被扭曲的櫻花：美的意識與軍國主義

by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, 大貫惠美子, 堯嘉寧 (Translator)

誕生、凋零、重生、瘋狂與死亡
櫻花披上美麗的外衣
悄悄越過理智的防線，無人驚覺。
正因櫻花如此美麗，深受日本國民珍愛
軍國主義才得以利用它來召喚死亡

殉難特攻隊員手札：
我知道特攻方式的犧牲毫無價值，所以在被指名為特攻隊員時，我的心裡一沉。長官叫我們寫遺書，說要展覽在教育參考館中。但是，遺書中不能寫出自己心裡的話，所以不管寫什麼都是騙人的。吐露真心的話反而是禁忌 ── 信太正道

我不會逃避犧牲，也不是不願捨棄自己。但是我不願意在這個過程中喪失自己。這是我無法接受的。殉教或是犧牲，都位在自覺的頂端。如果犧牲只是自我喪失的最終極結果，那麼它有什麼意義呢？ ── 林尹夫

在京都車站，還有下一站、下下一站，都有凱旋歸來的遺骨。
盒子的純白令人心痛。
再會了，在靖國神社前，再會吧……
臨上戰場的時候，我應該可以毫不猶豫地說出這句話吧。 ── 中尾武德

我一直以來都是一副鎮靜、冷淡的樣子。那只是表面。
就在現在，到現在才……我真正的，對過去感到慌亂不堪。
我掙扎地在最後一個月的生命中，挖掘出毫無掩飾的自己。
對我來說，好像我自己已經不存在了。 ── 和田稔

市造先走一步，到天國去了。我能夠進入天國嗎？母親，請為我祈禱吧。如果不能夠和母親前去同一個地方，我一定會感到難以忍受。 ── 林市造

大貫惠美子是美國著名學府威斯康辛大學麥迪遜分校人類學系教授，長期關注日本文化的歷史變遷，特別著眼於日常的、生活的、行動的象徵意義。這些研究一方面指向日本的神話、儀禮、世界觀，一方面涉及具有持續性、歷史性的概念結構──大貫惠美子在思考這些問題時，並不侷限在某個特定的時間點上，而是將它們放在長時段的文化脈絡下思考，這種研究方法和取徑充分展現於本書中。

在日常的、生活的象徵意義之延長線上，櫻花的美學價值，以及日本極權主義政權，兩者之間的關係是大貫惠美子《被扭曲的櫻花：美的意識與軍國主義》一書的主要課題。本書作為文化人類學研究，以具有千年歷史的日本傳統文化象徵─櫻花─為主題，論述櫻花豐富而多元的象徵意義歷經封建時代、明治維新、帝國擴張、太平洋戰爭等等時期不斷質變的過程，以及近代日本政府在這段過程中所扮演的角色。

大貫惠美子嘗試釐清櫻花之象徵意義的演變過程，考察極權政治如何藉由賦予象徵及美化象徵，讓國民接受統治政策。本書一方面探問政治的國族主義──「為天皇即國家而犧牲」的意識型態，如何滲透到國家「臣民」的日常生活中；另一方面則深入剖析神風特攻隊員──被普遍認知為執行、實踐這種意識型態的代表者，是否真心相信以天皇為中心的意識型態？答案如果是否定的，為何隊員們在「思想上」即便不支持，卻在「行動上」再生產了以天皇為中心的意識型態？

在這樣的問題意識下，大貫惠美子在本書中指出，並非只論及明治時代「由上而下」的思想灌輸，以及「由下而上」的抵抗或接受，而是拉出一條長達千年的歷史脈絡，將櫻花象徵意義的演變、天皇制國家的形成，以及特攻隊學徒兵的思想歷程，放在傳統與現代、對西洋文明之吸收與拒斥的錯綜複雜過程中反覆思辨。櫻花的象徵意義、天皇制意識型態、神風特攻隊，是貫穿全書的三個重要關鍵，彼此之間存在著千絲萬縷的關係。
大貫惠美子在本書的研究過程中挖掘出大量神風特攻隊員的私人史料，包含日記、手札、書信等，以此建構出日本政府如何在二次大戰時期利用櫻花符碼影響國民意識，以及國民接收到這套宣傳符碼後的反應。

Genres: History, Japan, Nonfiction, Military History, 20th Century, Asia, Anthropology

570 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney (Japanese: 大貫恵美子 1934 - ) is a noted anthropologist and the William F. Vilas Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of fourteen single-authored books in English and in Japanese, in addition to numerous articles. Her books have been translated into many other languages, including Italian, Korean, Polish and Russian. Ohnuki-Tierney was appointed the Distinguished Chair of Modern Culture at the Library of Congress in DC in 2009 and then in 2010 Fellow of Institut d’Études Avancées-Paris. She is a member of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, its mid-west council member, and a recipient of John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship among other prestigious awards.

