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Japanese Visions of Lu Xun in the Light of the Magic Lantern Incident

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Christopher Robins
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In January of 1906 in the northeastern Japanese city of Sendai, China's most famous modern writer, Lu Xun (Zhou Shuren 1881-1936), claimed to have experienced a life-changing epiphany that led him to abandon his medical studies and “devote himself to the creation of a literature that would minister to the ailing Chinese psyche.” The now famous “magic lantern (slide) incident” allegedly took place at the end of Lu Xun's bacteriology class at the Sendai Medical School. The lesson had ended early and the instructor used the slide projector to show various images to students from the recently concluded Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). Lu Xun later recounted that the Japanese medical students were roused into a patriotic frenzy by scenes of the war, culminating in reverberating chants of “banzai!” One scene showed a Chinese prisoner about to be executed in Manchuria by a Japanese soldier and the caption described this man as a Russian spy (see image 1). Lu Xun reported that rather than the sight of a fellow Chinese facing death, it was the expression on the faces of the Chinese bystanders that troubled him deeply. Although they appeared to be physically sound, he felt that spiritually they were close to death.

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Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , February 2007 , e2
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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] Lu Xun: Diary of a Madman and Other Stories, translated by William A. Lyell (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990), xi.

[2] David Holm, “Lu Xun in the Period 1936-1949: The Making of a Chinese Gorki,” in Lu Xun and His Legacy, ed., Leo Ou-fan Lee (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1985), 165.

[3] Op. cit., 166.

[4] Translations of “Mr. Fujino,” “A Small Incident,” “Storm in a Teacup,” and “My Old Home” were included in the Japanese junior high school kokugo (national language) curriculum after the 1950s. More than 20 million Japanese read “My Old Home” as part of their high school education. See Maruyama Noboru, “Lu Xun in Japan,” in Lu Xun and His Legacy, 240.

[5] Oda Takeo, Ro Jin den (Biography of Lu Xun) (Tokyo: Daiwa shobo, 1966), 40.

[6] Numano Seisuke, Ro Jin to Nihon (Lu Xun and Japan) (Bungeisha: 2004), 31-32.

[7] In Shimizu Yasuzo, Shina shinjin to reimei undo (Chinese new people and the enlightenment movement) (Osaka: Osakago shoten, 1924), cited in “Lu Xun in Japan,” 218.

[8] Nakano's biography of Lu Xun (Ro Jin den) was less a comprehensive biography than an argument for the necessity of one. Nakano was imprisoned for two years between 1932-34 for leftist activities and was released after becoming a political “convert.” Cited in “Lu Xun in Japan,” 224-225.

[9] Phyllis I. Lyons, The Saga of Dazai Osamu: A Critical Study with Translations (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1985), 32.

[10] Donald Keene, “Japanese Writers and the Greater East Asia War,” The Journal of Asian Studies, 23:2 (Feb., 1964), 219-220.

[11] Daizai Osamu, Sekibetsu, in Dazai Osamu zenshu, vol. 7 (Chikuma shobo, 1989), 189.

[12] Sekibetsu, 210-212.

[13] Sekibetsu, 222-223.

[14] Sekibetsu, 247.

[15] Sekibetsu, 250.

[16] Takeuchi Yoshimi, Ro Jin (Lu Xun) (Tokyo: Nihon hyoronsha, 1944; rpt., Tokyo: Miraisha, 1961), 70. Cited in “Lu Xun in Japan,” 226-227.

[17] Sekibetsu, 302

[18] Sekibetsu, 277-278.

[19] Sekibetsu, 315.

[20] Sekibetsu, 295.

[21] Sekibetsu, 298-299.

[22] James W. Heisig and John C. Maraldo, eds., Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, and the Question of Nationalism (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994), 216.

[23] Rude Awakenings, 309-310.

[24] Leo Ou-fan Lee, Voices from the Iron House: A Study of Lu Xun (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1987), 22-23.

[25] David E. Pollard, The True Story of Lu Xun (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2002), 37.

[26] Sekibetsu, 316.

[27] First performed January 9, 1991, at the Taira Municipal Hall (Iwaki City) in Fukushima Prefecture. Published serially in the magazine Subaru, beginning in March 1991, and in book form with Shueisha the same year.

[28] The titles of these Inoue Hisashi works are Wagahai wa Soseki de aru (I am Soseki [Natsume Soseki] (1982); Zutsu katakori Higuchi Ichiyo (Higuchi Ichiyo with a headache and stiff neck) (1984); Nakimushi namaiki Ishikawa Takuboku (The cheeky crybaby, Ishikawa Takuboku) (1986); Iihatobo no geki ressha (The Iwate theatre train [Miyazawa Kenji]) (1980); Ningen gokaku (Passing as human [Dazai Osamu]) (1990); Ani ototo (Older and younger brother [Yoshino Sakuzo]) (2003); and Taiko tataite fue fuite (Blow the flute and beat the drum [Hayashi Fumiko]) (2002).

[29] Inoue Hisashi, Hon no unmei (The fate of books) (Bungei shunju, 1997), 18-20.

[30] Inoue Hisashi, “Hahagimi no nokoshi tamaishi kotoba (Words bequeathed to me by my mother)” in Bungei Shunju, August 1991, 214.

[31] Inoue Hisashi, interview with the Yomiuri Shinbun, September 16, 1991.

[32] See brief introduction, Inoue Hisashi, Shanhai Mun (Shanghai Moon) (Tokyo: Shueisha, 1991), 5.

[33] Leo Ou-Fan Lee, “Literature on the Eve of Revolution: Reflections on Lu Xun's Leftist Years, 1927-1936,” Modern China, Vol. 2 (July, 1976), 281.

[34] Oda Takeo, Ro Jin den, 143.

[35] Inoue Hisashi, Shanghai Moon, 19.

[36] Yoshida Hiroji, Ro Jin no tomo: Uchiyama Kanzo no shozo (Portrait of Uchiyama Kanzo, Lu Xun's friend) (Tokyo Shinkyo shuppansha, 1994), 113.

[37] Koizumi Yuzuru, Hyoden: Ro Jin to Uchiyama Kanzo (Critical biography of Lu Xun and Uchiyama Kanzo) (Tokyo: Tosho shuppan, 1989), 263. Sudo, who was born in Okayama Prefecture in 1876 and died in 1959, was actually 58 years old when he was in Shanghai with Lu Xun in 1934. See Izumi Hyonosuke, “Rojin no shiin Nihonjin ishi hinan wa gimon,” (Doubts about accusations against a Japanese physician regarding the cause of Lu Xun's death,“ Asashi Shinbun, June 4, 1984.

[38] See Koizumi, 263.

[39] Shanghai Moon, 32.

[40] Shanghai Moon, 40-41.

[41] Shanghai Moon, 41.

[42] Shanghai Moon, 53.

[43] Shanghai Moon, 73-74.

[44] See David E. Pollard, The True Story of Lu Xun, 55-67.

[45] Shanghai Moon, 99-100.

[46] Shanghai Moon, 134-135.

[47] Shanghai Moon, 186.

[48] Shanghai Moon, 200-201.

[49] Shanghai Moon, 202.