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The History of Japan
Ura and Omote
Edited by Eric Messersmith
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Edited by Eric Messersmith
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ISBN: 978-1-60927-265-4
Contents
Introduction
1
Chapters
The Way of the Sword: Banshu to Ganryu Island
5
William Scott Wilson
Oda Nobunaga: The Warlord and Poetry
27
Hiroaki Sato
The Destruction of the Tokugawa Regime
37
Charles Yates
Minzoku
55
Kevin Doak
The Nationalist Movement
89
Richard Storry
Restoration and Repression
99
Herbert Bix
Boryokudian Redux: Yakuza and the Conservative Nexus
119
Eiko Maruko Siniawer
The Politician as Entrepreneur
129
Jacob Schlesinger
Arrested
137
Jacob Schlesinger
Political Corruption in Japan
143
Eric Messersmith
Yakuza
187
Jeff Kingston
China and Japan's Simmering Rivalry
Kent E. Calder
205
Introduction
W
ithout dwelling on the distant past, one could argue that there were four major events that
shaped the Islands of Japan to this day: the introduction of green tea by the monk Eichu
in the Heian period (9th century); the ascendancy of the warrior class beginning in the 10th
century; the introduction of Zen Buddhism by the monks Eisai and Dōgen in the Kamakura
period (12th century); and the introduction of firearms by the Portuguese in the Warring States
period (mid-16th century). This is not to say that there wasn’t another very important indigenous
feature of Japan—that being the animistic religion of Shinto.
Like any introduction from a foreign land, these events did not have an immediate effect on
the lives of the people. Tea, for example, made its way from Emperor Saga’s palace to the Zen
monasteries, then to the warrior class, and finally after some 500 years, trickled down to the masses
of merchants and farmers.
The warrior class, later known as the Samurai (lit. “One who serves”), got its start by protecting
the vast landholdings of the nobility and the transport of rice from the fields to the various palaces
in Kyoto, the Imperial capital. As rice was the most valuable commodity, payment for the Samurais’
services was in this product. It was not too long before their terms came to not only include rice but
also the land it was grown on. By taking payment in land, the power of the Samurai increased substantially over time and led to vast landholdings and wealth, some encompassing entire islands, as
in the case of the Shimazu Daimyō in Kyushu. The term “Daimyō,” or “Great Name,” was reserved
for the controlling family patriarch of the district. In order to qualify for this title, one had to have
a minimum of 10,000 koku of rice (1 koku = approx. 5 bushels) under cultivation in his province.
This allowed the Daimyō to employ hundreds if not thousands of armed Samurai to protect his
status. It also led eventually to neighboring Daimyō to attack each other in hopes of increasing
their power and wealth.
It was not until the mid-16th century with the ascendancy of the “Three Great Unifiers”—Oda
Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and finally Tokugawa Ieyasu—culminating in the Battle of
Introduction
1
Sekigahara in 1600 and the victory of Tokugawa over the opposing forces, that in 1868 the beginning of the end of the Samurais as a class was ushered in with the return of power to the Emperor
Meiji. Of course this is a highly compressed account and one would need an entire volume just to
cover this one period. It is, however, one of the most intriguing periods for those who are students
of Japanese history.
“Why the end of the Samurai class?” one might ask. The Tokugawa era lasted close to 250 years
and gradually the need for armed warriors was diminished due to the hegemonic control of the
Tokugawa bakufu (tent government) over all aspects of the people’s lives. Soon the Samurai class
became the bureaucrats of the Shogun and less and less his army of warriors.
One of those warriors, Miyamoto Musashi, didn’t fall under the patronage of a Daimyō. He
chose a much less certain life, that of “mushashugyō,” or more popularly known in the West as a
rōnin—masterless samurai.
Another samurai, some say the last samurai, Saigo Takamori from the Shimazu domain, led the
Battle of Shiroyama against the newly formed Imperial army. It was a lopsided victory for the new
Meiji government and signaled the death of the samurais as a class.
One of Saigo’s followers was a young man from a nearby domain who survived the battles. His
name was Toyama Mitsuru. Up until his death in 1944, Toyama would continuously agitate for
Japan’s intervention in China, Korea, and Manchuria. His group, the Genyōsha or Dark Ocean
Society, was made up of the remnants of the samurai class in Northern Kyushu plus some very
unsavory characters picked up along the way.
One of the most unsavory was Kodama Yoshio, who plundered East Asia on behalf of the
Japanese military in an attempt to secure vital natural resources to continue the war effort. As a
consequence of his activities, he was classified a Class A war criminal and sent to Sugamo Prison
to await his possible death sentence. Instead of hanging him, the CIA hired him as a consultant in
anticipation of the Korean Conflict.
One of Kodama’s prison mates was Sasakawa Ryoichi, the self-proclaimed “World’s Richest
Fascist.” He, along with prison mate Kishi Nobusuke, a future Prime Minister of Japan, became
fabulously wealthy from the war. Kishi was the Governor General of Manchuria and thus controlled
everything and everybody who could put money in his coffers. Rumor has it that Kodama offered
Emperor Hirohito a large box of diamonds in gratitude for being allowed to serve his country.
After buying their way out of prison, Kodama went on to be the godfather of organized crime in
Japan. Sasakawa continued his proclivity for making a fortune off pari-mutuel motorboat racing
throughout Japan. Later in life he would use these enormous profits in hopes of being awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize.
Where was the Imperial family during all of this? What was their responsibility for the war
and the accompanying atrocities? These are difficult questions with many conflicting opinions as
to whether or not Emperor Hirohito had direct responsibility and should have been tried as a war
criminal with the others. I think that it was wise to spare him the embarrassment of facing the
War Crimes Tribunal or having to sign the surrender agreement on board the USS Missouri. As a
consolation, he had only to renounce his divinity to the public via a radio broadcast.
His younger brothers had been put in charge of repatriating the plundered gold and precious
stones looted from all Japanese-controlled territory. Among the billions was a one-ton solid-gold
Buddha statue stolen from a Thai temple. It was melted down along with all the other gold and
hidden in caves in the Philippines to await recovery after the war. Some of this gold actually made
it back to Japan in cargo ships disguised as hospital ships. Once safely back in Japanese waters, the
ships were scuttled, along with their crews, for later salvage.
2
The History of Japan
Another “crafty” character was Tanaka Kakuei. Before becoming the Prime Minister of Japan
during the Nixon years, Tanaka ran his own construction business. Once bombing of the homeland
began under the raids by General Doolittle, Tanaka was contracted to move a vital bearing factory
from Japan to Korea. He was paid an enormous sum upfront in full, but the war ended before the
factory could be moved in its entirety. Since the ministry that hired him was no longer in existence,
Tanaka pocketed the money and went on to an illustrious—and dishonest, I might add—career
in politics.
It is my hope that by adding all these disparate but somewhat related entries to the text, students
of Japanese history will see not only the “omote” or out-front side, but the “ura” or back side of what
makes up this fascinating country.
Introduction
3