The collection of mottos of the Japanese nation - “The key to understanding its heart and soul” or a concentrated expression of nationalism?

Abstract

This article is devoted to the conceptual analysis of the collection of national mottos of the Japanese nation, which was published in 1944 in Manchukuo. The book includes thoughts and statements of Japanese political and public figures, soldiers, philosophers (including Chinese ones), writers and poets. Chronologically, the collection covers the time from the appearance of the first written works of the Chinese philosophy (approximately 7th century BC) to the beginning of the 20th century. The book was released at a difficult time for Japan and the world, when war was going on in Europe and the Pacific. For the Japanese Empire, the point of the war turning against its favor occurred in the summer of 1942, during the Battle of Midway. From this time on, Japan gradually loses the initiative in conducting offensive operations against the Americans and their allies in the Pacific Ocean. Since the Japanese military situation deteriorated, the government began to strengthen its propaganda measures aimed at strengthening the idea of opposing European colonialism under the aegis of the Country of the Rising Sun, which was, in Tokyo’s view, shared by all East Asian nations. Apparently, as a part of this campaign, the Harbin branch of the Japanese Telegraph Agency “Nisso” and the Patriotic Association of Writers published a collection of mottos of the Japanese nation, which was intended to “spiritually unite” the Japanese subjects living in Manchukuo and promote an increased understanding of the Japanese mentality and Japanese culture among the Russian-speaking population of East Asia. Targeting Russian population did not happen by chance. In the conditions of “common misery for all”[1], Japan, apparently, planned to enlist Russian emigrants living in Asia. The collection considered in the article has become a bibliographic rarity today. The philosophical sayings, judgments, and appeals contained in it are of great interest for studying the past of the Country of the Rising Sun, as well as its ideology during World War II, and for understanding the essence of Japanese nationalism. The mottos included in the brochure reveal the general ethnic features of the Japanese, their attitude towards life and death, as well as such concepts as “duty”, “homeland”, and “honor”.

Keywords

• japan
• manchukuo
• mottos
• persuasiveness
• nationalism
• second world war
• victory
• defeat