Tangent: Japan Imperial Rescripts declaring war and surrendering: Interesting (and scary) documents in terms of narrative

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Hi Blog. On the eve of the 70th Anniversary of the end of WWII-Pacific, a little tangent:

On display at Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii at Manoa are original copies of Japan’s Imperial Rescripts declaring war and surrendering. I think they make interesting reading in terms of the narrative they embed themselves within. Have a look:

Imperial Rescript Declaring War on The United States and Great Britain, December 8, 1941 (photo of document):
ImperialRescriptDeclareWar1941

Text (courtesy Wikipedia):

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IMPERIAL RESCRIPT

By the grace of Heaven, Emperor of Japan [Emperor Shōwa], seated on the throne occupied by the same dynasty from time immemorial, enjoin upon ye, Our loyal and brave subjects:

We hereby declare War on the United States of America and the British Empire. The men and officers of Our Army and Navy shall do their utmost in prosecuting the war. Our public servants of various departments shall perform faithfully and diligently their respective duties; the entire nation with a united will shall mobilize their total strength so that nothing will miscarry in the attainment of Our war aims.

To ensure the stability of East Asia and to contribute to world peace is the far-sighted policy which was formulated by Our Great Illustrious Imperial Grandsire [Emperor Meiji] and Our Great Imperial Sire succeeding Him [Emperor Taishō], and which We lay constantly to heart. To cultivate friendship among nations and to enjoy prosperity in common with all nations, has always been the guiding principle of Our Empire’s foreign policy. It has been truly unavoidable and far from Our wishes that Our Empire has been brought to cross swords with America and Britain. More than four years have passed since China, failing to comprehend the true intentions of Our Empire, and recklessly courting trouble, disturbed the peace of East Asia and compelled Our Empire to take up arms. Although there has been reestablished the National Government of China, with which Japan had effected neighborly intercourse and cooperation, the regime which has survived in Chungking, relying upon American and British protection, still continues its fratricidal opposition. Eager for the realization of their inordinate ambition to dominate the Orient, both America and Britain, giving support to the Chungking regime, have aggravated the disturbances in East Asia. Moreover these two Powers, inducing other countries to follow suit, increased military preparations on all sides of Our Empire to challenge Us. They have obstructed by every means Our peaceful commerce and finally resorted to a direct severance of economic relations, menacing gravely the existence of Our Empire. Patiently have We waited and long have We endured, in the hope that Our government might retrieve the situation in peace. But Our adversaries, showing not the least spirit of conciliation, have unduly delayed a settlement; and in the meantime they have intensified the economic and political pressure to compel thereby Our Empire to submission. This trend of affairs, would, if left unchecked, not only nullify Our Empire’s efforts of many years for the sake of the stabilization of East Asia, but also endanger the very existence of Our nation. The situation being such as it is, Our Empire, for its existence and self-defense has no other recourse but to appeal to arms and to crush every obstacle in its path.

The hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors guarding Us from above, We rely upon the loyalty and courage of Our subjects in Our confident expectation that the task bequeathed by Our forefathers will be carried forward and that the sources of evil will be speedily eradicated and an enduring peace immutably established in East Asia, preserving thereby the glory of Our Empire.

[Added to Wikipedia entry, with different date:  “In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hand and caused the Grand Seal of the Empire to be affixed at the Imperial Palace, Tokyo, this seventh day of the 12th month of the 15th year of Shōwa, corresponding to the 2,602nd year from the accession to the throne of Emperor Jimmu.”  (Released by the Board of Information, December 8, 1941. Japan Times & Advertiser)]

Japanese original in thumbnail (click to see full size):

ImperialRescriptDeclareWarJ

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COMMENT:  I’m always intrigued by the formality of documents like these.  One would have thought that a declaration of war would simply state, in essence, “We declare war on you, so kindly get your citizens and diplomatic missions out of our lands and prepare yourself for the loss of life, territory, and resources.”  It’s interesting that they have to offer a series of justifications, as if persuasion is necessary (aren’t declarations of war unilateral, regardless of whether the other side understands why they’re about to be attacked?).  It’s also interesting that the justifications being offered are,  a) we had no choice because we were victims of Allied subterfuge all around us, b) we are victims of machinations to stop us from doing what we wanted to do abroad, and c) we were the peaceniks here, not you unconciliatory jerks.  Declaring war is the only means left for Japan’s survival.  Now, nearly three-quarters of a century later, undercurrents of Japan’s current narrative about WWII still reflect these tenets (e.g., herehere, and here).

