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The Amuletic Use of Words
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Extract
There are, broadly speaking, two uses of language, assertive and expressive. ‘The Marunouti building is in Tookyoo’, ‘1 and 1 are 2’, are assertive statements; their truth can be ascertained by experiment or by logic. ‘Go over there‘, ‘~ is good’, are expressive statements; they are designed to influence the recipient through expressing a state of the utterer. The wartime statement ‘America and Britain are inhuman monsters’ is a pseudo-assertive one.
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- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , October 1956 , pp. 519 - 533
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- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1956
References
page 519 note 1 Translation from Sisoo no Kagaku [The Science of Thought], i, 1, 1946.
page 519 note 2See Glossary for these and similar words mentioned in the text. Kokutai has been most commonly translated as ‘ national polity’. By Gauntlett, J.W. in Kokutai no hongi (editor, Hall, R. King), Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1949Google Scholar—where the ideas connected with the word can be studied in detail—it is translated as ‘national entity’. The most prominent advocate of koodoo, usually translated as ‘imperial way’, was the fiery General Araki-Sadao.
page 519 note 3Hukuo: male given name, lit. ‘Prosperity-male ’. Satiko: female given name, lit. ‘Happiness-child’, Matu-no-ya : common name for a restaurant or geisya-hoase, lit. ‘ House of the pinetree ’. (The pine is emblematic primarily of long life, hence of prosperity and happiness, and particularly of happy and lasting wedlock or love relations.)
page 520 note 1Promulgated in 1889. Later, however (p. 527), Turumi traces the use of yokusan to an imperial edict of 1884.
page 520 note 2The beginning, in 1937, of military operations against China outside Manchuria.
page 520 note 3Gen-no-syooko: name of a wild plant, a sort of crane’s-bill. Kaisui: sea-water.
page 521 note 1See Glossary. Though the pronunciation ‘Nippon’ as against ‘Nihon’ was made into a shibboleth from some time in the 1930's, there is no reason to regard it as objectionable in itself. The two pronunciations have coexisted for centuries, and ‘Nippon’ (or something like it) may well be the older form; it is, at any rate, linguistically the more regular form. Why it came to be considered more patriotic I do not know. Possibly—this is a mere conjecture—it was the favoured form in Satuma dialect, and hence, inasmuch as Army speech was modelled on that dialect, was looked on as standard in the Army.
page 521 note 2See Glossary. Teikoku is ‘empire’, i.e. country or countries ruled over by an emperor. Dai-Nippon-teikoku was commonly translated as ‘Japanese empire’, but, since the ruler of Japan was, and is, Emperor of Japan, there was not necessarily the same emphasis on overseas possessions as there is in ‘British empire’. Dai is literally ‘great’, however, and though the dictionary definition quoted in the Glossary does not suggest this, it is probable that Dai-Nippon-teikoku was generally interpreted as implying that the-empire was wider than Japan itself.
page 521 note 3‘It is the form of towering Huzi (“Mount Fuji”) which is the pride of our flawless-like-agolden-chalice, unshakable Nippon.’
page 521 note 4‘Taroo (boy’s name), you good child, you ! all the while you're growing big, so is Nippon too.’
page 521 note 5The assassination of politicians and others who had for some reason incurred the enmity of ultra-patriotic societies or of extremist groups in the Army (and to a less extent in the Navy) reached a peak in the 1930's. Premier Hamaguti was shot at the end of 1930 and, after a partial recovery, died in August 1931. In February 1932 Inoue-Zyunnosuke, a former Finance Minister, was shot dead, and in the following month the same fate overtook Baron Dan-Takuma, chief director of the Mitui concerns. A little later came the ‘Affair of 15 May’, when a group mostly of young officers murdered Premier Inukai at his official residence, while civilian gangs tried, ineffectually, to destroy power stations in the capital. The ‘Sinpeitai affair’ was abortive; a number of important people were to have been assassinated in July 1932, but the police arrested the conspirators in time. In August 1935 General Nagata, Director of the Military Affairs Bureau, was stabbed to death in his room at the War Office by a colonel who thought the General's influence a bad one and had also a personal grievance. The next year came the ‘Affair of 26 February’, when, as a preliminary to a military revolt, Mr. Takahasi, Finance Minister, Admiral Viscount Saitoo, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and General Watanabe, Inspector-General of Military Education, together with five policemen guarding the Premier's official residence, were killed by the military, as also was the Premier's brother-in-law (in mistake for the Premier himself); Prince Saionzi, the old man who advised the Emperor on the choice of premiers, Count Makino, Saitoo's predecessor in his office, Admiral Suzuki, Grand Chamberlain (who was wounded), and the Premier, Admiral Okada, barely escaped.
page 521 note 6The ‘period of crisis’ was a propaganda phrase used perhaps more during the two or three years before the period had begun than after. The commencing year was 1936, when the limitation by treaty of Naval armaments came to an end. The propaganda suggestion was that Britain or America or both were likely then to build up armaments against Japan, which, unless drastic steps were taken, would be left weak and defenceless.
