NEW RISING HAIKU
The Evolution of Modern
Japanese Haiku and the Haiku Persecution Incident
Itô Yûki, Ph.D.
(cand.), Kumamoto University, Graduate School of Cultural and Social Sciences
Monograph:
Red
Moon Press, May 2007
ISBN
978-1-893959-64-4
ABSTRACT
The
following discussion focuses on the evolution of the “New Rising Haiku”
movement (shinkô haiku undô), examining events as they unfolded
throughout the extensive wartime period, an era of recent history important to
an understanding of the evolution of the “modern haiku movement,” that is, gendai
haiku in Japan. In his 1985 book, My Postwar Haiku History, the
acclaimed leader of the postwar haiku movement Kaneko Tohta (1919–) wrote,
“When discussing the history of postwar haiku, many scholars tend to begin
their discussion from the end of World War II. However, this perspective
represents a rather stereotypical viewpoint. It is preferable that a discussion
of postwar haiku history start from the midst of the war, or from the beginning
of the ‘Fifteen Years War [1931-45].’” A discussion of the situation of haiku
during Japan’s extended wartime era is of great historical significance, even
if comparatively few are now aware of this history. In fact, the wartime era
was a dark age for haiku; nonetheless it was through the ensuing persecutions
and bitterness that gendai haiku evolved—an evolution which continues today.
Please note that the two predominant schools or ‘approaches’ to contemporary
Japanese haiku are: 1) gendai haiku (literally: “modern haiku”), and 2)
traditional (dentô) haiku, a stylism signally represented by the
Hototogisu circle and its journal of the same name. To avoid confusion, the
term “modern haiku” (in English) will indicate contemporary (1920s-on) haiku in
general, while “gendai haiku” refers to the progressive movement, its ideas and
activities. This essay also contains an added Addendum section: “Historical Revisionism
(Negationism) and the Image of Takahama Kyoshi,” which details contemporary
negationism concerning Kyoshi’s involvement in wartime persecution and his
alliances with the Japanese Imperial‑fascist government, throughout the
wartime era.
NEW RISING HAIKU
At
5:00 a.m. February 14th 1940, in Kobe city, in snowy weather, a
plainclothes officer accompanied by two uniformed officers arrived at the home
of Hirahata Seitô (1905-1997), a haiku poet and psychiatrist. The officers
knocked hard, waking up the family. Dr. Hirahata was asked to come voluntarily
to a Kyoto police office for questioning, concerning the haiku magazine
Kyôdai Haiku (Kyoto University Haiku). The officer was a member of the
Japanese Secret Police (tokubetsu kôtô keisatsu, or Tokkô), the Thought
Police of the Imperial fascistic order of Japan; comparable to the Nazi
Gestapo. With great trepidation, Dr. Hirahata pretended calm, moving toward the
telephone. “Wait, just a second. I have to call my place of work, my hospital”
he said, at which point the Secret Police officer informed him, “It is no use
contacting your comrades, we have already arrested them all.” As Hirahata later
reported, just at this moment his children innocently piped up, “Hi! Policeman
have come to our house to play! Shall we play ‘police and thief’ with you?” not
realizing the significance of the incident (Kosakai, 66‑7).
That
February 14th was the first occurrence of wholesale arrests of the
members of Kyôdai Haiku. Similar arrests of the magazine members
occurred three additional times in 1940, from February to August. In total,
sixteen haiku poets were arrested. This group included the notable poets Inoue
Hakubunji (1904-1946?), Hashi Kageo (1910-1985), Nichi Eibô (1910-1993),
Sugimura Seirinshi (1912‑1990), Mitani Akira (1911-1978), Watanabe Hakusen
(1913-1969), Kishi Fûsanrô (1910-1982), and Saitô Sanki (1900-1962).
A
year later, in February 1941, the Secret Police expanded their persecution to
the members of the four “anti-establishment haiku” magazines in Tokyo: Haiku
Seikatsu (Haiku Life) Hiroba (Field), Dojô (Above Earth), and
Nippon Haiku (Japan Haiku). The victims of this persecution were
thirteen poets, including Shimada Seihô (1882-1944), Higashi Kyôzô (also known
as Akimoto Fujio) (1901-1977), Fujita Hatsumi (1905‑1984), Hashimoto Mudô
(1903-1974), and Kuribayashi Issekiro (1894-1961).