Description taken from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emiko_O....

Reviews

[Carlos Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

老婆買了這本《被扭曲的櫻花》一段時間了，瞧她沒要看的意思，就拿來翻看。大戰期間的人民到底是怎麼看待戰爭，本身也是個有趣而龐大的主題，特別是一般被認為是發動戰爭的元凶的軸心三國。先說看起來很重要但其實常被忽略的義大利，法西斯黨徒是很開心地想要分杯羹，但人民卻對戰爭冷感，這表現在他們於戰場上的差勁表現，事實證明義大利人並非不能戰，而是不願意為這種主觀認定的蠢事而死。那麼，或許我們可以問，德、日的人民就很熱衷戰爭嗎？自從上次閱讀了《德國人的戰爭》後，我得到的答案是否定的，但納粹跟希特勒利用了日耳曼民族根性中的那種責任感，把戰爭扭曲成防衛，並塑造社會氣氛，迫使人們不得不為此而戰。本書作者大貫惠美子給的答案，其實也是差不多的。

作者長年在美國教書，以人類學跟歷史學為基礎，研究日本。大貫惠美子對於在戰爭期間，前仆後繼地從容赴死的「神風特攻隊員」感到好奇，究竟是什麼讓他們如此奮不顧身，特別是，當她發現這些人其實很多都是高知識份子，並非可以隨意操縱的愚民時。

其實這跟納粹操弄的手法差不多的。日本自明治維新開始，就開始了一連串的政治神話的塑造。本來，這在現代國家之中也不是什麼特例，只是隨著開始走上軍國之路時，正如本書之名，它，「被扭曲了」。

當權者把傳統的櫻花意義重新定義，把它跟神格化的天皇合而為一，改成“為天皇獻身等於愛國，是高尚而美麗，並將在靖國神社幻化為櫻花得到重生”。在漫長的日子裡，政府透過教育跟各種文化手段，把這種精神滲入了民間社會之中，形塑成一種根深蒂固的觀念，並在戰爭時，成為號召人民赴死的手段。

個人並不反對保家衛國之類的情操。事實上它的確是必要的存在。同個時期，儘管俄羅斯人民對政權感到不滿，但他們卻必須響應史達林的號召，因為納粹德國發動的是一場亡國滅族的生死之戰，如果不抵抗，等待的只是屠刀。以色列人四面受敵，他們的建國先不論正當性之類的問題，但為了猶太人民的生存，也確實必須集體而戰。這個時候，愛國主義是正當而合理的。

所以，我們要問的是，為何而戰？

當權者是沒有資格要求人民為了保衛它們的權力而戰。個人倒覺得義大利人是個不錯的榜樣。

大貫惠美子說了一個讓我印象深刻的特攻隊員的故事。她說，有個母親，丈夫早死，她養育了四個兒子，前三個都已經從軍了，現在政府還要徵召她的幼子，於是她前往申訴，但徵兵課的答案只是冷酷的一句話：辛苦的不只有妳，請忍耐到戰爭勝利吧。當她再次申訴時，就換來會被當作「非國民」的警告。(我倒是想起了一部電影)

許多知道兒子戰死的母親，都受不了創傷而自盡了。但更悲慘的是，當兒子僥倖未死從前線回來才發現這點的時候的衝擊。

前陣子看電影〈日本最長的一天〉，裡面的昭和對戰爭的反對與掙扎，我心裡想著的，昭和你真的知道這些關於你的子民的事情嗎？你真的愛民如子嗎？心心念念不肯投降，是為了人民還是為了自己的權力？日本作家田中芳樹在他的小說藉著角色的口中說：「炸彈炸再多在民居，那些當權者連眉頭都不會動一下。要是打在政府機關，就要立刻跳腳了。」如此說來，美國人沒有直接往皇居跟政府炸也是私心自用啊。

