1500438, Mishima
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//-->ReviewAuthor(s): Richard W. AndersonReview by: Richard W. AndersonSource:Western Folklore,Vol. 61, No. 3/4 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 372-374Published by: Western States Folklore SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1500438Accessed: 27-05-2015 11:37 UTCYour use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jspJSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of contentin a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.Western States Folklore Societyis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toWestern Folklore.http://www.jstor.orgThis content downloaded from 150.254.100.169 on Wed, 27 May 2015 11:37:39 UTCAll use subject toJSTOR Terms and Conditions372REVIEWSthemof the livesof theplaces wherefewcould have gone, he informsOtherswho livethere.onOverall,howone viewsHearn as an ethnographerdepends largelyone's definition the term.Perhaps it is best to look at Hearn as anofinwho wroteartistically descriptivedetail about theamateurfolkloristculturesof Others,acceptingtheirbeliefswithoutjudgmentwhileoffer-ing commentaryon their economic and social situations.LafcadioHearn'sAmericafunction those of us interestedforservesan importantin the developmentofAmerica.The industrialization urbanizationandofAmericain the postbellumperiod had a profoundeffect how andonwhatculturalinfluencesobtainedin the livesoffamiliesand individuals.Hearn communicatedhis ideas on these matters his contemporarytoareaudience, and now his insights available to us. Simon Bronnerhascollection of Hearn's writings.Now we mustgathered an outstandingaccess this primarymaterialfurther,dissectit workby work,and seemerits insightinto how people in thatdayforbeyond its clear literaryadapted to a rapidlydevelopingAmerica.MICHAELG. SPINKSinFolkloreCurriculumNorthCarolinaofUniversityHillChapelandTheKamikaze,Blossoms, Nationalisms: Militarization AestheticsCherryofinJapaneseofHistory. Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney.By(Chicago: Universityintroduction,illustrations,Chicago Press,2002. Pp. xvii+ 411, preface,index. $45.00 cloth,photographs,appendices, notes, bibliography,$20.00 paper)How do political,andleaderspersuadeyoungadultmilitary, intellectualmales to sacrificetheirlivesforflag,fatherland,king,emperor,Fiihreror god? Given the carnage of World War I, World War II and theHolocaust, the Russian and Chinese revolutionsand the excesses ofStalin and Mao, Korea, Vietnam,Cambodia and Pol Pot, the Middlethatcomprisemuch of the his-East,and scoresof otherarmed conflictsthisThetoryof the twentiethcentury, questiondemands our attention.authorof the book under reviewattempts delve into the murkytoareaofwar,and symbology Japan in the 1930sand 1940s.Theinnationalism,focus of the book is on young kamikaze(suicide) pilots-graduates ofinelite universities,interested the arts,well-readin both Eastern andThis content downloaded from 150.254.100.169 on Wed, 27 May 2015 11:37:39 UTCAll use subject toJSTOR Terms and ConditionsKamikaze,Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms373Frenchand German) philosophyWestern(especiallyand literature,andfromclose, lovingfamilies.How could such men be persuaded to crashtheirairplanesor torpedoesinto enemywarships,inresulting theirowntodeaths?The authorattempts findthe answerthroughculturalanaly-sis ofJapanesesymbolthatblossom.systems,particularly of the cherryCiting the work of VictorTurner,Ohnuki-Tierneyargues that "wemustget out of our visionof a gridclassifyingand meaningsinsymbolsisolation"(57). In supportof thisapproach,the authorhas providedanoverviewof the symbolism cherryblossomsin Japanese history.ofOfisparticularinterest the multiplemeaningsthatcherryblossomshavehad since the earlyeighthcentury,"folkwhen,as the authormaintains,onblossomswereagrariancosmologies"(28) centering rice and cherrydeveloped in which the cherryblossom symbolized"life,death, and...rebirth and productiveand reproductivepowers"(38). She willfocuson the connection the Japanese government attempted to makebetweencherryblossomas a symbol impermanence("life,ofdeath,andtoone's