The Concept of the Yamato Race and the Tanaka Memorial in the Ideology of Japanese Fascism

Abstract

The twentieth century, in the words of Benito Mussolini, became the era of fascism; fascist ideology spread across Europe, the Americas, Britain, and Asia, and took on religious diversity, including Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox, so on. The aim of this article is to analyze the discourse on Japanese fascism, which in recent years has generated wide interest in both Japanese and Western historiography. Did fascism exist in Japan? There is a difference of opinion among historians on this issue. One group of Japanese scholars: Takashi, Takehiro, Takahi, as well as English-speaking scholars, Berger, Garon, Kasza, Brown, Duus, Szpilman, and Okimoto put forward the following arguments: (1) there was no mass fascist movement in Japan; (2) Japan did not have a charismatic leader characteristic of fascism; (3) there was no usurpation of power by fascists in Japan; (4) terrorist acts carried out in Japan at the time were inspired and funded by the state; (5) there was no corporatist system in Japan; and (6) Japan was regarded as a unique country not adequately explained by the traditional historical categories used to interpret other societies.

Japan was considered a fascist country not only by Marxists but also by other Japanese researchers: Kinzo, Hirozumi, Masao, Kiyotada, Tetsuo, and Yoshiaki. This idea is also supported by Bix, Gordon, Reynolds, and Tansman. They examine Japanese “imperial fascism”, analogous situations in Germany and Japan (the cult of power, permissiveness, national uniqueness, dictatorship, and the expansionist policy of the “Yamato race”), and refer to Japan as a “composite fascist state”. According to Reynolds, “an ideology based on the po­wer of the emperor is a form of Japanese-style fascism”. Many researchers in the United States and the Uni­ted Kingdom have identified a “culture of fascism” and a “fascist aesthetic” in relation to Japan’s moder­nization and the “management of crises via fascist methods”. At the same time, it is important to note the specific features of Japanese fascism, such as the following: (1) the flag of Japanese fascism, which repre­sented not a party but the emperor; (2) Tanaka’s seven-stage plan; (3) the dominance of the Yamato master race in Asia; (4) the synthesis of the national religion – Shinto – and the samurai code of “bushidō”.

     Some researchers have considered Japan to have been fascist since the 1930s and support this position with the following arguments: 1. The entire patriotic cult of militarist Japan was based on the worship of the emperor and service to him; he was regarded as the “Son of the Sun” and the highest authority in Shinto. Similarly, in the Japanese model of power, the emperor was important not as a person but as a function. 2. Emperor Hirohito was called the “Asian Hitler,” and he was not brought to trial largely because Tojo and other generals assumed full responsibility for the crimes. This was regarded as a manifestation of samurai ethics. 3. Japan had a corporatist system: the zaibatsu corporations existed even before the Shōwa era, and some of them – Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo – cooperated with the militarist government as successfully as Siemens, Thyssen, and Krupp in Germany. 4. Japan pursued the same objectives as the Axis powers: the redistribution of the world and the struggle against communism. 5. Japan employed genocidal methods in 1937, when approximately 500,000 people were killed in Nanjing. 6. Shinto played an important role in Japanese fascism, giving a dogmatic character to the concept of Japanese uniqueness. 7. The Japanese Kyokujitsu-ki flag is still perceived as a swastika in China and Korea. 8. In Japan, the role of a fascist party was fulfilled by military personnel, officers, and generals. 9. The ideology of Japanese fascism was implemented by the fascist organization “Imperial Rule Assistance Association” (1940–1945), founded by Prime Minister Prince Konoe after Japan joined the Axis powers.

     Ultimately, a historical analysis of fascism reveals that the debate over Japanese fascism will persist for a considerable time.