And one more thing:  Look at the photo and note who’s signing it.  Aside from the usual suspects, there’s KISHI Nobusuke, a Class-A War Criminal.  How the hell did he escape execution for doing something this public and then go on to be a Postwar Prime Minister?

Now let’s consider the Imperial Rescript signaling Japan’s surrender in 1945 (the Gyokuon Housou, read in part by the Emperor and broadcast on August 15, 1945; photo of document:)

ImperialRescriptSurrender2

 

Text (courtesy Wikipedia):

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

To Our Good and loyal subjects:

After pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining in Our Empire today, We have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure.

We have ordered Our Government to communicate to the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union that Our Empire accepts the provisions of their Joint Declaration.

To strive for the common prosperity and happiness of all nations as well as the security and well-being of Our subjects is the solemn obligation which has been handed down by Our Imperial Ancestors, and which We lay close to heart. Indeed, We declared war on America and Britain out of Our sincere desire to secure Japan’s self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia, it being far from Our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandisement. But now the war has lasted for nearly four years. Despite the best that has been done by every one — the gallant fighting of military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of Our servants of the State and the devoted service of Our one hundred million people, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest. Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects; or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers.

We cannot but express the deepest sense of regret to Our Allied nations of East Asia, who have consistently cooperated with the Empire towards the emancipation of East Asia. The thought of those officers and men as well as others who have fallen in the fields of battle, those who died at their posts of duty, or those who met with untimely death and all their bereaved families, pains Our heart night and day. The welfare of the wounded and the war-sufferers, and of those who have lost their home and livelihood, are the objects of Our profound solicitude. The hardships and sufferings to which Our nation is to be subjected hereafter will be certainly great. We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all ye, Our subjects. However, it is according to the dictate of time and fate that We have resolved to pave the way for grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable.

Having been able to safeguard and maintain the structure of the Imperial State, We are always with ye, Our good and loyal subjects, relying upon your sincerity and integrity. Beware most strictly of any outbursts of emotion which may endanger needless complications, or any fraternal contention and strife which may create confusion, lead ye astray and cause ye to lose the confidence of the world. Let the entire nation continue as one family from generation to generation, ever firm in its faith of the imperishableness of its divine land and mindful of its heavy burden of responsibilities, and the long road before it. Unite your total strength to be devoted to the construction for the future. Cultivate the ways of rectitudes; foster nobility of spirit; and work with resolution so as ye may enhance the innate glory of the Imperial State and keep place which the progress of the world.

Japanese original in thumbnail (click to see full size):

ImperialRescriptSurrenderJ

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COMMENT:  Even more intrigue, as the word “surrender” was never used in the document.  Just a capitulation that Japan will do what their enemies told them to do.  But then we go on to the boilerplate justifications all over again that Japan engaged in war for self defense, not because of any territorial ambitions, but rather because we subjects emancipated ourselves with Japan’s assistance.   Only now we have the new spin of victimhood as “general trends of the world” turned against Japan and somebody dropped “a new and most cruel bomb”.  So out of respect for our dead and our ancestors, and for the greater peace (not to mention the safety and maintenance of the Imperial State), we leaders of Japan have decided that you subjects should stop fighting.  Not that we did anything wrong, of course.  Or even surrendered.  So, all ye survivors, put all that behind you and work towards, again, enhancing the innate glory of the Imperial State.  Therein lies the roots of the “Japan as postwar victim” narrative, only now with The Bomb woven in.

