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Abstract
The question of how individuals navigate a given regime is inevitably a delicate one, but one no less important because of its sensitivity. This article examines the case of one Kitayama Jun'yū – author of dozens of works during the 1930s and 1940s that purported to introduce Japan to a German audience – and his changing rhetorical strategies in presenting a Japan that would be acceptable to his readership. It employs an adapted notion of Bhabha's concept of ‘mimicry’ as a means to understand both developments internal to Kitayama's works as well as their changing reception. This framework recognizes that power dynamics played an influential role in cross-cultural exchange between the two countries; at the same time, it enables a depersonalized engagement with cultural politics that does not rest on identifying individual authorial political allegiances. Drawing on both Kitayama's writings and archival materials that reflect official and semi-private responses to his work, this article offers a closer look at how a particular Japanese intellectual negotiated Japan's place within the discursive space of the National Socialist regime.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the librarians at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Haus 1 and Haus 2, as well as those at the Bundesarchiv Berlin, for their generosity and assistance. I am likewise grateful to Kjell Ericson, Megan Steffen, and the audience members at the Modern Japan History workshop at Waseda (3 August 2012) and at the BAJS conference September 2012. Lastly, thanks are also due to Luciana Cardi and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful critiques and suggestions, as well as to Ryozo Maeda for his willingness to act as interlocutor over the development of this project.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. L. Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass and What Alice Found There (London: Penguin Books, 1998 edition [1871]), 125–127.
2. Ibid., 234.
3. H. Bhabha, Citation1984, Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse, October, Vol. 28, Discipleship: A Special Issue on Psychoanalysis (Spring), 126.
4. Ibid., 132.
5. Ibid., 127.
6. Ogawa Yoshimi [小川誉子美] draws on Hiroaki's work as well as university archives in Frankfurt, the National Archives branch in Koblenz, the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Tokyo), and the digital archives of the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (National Archives). Ogawa Y., Citation2011, Nihongo kōshi Kitayama Jun'yū no jiseki—senkanki no todoku jidai o chūshin ni, Nihongakukan 14, 4–15. The archives are listed on page 6 of the same.
7. Ogawa dates this from 1930, but my notes from the Bundesarchiv date both graduation and the initial appointment to 1929. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 0987. Cf. Ogawa Y., 7.
8. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 0990-1004.
9. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 1005.
10. S. Linhart, Citation2009, Popular Leisure, in Sugimoto Yoshio, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press; online edition), 219.
11. J. Kitayama, Citation1934a, Metaphysik des Buddhismus, series Veröffentlichungen des orientalischen Seminars der Universität Tübingen 7 (Stuttgart/Berlin: W. Kholhammer).
12. J. Kitayama. Citation1934b, Die Japanische Urkultur und ihre Auseinandersetzung mit dem Buddhismus, Ostasiatische Rundschau 15 (18) (September), 421–428.
13. Ibid., 421.
14. J. Kitayama, Citation1935a, Japans wirtschaftlicher Aufstieg, Weltstimmen 2 (February): 70–75.
15. J. Kitayama, Citation1935b, Westen und Osten: ein Beitrag zur Aufschließung verschiedener Kulturformen, Ostasiatische Rundschau 16 (23) (December), 653–655.
16. J. Kitayama, Citation1936, Religiöse Grundlagen ostasiatischer Kunst, Ostasiatische Rundschau 17 (2) (January), 45–49.
17. I place ‘confirms’ in quotation marks here with reference to Peter Burke's theory of cultural translations as either ‘confirmation’ or ‘filler.’ Although not translations as such, Kitayama's early works fit within this rubric. P. Burke, Citation2007, Cultures of Translation in Early Modern Europe, in Peter Burke and R. Po-Chia Hsia, eds., Cultural Translation in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press: European Science Foundation), 20.
18. J. Kitayama, Citation1937a, Das Problem der Freizeit und Erholung in Japan, in Bericht über den Weltkongreß für Freizeit und Erholung: Hamburg, vom 23. bis 30. Juli 1936, Berlin (Hamburg: Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt), 183–186. J. Kitayama, Citation1937b, Die japanische Frau und die Friezeit, ibid., 461–462; J. Kitayama, Citation1937c, Das Schulwesen in Japan, ibid., 518–519; J. Kitayama (as Kitayama, I.), 1937e, Freizeit und Erholung in Japan, in Odal, 5 (8) (February), 637–640.
19. J. Kitayama, Citation1937f, Die Organisationen der japanischen Jugend, Wille und Macht 5 (6) (March): 21–22.
20. J. Kitayama, Citation1937a, 183. (See also Bericht über den Weltkongreß für Freizeit und Erholung: Hamburg, vom 23. bis 30. Juli 1936, Berlin, 43.) Sepp Linhart has a similar summary of Kitayama's remarks. S. Linhart, 219.
21. J. Kitayama (Citation1937a, p. 184).
22. My understanding of KdF rhetoric is based on Berlin unter dem Hakenkreuz, Citation1987, Film, Directed by Irmgard von zur Mühlen (Chronos-Film), 30: 59.
