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The Creation of the Imperial Military Reserve Association in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Richard J. Smethurst
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Abstract

In 1910, a group or army officers led by Tanaka Giichi founded die Imperial Military Reserve Association in order to integrate Japanese society around military values. The founders, mostly proteges of Yamagata Aritomo, die chief Meiji period spokesman for unity to increase national wealdi and power, established die organization in 1910 because the already existing unity was under attack. Labor organizations and the influx of morally degenerate and subversive Western ideas caused Tanaka to fear army-civilian alienation and national divisiveness. Thus, to achieve integration, the reserve association disseminated the “soldier's ethos,” military ideals, such as obedience, frugality, bravery, cooperation, social stratification, anti-individualism, and diligence, all unified by a belief in a divine emperor, established branches in every community, 14,000 in all, and carried out activities which reinforced both the values and local social structure. The three million volunteer members, half of whom had no military experience, achieved their leaders' goals by performing public services and patriotic activities. They demonstrated to local residents die ethos in action and benefitted the community as well. By the 1930's, bodi die organization and die members had become the backbone of rural Japan.

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Articles
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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , August 1971 , pp. 815 - 828
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1971

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References

The writing of this paper was made possible by grants from the Foreign Area Fellowship Program in 1964–1966, and the University Center for International Studies of the University of Pittsburgh in the summers of 1969 and 1970.

1 See Giichi, Tanaka, “Kokumin to guntai” [The People and the Army], August 1911, Tanaka chūjō kōenshū [The Collected Speeches of General Tanaka] (Tokyo, 1916), pp. 48–57, for a clear statement of this ideaGoogle Scholar.

2 The reserve association, while theoretically an organization for both soldiers and sailors, was dominated by the army throughout its history. The navy did not even affiliate itself with the organization until 1914, and in 1931, only 65,000 (2.5%) of the members were navy men. Moreover, the central headquarters was staffed primarily by active and retired army officers, and over 90% of the intermediate commands between the headquarters and local branches were held by active duty army officers. Teikoku zaigō gunjinkai sanjūnenshi [The Thirty Year History of the Imperial Military Reserve Association] (Tokyo, 1944), pp. 103–104Google Scholar; Rikukaigun gunji nenkan [The Army and Navy Military Affairs Yearbook] (Tokyo, 1937), pp. 561–565Google Scholar; (Tokyo, 1938), pp. 539–542; Shōin, Matsumura, “Teikoku zaigō gunjinkai kiyaku kaisci ni tsuite” [Concerning the Revision of the Imperial Military Reserve Association Bylaws], Kaikōsha kiji [The Army Officers' Journal], April 1933, p. 130Google Scholar.

3 Four Choshu generals, Yamagata Aritomo, Katsura Tarō, Terauchi Masatake, and Tanaka Giichi became prime ministers during or after ending their military careers; no Satsuma generals did so. More over, the most important Meiji period Satsuma general, Ōyama Iwao, was renowned as nonpolitical. Roger F. Hackett, “The Military,” Ward, Robert E. and Rustow, Dankwart, Political Modernization in Japan and Turkey (Princeton, 1964), p. 342CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Sanjūnenshi, pp. 27–37; Tsuneyoshi, Ijiri, ed., Rekidai kenkanroku [A Chronological Record of Officials] (Tokyo, 1967), pp. 360–434Google Scholar; Ryūgen, Hosokawa, Tanaka Giichi (Tokyo, 1958), p. 23Google Scholar. Tanaka was known as the “father of the reserve association” (gunjinkai no iki no oya), Sanjūnenshi, p. 76.

5 Tsunoda, Ryusaku, et al. , Sources of the Japanese Tradition (New York, 1958), pp. 705–707Google Scholar; Iwao, Takayama, “Gunjin seishin to seishin kyoiku” [The Soldiers' Ethos and Spiritual Education], Nihon guntai ni okeru seishin kyōiku [Spiritual Education in the Japanese Army] (Tokyo, 1960), pp. 123–124Google Scholar.

6 Gaishi, Nagaoka, “Zaigō gunjin heiso no kakugo” [Normal Reservist Resolutions], Senyii [Comrades in Arms], 14 (1911), pp. 8–9Google Scholar.