page 522 note 1The start, in 1931, of the train of events which included the ‘Lytton report’ to the League of Nations, the setting-up of the ‘independent’ State of Manchoukuo, and the withdrawal of Japan from the League of Nations. The immediate ‘incident’ was an alleged attempt by Chinese to blow up a train on the South Manchurian Railway, but the phrase ‘Manchurian incident’—or rather the Japanese phrase of which it is a translation—normally refers to the whole of the military operations which followed, and may even include the wider political consequences up to the appearance of the State of Manchoukuo.
page 522 note 2The ‘Minobe affair’ primarily affected academic circles. It should be borne in mind that practising lawyers in Japan have less prestige than they have, for example, in England, and that conversely the opinions of academic experts in Law tend to be taken more seriously there; this will partly explain why the attack on Dr. Minobe, Professor of Law in Tookyoo Imperial University, was pressed so hard. He had annoyed the militarists by asserting that the Army and Navy had no constitutional right to the degree of independence which they were claiming; a way of discrediting him was discovered only when it was pointed out that in a widely used textbook, written 25 years before, he had described the Throne as an organ of the State. Throughout 1935 a furious agitation was worked up against him for this allegedly disloyal denial of the emperor's absolute supremacy. Universities and schools were intimidated into discharging those teachers of Law, a considerable proportion of all those in the country, who had been his pupils; and he himself not only lost his position, but was deprived of his honours, had his books proscribed, and was shot at by a ‘patriot’, fortunately escaping with a leg wound. The Minister of Justice successfully resisted pressure to bring him to trial—suffering for it later when the Army in revenge refused to allow his inclusion in a new cabinet. Further information is given by Scalapino, R.A. in Democracy and the party movement in prewar Japan, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1953 (see index to that work under ‘Minobe Tatsukichi’)Google Scholar.
page 523 note 1Toohookai = Eastern Society; Dai-Nippon-doosikai = Great-Japan-companions Society; Daitoozyuku = Great-East Institute. These were all strongly nationalist bodies; though opposed to Toozyoo, it is hard to discover what their doctrinal disagreements with him were. With the setting-up of a more or less Fascist state organization on the eve of the Pacific war (Konoe's ‘New Structure’), societies with political aims came under some pressure from the authorities, and many camouflaged themselves as ‘cultural’ bodies. It seems that for this reason the Toohookai became the Sintoosya, or Activating-the-East Association, though it is still commonly referred to under its old name. The pressure increased during the war. It is pointed out by Mr. Kinosita-Hanzi—Nippon no uyoku [Japan's Right Wing], Tookyoo, Yoosyoboo, 1953, 102—that two factors kept these and other such societies comparatively inactive during the war: government pressure, because their hysterical agitation was unnecessary and embarrassed those in power, however much it may have served their purpose in preparing for the war; and loss of active membership, through the conscription of the younger men. Nakano, apparently because he was hounded by the authorities, committed suicide. However, as Turumi says, the societies mostly survived. Over 200 extremist bodies, the majority Right-Wing, were proscribed by the Allied Powers at the end of the war. Kinosita (op. cit.) gives some information about what has happened since.
page 523 note 2Prime Minister, 1941–44; attempted to commit suicide after Japan’s surrender in 1945, but was saved to be brought to trial as a war criminal and executed.
page 523 note 3Too-A-renmei – East-Asia League. Actually, this is not the name of the society, but a central point in what Isiwara and his associates advocated—some sort of confederation of Japan, China, and other countries of East Asia. The society was named, first, the Too-A-renmei-kyookai, or East-Asia-league Organization, and, later, the Too-A-renmei-doosikai, or East-Asia-leaguecompanions Society. Isiwara was retired from active service because of his opposition to Toozyoo, but seems to have been too strongly supported for Toozyoo to suppress the organization. This was proscribed as extremist after the war, though Isiwara was not brought to trial as a war criminal. In 1949 he sent an extraordinarily naive letter to MacArthur (see p. 525, n. 1), acknowledging that he had been mistaken on some points, e.g. about a final war between East Asia and the West (Europe and America), but defending other articles of his faith. There was, he said, a natural progress in forms of society, from autocracy, to liberalism, to control: England had moved to this last form and America was almost there, but Russia had regressed to the first, as Japan had during the war; he urged that liberalism should not be fastened on Japan—only a wealthy nation like America could afford the phase—but that bis planned or controlled form of society should be established. That is to say, large industry would be state-run by conscripted labour, medium industry run by co-operatives, small industry by individuals; the majority of the population would live in groups of from about 10 to 50 families, accommodated in hotel-like buildings with modern conveniences communally used; the people would work partly on the land and partly in industry. If such a society was established, China would amost certainly forsake Communism to imitate it. The letter is said to have been in English, but I do not know where a copy is to be found; I have taken these particulars from a Japanese version given by Kinosita (op. cit., 123–31). Isiwara died a few days after the date of this letter, which his followers now refer to as his will. Books written by bis followers claim that if he had had his way there would have been no war and that if he had directed the war Japan would have won it—see Yamaguti-Sigezi, , Higeki no syoogun Isiwara-Kanzi [Isiwara-Kanzi, General of tragedy], Tookyoo, Sekaisya, 1952Google Scholar; and Takagi-Kiyohisa, , Too-A no titi Isiwara-Kanzi [Isiwara-Kanzi, father of East Asia], Tookyoo, Kinbun-syoin, 1954Google Scholar.