Due
to his treatment by the Secret Police while incarcerated, Shimada Seihô’s
health deteriorated; he fell into a coma and later died. “Treatment” included
various forms of torture, and the procuring of false written confessions, which
included signed declarations such as; “I was an enemy of the government, but I
now worship the Emperor,” and, “I was a Communist and planned revolution
against the Emperor’s order,” etc. There were 22 separate clauses put into the
false written confessions. Moreover, the haiku poets had to perform a “haiku
anatomy” of their works—that is, they were forced to interpret and denigrate
their works according to the will of the Secret Police. Prisoner-poets were
also compelled to perform this “haiku anatomy,” on the works of their friends
and fellow poets. Their magazines were also banned and burned. Today there is
no extant copy of Kyôdai Haiku for February, 1940 but for a single
journal serendipitously discovered among items left by a haiku poet who died
during the war (Tajima, ii‑iii).
The
collective series of arrests for the five haiku magazine-groups mentioned, from
1940 to 1941, is known the “Haiku Persecution Incident,” which unfortunately
implies that there was only a single event. However, these persecutions
continued throughout the war period—records show that 46 haiku poets (one woman
and 45 men) were arrested. Two died due to inhumane treatment, and in the years
1940‑1945, over a dozen haiku magazines were obliterated.
As
totalitarian governments in all times and places commonly persecute thinkers
and artists, the activities related above might seem to fit a typical pattern.
However, there is more to these incidents than mere persecution by the Secret
Police. The targets of the repeated persecution were major haiku poets of the
New Rising Haiku movement (shinkô haiku undô), who opposed the
conservative haiku of the Hototogisu School and were attempting to write haiku
with new subjects, utilizing terms and techniques which related to contemporary
social life. To express such feelings, these poets frequently wrote haiku
without kigo (season words), directly treated non-traditional subjects such as
social inequality, and utilized modernist styles, including surrealistic
techniques, etc.
One
may wonder why not a single member of the largest and most influential haiku
group, Hototogisu (or any traditional-haiku poet), was ever arrested. The
answer is both shocking and embarrassing: Hototogisu was closely related to the
Japanese Secret Police, and the Intelligence Bureau of Japan (jôhô kyoku).
The conservative haiku poets persecuted the New Rising Haiku poets, utilizing
the secret police. Furthermore, a number of notable traditional haiku poets
were devoted to and actively promoted the fascist movement and the Japanese war
effort.
Takahama
Kyoshi (1874-1959), one of the two main disciples of Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)
and the leader of Hototogisu, became the President of the haiku branch of the
Imperial‑fascist government culture‑control/propaganda group known
as “The Japanese Literary Patriotic Organization (JLPO) (Nihon bungaku
hôkoku kai),” which devoted itself to censorship and persecution, and other
war crimes of various sorts. There are a few scholars who defend Kyoshi,
suggesting that he was used by the fascist government, stating for instance
that, “Kyoshi resisted the war via his attitude, in that he did not directly
treat the war as a subject of his haiku in any way” (Asai, 146). This point of
view will be discussed in some detail within the Addendum
following this main text. It is an incontestable historical fact that as well
as being President of the fascist JLPO Haiku Department, Kyoshi prominently
served the causes of fascist cultural organizations and activities, and was
deeply committed to the culture-control/ propaganda movement. At the time, the
Director‑Trustee of the JLPO was Ono Bushi (1889-1943), who among his
other professional titles was: kokumin jyôsô chosa iin, or: “The Agent
of Investigation of the Minds of the Nation’s Citizens.”
An
infamous statement published by Ono reads,
I will not allow haiku even from
the most honorable person, from left-wing, or progressive, or anti‑war,
groups to exist. If such people are found in the haiku world, we had better
persecute them, and they should be punished. This is necessary (Kosakai, 169).
It
was reported by one haiku poet who survived detention that he was commanded by
the Secret Police (in the person of a Lieutenant Nakanishi) to “write haiku in
the style of the Hototogisu journal” (Hirahata, 49; Kosakai, 79).
According to the fascist-nationalist traditionalists, to write haiku without
kigo (a traditional seasonal term), meant anti-tradition, and anti-tradition
meant anti-Imperial order and thus high treason; therefore, all New Rising
Haiku was to be annihilated. We are reminded of how the Nazis preserved
so-called pure nationalist art, while persecuting the modern styles of
so-called “degenerate art.”
Before
discussing these incidents further and what lies behind them, I would like to
give a brief overview of the history of haiku in the early 20th century. After
Shiki’s death in 1902, haiku was divided into two main schools. Takahama Kyoshi
insisted that haiku must be 17-on in a traditional 5-7-5 pattern (‑on
are the phonemic sounds which are counted in Japanese haiku) with one
traditional kigo, while by contrast, Kawahigashi Hekigotô (1873-1937) allowed
free-rhythm and formal variation in haiku. Both schools continued to develop
through the decades, however the style promoted by Kyoshi became more popular.