Fast forward to the present day:  The Showa Emperor goes on to live a long and unquestioned life, many of the ancestors of the ruling elite are still in power (as you know, current PM Abe is Kishi’s grandson), and resurgent are Japan’s rightist revisionist views as the last remaining surviving Imperial Subjects of that era wink out due to old age.

The point is, the designers of these documents have managed to keep their legacy alive to the present day.  That’s why they are interesting:  Upon reading, the Rescripts don’t resonate as the “What the hell were they thinking?” sort of thing when horrible ideas are consigned to the ash-heap of history.   In fact, they don’t seem all that out of place at all.  “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there” doesn’t seem to apply here.  Which is, quite frankly, scary.  Dr. ARUDOU, Debito

12 comments on “Tangent: Japan Imperial Rescripts declaring war and surrendering: Interesting (and scary) documents in terms of narrative

  • Jim Di Griz says:

    ‘ enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable’ = not being able to treat NJ as objects, and having to interact with them as human beings in the same sense as we consider our selves*

    *’Our selves’ = our royal selves and social elite only, who considered the great Japanese unwashed as disposable by the millions.

    Reply
  • Baudrillard says:

    This destroys the J Apologist argument and narrative that Japan is “completely different since WW2”. A lot of these phrases (and the names on the document) are not out of place in today’s Japan at all- still part of the revisionist zeitgeist.

    Reply
  • Jim Di Griz says:

    You know, I’m waiting for the day (although not holding my breath) when the Japanese celebrate their liberation on Aug 15th with a massive outpouring of joy that Abe’s and the Emperors ancestors didn’t force millions more Japanese to get themselves killed resisting US invasion, or refusing to accept surrender demands.

    I’m waiting for the day the Japanese celebrate that their evil oppressors lost the war, and the ordinary people were emancipated from serfdom by GHQ.

    I’m waiting for Japanese women to celebrate that GHQ gave them the vote and legal rights.

    I’m waiting for Aug every year to cease being a sombre moment when the Japanese navel gaze the fake victimhood of their wonderful empire that never was, and embrace defeat as not only saving them by the millions, freeing them, but also giving them a quality of life that they would never have enjoyed had they even won the war.

    I’m waiting for the Japanese to wake up to these realities, the denial of which keeps them psychologically trapped in the ‘if only we’d won the war’ mentality that goes round and round every year, whilst the world moves on without them.

    Reply
  • The narratives of ALL sides of the outcome of WW2 have resulted in long-term arguments and side-taking that may not necessarily exist in actuality, but exist in historical narratives and post-war identification and justification strategies.

    Torch those strategies and consider the millions of bodies cast unto the earth after being butchered by strangers with technology, of which whose corpses mysteriously pop up later in odd-ball internet documentaries! Smell those deaths and acknowledge countless bullets and swords piercing the flesh after the fact! Who do those facts belong to? Once facts are corroborated are we then ready to move on? Or is there a Suit whispering in our ears on our way to work about how we should interpret historical narratives of how millions died and for which reasons? 70 years on and these issues cloud our iPhone judgements.

    As a side note, and I have complained of this before — but there is an ongoing aspect of Japanese to English translation that goes WAAAAYYY over the top in formality. I know that these documents were written in a time when written English was more formal, but these formalities can be used as a weapon to obscure and defend one’s actions. Boil the language down, and see what kind of sauce lingers over the tongue; the nostrils.

    Reply
  • “As a side note, and I have complained of this before — but there is an ongoing aspect of Japanese to English translation that goes WAAAAYYY over the top in formality. I know that these documents were written in a time when written English was more formal, but these formalities can be used as a weapon to obscure and defend one’s actions. Boil the language down, and see what kind of sauce lingers over the tongue; the nostrils.”

    The fact aside that the english language was more formal in the past (then again, is this also a sign of how our standarts have fallen since?), it’s not like the original japanese version would be any less stilted, given their additional levels of writing modes and layers of obfusciation ? There’s this old anecdote (true or not?) that when the emperor broadcast’ his capitulation announcement, it was not only the first time that the ordinary japanese population heard his voice at all, but most of them couldn’t even really understand him, as he was speaking in some kind of special arcane regal dialect, not used in general.