23. J. Kitayama (Citation1937a, p. 461).
24. Quoted in Berlin unter dem Hakenkreuz, 37: 15–37:25.
25. J. Kitayama (Citation1937b, p. 461).
26. Ibid., 461.
27. J. Kitayama (Citation1937c, p. 519).
28. There are admissions of concerns about ‘inferiority complexes’ on the part of ‘the German soldier’ in an excerpt from a 1942 SS report that Herbert Worm cites in his essay. H. Worm, Citation1994, Japanologie im Nationalsozialismus. Ein Zwischenbericht, in Gerhard Krebs and Bernd Nartin, eds. Formierung und Fall der Achse Berlin–Tōkyō. München: Iudicum-Verlag, 184.
29. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 1038.
30. Ibid.
31. Otto Franke, quoted in. H. Worm, 166. My knowledge of this affair is drawn entirely from Worm. The implications of the rhetoric in both this and the following citation, however, are my own interpretations.
32. Otto Franke, quoted in ibid., 167.
33. BArch (former NS-Archiv Mfs) 15/260, Bl. 191.
34. It bears noting that, in contrast, the German-government-instigated 1937 film ‘Die Tochter des Samurai’ (Jp. Atarashiki tsuchi) clearly maintains Germany and Japan as distinct. Moreover, as Ebisaka Takashi [海老坂高] points out, this is done in a way that is not particularly flattering to Japan. On the particular criticisms of the central plot device of the arranged marriage, see T. Ebisaka, Citation2003, Nichi-Doku gassaku eiga ‘Atarashiki tsuchi’ o megutte (sono 1), Teikyō Daigaku gaikokugo gaikoku bungaku ronshū 9, 137. Ebisaka's four articles on Atarashiki tsuchi, which appear under the same title as parts 2, 3, and 4 and date from Citation2004, Citation2005, and Citation2006, offer a wealth of detail about various aspects of German and Japanese cross-cultural interests from a variety of angles, though the analysis of the film's discourse is limited.
35. J. Kitayama, Citation1937d, Fujijama: der ewige Berg Japans:: 36 Holzschnitte von Hokusai (Leipzig: Im Insel-Verlag).
36. J. Kitayama, Citation1937g, Bild und Schrift in Japan, Die Zeitgemäße Schrift 42 (July), 5–12.
37. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 1048.
38. C. Scharschmidt, Citation1942, Japan: Kleine Auslandskunde (Berlin: Junker und Dünnhaupt Verlag).
39. H. Worm, 156. The first mention thereof is a citation from Roland Schneider, but the point recurs throughout the article, passim. See, for instance, the citation of the Imperial Minister of Education's instructions for Gundert, ibid., 169.
40. B. Maltarich, Citation2005. Samurai and Supermen. National Socialist Views of Japan (Bern: Peter Lang), 126.
41. K. von Nohara, Das Wahre Gesicht Japans (Dresden: Zwinger-Verlag Rudolf Glöß, n.d). With reference to the worldcat.org descriptions of various editions, the copy in my possession appears to be the 1941 edition.
42. Ibid., 9.
43. G. Schepers, Citation2006, Exoticism in early twentieth-century literature on Japan, in Christian W. Spang and Rolf-Harald Wippich, eds., Japanese-German Relations, 1895–1945. War, diplomacy and public opinion (London and New York: Routledge), 104 and 105, respectively. For a similar account of Hearn's importance, see B. Maltarich, 114–117.
44. Maltarich notes in a similar vein that ‘[t]he history of positive views of the Japanese could be re-emphasized’. B. Maltarich, 125. Of course, presenting an acceptable Japan was not a problem unique to Japanese authors. In Schepers’ discussion of the reception of Hans Anna Haunhorst in Nazi Germany, Haunhorst's 1936 work appears to have met with a similar response to Kitayama's speeches and writings of the same time. G. Schepers, 110–111.
45. In early August 1936, Kitayama had requested release from his position in Frankfurt in order to assume a post at the Institute, a request that was granted 31 August. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 1032 and fol. 1034, respectively.
46. My general understanding of the workings of the Japan Institute is derived from E. Friese, Citation1989, Das Japan Institut in Berlin (1926–1945). Bemerkungen zu seiner Struktur und Tätigkeit, in Hartmut Walravens, ed. Du verstehst unsere Herzen gut: Fritz Rumpf (1888–1949) im Spannungsfeld der deutsch-japanischen Kulturbeziehungen. Weinheim: VCH, Acta Humaniora, 73–88. For the list of presidents through 1945, see ibid., 73–74; on Ramming's appointment, see ibid., 77; on Kitayama's, see ibid., 84 (photograph on 85).
47. Quoted in ibid., 76. The issue of government ties is made clear from the first page of the article, 73, and recurs throughout, passim.
48. J. Kitayama, Citation1940, Tradition und Neuordnung, Berlin, Rom, Tokio 2 (3), 10–15.
49. Ibid., 10.
50. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 1088-89.