He had inherited the Hototogisu journal from Shiki, who had
revolutionized the genre, and this strong sense of lineage helped him succeed
commercially. Kyoshi promoted haiku as a literature of kachôfûei (composition
based upon the traditional sense of the beauty of nature). The Hototogisu
School gathered together many haiku poets, fostered them, and became the
strongest and most influential power within the haiku world.
The
group known as the “Four S” haiku poets of Hototogisu are Takano Soju
(1893-1976), Awano Seiho (1899-1992), Mizuhara Shûôshi (1892-1981) and
Yamaguchi Seishi (1901‑1994). These four became leading figures in the
haiku world of the 1920’s. The former two, Sojû and Seiho, penned excellent shasei
(“sketch of life” haiku, a term coined by Shiki) and kachôfûei haiku,
while the latter two, Shûôshi and Seishi, are most noted for their lyrical and
romantic self-expression.
The
new generation of haiku poets was growing in influence, yet Kyoshi as leader of
Hototogisu had taken the stance of a tyrant from the beginning of his
installment. In 1913, when he became the leader of the magazine, he published
“The Commandment” (Kôsatsu) in Hototogisu. Within the text he declares,
“Do understand and remember that Kyoshi is Hototogisu itself,” and, "Do
oppose any new haiku style including the New Rising Haiku" (“Kôsatasu,”
iv). Under his rule, there was literally no criticism of any kind allowed
within Hototogisu, excepting for those critiques contained in the prose essays
written by its leader. During this period, the “haiku world” meant Kyoshi’s
world.
Due
to a combination of Kyoshi’s authoritarianism and the promotion of fixed ideas
in relation to haiku stylism, by the early 1930s Shûôshi and Seishi had
departed the Hototogisu circle. In 1929, Shûôshi founded a new magazine, Ashibi
(Andromeda flower), and in 1930, he published his first haiku book, Katsushika
(so‑named after a downtown Tokyo location). At the time, it was an
unwritten law that in order for a haiku poet to publish his first book, he or
she needed to compile those haiku selected by Kyoshi, and had to beg Kyoshi to
write an introduction. Shûôshi deliberately did not beg this introduction—an
audacious action at the time. In the same year, Shûôshi published his own work
of literary criticism, “The Reality of Nature and The Reality of Literature” (shizen
no shin to bungei jô no shin) in his own magazine. In the essay, he states
that that the objective shasei (Shiki’s “sketch of life”) conception
alone is not a sufficient basis for the art of haiku, and that both creativity
and wide‑ranging knowledge are necessary attributes for a haiku poet.
Today, Shûôshi’s actions and statements may not seem all that remarkable;
however, at the time these activities were considered not only innovative but
were labeled “rebellion.” Ironically, the year of this haiku “rebellion” is the
same as the beginning of the Fifteen Years War.1 In
1931, the Japanese Army invaded the northeast region of China, and the
following year the puppet state of Manchuria was founded. The fascist‑Imperial
movement progressed in parallel with the progress of the liberal movement of
haiku. Kaneko Tohta comments on the haiku world and the sense of crisis during
this period:
The beginning of the Fifteen
Years War had nearly arrived. The period was a time of crisis for traditional
ways of thinking, while for new, contemporary thought the period was a time of
great possibility—accompanied also by great oppression. It was necessary for
those grappling with novel modes of thought and art to articulate the feeling
and zeitgeist of this era of crisis, to rebel against outdated concepts and
thinking, in order to break through the realities of oppression and cultural
stagnation, and for these artists to create new philosophies of their own. In
such an atmosphere of crisis, the haiku world was filled with tensions between
the old guard and new writers—it seemed that the conflict might even come to
bloodshed. We can say that it was a time of great turbulence (haiku no
honshitsu, 231).
The
“rebellions” of Shûôshi and Seishi occurred during this year of crisis, mainly
for the reasons indicated by Kaneko. The rebellions and the foundation of the
new haiku magazine Ashibi were epoch‑making events. Influenced by
this rebellion born from members who had been within Hototogisu itself, many
new haiku magazines were consequently founded. In 1933, Kyôdai Haiku (Kyoto
University Haiku) arrived, and in 1934 Hino Sojô’s (1901-1956) Kikan (Flag
Ship) began. In 1938, Fujita Hatsumi (1905-1984) began publishing Hiroba
(Field). As a result of this diversification, some magazines formerly allied to
the Hototogisu School began to shift. Yoshioka Zenjidô’s (1889-1961) Amanogawa
(Milky Way) and Shimada Seihô’s (1882-1944) Dojô (Above Earth) entered
the new stream. As well, the haiku poets of Hekigoto’s free-verse school,
including Kuribayashi Issekirô (1894-1961), joined the stream with his magazine
Haiku Seikatsu (Haiku Life). Due to the mutuality and simpatico of the
free-rhythm (jiyûritsu) school, the burgeoning movement was much
enlivened. Taken as a whole, the new poetic styles represented by these
magazines came to be known as the New Rising Haiku (shinkô haiku), one
of the most significant origins of gendai haiku.
