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Chimera: A Portrait of Manzhouguo. Harmony and Conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

S Yamamuro  and
Joshua A. Fogel
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In 1993 Professor Yamamuro Shin'ichi of Kyoto University published Kimera: Manshukoku no shozo (Chimera: A Portrait of Manzhouguo). He sent me a copy at that time—we have been friends since the mid-1980s—and I glanced it over and thought how nice it would be to read, as soon as I had some of that most precious of commodities: spare time. Unlike the countless other books collecting dust, which I continue to promise myself I will someday get to, I actually had an opportunity to read this one during 1996-97 while I was a visiting professor at the Research Institute in the Humanities at Kyoto University.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , March 2007 , e16
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
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Copyright © The Authors 2007

References

Notes

[1] In Manshukoko shi hensan kankokai, ed., Manshukoko shi soron (History of Manzhouguo, an overall view) (Tokyo: Man-Mo doho engokai, 1970), 5.

[2] In Manshu kaikoshu kankokai, ed., Aa Manshu, kunitsukuri sangyo kaihatsusha no shuki (Ah, Manchuria, notes of an industrial developer for state-formation) (Tokyo: Manshu kaikoshu kankokai, 1965), 302.

[3] Furumi Tadayuki, “Manshukoko no yume wa kienai” (My dream of Manzhouguo will never be extinguished), in Furumi and Katakura Tadashi, Zasetsu shita risokoku, Manshukoko kobo no shinso (An ideal state frustrated, the truth about the rise and fall of Manzhouguo) (Tokyo: Gendai bukkusha, 1967), 2.

[4] Katakura Tadashi, Kaiso no Manshukoko (Reminiscences of Manzhouguo) (Tokyo: Keizai oraisha, 1978), 325.

[5] Hoshino Naoki, Mihatenu yume, Manshukoko gaishi (An unfinished dream, an unofficial history of Manzhouguo) (Tokyo: Daiyamondosha, 1963), 66-67

[6] In Aa Manshu, 325.

[7] Hoshino Naoki, Mihatenu yume, 12.

[8] In Muto Tomio, Watakushi to Manshukoko (Manzhouguo and me) (Tokyo: Bungei shunju, 1987), 12.

[9] I should note in advance several points that emerge in the narrative of this volume. First, the name “Manzhouguo” was not a term initially agreed upon by the people who lived there, and to that extent it lacked popular legitimacy as a state. Second, in China the region in which Manzhouguo was founded was called at the time “Dongsansheng” (Three Eastern Provinces) or “Dongbei” (the Northeast), “Manzhou” or “Manshu” (Manchuria) in Japanese being a Japanese appellation. Similarly, there were the two names of “Manzhouguo” and “Manzhou diguo” (Empire of Manchuria) used at different times when the state system was a republican one and when it was a constitutional monarchy. These and similar issues reveal that even today there is not necessarily an established historical vocabulary.

[10] Furumi Tadayuki, “Manshukoku no yume ha kienai,” (The dream of Manzhouguo cannot be extinguished), in Zasetsu shita risokoku Manshukoku kobo no shinso (The frustrated ideal state: The truth about the rise and fall of Manzhouguo) (Tokyo: Gendai bukkusha, 1967), 302.

[11] Yamaguchi Yoshiko and Fujiwara Sakuya, Ri Koran, watakushi no hansei (Li Xianglan, half of my life) (Tokyo: ShinchÅ⌷sha, 1987), 110.

[12] Translator's note. Yamamuro is playing on the expression “nichijo sahan” (everyday occurrence, ordinary affair) which usually has nothing directly to do with the tea and rice in it; in this instance, it is precisely the foodstuffs (“ordinary?”) to which he is pointing.

[13] Testimony of Zhu Haide, as cited in Ando Hikotaro, “Enpen kiko” (Travels to Yanbian), Toyo bunka 36 (March 1964), 38-39.

[14] Furumi, “Manshukoku no yume ha kienai,” 270.

[15] Gao Shan, “Manshukoku gunkan gakko” (The cadet school of Manzhouguo), in Chugoku shonen no mita Nihon gun (The Japanese army as seen by Chinese youth), ed. Lin Huaiqiu and Ishikami Masao (Tokyo: Aoki shoten, 1985), 58-59.