51. The fullest discussion of these techniques unfolds in the fifth chapter of his work. B. Maltarich, 213–245. Needless to say, however, said methods are also central to the interpretations in chapters six through eight, as well as the conclusion.
52. Ibid., 228.
53. J. Kitayama Citation1941 [second edition], West-Östliche Begegnung: Japans Kultur und Tradition (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.), inside flap and unnumbered first page in forward.
54. Kenneth Ruoff argues that this ‘mixed nation theory’ is dominant by this time. K. Ruoff, Citation2010, Imperial Japan at its Zenith (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press), 48.
55. On the limits to the influence of Confucianism in China, see J. Kitayama Citation1941, 36–37. On its successful implementation in Japan, see ibid., 85–88.
56. Ibid., 60–61.
57. B. Maltarich, 135–136.
58. Goethe's works first began to be known in Japan in the 1870s. H. Müller, Citation1939, ‘Goethe in Japan,’ in Monumenta Nipponica 2 (2) (July), 468. Müller states that after the 1932 centennial anniversary of Goethe's death, interest in Goethe had given way to more ‘practical concerns’ pertaining to ‘political relations’. Ibid., 469-470. Kitayama has also made references Goethe in earlier works, but never to the extent that we see here.
59. K. Kimura, quoted in. R. Maeda, Citation2010, Mythen, Medien, Mediokritäten. Zur Formation der wissenschaftskultur der Germanistik in Japan (München: Wilhelm Fink), 201. My discussion of Goethe's reception in Japan, unless otherwise indicated, rests entirely on Maeda's work.
60. For the list of the ‘great poets’, see J. Kitayama (Citation1941, p. 179).
61. On Rilke's popularity, see R. Maeda, 212.
62. On the various images, see ibid., 202–203.
63. See for instance W. Hinck, Citation1984, Durchs Augenglas der Liebe: Goethes erotische Poetik, Monatshefte 76 (1) (Spring), 16.
64. J.W. von Goethe, Citation1947 [1827], Chinesisch-deutsche Jahres- und Tageszeiten (Krefeld: Scherpe Verlag).
65. Ibid., 20. The source of the quotation is not identified, though it is clearly from Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann. For an English version of the entire tête-à-tête, see J.P. Eckermann, Citation1998 edition, Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann, John Oxenford, trans. (n.p.: Da Capo Press, 1998), 164–168.
66. J. P. Eckermann, 165.
67. J. Kitayama (Citation1941, p. 164).
68. R. Maeda, 244–245. (Quotation from 244.)
69. While a discussion of the philosophical and metaphysical discourses with which Kitayama engages would exceed the scope of the present study, it may be useful to note that, per Fujimoto, Kitayama's doctoral thesis was characterized in a 1935 edition of Kant Studien as, in part, ‘an effort to interpret and reveal Vasubandhu teachings in the language of contemporary German metaphysical theorists (Scheler, Husserl, and Heidegger)’. Quoted in. K. Fujimoto, 1985, Kaisetsu (1), in J. Kitayama and H. Mineshima, Higashi to nishi eien no michi: Bukkyō tetsugaku hikaku tetsugaku ronshū (Tokyo: Hokuju Shuppan), 390. Though Fujimoto is not explicit, his subsequent juxtaposition of the thesis and West-East Encounter suggests that he sees similar influences operating in the latter. Ibid., 410-413. H. Mineshima likewise refers to the above assessment, additionally pointing to the influence of Kitayama's advisor, Karl Jaspers. H. Mineshima, Citation1985, Kaisetsu (2), in ibid., 421-423. Mineshima proposes that one of Kitayama's overarching goals was to increase European awareness of ‘contemporary Mahayana teachings’, though he does not discuss West-East Encounter or any other of Kitayama's wartime writings. Ibid., 424.
70. H. Kubota, Citation2008, Strategies in Representing ‘Japanese Religion’ During the National Socialist Period: The Cases of Kitayama Junyū and Wilhlem Gundert, in Horst Jungiger, ed., The study of religion under the impact of fascism (Leiden and Boston: Brill), 615–617; 619, passim.
71. Ibid., 616–617.
72. J. Kitayama (Citation1941, p. 210).
73. Ibid., 213.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid., 216–217.
76. Ibid., 238.
77. Ibid., 239.
78. On Christianity, see ibid., 248. Quoted terms from ibid., 249.
79. This is not to say that the work met with a universally positive reception. For instance, Kurt Eggers’ (Citation1941) review endorses the work albeit with criticism of Kitayama's ‘ego’ and promotion of the Japanese ‘mission’. Quoted in K. Fujimoto, 412–413.
80. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 1067.
81. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 1069.
82. BArch, BDC-REM Kitayama, Jun'yū, fol. 1088-1089.
83. As should be clear, I owe my understanding of mainstream NS rhetorical strategies to Maltarich's work.
84. See note 79.
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Notes on contributors
Erin L. Brightwell
Erin L. Brightwell is Visiting Associate Professor of Comparative Studies of Japanese Culture, Department of Integrated Humanities, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kagamiyama, Higashihiroshima, 739-8522 Japan. She may be contacted at [email protected]