The
vanguard of New Rising Haiku was the group and journal of Kyôdai Haiku. Young
Kyoto University graduates had founded the magazine, but it soon became filled
with the works of progressive haiku poets throughout Japan. Seishi encouraged
the movement—its aim was to “overthrow the conservative haiku as season‑hobby
literature, and to create gendai haiku as season‑feeling literature in
the spirit of Bashô, and as true poetry” (Komuro, 48). Here is the Kyôdai
Haiku declaration found in the first volume of the magazine, January 1933:
Now we present Kyôdai Haiku to
the haiku world, which is the stream that pours through our hot youthful blood
with the inheritance of the great poets of the past. Truly, when a person
travels through the country of haikai [haiku], he cannot be indifferent to this
pure stream. Some would avoid these waters, while others would quench their
thirst with only a drop, as though with the sweet dew of a haikai ascetic
journey. We make this clear avowal: our single wish is that this stream might
irrigate the country of haikai forever (Tajima, 24-5).
The
majority of these original poets were in their twenties or thirties; the New
Rising Haiku movement was full of youthful energy. Their aims were modernism
(composition pertaining to a sense of modern life), humanism (the betterment of
humanity), realism (honestly facing social concerns), and liberalism
(emphasizing the right to free expression). They often wrote haiku without
kigo, and also wrote in free-rhythm/free-form styles. Moreover, they adopted an
important social attitude, in managing their group without resorting to the
traditional, feudalistic, master-disciple system. In their group all members
were considered equal and free to engage in discussion and dissent. The
magazine was also open to criticism from outside the group.
Such
an attitude was quite liberal and innovative, particularly in that era. Japan
was moving toward a fascistic order; nevertheless, the innovative magazine caused
a sensation and sold well. The haiku below is a famous example from Kyôdai
Haiku. While its aesthetic might be diminished in translation (losing the
impact of free-rhythm, creative assonance, and cultural reference), the flavor
of New Rising Haiku seems apparent:
水枕ガバリと寒い海がある 西東 三鬼
mizumakura
gabari to samui umi ga
aru
Saitô
Sanki
water
cushion
chomp
!
it’s
a chilly ocean
Later,
this haiku became Sanki’s epitaph.
Although
many masterpieces were written, Japan sank into a dark age. In 1937, the
Japan-China war began, closely followed by the rapid escalation of a massive
‘information war.’ The Japanese Cabinet Intelligence Bureau (naikaku jôhô-bu)
was enlarged, and this Bureau and the army came to completely control all
newspapers and other media. And the “All National Sprit Mobilization Movement (kokumin
seishin sôdôin undô)” also began. In 1938, the “All Nation Mobilization Law
(kokka sôdôin hô)” was enforced. Due to this law, the government was
able to control various social activities. The imperial fascistic government
began spreading propaganda, issuing statements such as: “This war is a Holy War
in the name of the Emperor the living-god.” Japan was full of propaganda
glorifying the war as a Holy War. Any information concerning the real
battlefield was either concealed or glorified. The Nanjing massacre for example
never became a matter of public knowledge.
The
war and the propaganda campaign stimulated Japanese nationalism, and this
nationalistic fervor hastened the advent of Imperial fascism. Many artists,
including a number of haiku poets, praised the war as a Holy War and created
the genre of “The Holy War Arts.” In 1937, Kyoshi became a member of the
Imperial Art Academy (teikoku geijutsu in) for “The Holy War Arts,” and
began a special serial-feature segment on the war, in ‘his’ Hototogisu journal,
and even Shûôshi created a similar segment in Ashibi. At the time,
Shûôshi had become strongly nationalistic—a stance over which, unlike Kyoshi,
he later expressed apology and regret. They both published Holy War haiku
anthologies; Kyoshi published The Collected Japan-China-War Haiku (Shina-jihen
kushû), and Shûôshi published The Holy War and Haiku (Seisen to
haiku) and The Collected Holy War Haiku (Seisen haiku-shû).
Kyoshi and Shûôshi also gave radio lectures on “The Holy War Haiku,” and these
lectures were compiled as The Selected Holy War Haiku (Seisen
haiku-sen).
Kyoshi,
notably, performed propagandistic activities not only in Japan but also in its
then-colonies. In Korea, during a party held by the Japanese Intelligence
Bureau, Kyoshi gave a speech in which he said, “The people of the Korean
peninsula have had only weak minds from days of yore. As such, it is merciful
to teach them Japaneseness and the awareness that they are Japanese, not
Korean. Haiku is a good way to do it” (“Man-chô yûki,” 72). Clearly,
Kyoshi’s notion was imperialistic, colonialist, and racially discriminatory.