大貫惠美子對某些情操並不反對，她憎惡的是軍國主義的誤用，因此她給這部作品如此的命名。她說，許多遺眷前往靖國神社，只是對自己逝去已久的家人的悼念，這行為不該被政治化，也該警惕。

幾年前拍的電影〈永遠的0〉，很多人對原作者有意見，但內容本身卻是深刻的。另外一部更舊的〈來自硫磺島的信〉也是我的最愛，它對一般小兵在戰爭中的境遇，也有著讓人深思的描述。



「愛國主義是無賴最後的避難所」（Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel），要當心所有的「愛國賊」，這是二戰時的德國跟日本給世人的最大遺產。

[Katrinka]

Lots of academic repetition here (I'll argue point A... note how I argued point A... as I said 14 times, point A says...)

[prcardi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Composition: 1/5
Evidence: 2/5
Writing Style: 2/5
Balance: 3/5

My curiosity and philosophical bents are piqued with the topic of indoctrination. The concept is relevant in US politics today but even more noteworthy for understanding fascism in World War II. This book is ostensibly about how the Japanese state used the imagery of cherry blossoms, as symbols, to militarize kamikaze pilots. To me, this sounded remarkably interesting. Despite the title, Ohnuki-Tierney approached this topic tangentially and only covered it summarily. Still, it was not a complete waste of time, and I'll post, bullet-style, a few facts that I was entirely unaware of regarding Japanese kamikaze pilots in WWII.

The tokko¯tai (kamikaze) tactic was not used (or even thought of) for most of the war. It was not until 1944 and Japan was mostly encircled by the Allies that it became policy.

0 (yes, that is a zero) professional soldiers - graduates of naval and army academies - volunteered to be kamikaze pilots.

3,843: The total number of Japanese soldiers killed as kamikaze pilots.

The kamikaze ranks were largely filled by "student soldiers" - the brightest students graduating from the premier intellectual universities of Japan.

These student soldiers were remarkably well-read in Western literature and philosophy. Four of the kamikaze pilots discussed in the book had read, between them, 1,356 books. Ohnuki-Tierney tells us that these four were not unusual.

Many of the kamikaze pilots were Christian, Marxist, and/or pacifist. It was not uncommon for the pilot to have a Bible and a picture of their mother in the cockpit with them.

The pilots and their families did not consider a kamikaze death to be suicide but sacrifice (either they were sacrificing themselves or the country was sacrificing them).

Kamikaze pilots often left extensive diaries, sometimes totaling several hundred pages.

Ohnuki-Tierney makes the case that sensationalism and caricatures of kamikaze pilots have an inverse relationship with the amount of information available to the public. I would agree with that assessment. The above points completely change my image of who the kamikaze pilots were. Apparently the information has long been available in Japanese language sources and has long been popular in Japan (although used selectively for biased political ends). The best section of the book is the summary (chapter 6) of the diaries, letters, and other writings of five kamikaze pilots.

What, then, went wrong with the book? The first third of the book is devoted to the history of cherry blossoms in Japanese literature, art, and political imagery - for the entirety of Japanese history. This was far too large of a topic to be covered in a 100 pages and the pay-off was particularly slight as Ohnuki-Tierney concludes that the symbol meant many different things to many different people at many different times. Basically, before the Meiji Restoration, 1868, cherry blossoms could indicate anything involving 1) the relationship between men and women 2) life, 3) death, 4) rebirth. One paragraph (or an introductory segment) would have served to establish this. Further, most of this material was collected through discourse analysis, and my personal opinion is that while it is a neat philosophical principle, it is a poor evidentiary tool.

Second, Ohnuki-Tierney had a thesis. Theses, generally are good. They give you a clear standard by which to evaluate and understand the work. The author's thesis, however, was that the kamikaze pilots were never successfully indoctrinated into dying for the emperor but rather only for the homeland. This is a rather academic and nuanced distinction. Granted, Ohnuki-Tierney is a nuanced academic writing an academically nuanced anthropological inquiry. The problem was that this thesis often steered the book away from the topics suggested in the title - the militarization of the cherry blossom symbol and kamikaze pilots. Instead most of the book became about whether or not the student pilots were genuinely eager and willing to die for the emperor. Ohnuki-Tierney concludes that they were not. Between pursuing this narrow thesis and focusing largely on the imagery of cherry blossoms, we get only a cursory view of state efforts to propagate nationalism, patriotism, and militarism. The author is primarily interested only in pro rege et patria, the state ideology of dying for the emperor. I was more interested - and felt that the title and introduction presented itself more as - in the broader state indoctrination programs through censorship, textbooks, and popular art. Ohnuki-Tierney touches on these, but I'll have to read a different book for them to be confronted deeply and directly.