    As for the texts themselves, I always loved the hedged phrasing:
    “The war hasn’t necessarily developed to our advantage” – yeah well no shit it hasn’t. Quite a ridiculous and uncaring thing to say after millions died for your imperial hubris. Oh but thanks for the assurance that your “heart pains’ with the bereaved”, I’m sure that’s quite a comfort for your loyal subjects to know their criminal-in-chief suffers with them – not physically, of course, as I’m sure he’d never go hungry a day in his life, but he’ll have you know he’s really really sad about what happened (about what exactly, that they didn’t win the war but were now at the receiving end of the stick?).
    The weasely wording makes it sound like they’re actually doing the world a favor, and being reasonable in “preventing the total extinction of the human civilization”. Which is of course bull as the only thing extinct would be your own miserly imperial system and that’s all they’d care about, but sure, let’s pretend you’re the adults in the room here. Yes, “we” are the ones “paving the way for peace” (after decades of waging war), b-but don’t think it’s because we were beaten now, it’s just that we uuhh felt like it would be the good thing to do, yeah? The stuff about “the Empire’s emancipation of East Asia” is the most bile-inducing thing actually, given that it’s not just delusions about their own population but whitewashing the subjugated peoples’ experience. Ask the chinese, koreans (should be easy, since you still have the vestiges of imperial labor in your country) or the filipinos, etc. about how “liberated” they felt… or better don’t, I hear they’re quite touchy about that subject and still foolishly misunderstand how poor widdle Japan just wanted to help out their asian brothers.

    — I have added the original Japanese versions, for the record. They’re quite difficult for readers of modern Japanese to read.

    Reply
  • Exactly right on. Maybe some day will they understand that any human life is way more precious than a flower’s petal (sakura) but i’m not betting any money on it…

    Reply
  • Another interesting WWII reminder from the beeb:

    “…Seventy years after the end of World War Two, revisionism in Japan is growing stronger and becoming more mainstream.
    Some are denying that Japan committed war atrocities, including forcing women in China, South Korea and South East Asia to be comfort women, or sex slaves for Japanese soldiers.
    But former Japanese soldier Masayoshi Matsumoto is speaking out against these revisionists….” *

    Im sure someone will claim him to not be Japanese so he does not represent the Japanese, or is Korean etc !!

    * http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33758721

    Reply
  • Last night, Mr. Abe made his statement on the 70th anniversary on the end of the war. There is probably a great deal that can be said about that text as well. It might be interesting to do some sort of compare and contrast with these historical documents, examining how the narrative has drifted or not, what threads continue and what thoughts still reveberate. That sounds like a lot of work, but one thing I did notice is the phrase “general trends in the world” (世界の大勢)which had turned against Japan’s interest in the Rescript are the same “overall trends in the world” which in Abe’s version of history, Japan lost sight of in the pre-War (or post WW1) period.

    Reply
  • Jim di Griz says:

    @ Not Random #9

    Abe’s speech was carefully written to allow cherry picking from the English language version that can be used to show that Abe is sorry for the war (without actually apologizing). He then bangs on about preserving peace in the future with complete disregard to the actual policies his government is following.

    Most importantly in the full released English and Japanese text, he paints Japan as a victim of western colonialism which forced Japan into war (this part isn’t getting a lot of media coverage, is it?).

    — Put up the text of both and let’s compare.

    Reply
  • Jim Di Griz says:

    Hi Dr. Debito, I was having some bon holiday!

    Here are the official English and Japanese texts;

    http://japan.kantei.go.jp/97_abe/statement/201508/0814statement.html

    http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/97_abe/discource/20150814danwa.html

    And here is Hugh Cortazzi’s analysis that excellently points out where Abe is playing loose and fast with historical facts to excuse all of the bad decisions that Japan made that took it into a disastrous war (that is to say, Abe’s speech is based on a ‘They made us do it!’ mentality).

    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/08/17/commentary/japan-commentary/abes-unconvincing-attempt-to-whitewash-japans-history/

    Reply

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