The
examples of Holy War Haiku shown below are representative, and cannot be
described as artistic. In January, 1938, Kyoshi chose the haiku below as a
“best exemplar” of Holy War haiku:
みいくさは酷寒の野をおほひ征く
長谷川 素逝
2
miikusa
wa kokkan no no o ôi yuku
Hasegawa
Sosei (1907-1946)
The
Holy War overwhelms
and
progresses through
the
violently cold field
One
page four of the preface to The Selected Holy War Haiku, Kyoshi
recommends this above haiku and offers a comment: “The warrior, who faces and
overpowers enemies, even if they be demons and devils, has the Japanese feeling
of respect for seasons and nature. This is the pride of the Japanese samurai.”
Indeed, Kyoshi regarded himself as a samurai, and wrote the following haiku:
日の本の武士われや時宗忌 高浜 虚子
hinomoto
no mononohu ware ya tokimune ki
Takahama
Kyoshi
I
am a samurai
of
Japan –
the
anniversary of Regent Tokimune
Regent
Tokimune (1251-84) was the commanding general (in effect acting Shogun, also
known as Shogun Tokimune) who waged war against the invading Mongolian army of
Kublai Kahn in 1274 and again in 1281. Both attempted invasions ultimately
failed due to timely typhoons, hence Regent Tokimune has become an emblematic
hero of wars fought against foreign armies. The word kamikaze (the wind
of the gods, or “divine wind”) and folk beliefs such as “the kamikaze
defends Japan from foreign armies” and, “Japan can never be defeated, due to
the defensive power of kamikaze,” were born in this medieval era. In his
haiku, Kyoshi identifies himself with this singular, semi-divine historical
hero.
Shûôshi’s
Holy War Haiku were more overtly nationalistic than those of Kyoshi. In his
book, The Collected Holy War Haiku, Shûôshi writes,
In this Great Asia
War, the attitudes of the enemy countries, in short, America, Britain, and
other countries, are tremendously evil. In order to destroy such evil, our
nation has arisen. From the very beginning of the war, our Imperial Army has
severely damaged our enemies and incapacitated them. Yet you, the Japanese
home-front citizens, should continue to unite your hearts with our Imperial
Army to exterminate the evil (161).
When
the Japanese Army conquered Singapore, Shûôshi penned this haiku:
春の雪天地を浄め敵滅ぶ 水原 秋桜子
haru
no yuki tenchi o kiyome teki horobu
Mizuhara Shûôshi
spring
snow
purifies
earth and heaven –
our
enemies perish
The
haiku below were published in 1940 by Shûôshi and Usuda Arô:
建国祭敵塁くづれ燃えに燃え 水原 秋桜子
kenkokusai
tekirui kuzure moe ni moe
Mizuhara Shûôshi
National
Foundation Festival –
the
enemy base falling
burns
and burns
皇紀二千六百年の天の声 臼田 亜浪
kôki
nisen roppyakunen no ten no koe Usuda
Arô
Divine
voice of heaven –
Divine
Imperial Calendar 2600
Holy
War Haiku tend to use technical terms related to the Imperial Order. National
Foundation Day (kenkoku sai) in Shûôshi’s haiku above, is a national
festival celebrating the First Emperor of Japan: the descent of the god (Jinmu
Emperor) to the earth, believed to be February 11, 660 BCE. From the divine
year of the arrival of the First Emperor, exactly 2,600 years had passed to the
date of 1940 CE. Arô expressed this fact in his second line, above (kôki
nisen roppyaku nen). National Foundation Day of 1940 was a huge festival,
accompanied by parade music composed by the German composer Richard Strauss
(1864-1949) and Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968), both deemed
“authorized” composers by the Nazi Party and the Fascist Party (c.f. Shôwa:
Nimannichi, vol 6). Although Holy War Haiku were inartistic, such haiku
were written and published in uncountable numbers at the time.