7 Nagaoka, pp. 8–9; Shigenobu, Ōkuma, “Koku-min kaihei no seishin” [The Spirit of ‘All People are Soldiers'], Senyū, 22 (1912), pp. 8–10Google Scholar; Giichi, Tanaka, “Kokumin no kyōroku o nozomu” [Requesting the Cooperation of the Populace], Senyū, 20 (1912), pp. 11–13Google Scholar; See also Kaoru, Inoue, “Kokumin no itchi kyōroku” [The Unified Cooperation of the Japanese People], Senyū, 24 (1912), pp. 3–5Google Scholar; Akira, Karasudani, “Kokumin to guntai” [The Populace and the Army], Senyū, 19 (1912), pp. 21–28Google Scholar; Shinʻichi, Kasai, “Subekaraku kokumin no sujiku tare” [Becoming die Axis of the Populace], Senyū, 11 (1911), pp. 4–9Google Scholar; Shiichi, Kasai, “Zaigō gunjin shiken” [A Personal Opinion of the Reserve Association], Senyū, 18 (1912), pp. 15–21Google Scholar. A small percentage of Japanese men were actually conscripted annually before the outbreak of the China War in 1937. Statistics for Shiba Ward in Tokyo, Niigata City, and Nishi-kamo County in Aichi Prefecture, between 1926 and 1935, indicate that in each of these three communities under 20% of the 20 year olds were actually called “to the barracks” each year. Another 30–50% were eligible for reserve association membership. The remaining 30–50% could not pass the draft physical examination or received some other kind of exemption, Shiba-ku shi [The History of Shiba Ward] (Tokyo, 1938), pp. 900–901, 904Google Scholar; Niigata-shi shi [The History of Niigata City] (Niigata, 1934), p. 1014Google Scholar; Nishi-kamo-gun shi [The History of Nishi-kamo County] (Tokyo, 1926), pp. 284–285Google Scholar.

8 Tanaka was a prolific writer in the journals and on the affairs of the reserve association. There were twenty-seven articles by Tanaka in the thirty-one copies of Senyū published between 1910 and May 1918, available at the Meiji Shimbun Bunko at Tokyo University. He also published several volumes of collected articles and speeches, most of which were originally written for, or given to, reservist gatherings. Cf. Taisho kōsho yori [From a High and Clear Place] (Tokyo, 1925)Google Scholar and Tanaka chūjō kōenshū. Many of these speeches and articles emphasized the phrase danketsu-itchi. He also used the term kyōdō (cooperation) as one of the reserve association's goals.

9 Fusatarō, Hongō, “Shin ni happu seraretaru guntai kyōikurei no seishin” [The Spirit of the Newly Published Military Education Regulations], part 1, Senyū, 30 (1913), p. 17Google Scholar; Tanaka, , “Guntai to chihō to no kankei” [The Connections between the Army and the Civilian Population], Senyū, 7 (1911), pp. 12–14Google Scholar; Interview with a former “military affairs' clerk” in Anjō City (formerly town), Aichi Prefecture, in the summer of 1969.

10 Tanaka, , “Toku ni kōryo o yōsuru jūyō mondai” [An Important Problem which Requires Special Consideration], Senyū, 96 (1918), pp. 11–15Google Scholar.

11 Tanaka chūjō kōenshū, pp. 178–180.

12 Hackett, Roger F., “The Meiji Leaders and Modernization: The Case of Yamagata Aritomo,” in Marius B. Jansen, Changing Japanese Attitudes Toward Modernization (Princeton, 1965), p. 263Google Scholar; Tanaka chūjō kōenshū, pp. 236–238.

13 Senyū, I (1910), pp. 56–61Google Scholar; Senyū, 24 (1912), pp. ii–viGoogle Scholar; Senyū, 93 (1918), pp. i–vGoogle Scholar; Teikoku zaigō gunjinkai gyōmu shishin [A Directory of Imperial Military Reserve Association Affairs] (Tokyo, 1929), pp. 90–105Google Scholar; Rikukaigun guniji nenkan, 1938, pp. 510–521; and many other official sources.

14 Senjin, Horibe, “Yūryō chūson o miru” [Viewing Ideal Towns and Villages], Shimin [Good Citizen], XXXI–7 (1936), pp. 79–80, 87–88Google Scholar; Eitarō, Suzuki, Nihon nōson shakaigaku genri [Principles of Japanese Rural Sociology] (Tokyo, 1940), pp. 299–354, especially pp. 337–339Google Scholar; interviews with former members in Anjō City (Aichi), Fuchū City (Tokyo), Ōkamada Village, now part of Kōfu City (Yamanashi), Katsunuma Town (Yamanashi) Iwai Village, now part of Katsunuma (Yamanashi), and Tsubota Village (Izu Islands, Tokyo).

15 Vagt, Alfred, A History of Militarism (New York, 1938), p. 357Google Scholar. One should bear in mind that the zaigō gunjinkai was not the exact equivalent of other reservist systems, for example, of the American army reserve system. The name zaigō gunjinkai itself might best be translated as “grass roots soldiers' association.” Both the membership and the activities of the organization reveal differences between the reservist groups in the two countries. The Japanese organization was made up of men who had never served on active duty along with ex-servicemen, it was not the mechanism through which soldiers were recalled in time of war, it was voluntary, and it had, as we have seen, community oriented duties which were only military in a very broad sense. Thus, although the reservist association in Japan carried out some functions which were equivalent to those of the American army reserve system, it also carried out activities usually performed in this country by such diverse groups as the American Legion, adult educational system, Boy Scouts, farm cooperatives, 4-H clubs, volunteer fire departments, and even at informal gatherings as Fourth of July and Memorial Day ceremonies.