page 524 note 1I have been unable to obtain any details of this gentleman.
page 524 note 2Central island of Mariana group; captured by American forces, June-July 1944.
page 524 note 3Central island of Ryuukyuu (Loochoo) group; captured by American forces, April-June 1945.
page 524 note 4Sadoo-kyookai = Tea-cult Association. Sadoo-ryoohuukai = ‘Rainbow’ Society of the Tea Cult (ryoohuu refers literally to a brightly coloured damask, but here implies brilliance and refinement in the abstract; ‘rainbow’ is perhaps not too dissimilar in the general impression it gives). Koodoo-sadookai = ‘Imperial-way’ Tea-cult Society. Tikken-hookokukai = Dogkeeping ‘Repaying-one's-debt-to-one's-country’ Society.
page 524 note 5‘There is looked for on the part of the one-hundred-million people of the nation that they will go on overcoming all national perils in the cause of maintaining the kokutai.’
page 524 note 6‘The single line of kokutai-maintenance which the one-hundred million are determined to defend.’
page 524 note 7‘Towards maintaining the kokutai and upholding the racial honour.’
page 524 note 8‘Towards kokutai-maintenance with the elimination of self-interest.’
page 525 note 1Supreme Commander, Allied Powers, in Japan, 1945–51.
page 525 note 2The standardized, flat wooden footgear of traditional Japanese dress, kicked off in the entrance-hall on entering a house and stepped into again on leaving.
page 528 note 1The script in which Japanese is normally written, consisting in part of Chinese characters—used both as the graphic accompaniments of Chinese roots and to represent native Japanese words or word-stems—and in part of kana, phonetic syllabary signs.
page 528 note 2Great-Japan-renovation Society.
page 528 note 3For some details of the Dai-Nippon-seisantoo, see Scalapino, op. cit., 361–2. His transliteration is ‘Dai Nihon Seisanto’, which he translates as ‘ Greater Japan Productive Party’.
page 529 note 1See p. 521, n. 5.
page 529 note 2i.e. the Dai-Nippon-seisantoo.
page 529 note 3Imperial-way-promotion Society.
page 529 note 4In translating these ‘objects of association’—both document A and, in the next note, document B—I have ventured to coin English words to represent such Japanese words in the originals as are not in the Koozirin dictionary of 1925; such coinages are placed in inverted commas. This has been done to give some idea of how far the statements were likely to be informative to the Japanese man in the street. Some of these Japanese words, though recent formations, may in fact have gained currency through their use in newspapers by the time the statements were drawn up, and some, though uncommon, may have existed before, but it seems fair to assume that most of them would have been unfamiliar to a majority of their readers, even though the Chinese roots of which they are composed (corresponding to the characters with which they are written) would give tangible clues to the better educated. It is patent that the motive for using these new (or recondite) words was not generally to attain a degree of precision unattainable with familiar words. The Japanese words left untranslated are all among those in the Glossary. The translation (of A) follows :—
‘§ To be forward in promoting the manifestation of the divine land, Nippon, by “credisubmission” to the underlying principle of the koo-kokutai. § To promote the restoration of imperial rule, that of one-sovereign/myriad-subjects, of unificatory worship and administration. § To promote the realization of the “conflorescence” of the myriad subjects, by the accomplishment of koodoo economy. § To promote the “alttlevitation” of koodoo culture, by the entire annihilation of anti-kokutai ideology. § To promote the imperial-influence renovation of the whole world, by complete provision of unrivalled national defence.’
page 529 note 5‘1. To promote the rendering of loyal and patriotic service, by striving in the highway of kannagara and believing in the spirit of koodoo. 2. To replenish national defence and to promote the expansion of national power and the stabilization of the livelihood of the people of the nation, by respectfully receiving the imperial forebear’s tyookoku divine proclamation and emphasizing the firm establishment of koodoo economy. 3. To promote the realization of the confederate leadership of Greater East Asia, founded on a Japano-Manchu-Chinese coalition, by striving for the enhancement of national prestige and national rights and firmly establishing a self-dependent and “unigressive” diplomatic policy.’
page 533 note 1A brief addendum at the end of the article is here omitted. The most important point makes is that when a social revolution appears to be urgently necessary it may seem to be reactionary to advocate a reform in linguistic customs instead of approving an amuletic use of words to further the revolution; only, the need for reforming linguistic customs would in that case still remain, ‘ and without this an assured social life is unthinkable’.