In
this atmosphere of war fanaticism and a controlled society existing under a
fascist‑Imperial government, the New Rising Haiku poets wrote haiku with
acuity, cruelty, strangeness and absurdity when addressing the topic of the
war. They even expressed compassion with enemies. At the time, “non‑patriotic”
(hi-kokumin) meant non-citizen, and writing haiku without kigo meant
rebellion against the Japanese Imperial tradition. Even so, the New Rising
Haiku poets expressed their own passions.3 The
contrasts with Holy War Haiku can be easily discerned:
機関銃眉間ニ殺ス花ガ咲ク 西東三鬼
kikanjuu
miken ni korosu hana ga
saku Saitô
Sanki
a
machine gun
in
the forehead
the
killing flower blooms
戦死者が青き数学より出たり 杉村聖林子
sennsisha
ga aoki suugaku yori
detari
Sumimura
Seirinshi
war
dead
exit
out of a blue mathematics
枯れし木を離れ枯れし木として撃たれ 杉村聖林子
tareshi
ki o hanare kareshi ki toshite utare
Sugimura Seirinshi
leaving
a dead tree
being
shot as a dead tree
埋めてゐて敵なることを忘れゐたり 波止影夫
umete
ite teki naru koto o wasure
itari
Hashi
Kageo
during
burial:
this
is the enemy,
forgetting
To
oppose such “non-patriotic” haiku as those above, in 1939 Kyoshi himself
censored the comprehensive haiku anthology Haiku Sandaishû (The Haiku
Trilogy), forcing the publisher to exclude the works of the New Rising Haiku
poets (Furukara, 391-396; Hirahata, 58).
Finally,
in 1940, the wholesale arrests began. The beginning of this persecution came
through the betrayal of informers. Particularly from Hototogisu haiku poets,
and especially Ono Bushi himself, who directly informed the Secret Police
concerning the activities of the New Rising Haiku poets. The Secret Police set
out the reasons for the arrests in an internal document, the Tokkô Geppô (the
monthly record of Secret Police activities). The document for 1940, February,
reads in part:
The magazine Kyôdai Haiku
was founded by Lecturing Professor of Kansai University Inoue Hakubunji and a
dozen other haiku poets in the eighth year of the Shôwa Emperor’s reign [1933],
January. This magazine and the group opposed traditional haiku and insisted on
haku without kigo and free-rhythm as the so-called New Rising Haiku. Advocating
liberalism, they continued the publication of such haiku magazines. They
attempted to inform readers about the validity of Communism through haiku based
on “proletariat realism.” Asserting the protection of all classes and cultures,
they struggled to promote anti-traditional haiku, anti-capitalism, and anti‑fascism
movements. Furthermore, since the start of this Japan-China war, they have made
an effort to publish haiku that are anti-war. They have attempted to attain
their aims through such anti-war haiku (Tokkô Geppô: Shôwa 14 February 5).
The
phrase “proletariat realism” was taken from the 1927 Comintern Thesis for
Japan, which advocated the abolition of the Japanese Imperial regime. The Secret
Police purposely linked this fairly‑forgotten terminological footnote of
history with the fact that the New Rising Haiku poets wrote haiku on social
life, in order to aggravate the appearance of offence—a violent
misinterpretation, particularly as at the time none of the editors of Kyôdai
Haiku were members of the Communist party (although some associated with the
magazine had a strong sympathies with communism).4 Even
had the haiku poets in question been the members of the party, the 1927
Comintern Thesis had been revised and replaced by the 1932 Comintern Thesis,
with the slogan “proletariat realism” removed as outdated—eight years before
the above‑quoted depiction had been written (Matsuo, 119-22, 146-47).
The
Secret Police had the power to execute the haiku poets out of hand,5
but
they took instead the tactical approach of the false written confession and
“haiku anatomy,” as mentioned. Following the confession and “haiku anatomy,” and
usually after a year or more of imprisonment, the Secret Police often sent the
prisoner‑poet to the front lines of the war. Likely, this tactic had as
an aim the avoidance of martyrdom via execution. Even if one were not sent to
the front, haiku poets (and other progressive artists, liberal thinkers,
religious and ethnic groups, minority populations, etc.) were imprisoned in
filthy jails and were tortured. If let out of prison, the poets were put under
Secret Police surveillance as thought criminals—plainclothes officers followed
them at all times. If the individual under surveillance performed some
“suspicious” act, the Secret Police re-arrested them, and once again torture
ensued. Those under suspicion were also socially ostracized. It was not
uncommon for entire families, including wives and children, to cut off all
contact, and there are cases not only of divorce but also of family
homocide/suicide (it remains unclear to what extent the Secret Police were
complicit in these matters). Via such tactics, the Secret Police succeeded in
producing many “converted” (tenkô) persons who became admirers of
Japanese Imperial‑fascism.