16 Hongō, , Senyū, 30 (1913), p. 7Google Scholar; Bushin, Kameoka, “Teikoku zaigō gunjinkaiin wa yamato damashii no yōgosha o motte ninzeyo” [The Members of the Imperial Military Reserve Association are Appointed the Defenders of the Spirit of Japan], Senyū, 1 (1910), pp. 11–14Google Scholar; Masatake, Terauchi, “Bunkai daihyōsha no shukkyō ni saishi shoshi o nobu” [Some Thoughts at the Time of the Departure of Branch Representatives to Tokyo for the Emperor's Funeral], Senyū, 24 (1912), pp. 1–2Google Scholar; Yatsuka, Hozumi, “Kokutai no isetsu to jinshin no keiko” [Incorrect Theories about the National Polity and Trends of Popular Sentiment], Senyū, 30 (1913), pp. 20–33Google Scholar. The Hozumi article was published posthumously.

17 Vagt, Militarism, pp. 13–17; Janowitz, Morris, The Professional Soldier (New York, 1960), p. 21Google Scholar; See Smethurst, Richard J., The Social Basis for Japanese Militarism: The Case of the Imperial Military Reserve Association, dissertation (Ann Arbor, 1968), pp. 150–167Google Scholar, for a detailed analysis of the reserve association's central leadership.

18 Noboru, Umetani, Meiji zenki seijishi no kenkyū [Studies in Early Meiji Political History] (Tokyo, 1963), p. 267Google Scholar; Tsunoda, Sources, pp. 646–647.

19 Kublin, Hyman, Asian Revolutionary: The Life of Sen Katayama (Princeton, 1964), p. 204Google Scholar.

20 Sanjūncnshi, pp. 10–12.

21 Sanjūnenshi, pp. 19, 23–24.

22 Sanjūnenshi, pp. 25–44; Ryūji, Sasaki, “Nihon gunkokushugi no shakaiteki kiban no keisei” [The Formation of the Social Basis of Japanese Militarism], Nihonshi kenkyū [Studies in Japanese History], 68 (1963), pp. 1–30Google Scholar.

23 Sasaki, pp. 11–19; The Aichi Prefecture materials used by Professor Sasaki are kept at the Mombushō shiryokan in Tokyo. Generals Nagaoka and Tanaka were not as sanguine in 1911 and 1918 respectively about zaigō gunjinkai success as Professor Sasaki was in 1963. Both urged local reservists to choose men of higher military rank and local status as branch chiefs, indicating that they did not feel, when they wrote, that reservist branch and local leadership were as yet fused. Nagaoka, , “Zaigō gunjin heiso no kakugo,” Senyū, 14 (1911), pp. 11–12Google Scholar; Tanaka, , “Toku ni kōryo o yōsuru jūyō mondai,” Senyū, 96 (1918), pp. 11–15Google Scholar.

24 Sanjūnenshi, p. 25.

25 Sanjūnenshi, pp. 41–42; Senyū, 1 (1910), pp. 56–61Google Scholar. Included among the nineteen retired officers in the group of thirty key zaigō gunjinkai figures were a retired general, seven retired lieutenant generals and seven retired major generals.

26 Tanaka, Tanaka chūjō kōenshū, pp. 2–6; kankokai, Tanaka Giichi denki, Tanaka Giichi denki [Biography of Tanaka Giichi] (Tokyo, 1960), I, pp. 403–408Google Scholar.