[16] Sakuda Shoichi, “Manshu kenkoku no kaiko” (Memories of the founding of Manzhouguo), in Aa Manshu, kunizukuri sangyo kaihatsusha no shuki (Aa, Manchuria: notes of a industrial developer involved in nation-building), ed. Manshu kaikoshÅ« kankÅ⌷kai (Tokyo: NÅ⌷rin shuppan, 1965), 65.

[17] Li Zhandong, “Kokoro ni nokoru uta” (A song left in my heart), in Chugoku shonen no mita Nihon gun, 28.

[18] “Manshukoku to Nihonjin” (Manzhouguo and the Japanese), in Manshu kenkoku no yume to genjitsu (Dream and reality in founding a state in Manchuria), ed. Kokusai zenrin kyÅ⌷kai (Tokyo: Kokusai zenrin kyokai, 1975), 108.

[19] Wang Ziheng, “Wei-Man guanli de mimi shouce” (Secret pamphlet for officials in the bogus state of Manzhouguo), in Wenshi ziliao xuanji (Selection of literary and historical documents), ed. Wenshi ziliao yanjiu weiyuanhui, vol. 39 (Beijing: Zhongguo wenshi chubanshe, 1963), 57, 59, 60.

[20] Zenkoku ken'yukai rengokai, ed., Nihon kenpei gaishi (Unofficial history of the military police) (Tokyo: Kenbun shoin, 1983), 297.

[21] Kantogun shireibu, “Manshukoku no konpon rinen to Kyowakai no honshitsu” (The fundamental ideals of Manzhouguo and the essence of the Concordia Association) (dated September 18, 1936), in Gendai shi shiryo 11: Manshu jiden, 908. Empasis in original.

[22] Translator's note. This is an untranslatable play on words. The term for harmony in Japanese is kyowa, and the author here has split it into kyo which he identifies with “assistance, help” and wa which he identifies with “Yamato.”

[23] Kantogun sanbobu (Operations Section, Guandong Army), “Man-Mo ni okeru sanryochi toji ni kansuru kenkyu” (Study of controlling occupied terrain in Manchuria and Mongolia) (dated May 1930), in Ishiwara Kanji shiryo, kokubo ronsaku, 53.

[24] Itagaki Seishiro, “Man-Mo mondai ni tsuite” (On the problem of Manchuria and Mongolia) (dated May 1931), in Taiheiyo senso e no michi (The road to the Pacific War), ed. Nihon kokusai seiji gakkai Taiheiyo senso gen'in kenkyubu (Tokyo: Asaha shinbunsha, 1963), additional volume, 104.

[25] Manshukoku saiko kensatsuchu, “Manshukoku kaitakuchi hanzai gaiyo” (1941), in Yamada Shoji, ed., Kindai minshu no kiroku 6: Manshu imin (Records of the people in the modern era, vol. 6, migrants to Manchuria) (Tokyo: Shinjinbutsu oraisha, 1978), 455.

[26] Tsukui Shin'ya, “Aa ‘muga shijun‘” (Alas, “selflessness and purity”), Henkyo 9 (November 1972), 228.

[27] Nasu Shiroshi et al., “Man-Mo kaitaku seishonen giyugun hensei no kansuru kenpakusho” (Petition concerning the formation of a youth volunteer brigade for Manchurian and Mongolian colonization) (dated November 1937), 3.

[28] Tsukui Shin'ya, “Aa ‘muga shijun,‘” 228.

[29] In Kikigaki, aru kenpei no kiroku (Verbatim notes, account of a military policeman), ed. Asahi shinbun Yamagata shikyoku (Yamagata branch of the Asahi newspaper) (Tokyo: Asahi bunko, 1991), 187.

[30] Ibid., 190.

[31] Ibid., 192.

[32] Bayue de xiangcun (Shanghai: Rongguang shuju, 1935), 3 (introduction).

[33] Manshikai (Society for Manchurian history), Manshu kaihatsu yonju nen shi (History of forty years of Manchurian development) (Tokyo: self-publ., 1964), vol. 1, 1 (introduction).

[34] Ota Seikyu et al., eds., Showa Manyoshu (Ten thousand leaves for the Showa period), vol. 3 (Tokyo: KÅ⌷dansha, 1979), 124-26.