Due
to the persecution of Kyôdai Haiku, a great deal of fear arose among the New
Rising Haiku community. Using this fear, Ono Bushi blackmailed a number of
haiku groups and forced them to cease publication, as well as informing on them
to the Secret Police. For example, the New Rising Haiku magazines Kikan
and Amanogawa were terminated by Ono Bushi. Furthermore, in 1940 he
founded the fascistic haiku organization, “The Japan Haiku Poet Society (Nihon
haiku sakka kyôkai)” as a branch of the Intelligence Bureau. Kyoshi became
the Chairperson of this organization, which not only promoted propaganda haiku
but also sold thousands of pieces of tanzaku (a reed-shaped paper with a
haiku written on it) and donated the collected money to the army and navy. The tanzaku
of Kyoshi sold for a particularly high price: according to the official
record in the 1942 Haiku Almanac, the donation was 6098.64 yen (Nihon
bungaku hôkoku kai [JPLO], Haiku nenkan: Shôwa 17, 349). At
the time, a pack of tobacco was 0.1 yen. By simple arithmetic, the donation
would be worth approximately 18,295,920 yen, or some $175,000.00 USD today. The
traditional-haiku poets’ tanzaku were changed into money, and then into
bullets. This example is only the tip of the iceberg; many additional
activities are worth relating, however space does not permit a fuller
recounting.
In
1942, The JLPO (Japanese Literary Patriotic Organization; Nihon bungaku
hôkoku kai) was founded, and affiliated the above-mentioned Japan Haiku
Poet Society to it. The JLPO was quite deeply connected with the Imperial
government and the Intelligence Bureau. In the JLPO’s foundation ceremony,
Prime Minister Tôjô Hideki (1884-1948) and the President of the Intelligence
Bureau gave congratulatory speeches. The foundation statement of the JLPO was:
“We all, Japanese men of letters, should, by doing everything in our power,
hereby establish a Japanese literature which embodies the Imperial tradition
and ideals. We should praise and enhance Imperial culture. This is the aim of
this Organization” (Tajima, 211). The President of the Haiku Department of the
JLPO was, as mentioned, Kyoshi.
Also
in 1942, the JLPO held the First Great Asia Writers Conference (daitô-a
bungakusha taikai) in Tokyo. This conference consisted of the writers of
Japan and its colonies and puppet-states: Manchuria, Korea, Taiwan, the
Republic of China (Nanjing Government), and the Mongol Border Land (Mengjiang
Government). Before the conference, the JLPO forced the writers of the colonies
to go to the Meiji Shrine, the Yasukuni Shrine (the shrine now housing war
criminals, which to the present annually causes consternation when officials
present offerings there), and the Imperial Palace of Japan, as “a welcome tour”
of the conference (Shôwa: Nimannichi, vol 6, 196-99). The route of the
“welcome tour” was quite similar in style and intention to the welcome tour
given the Hitler Youth in 1938 (Shôwa: Nimannichi, vol 5,
100‑02). At these places, the JLPO compelled the writers of the colonies
to worship then-Emperor Hirohito, the divine soul of Meiji Emperor Mutsuhito,
and the war dead of Yasukuni Shrine. The conference ceremony involved huge
displays (as with the Hitler Youth rally). At the opening ceremony Kyoshi read
his haiku for the conference as President of the Haiku Department of the JLPO (Shinbun
Shûsei, vol 16, 460-61).
In
1943, the Second Great Asia Writers Conference was again held in Tokyo. In this
same year Ono Bushi died due to illness, however the JLPO continued to control
literary persons and societies. The JLPO committed drastic acts of censorship,
for instance stopping the distribution of pen and paper to non‑patriotic
writers, literally allowing pen and paper only for “the authorized writers.” In
1944, a Third Conference was held in Nanjing (cf. Bungaku Hôkoku).
The JLPO demonstrated its great power and influence, both domestically and
internationally. Few writers resisted the JLPO. On the contrary, many writers
“voluntary” obeyed the dictates of this fascist-authoritarian organization.
The
New Rising Haiku poets however retained their determined spirit. Even without
pen and paper, even while imprisoned, they remained haiku poets. For example,
in his prison cell, Higashi Kyôzô wrote haiku using a small piece of chalk,
which he erased over and over again. Later, remembering 172 of the haiku he had
written while in jail, these were published after the war. Upon the publication
of this book, he changed his name to Akimoto Fujio. The Chinese characters of
his name 不死男
(Fujio) mean, “an undying man.” In the haiku book entitled Kobu (A
Lump), he writes: “During wartime, many people were inflicted with wounds. The
wound I received, which was inflicted by the Haiku Persecution Incident, was
merely ‘a lump.’ Even though it was but ‘a lump,’ I will never forget its pain”
(Akimoto, 62).
Indeed,
“the pain of the lump” embodied very difficult travails. While the spirit of
these haiku poets was not extinguished, there was grievous suffering. The
following two stories are representative: Inoue Hakubunji was sent to the
frontline of the war when he was 42 years old. He was later captured by the
Soviet Union army and never returned. Nichi Eibô, a skillful Russian
interpreter and radio-wave engineer was captured by the Soviet Union’s GPU and
sent to Siberia. He survived the Siberian gulag and torture. In 1950, when he
arrived back in Japan, he was arrested by the CIA under suspicion of being a
spy, due to his excellent Russian. In addition, he had given one of the
infamous false confessions “admitting” he was a Communist, and this likewise
caused suspicion, particularly given the period: 1950 was the start of the Cold
War in Asia. In 1949, Mao Zedong’s Chinese Communist Party had gained power and
founded the People’s Republic of China, while Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist
Party of China (Kuomintang) and the Republic of China had decamped to Taiwan.