Third problem. The organization does not lend itself to a book format. It read more as a collection of essays: 1) the history of cherry blossoms, 2) constructing a political nationalism to die for the emperor, 3) mini biographies of five kamikaze, student pilots, 4) theoretical discussions on the differences between nationalism and patriotism and of political aesthetics. It is not uncommon for academic works to be compilations of previously published essays, but this was originally written as a single book. It never achieved or conveyed the coherence that the book format should, however, and a lot of ideas (Section 4, in particular) seemed out of sequence or repetitive.

Ohnuki-Tierney is a distinguished professor at a reputable American university, and there is no doubt as to her expertise. The book title and introduction were somewhat misleading, however, and the remainder was too narrowly focused and insufficiently organized for a pleasant, general read. The author undoubtedly has nuggets of innovative scholarship scattered throughout the book, but they have to be studied and put together by others more devoted than I to sorting it all out.

P.S. Ohnuki-Tierney compiles a list of the works read and studied by the kamikaze student pilots (as indicated in their diaries). In their mini-biographies, she includes a selection. Here is a sample from one of the pilots from six years of diaries. Apparently, most of the student pilots read German and French authors in their original languages. This particular pilot died on a kamikaze mission at the age of 22:

Philosophy, politics, economics—German: Dilthey, Engels; Feuerbach, Fichte,Hegel,Carl Hilty, Kant,Karl Kautsky, Theodor Lipps, Marx, Nietzsche, Ranke, Erich Maria Remarque, Schopenhauer, Wilhelm Windelband; English: Sir William James Ashley, Jeremy Bentham, Alfred Marshall, John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith; Italian: Benedetto Croce; Classical: Plato, Socrates; French: Rousseau; Russian: Lenin, Trotsky; Japanese: Uchimura Kanzo ¯.

Science—German: Albert Einstein, Max Planck; English: Isaac Newton.

Sociology—German: Max Weber; Georg Simmel.

Literature—German: Goethe, Hesse, Mann, Schiller; English: Byron, Thomas Carlyle, Lafcadio Hearn, Shakespeare, H. G. Wells, Oscar Wilde; Russian: Chekhov, Dostoyevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy, Turgenev; French: Romain Rolland; Japanese: Abe Yoshishige, Arishima Takeo, Higuchi Ichiyo¯,Kawabata Yasunari,Kunikida Doppo,Miyazawa Kenji,Mori O¯gai, Natsume So¯seki, Tanizaki Junichiro¯, Tayama Katai, Yamamoto Yu¯zo ¯.

[Deni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked it. I was going back and forth through it because I was trying to relate it to things I am working on right now but especially the part with the diaries, I found very informing. I am a fan of researchers who do etnographic work and I find such reports as helpful and full of meaning and information as it gets. The militarization of daily objects and language occurs full-on nowadays in the Western world and US in particular, so reading about the history of it is quite enchanting.

[ia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the lengths in which this book tries to ‘reclaim’ the narrative for the pilots. Even though there were only 5 out of thousands who signed up for this task who were featured in this book, it raises certain questions about the limits and possibilities of agency in a context where agency is the least of the world’s concern. What does it matter that a 16-year old Marxist rationalizes his involvement through cherry blossoms in a war that Japan had been losing? I am not too entirely convinced of the simplistic conclusion that these pilots were manipulated by the state—but I do share the sympathies in which the conclusion was based on. In many respects, how can you think of a literal child and only paint them as a one-dimensional cog in the war machine? It is both everything and nothing. Nothing in the sense that they had still died, and people have died from their actions, including people from my own country. But everything in the sense of emphasizing the humanity in the very worst of our histories. Ultimately, we are what our narratives say we are. Like Ohnuki-Tierney, I err on the side of the contradictions and the agony these pilots expressed. I think it emphasizes a lot more the costs of war and the extent of power narratives can have over our lives.