lifeforthe emperor.rebirth")and willingness sacrificethengivesan overview the positionof the emper-ofOhnuki-Tierneyor in Japanese history.The author'smain concern here is to trace thestepsleading up to the emperor'sbeing seen in the Meiji period as a liv-anding god (1868-1912),the riseofJapanesemilitarism, the use of theetcherryblossom "as a dominantand evocativetropeforprorege patriatoa(willingness die forthe emperor) (62). After chapteron themori"creationduringWorldWar II of the tokkotai(suicide) operation,com-andofmonlyknownas kamikaze, connectionsbetween the symbolismblossomsand pilotssacrificingtheirlivesforthe emperor,fallingcherrywe get to theheartof thebook-the publisheddiariesoffivepilots(fourfroma closecontention,airplane,one torpedo). It is Ohnuki-Tierney'sthereadingof the diaries,thattheseyoungmen did not internalize gov-ernment'sattemptto glorifyone's lifeforthe emperor,butsacrificinginsteadsacrificedtheirlivesfortheirfamiliesand/or forJapan.Yet it is in her use of the diaries that,in myopinion, the book fails.claims thather selectionof the diaries of fivetokkotaiOhnuki-Tierneybecausepilotswill give her a clear unbiased pictureof theirthinkingthesediariesdo not "reflect politicalstanceof the editor"(21) as dothemostof the otherdiariesthathave been published.Since the diariesshewilluse have "usually[been] edited bya siblingof the soldier"(21), theynotSheare, accordingto Ohnuki-Tierney, biased or taintedbyideology.does not explain how she has come to these conclusions.It is unfortu-nate thatshe did not ask to see the diariesin theiruneditedformor toThis content downloaded from 150.254.100.169 on Wed, 27 May 2015 11:37:39 UTCAll use subject toJSTOR Terms and Conditions374REVIEWSthe siblings,most of whom are stillliving.Siblingsdo haveinterviewAnHaruko andagendas. In their1992 book,Japan at War: OralHistory,ofTheodore Cook include an interviewwiththe youngersister the tor-Inpedo pilotwhose diaryis one of the fiveused byOhnuki-Tierney. thisinterviewwiththe emperorsys-(327-336) we read of the sister'sdisgusttem and of her anti-warpoetry.In one of the diaries,the last fivemonthsof the pilot's life are notincluded (194), and in anotherthe lastyearand a halfof the diaryhadinbeen destroyed a fire (218). That is, in twocases Ohnuki-Tierneyisusing diaries that exclude the diarist'sown wordsforfiveto eighteenformonthsbefore death.Thisperiodwouldseemcritical an assessmenthisof a youngman's thoughtsand feelingsblossoms,thecherryconcerningandalsoemperor,Japan,his family, death. Ohnuki-Tierney occasionallyuses silence in the diariesas supportforher main thesis(see, e.g., 201),a tacticthatin academic discourseis problematicat best,and at timesInshe seems to read conclusionsinto the material. the case ofone diaryshe claims that "on the surface"it appears to contradicther thesis,butthat it is "hard to tell" and "difficult determine"whetherthe diarytoofshould be interpreted(229). In lightof the inconclusivenessliterallyinthisapproach,it is perhapsironicalto note thatIvan Morris, his clas-sic study thefailedhero inJapanesehistory,ofwrittenover25 yearsago,has a chapteron kamikazepilotsin whichhe also uses the pilots' diariesand letters to arrive at exactly the same conclusions as Ohnuki-oftheirlivesfortheirfami-Tierney-that the majority pilotssacrificedlies and Japan and not forthe emperor.There are otherminorproblemswiththe text.For example,MishimaYukio committedsuicide in 1970 not 1969 (119) and the 2600thbirth-whoeverday of the creation ofJapan is 1940 not 1872 (132). Finally,servedas copy-editor thisvolumeshould be lookingforanotherforjob.There were so manyforgottenarticlesand convolutedsentencesthatIthem.The authordeservedbetter.stopped markingRICHARD ANDERSONW.StateUniversityOregonWORKS CITEDatAnNewNewPress.Cook,Harukoand Theodore.1992.Japan War: OralHistory. York:York:New AmericanLibrary.Victor.1967. TheForest Symbols.Ithaca: Cornell UniversityPress.Turner,ofMorris, Ivan. 1975. The NobilityofFailure: TragicHeroesin theHistoryofJapan.NewThis content downloaded from 150.254.100.169 on Wed, 27 May 2015 11:37:39 UTCAll use subject toJSTOR Terms and Conditions
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