry tree by Hosoda Eishi (1756-1829), 18io

2 Cherry blossom motifs in military insignia, 1870-1943

3 The Cherry Blossom Reader

4 Falling cherry petals as metamorphoses of fallen soldiers

5 Tokkotai plane with a single cherry blossom painted on its side

6 Umezawa Kazuyo, tokkotai pilot, with branches of cherry blossoms on his uniform

7 Chiran High School female students waving cherry blossom branches as the tokkotai (Shinbutai) planes take off

8 The main building of Yasukuni Shrine today

9 Cherry petals encased in glass

Although I have cluttered up enough space in printed pages in the past, this project is the longest in terms of the number of years spent and the one that obsessed me, literally, the most. Not only did this book become the largest in scope I have ever undertaken, but the process of writing it involved many unexpected twists and turns. The project began as a study of cherry blossom viewing; at the time I was ignorant of the involvement of the symbolism of cherry blossoms in the tokkotai (kamikaze) operation. The project resulted in this book, whose major concern became the use of aesthetics on the part of the Japanese totalitarian regime. Once started, I had no option but to push on. What sustained me through these years was the idealism and dedication to learning so evident in the pilots' diaries, which I stopped reading at night-they were too tragic and powerful, and after reading them it was difficult to fall asleep. Moreover, my rage against the forces that terminated these young brilliant minds became increasingly intense, and I felt a moral obligation to introduce them to non-Japanese readers, because they are known outside of Japan only as ultra-nationalistic zealots. I agonized over the decision to write an introduction to these young men and their writings for a broader audience vs. an analytical /interpretive book on the question of why such intelligent and intellectual young men fight in wars orchestrated by a totalitarian state. I chose the latter, since the question is not a Japanese problem or a question pertaining to the past. It is an ongoing question the world over, and the former would have had to stop short of confronting the question directly.

A project of this scope could not have been undertaken without the generous assistance of the William F. Vilas Trust Fund of the University of Wisconsin. I cannot express in words my indebtedness to it. A fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities at a critical juncture enabled me to engage in full-time writing. A part of the book was written in 1998 at the idyllic setting of Villa Serbelloni, for which I thank the Rockefeller Foundation, Gianna Celli, and Susan Garfield. Discussions with my colleagues at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in 1997 and again in 1998 were most helpful, and I thank Marc Auge for his invitations. The library research for the project started during my stay at Harvard University (1993-94) and continued at the University of Michigan (1995) I express my appreciation for the invitations and for the colleagues who shared their thoughts with me.

My thanks are due to two relatives of the tokkotai pilots. Dr. Umezawa Shozo, a younger brother of Umezawa Kazuyo, offered me a photo of his younger brother with branches of cherry blossoms on his uniform, and in addition provided me with invaluable information about his brother and his mother. Professor Nakao Yoshitaka at Seinan Gakuin University, and also a painter, is the brother of Nakao Taketoku, introduced in detail in chapter 6. He sent me his brother's seven-hundred-page diary, which he had edited.

My research took me into unfamiliar territories, ranging from ninthcentury historical documents in Chinese, through medieval literature, the Imperial Constitution of Japan of 1889, to the diaries of pilots whose intellectual scope was far beyond my own. I was able to conduct the research only because of my good fortune of having colleagues and friends, among whom space allows me to acknowledge only a few. Irokawa Daikichi, an eminent historian of Japan, shared with me invaluable sources in his possession. Himself a student soldier from the University of Tokyo and later an almost radical historian who openly opposed the emperor system and fought tirelessly to rectify social injustices, he guided me through the project, which I began when I was without empathy for the tokkotai pilots and had no clue as to why these brilliant young men fought in the war.

Edmund Leach long ago pointed out the ambiguities of symbolic communication. He for many years extended his warm personal support for my work. I remember Sir Edmund with profound respect and affection. Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah has extended his moral support over the years, and his brilliant treatments of symbols and rituals, and his more recent engagement with violence involved in the ethnonationalist conflicts in his own homeland and in South Asia in general, have been an important intellectual and moral wellspring for me. Eric Wolf read an earlier version of an outline of this book and extended his comments, even when he had fallen ill and wanted to focus on his own book. I address many of the themes raised in his Envisioning Power. The present book is in many ways my best effort so far to meet the suggestions he made over the years in his publications, letters, and phone conversations that symbolic studies must confront power and power inequalities-a conviction coming from his personal experience and his commitment to humanity. His last letter was about his enthusiasm for tai c'hi.