Japanese fascism: Encyclopedia II - Japanese fascism - Political purposes of Japanese fascists

Japanese fascism - Political purposes of Japanese fascists

One particular concept exploited by the ultranationalists and local fascists was a decree made by Emperor Jimmu in AD 660, the policy of hakko ichiu (八紘一宇, all eight corners of the world under one roof). While Emperor Jimmu's policy really only extended to Japan, China and Korea, the world he knew at the time, it was the belief that all of the world should be brought under the imperial rule of the divine Emperors, a sort of religious manifest destiny.

While various leaders tried it over the centuries, it was a goal that was to color Japanese thinking through the Second World War.

The bases of the modern form of hakko ichiu were to develop after 1868 and would take the following form:

A) Japan is the center of the world, with its ruler, the Tenno (Emperor), a divine being, who derives his divinity through ancestral descent from the great Amaterasu-Omikami, the Goddess of the Sun herself.

B) The Kami (Japan's gods and goddesses) have Japan under their special protection. Thus the people and soil of Dai Nippon and all its institutions are superior to all others.

C) All of these attributes are fundamental to the Kodoshugisha (Imperial Way) and give Japan a divine mission to bring all nations under one roof, so that all humanity can share the advantage of being ruled by the Tenno.

The concept of the divine Emperors was another belief that was twisted to fit the later goals of the ultranationalists and local fascists. It was an integral part of the Japanese religious structure that the Tenno was divine, descended directly from the line of Ama-Terasu (or Amaterasu, the Sun Kami or Goddess).

The final idea that was modified in modern times was the concept of Bushido. Bushido was the warrior code and laws of feudal Japan, that while having cultural surface differences, was at its heart not that differentfrom the code of chivalry or any other similar system in other cultures. in later years, the code of Bushido found a resurgence in belief following the Meiji Restoration. At first, this allowed Japan to field what was considered one of the most professional and humane militaries in the world, one respected by friend and foe alike. Eventually, however, this belief would become a combination of propaganda and fanaticism that would lead to the brutality carried out in the Second Sino-Japanese War of the 1930s and the Second World War.

It was the third concept, especially, that would chart Japan's course towards several wars that would culminate with World War Two.

By 1882, Japan was a formidable regional force, with a revamped infrastructure and reorganized military. By 1890, this had grown even more and Japan began looking at playing the game of colonial power under a growing belief in a modern form of hakko ichiu, one supported by the secret societies and many in the military and government (often these forces were all one in the same). The western powers were all around the Pacific and Asia, a point that was taken to heart by the Japanese.

Taken how example at Great Britain, who developed a close relationship with the Japanese. Now, the Japanese decided to begin its empire building. Its first item was settling the Korean question, the others questions was Liaotung land, North Lands, Formosa, and South Seas areas.

In the background, this was also the time of the rise of the secret societies, many of which had symbiotic ties to the oligarchs and the Zaibatsus. The Choshu and Satsuma also came to dominate the military establishment of Japan, with the Chosu controlling the Japanese Army and the Satsuma the Japanese Navy.

Later, such concepts blended with fascist thought and developed the concept of the Military Shogunate.

In principle, some theorists proposed Showa Restoration, the plan of giving direct dictatorial powers to the Emperor (due to his divine attributes) for leading the future overseas actions in mainland Asia. This was the purpose behind the February 26 Incident and other similar uprisings in Japan. Later, however, these previously mentioned thinkers decided to organize their own political clique based on previous radical, militaristic movements in the 1930s; this was the origin of the Kodoha party and their political desire to take direct control of all the political power in the country from the moderate and democratic political voices.

Following the formation of this "political clique" militarists, right-socialists, and native fascists created one "new revolution" for returning to the ancient Shogunate system, but in the form of the a contemporary military dictatorship with new structures. It was organized with the Japanese Navy and Japanese Army acting as Clans under command of a supreme military native dictator (the Shogun) controlling the country. In this government the Emperor was covertly reduced in his functions and used as a figurehead for political or religious use under the control of the militarists.

All these political theorists later also added European fascist elements to conform their movement to one similar to European style dictatorships, where there exists one leader very similar to the Führer or Il Duce. This centralizes all political and military power to as single leader conducting the nation against enemy countries and conducting the "inner ideological revolution" against reactionaries and decadents. It also attacks the old strutures of the upper classes to allow the lower classes, which represent the majority of the militarists and their followers (farmers, fishers, industrial workers, etc), to ascend the social ladder and receive social justice, satisfy the public's needs, and raise a military to maintain control of the nation.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Political purposes of Japanese fascists", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki