![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
The history of religious societies under the puppet Manchukuo regime has not been studied to a great extent. By examining the historical materials of the Red Swastika Society, an eclectic religious association that blended Daoist and Buddhist practices and notions, this article attempts to delineate the activities of that religious organization in northeast Chinese society, and argues that the apolitical and non-partisan philanthropic activities of the Red Swastika Society were challenged by both nationalism and imperialism. Prior to World War II, collaboration between the Red Swastika Society and a new Japanese religion, Ōmotokyō, had been politicized by right-wing Japanese politicians. During the period of Japanese rule in Manchukuo, the Red Swastika Society had to abandon its political neutrality after being politically suppressed. To some extent, it was transformed into a propagandistic society that advocated the legitimacy of the puppet Manchukuo regime, of which it became a vassal.
Notes
1 Uchita Ryōhei, Manmō no dokuritzu to sekai komanjikai no katzudō [Independence of Manchuria and Mongolia and the Activities of the World Red Swastika Society] (Tokyo: Senshinsya, 1932).
2 Shijie hong wan zi hui zhonghua zonghui [The China Head Office of the World Red Swastika Society], “Chao zhi Nanjing renmin wanbaoshe han'gao” [Letter to the Nanjing People's Evening Paper], 18 June 1934, Shanghai Municipal Archives, no. Q 120-4-122.
3 Komakome Takesi, Shokuminchi teikoku nihon no bunka tōgō [Cultural Integration the Japanese Colonial Empire] (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1996).
4 Shen Jie, Manshūkoku syakai jigyōsi [A History of Social Endeavors in the Manchukuo] (Kyoto: Minerva, 1996).
5 Prasenjit Duara, “Transnationalism and the Predicament of Sovereignty: China, 1900–1945,” The American Historical Review, no. 4 (1997), 1030–1051. See also Prasenjit Duara, Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003).
6 According to statistics, the population in the Northeast increased from 17,156,000 to 26,784,600 between 1908 and 1928. See Manshūkoku si hensan kankōkai [The Society for the Compilation and Publication of the History of Manchuko], Manshūkoku, Sōron [History of Manchukuo, General Introduction] (n.p., 1970), 73.
7 See Chen Minghua, “Fuji de zhidu hua yu minguo xinxing zongjiao de chengzhang: Yi shijie hong wanzi hui daoyuan weili (1921–1932)” [The Institutionalization of Divination and the Newly-Rising Religion's Growth in Republican China: A Case Study of the Red Swastika Society/Daoyuan (1921–1932)], Lishi yanjiu [Historical Research], no. 6 (2009), 64–79.
8 “Document of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, No. 726”, The Second Historical Archives of China, archive no. 257, file no. 61.
9 Sakai Tadao, Kindai sina ni okeru shūkyō kesya no kenkyū [Religious Societies in Modern China] (Tokyo: Tōa Kenkyūjo, 1943).
10 Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka [Section of Moral Suasion, Division of Public Welfare of the Ministry of People's Livelihood], Kyoka dandai chōsa siryō dainiki: Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō [The Second Collection of Survey Data of the Moral Suasion Groups: An Outline of Daoyuan and the World Red Swastika Society in the Manchukuo] (n.p., 1944), 161. Shortened as Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō below.
11 Sakin ni okeru doin no jōkyō, Kantōchō keimukyoku [Policy Bureau of the Kwantung Department's Report on the Recent Situation of the Red Swastika Society], 27 May 1921, in Gaimushō gaikōsiryōkan [Foreign Affairs Archives of the Japanese Foreign Ministry], Kakoku ni okeru shūkyō oyobi fukyō zaken, zaikari kankei [Miscellaneous documents on religions in foreign countries].
12 Matzuo Tamesaku, Minamimanshū ni okeru shūkyō gaikan [A General Overview of the Religions in Southern Manchuria] (Dairen: kyōka jigyo shōreiki sikin zaidan, 1931), 35.
13 “Zai teikaton ryōji Ōwaku Yosirō yori gaimudaijin Hidehara Kijūrō” [A letter from Ōwaku Yosirō, the consular officer in Zhengjiatun, to the minister of foreign affairs Hidehara Kijūrō], 4 November 1930, in Gaimushō gaikōsiryōkan, Sina seitō kesya kankei zaken,shūkyoruijikesya no kodo saho kankei [Miscellaneous documents on political parties and associations in China, reports on the activities of similar religions].
14 Zai harubin sōryōji Yagi Motohito yori gaimudaijin kijūrō Hidehara [A letter from Yagi Motohito, the general consular in Harbin, to the minister of foreign affairs Hidehara Kijūrō], 8 November 1930, ibid.
15 Bokuan, “Shusi kyōdai tono taiwa” [A Conversation with the Zhou Brothers], Keisin nichinichi sinbun [Daily News in Beijing and Tianjin], 13 January 1923, section 2.
16 Matzuo Tamesaku, Minamimanshū ni okeru shūkyō gaikan, 35.
17 Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, Civil Society, 1750–1914: Studies in European History (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
18 Sun Jiang, Kindai chūgoku no kakumei to himitzukesya:chūgoku kakumei no syakaisiteki kenkyū (1895–1955) [The Revolution and Secret Societies in Modern China: A Social History of the Chinese Revolution (1895–1955)] (Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 2007).
19 Zhang Zhenzhi, Geming yu zongjiao [Revolution and Religion] (Shanghai: Minzhi shuju, 1929).
20 The worst incident was that a local office carrying the banner of the Red Swastika Society in Chongming County, Shanghai, hung the Japanese national flag during its meeting in 1937, so the Nationalist government suspected that the Red Swastika Society was collaborating with the Japanese. Though the head office of the Society did not recognized this local office and tried hard to prove its innocence to the government, the suspicion was never resolved, even after the fall of Nanjing to the Japanese.
21 Fude saki is the record of the mysterious experiences after being possessed by the gods of Ōmotokyō. For a brief discussion of this, see Yasumaru Yosio, Deguchi Nao (Tokyo: Asahi sinbun sya, 1977).
22 Sun Jiang, Kindai chūgoku no shūkyō kesya to kenryoku [Religion, Society and Power in Modern China] (Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 2012), 78–98.
23 Ōmoto nanajūnen hensankai, Ōmoto nanajūnensi [A History of the Ōmoto in the Past Seventy Years], vol. 1 (n.p.), 768.
24 Ibid., vol. 2, 35; Uchita Ryōhei, Manmō no dokuritzu to seki komanjikai no katzudō, 116.
25 Cheng Miaoyin and Ren Weideng, Dongying budao riji [Diary of Preaching in Japan] (Shenyang: Shenyang daoyuan, 1932).
26 “Hidemarō sai to si” [Hidemarō visiting China again], Sinnyo no hikari [Light of the Truth], no. 214 (October 1931).
27 Ikeda Akira, ed., Ōmoto siryo shusei [A Collection of Historical Source Materials of the Ōmotokyō], vol. 2 (Tokyo: Sanichi shobo, 1982), 554.
28 Ōmoto nanajūnen hensankai, Ōmoto nanajūnensi, 96–97.
29 Kitamura Takamitzu, “Daoin, sekai kōmanjikai ni tsuite” [About Daoyuan and the World Red Swastika Society], Kami no kuni [The Country of Gods], no. 154 (November 1931).
30 Ikeda Akira, ed., Ōmoto siryo shusei, vol. 2, 534.
31 Kitamura Takamitzu, “Daoin, sekai kōmanjikai ni tsuite”.
32 Matzumoto Kenichi, Deguchi Onisaburō (Tokyo: Riburopoto, 1986), 32.
33 Ibid., 33.
34 Ikeda Akira, ed., Ōmoto siryo shusei, vol. 2, 542.
35 Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka, Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō, 162.
36 Ibid.
37 “Shijie hong wanzi hui manzhou zonghui zhi Beiping shijie hong wan zi hui zhonghua zonghui” [Letter from the Manchurian General Society of the World Red Swastika Society to the World Red Swastika Society in Beiping], 5 December 1935, The Second Historical Archive of China, archive no. 257, file no. 43.
38 Ikeda Akira, ed, Ōmoto siryō shūsei [The Collection of Historical Materials on Ōmotokyō], vol. 3 (Tokyo: Sanichi shobō, 1985).
39 Machida Manjirō, “Kōsakai jōran jōkyō” [The Situation of Disturbance of the Huangsha Society], August 1930, “Hakusanken ni okeru Kōsakai no kōdō” [The Activities of the Huangsha Society in Boshan County], 11 November 1930, in Gaimushō gaikōsiryōkan.
40 “Shūkyōruijikesya no kōdō ni kansuru ken” [Documents related to associations of similar religions], 18, 19 September 1930, in Gaimushō gaikōsiryōkan.
41 Uchita Ryōhei, Manmō no dokuritzu to sekai kōmanjikai no katzudō, 102.
42 Hasei Ryūhei, Dentōteki uyoku: Uchida Ryōhei no kenkyū [A Study of Uchita Ryōhei as a Traditional Right-Wing] (Fukuoka: kyūshū daigaiku shupankai, 1980), 291–305.
43 Ōtani Kohō, “Zongjiao diaocha baogaoshu” [Investigation Report of Religions], Changchun wenshi ziliao [Changchun Historical and Cultural Source Materials], no. 4 (1998), 156–57.
44 Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka, Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō, 171.
45 Ōtani Kohō, “Zongjiao diaocha baogaoshu”, 45.
46 Nisi Junzō, Manshūkoku no shūkyō mondai [The Question of Religions in Manchuko] (Tokyo: Kokumin seisin bunka kenkyujō, 1943), 45–46. Sakai Tadao argues that the Daoyuan related to the evil cult Ōmotokyo should not be regarded as a cult in Chinese society and that, with the wrong perception, one would misunderstand the nature of Chinese indigenous religions. See Sakai Tadao, Kindai sina ni okeru shūkyō kesya no kenkyū, 142–43.
47 Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka, Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō,163.
48 The data in this table is based on the information in Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka, Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō, 169–70.
49 Manshūkoku minseibu chihōsi syakaika [Section of Social Affairs, Division of Local Affairs of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Manchukuo], Manshūkoku chūō syakai jigyō rengōkai [The Association of Central Social Enterprises in Manchukuo] (n.p., 1934). See also Endō Shūzō, Daoin to sekai kōmanjikai [Daoyuan and the World Red Swastika Society] (Tokyo: Toa kenkyūjo, 1937).
50 Manshūkoku minseibu chihōsi syakaika, Manshūkoku chūō syakai jigyō rengōkai, 56–57.
51 Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka, Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō, 165.
52 Shen Jie, Manshūkoku syakai jigyōsi, 126.
53 Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka, Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō, 169.
54 The data in this table is based on information in Manshūkoku minseibu chihōsi syakaika, Manshūkoku chūō syakai jigyō rengōkai, 141; and Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka, Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō, 178–9.
55 Itzuka Kōji, Manmō kikō [A Journey to Manchuria and Mongolia] (Tokyo: Chikuma shobō, 1972), 48.
56 Manshūkoku chianbu keimusi, Manshūkoku keisatusi [A History of Police in the Manchukuo] (n.p., 1942), 565.
57 Katō Toyotaka, Manshūkoku chian kankei hōki shūsei [Collection of the Public Security Laws in the Manchuko] (Matzuyama: Motozaigai kōmuin engōkai, 1979), 641–43.
58 Kokumuin sōmuchō jyōhōsho [Section of Information, Division of Staffs at the State Council], Shōseikairan [Collection of Affairs in Provinces], vol. 18, Hōten hen [The Volume of Fengtian Province] (Sinkyō [Changchun]: n.p., 1938), 514.
59 Manshūkoku chianbu keimusi, Manshūkoku keisatusi, 565.
60 Ibid., 571.
61 Katō Toyotaka, Manshūkoku chian kankei hōki shūsei, 319–21.
62 Ibid., 322.
63 Manshūkoku si hensan kankōkai [The Society for the Compilation and Publication of the History of Manchuko], Manshū Koku, Kakuron [History of Manchukuo, Respective Discussion] (n.p., 1970), 111.
64 Minseibu kōseisi kyōkaka, Manshūkoku daoin, sekai kōmanjikai no gaiyō, 177.
65 Ibid., 173.
66 Ibid., 173–75.
67 “Shijie hongwanzihui dongbei linshi banshichu gonghan” [Official Memo of the Provisional Liaison Office of the World Red Swastika Society], 8 March 1946, The Second Historical Archives of China, archive no. 257, file no. 62.
68 Sun Jiang, “The Unbearable Heaviness of Memory: The Nanjing of Tao Baojin and His Descendants” (paper presented at the International Workshop on Collective Memory in Comparative Perspective: Theoretical Concerns and Everyday Practice, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem, 28 February–2 March 2012).
SUN Jiang received his PhD from Tokyo University and is Professor of Nanjing University. His recent research interests are Conceptual History of East Asia, Historical Memory and Social History. He is the author of The Revolution and Secret Societies in Modern China: A Social History of the Chinese Revolution, 1895–1955 (Tokyo: KyuÍko shoin, 2007) and Religion, Society and Power in Modern China (Tokyo: KyuÍko shoin, 2012).
![Supercharge Your Next Research Paper: Research and write your next paper with Jenni AI.]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/112447/MPU-L1HU.png"})