27 Hosokawa, TanaKa Giichi, p. 25.

28 Hosokawa, Tanaka Giichi, pp. 35–36; TanaKa Giichi denKi, I, pp. 399–400Google Scholar; Sasaki, p. 4.

29 Huntington, Samuel P., The Soldier and the State (New York, 1957), p. 66Google Scholar.

30 Shitao, Kawatani, Tanaka Giichi den [The Biography of Tanaka Giichi] (Tokyo, 1929), p. 143Google Scholar.

31 Shigenobu, Ōkuma, “Sekai no taisei o ronjite gunjin kōen jigyō ni oyobu” [Theorizing on the World Situation and Carrying out the Work of Military Assistance], Senyū, 20 (1912), p. 7Google Scholar; Tanaka, , “Zaigō gunjin no honryō” [The Function of Reservists], August 1915, Tanaka chūjō kōenshū, pp. 231–232Google Scholar; See also, Ōkuma, , “Gendai ni okeru kokumin kaihei no seishin” [The Spirit of ‘All the People are Soldiers' in the Present Day], Senyū, 13 (1911), pp. 13–14Google Scholar; Yasutsuna, Kikoshi (Lieutenant General), “Honkai setsuritsu no shushi o gokai suru nakare” [Do Not Misunderstand the Meaning for the Establishment of this Organization], Senyū, 14 (1911), pp. 1–7Google Scholar; Shojirō, Uchiyama (General), “Zaigo gunjin no sekinin” [Reservists' Responsibilities], Senyū, 17 (1912), pp. 2–3Google Scholar; Junkō, Haseba, (Education Ministry) “Gunji to kyōiku to no kankei ni tsuite” [Concerning the Relationship between Military Affairs and Education], Senyū, 15 (1912), pp. 3–5Google Scholar; Ichinosuke, Oka (Lieutenant General, War Minister 1914), “Zaigō gunjinkai setsuritsu no raireki to shōrai no kibō” [A Brief History of the Establishment of the Reserve Association and Its Future Hopes], Senyū, 17 (1912), pp. 4–7Google Scholar; Maresuke, Nogi (General), “Öshū shokoku ni okeru shōnendan” [Youth Associations in Various European Countries], Senyū, 18 (1912), pp. 2–4Google Scholar; etc.

32 Scalapino, Robert A., Democracy and the Party Movement in Prewar Japan (Berkeley, 1953), pp. 46–48, 70, 89–90Google Scholar; Jansen, Marius B., The Japanese and Sun Yat-sen (Cambridge, 1954), p. 43Google Scholar.

33 Kublin, pp. 130–132; Many alienated intellectuals retreated rather than join the government's new opposition. See Hiroshi Wagatsuma and George A. Devos, “Alienation and the Authors, a Triptych of Social Conformity and Deviancy in the Japanese Intellectuals,” unpublished manuscript.

34 Kublin, pp. 106–110.

35 Kublin, pp. 162–169, 207.

36 Kublin, p. 191.

37 Oka, , “Zaigō gunjinkai setsuritsu no raireki to shōrai no kibō,” Senyū, 17 (1912), pp. 4–7Google Scholar; Bushin, Kameoka, “Teikoku zaigō gunjinkaiin wa yamato damashii no yōgosha o motte ninzeyo,” Senyu, 1 (1910), pp. 11–14Google Scholar; Yasutsuna, Kikoshi, “Honkai setsuritsu no shushi o gokai suru nakare,” Senyū, 14 (1911), p. 1Google Scholar; Ōkuma, , “Zaigō gunjin ni taishite no kibō” [Our Hopes for Reservists], Senyū, 16 (1911), pp. 6–7Google Scholar; See Tanaka, , “Gun rengō zaigō gunjin bunkai no jigyō” [The Work of Reserve Association County-level Consolidated Branches], September 1915, Tanaka chūjō kōenshū, p. 239Google Scholar, for a view exactly like Okuma's.

38 Tanaka, , “Zaigō gunjin no kokoroe” [Reservist Directions], April 1912, Tanaka chūjō kōenshū, pp. 118–120Google Scholar; “Kinken no bifū o hakki seyo” [Display the Virtue of Thrift], Senyū, 22 (1912), pp. 15–20Google Scholar; “Kyōdō itchi no shinken to kōtokushin” [The Spirit of Cooperation and Public Morality], Senyū, 19 (1912), pp. 7–9Google Scholar; “Seinendan no igi” [The Meaning of the Youth Association], October 1915, Tanaka chūjō kōenthū, pp. 253–255, 259–260Google Scholar; “Osorubeki shisō no appaku” [The Terrifying Ideological Pressure], Senyū, 93 (1918), pp. 8–12Google Scholar; “Ichinichi wa ichinichi yori omoshi” [Each Day is More Important than the Last], Senyū, 95 (1918), pp. 5–8Google Scholar; Minoru, Oka, “Gunkoku no kokumin” [The People of a Military Nation], Senyū, 14 (1911), p. 16Google Scholar; speech by Terauchi Masatake, Sanjūnenshi, p. 114. Tanaka did not, however, reject all foreign ideas, but only those which he felt would thwart his goals. He was a great admirer of such organizations as the German army before World War I, the American Legion, and in the 1920's, of Mussolini. Kawatani, Tanaka den, pp. 146–159.

39 Crowley, James B., Japan's Quest for Autonomy: National Security and Foreign Policy, 1930–1938 (Princeton, 1966), pp. 9–10Google Scholar.

40 Akira, Fujiwara, Gunjishi [A Military History] (Tokyo, 1961), pp. 134–138Google Scholar; Sanjūnenshi, p. 32.

41 Tanaka denki, I, pp. 421–422Google Scholar.