[35] Manshukoku gunseibu gunji chosabu (Military research bureau of the military administration of Manzhouguo), ed., Manshu kyosan hi no kenkyu (Studies of the Communist bandits in Manchuria) (n.p.: Gunseibu komonbu, 1937), vol. 1, 730.

[36] Ed. Manshukoku shi hensan kankokai (Committee for the editing and publishing of the history of Manzhouguo), Manshukoku shi, soron kakuron (Tokyo: Man-Mo doho engokai, 1971), vol. 2 (“kakuron”), 199.

[37] Minseibu keisatsushi (Office of Police Affairs, Ministry of Civil Affairs), Hoko seido ron (On the baojia system) (self-publ., 1936), 22.

[38] Nagai Sadamu, “Hoko seido no genzai to shorai” (The present and future of the baojia system), Manshu gyosei 3.11 (November 1936), 16.

[39] “Zanji choji tohiho” (Provisional law for the punishment of bandits), Manshukoku seifu koho 44 (September 10, 1932), 3.

[40] Guandong Army, Showa juni nendo yori juroku nendo ni itaru Manshukoku senso junbi shido keikaku (Guiding plan for war preparations in Manzhouguo from 1937 through 1941).

[41] Kokuheiho jimukyoku, Kokuheiho yoran (Overview of the National Troop Law) (1940), as cited in Kokuheiho wa nani ka (What is the National Troop Law?) (Shinkyo [Changchun]: Kokuheiho shikko chuo iinkai jimukyoku, 1940), 18.

[42] Item 1, National Labor Service Law (Kokumin kinro hoko ho).

[43] Takahashi Gen'ichi, Daigun jusho Manshukoku (Manzhouguo, a great army and supply factory) (Osaka: Asahi shinbunsha, 1944), 63.

[44] Item 1, Populace Registers Law (Kokumin techo ho).

[45] Manshu nichinichi shinbunsha, Showa jugonen han, Manshu nenkan (The Manchurian Yearbook for 1940) (Dairen: Manshu nichinichi shinbunsha, 1939), 365.

[46] “Kokumuin fukoku daijunango” (Proclamation No. 17 of the State Council), Manshu teikoku seifu koho (December 8, 1942), 1.

[47] Cited in Aisin Gioro Hao, “Ruten no ohi” no Showa shi (History of the Showa era, itinerant queen) (Tokyo: Shufu to seikatsusha, 1984), 69.

[48] Ando Hikotaro, “Tohoku kiko” (Trip the the Northeast), Chugoku tsushin, 1964-1966 (Dispatches from China, 1964-1966) (Tokyo: Daiyasu, 1966), 480.

[49] Yuji Manzo, ed., Kenkoku daigaku nenpyo (Chronology of Kenkoku University) (Tokyo: Kenkoku daigaku dosokai, 1981), 554-55.

[50] Ibid., 555.

[51] “Kenkoku daigaku ni tamawaritaru chokusho” (Imperial rescript on Kenkoku University, May 1938), Manshukoku seifu kohho (May 2, 1938), 1.

[52] “Kenkoku daigaku rei daiichijo” (Law on Kenkoku University, Item Number 1), Manshukoku seifu koho 1006 (August 5, 1937), 65.

[53] Manshukoku shi, soron, 5.

[54] Kanasaki Ken, “Sanritsu ittai sei ni kawaru mono” (In place of the system of three posts in one), Gaiko jiho 713 (August 15, 1934), 89.

[55] Ibid., 93.

[56] Komai Tokuzo, Dai Manshukoku kensetsu roku (Chronicle of the founding of the great state of Manzhouguo) (Tokyo: Chuo kÅ⌷ronsha, 1933), 124.

[57] Furumi Tadayuki, “Kenkoku junen no kaiko to shorai e no tenbo” (Recollections on the ten years since state-founding and prospects for the future), in Manshu kenkoku sokumen shi (Bypaths of the history of the founding of Manzhouguo), ed. Miyauchi Isamu (Tokyo: Shin keizaisha, 1942), 398.

[58] Takamiya, Jungyaku no Showa shi (Loyalty and treason in Showa history) (Tokyo: Hara shobo, 1971), 147.

[59] Ibid., 147.

[60] Translator's note. Or, as we say in English, the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

[61] Muto Tomio, “Manshukoku ni kaketa yume” (Dreams pinned on Manzhouguo), Shiso no kagaku 21 (December 1963), 36.