[Bryan Daowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is academic, that's for sure, makes me wonder whether it should be for the public to read or for scholars in the academe. But, it did give me the notion that states can alter the masses' sense of meaning. The political machinations of the Japanese state during World War II led to the deaths of innocent people who died thinking they changed the course of history. The power that the government wields cannot be understated. This book reminded me of that power, power to transform cultures and people. Now, I have to ask myself, should the masses give that much power to an institution? Isn't the tragedy of the World Wars be enough to rethink the power structure that pervades society? Well, I don't know for sure, maybe I should read more books on the subject :D

[feux d'artifice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really detailed, well researched piece of work. I find myself taking down notes and quotes. Very informative and thoughtful and nuanced, would recommend.

[Devra Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful read. I use this book as part of a reading requirement in my class.

[Kaidi Pan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that triggers deep self-reflection.

[Mal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this a really interesting look at something I hadn't spent much time thinking about: The beautification of tragedy and dark events. It makes you think about the world differently and I really recommend this book

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in-depth look at the meanings the cherry blossoms has held in Japanese history, the efforts to unify the country with a modern ideology, the selective use of cherry blossoms in World War II.

I personally found the first part, discussing the comparison of rice and cherry blossoms, and how cherry blossoms were mostly talked of in full bloom rather than falling, as symbols of life, spring, and fertility. Poems invoked them as symbols of women and love. Court might favor the plum blossom following Chinese practice, but even they gave way in due course. Cherry trees were planted on riverbanks not only for their beauty and to help shore up the banks, but to purify, because the petals and leaves were thought to have antitoxic powers. Still, even the earliest references sometimes brushed on its ephemeral nature.

The Restoration brought out a burning desire to emulate the West and strengthen the country. Some modernizers attacked cherry trees as a symbol of the feudal past -- even chopping them down for it. But it came to represent the spirit they wanted, with much emphasis on the falling petals. Like the Forty-Seven Ronin, that ever popular play, that was also pressed into duty for the supreme duty of loyalty. The saying the death is as light as a feather, but duty as heavy as a mountain.

More on the specifically kamikaze usage, and an analysis of some pilots -- the most liberal and educated of them, deeply Westernized in many respect, but nevertheless willing to climb into that plane and die. The subsequent practices. The Yasukuni shrine was first erected to appease the spirits of the dead from the Restoration, and the cherry trees were there to be beautiful as part of the appeasement. Its purpose of channeling devotion to the dead enshired there slowly accumulated -- with the cherry trees becoming symbols of them. The pilots would tell each other they would meet at the shrine.

I think the last part is the weakest, pressing this into duty as an example of manifold meaning being simplified and used, but the first portions are quite interesting.

[Drew Darby · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye-opening exposition of the tokkotai/kamikaze phenomenon in its socio-historical context, especially for Americans, among whom knowledge of the subject really does seem to be limited to caricature. The large majority of these pilots were student soldiers—highly educated, astoundingly well-read, many Marxists, many even anti-military, some even Christians, almost all 'liberal' in the Western, philosophical sense. The political, intellectual, and cultural forces at work in the lives of these 'volunteer' pilots is stunning to consider, and the hope and agony recorded in their personal writings heart-wrenching.

The author's theories about (especially political) aestheticization and what she calls méconnaissance were especially intriguing, her primary example of course being the "polysemic" cherry blossom.

I would have been inclined to give five stars if a larger portion of the book were devoted to the actual pilots the author considered, and if, in this edition at least, the grammatical errors that should have been cleaned up by an editor weren't quite so ubiquitous (nearly one a page in parts!).

Definitely worth the read if you're one of those who like to have their history a little more complicated than the typical good vs. bad.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tough read because of my family's history and involvement in WWII and the lingering effects I've seen on my uncle, who is a veteran. None of his childhood friends returned from the war, and he has lived a life of survivor's guilt since then.

I've visited the Kamikaze Peace Museum in Chiran, Kagoshima (Japan), where the military records are stored. Those are the letters that soldiers officially wrote home to families and are the "approved" and "official" ones.

The life stories, diary entries and letters in this book are tales that show fear, doubt, and question the motives of the military leaders. It also interrogates the notion of why intelligent young officers and soldiers (the creme de la creme of academia) went along with the edicts to commit suicide in such a fashion when they could have instead enacted revolt.

Told in both expository form, and in ethnographic form, this book is a must-read for any person interested in WWII Japanese history.

[Ifreet_Mohamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially the diaries of the Kamikaze. Many of them were inspired by German Romanticism and some were Christians.