Also in 1950, the Korean War broke out. It was on account of this strained
political climate that Nichi Eibô was suspected. He was sent to the CIA offices
of Kobe and Ashiya, given polygraph tests, and put under CIA surveillance until
1951 (c.f. Kosakai, 190-212).
Social
hardships continued with the defeat of Japan on August 15, 1945. Emperor
Hirohito pronounced the defeat on the radio at noon that day, and the
democratization of the Japanese government began. The Supreme Commander of the
Allied Powers (SCAP) disbanded various government organizations: the Ministry
of War, the Secret Police, the plutocracies (zaibatsu), the JLPO, and so
on. The Land Reform act was then instituted, allowing farmers and local
populations to gain their own lands. In 1946, Emperor Hirohito declared that he
was a human being and not a living‑god in “The Humanity Declaration (Ningen-sengen),”6
and
according to Article 10 of the Potsdam Declaration, the Tokyo Tribunal of War
Criminals was convened.
Even
though the SCAP censored certain writings—for example, the publication of Saitô
Sanki’s haiku about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was banned (Kuroki, vol I,
62‑63)—Japanese writers, generally speaking, gained their freedom of
expression, and in 1946 the New Rising Haiku poets founded the New Haiku Poets
Association (Shin Haikujin Renmei). The 1947 Haiku Almanac (Ôno
Rinka, ed., Haiku-nenkan: Shôwa 22), reveals the atmosphere of the haiku
world at the time. Within the Almanac, reflecting upon the prewar era,
the New Rising Haiku poet Higashi Kyôzô (Akimoto Fujio) summarizes the group’s
original aim:
The New Rising Haiku movement
was, in short, a movement to recover the adolescence of haiku. . . . In order
to break the old and feudal tradition of haiku taste and thought, we hoisted
the flag of liberalism and democracy against the exclusionism of the haiku
world and the feudalistic master‑disciple system. That is, to create
gendai haiku as poetry, we advocated the pure poesy of haiku, not the old hobby
taste haiku (305).
On
the other hand, in the same Almanac, the traditional-conservative haiku poet
Usuda Arô states,
I sometimes hear mention that the
master-disciple system of haiku is bad. However, such a notion is superficial.
It may stem from an ignorance of haiku tradition. The outcome of the haiku
spirit springs naturally from a great national love, which defines master as
master and disciple as disciple. Therefore, this is the core of a “deep-and-high”
ethical significance. Do not confuse the noble flowers with newly growing
weeds. With my clear, pure, straight, and warm heart, I would like to pull out
the stiff roots of the weeds, and throw away these tendrils, in order to
comfort the noble flower. I do not lament or become angry without reason. I
will remain as an observer, as facts are facts. But I, with you too, do reflect
and think again—at the frosty window of December 8 [the Japanese date of the
Pearl Harbor Attack] (ibid., 8).
Arô’s
prideful statement reveals that he had not appreciably altered his views of
haiku from his pre-war conceptions, and further, expressed a fairly
militaristic or violent attitude toward gendai haiku; he embodies the mainstay
conservative view of haiku at the time. Arô and other haiku poets, including
Kyoshi, remained traditional-haiku authorities in the years following the war.
From
1946, “the weeds” or the New Rising Haiku poets began the “Prosecution for
Haiku War Criminals” movement (haidan senpan saiban undô), a movement
mainly led by the New Haiku Poets Association. Its advocates were Higashi Kyôzô
(Akimoto Fujio), Furuya Kayao, several other haiku poets, and the lawyer,
Minato Yôichirô (1900-2002). The movement’s aim was not to imprison those who
had either instituted persecutions or collaborated with the Secret Police, but
to justly and publicly cause those guilty parties to recognize the weight of
their guilt and feel the sting of conscience. It was not a witch hunt. If it
had been, the movement would have become a reverse mirror-image of the Haiku
Persecution Incident(s). By contrast, the aim of the movement was “to resolve
all the issues of the past in order to together hold hands for the progress of
haiku” (Minato, 34). To attain this aim, it was felt that the defamatory
actions of all haiku poets should be exposed and expressed, in public, and
without delay.
In
the January 1947 issue of the magazine Haikujin (Haiku Human), Minato
Yōichirô presented a listing of the three main Articles defining Haiku War
Criminal |
