1943 Imperial Japanese editorial decries liberalism, individualistic humanism, rationalism, international universalism, and Marxist materialism of the West for corrupting Japan, and calls for a “high-minded Japanese worldview” and reliance on “irrational and mysterious powers” of the Japanese spirit
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), February 24, 1943
The True Meaning of National Identity and the Righteous Peninsula (3)
By Kamata Sawaichiro
Now is the Time to Deny the Past
Toward the Establishment of a High-minded Japanese Worldview
Looking back at the past, since the opening of Japan to the outside world in the Meiji era, Japan has gradually developed the characteristics of early modern liberalism, following the mainstream of thought since the commercial revolution in Western Europe. However, the liberalism of the early modern period in the West was the mechanization of human life, the promise of unlimited material development, and the construction of a luxurious capitalist civilization on top of that.
Thus, the enlightened individualistic humanism that originated in the Renaissance, flourished in the Reformation, and bore fruit in the independence of the United States, the political reforms in France, and the social revolution in Russia, was the natural destination of the modern spirit that denied God. Static, stagnant societies were replaced by noisy, dynamic, progressive societies. Communal societies were replaced by profit-driven societies. Natural societies were replaced by societies of rights and contracts. Societies of faith were replaced by societies of science. The Kingdom of God was buried, and the Kingdom of Knowledge was established.
People have forgotten the demands of the higher soul or divine value, and have come to place the greatest value only on material value and its increase by various technical means. This has become even more blatant in the Marxist view of materialist history, which was developed due to the impasse of liberalism. Japan in particular, which had lagged behind in the development of capitalist civilization in the early modern period due to the isolationist policy of Tokugawa feudal society, was tasked with the challenge of catching up with the standards of Europe and America in every aspect. It had to concentrate on westernizing the lives of its subjects, even to the point of enduring the humiliations of the Meiji Rokumeikan Era.
During the Meiji era, our predecessors fought with their blood to boldly deny the past. They felt attracted to the rationalism and international universalism of early modern Europe, based on Bacon’s assertion that “knowledge is power,” and strove for the globalization of Japan. We must not deny that fact.
It was only because of this that Japan was able to liberate itself from its insular lifestyle and emerge as one of the leading peoples in world history, and even if there were some excesses in this process, it was an unavoidable part of the inevitable process of history. We cannot deny the fact that our forefathers, despite their excesses, received the baptism of European culture in a pure and humble manner, and that is the reason why Japan today has become an independent leading nation, different from China and India, with a global mission. The history of the Meiji era was not simply a history of errors to be cleared up.
However, this does not lead us to conclude that the period from the end of the Taisho era to the Showa era was the beginning of a new era of construction and improvement that had its impetus in the Meiji era. No matter how generously we look at it, we cannot deny that contradictory aspects of excess and stagnation appeared, accompanied by the corruption of the nation.
The goal of the education of the intellectual class was focused on “how to get away from being Japanese,” and it was thought that to be nationalist or ethnic was reactionary and even a disgrace to the cultured person. For a long time, the selection of intellectuals was based on “how Western” their thoughts and lives were.
In such an atmosphere, it was foolish to grasp the spirit of the founding of the Japanese nation. Even the thought of the purity of the Japanese nation’s history was destroyed, and all things related to the Japanese spirit were driven into oblivion. At the podiums of the highest academic institutions, the “Emperor’s Organization Theory” was lectured on without any hesitation, to the point where no awe or wonder could be felt. Cynical and shallow imitations of American and British culture abounded, and corrupt journalism further incited and fostered such imitations, to the point of knowing no end.
In the midst of this situation arose the Manchurian Incident, followed by the Second Sino-Japanese War, which stimulated, awakened, and elevated the national instincts of the Japanese people. This, together with the global trend of totalitarian ideology, sparked a serious study of Japanese culture and the Japanese spirit, and finally opened the door for the penetration of the true meaning of national identity.
For the Japanese world of ideas, which had been under the weight of European foreign ideas for a long time, the tide of Japan-centrism that broke out with the calls to “return to the spirit of the founding of the Japanese nation” and “reaffirm the Japanese homeland” was a truly spiritual and historical dawn that shone through the dark night for those who sought its growth. After many years of pilgrimages to foreign ideas, we have finally returned to Japan, the homeland of our souls, and the Greater East Asian War broke out on the eve of the explosion of our unavoidable national desire to seek the majesty and grandeur of the Japanese spirit itself.
Our country, with its long historical tradition since the time of the gods, may have been completely westernized on the outside, but its inner essence had not been lost. It resembles an iceberg floating in the northern oceans.
The iceberg may appear in a very small form, but it has infinite latent power. Once an iceberg collides with something, the latent force that has been submerged under the surface of the water suddenly becomes manifest and exerts an irrational and mysterious power. This is exactly how the Manchurian Incident occurred. In addition to the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Greater East Asia War, the power of the great iceberg has continued to be exerted more and more.
However, just as aviation heroes need excellent airplanes, in order to win this great battle, it is not permissible to rely only on irrational and mysterious powers. The time has come for us to establish a high-minded Japanese worldview that is unbeatable and indestructible, to cultivate the fundamentals of the true meaning of national identity, to give courage to the will, joy to the emotions, and insight to the intellect, and to make it the final unifying principle of all our activities.
Source: https://archive.org/details/kjnp-1943-02-24
(Transcription)
京城日報 昭和十八年二月二十四日
国体の本義と道義半島（三）
鎌田沢一郎
今こそ過去否定の時代
高邁なる日本的世界観樹立へ
翻って思うに明治開国以来の我国の思潮は、西欧商業革命以来の思潮の主流を追うて、次第に近世自由主義の特徴を具備して来ったのであるが、西欧近世の自由主義は人間生活の機械化であり、物質の無限的発展の約束であり、その上に豪華な資本主義文明を構築することであった。
かくてルネッサンスに発源し、宗教改革に於いて華を開き、米国の独立と、仏蘭西の政治改革と、さらにロシアの社会革命とに実を結んだ啓蒙個人主義的ヒューマニズムこそは、神を否定した近代精神が当然赴くところであり、従って静的な停滞的な社会は喧噪な動的な発展的な社会に代わり、本来共同的な社会が、利益社会に代わり、自然的な社会に対して権利の社会、契約の社会が現れ、信仰の社会に対して科学の社会が現れ、神の王国が葬られて、知識の王国が樹立せられたのである。
人々は高き魂の要求、或いは神的価値を忘却して、ただ物的価値とその諸々の技巧手段による増加とのみに最大の価値をもつに至り、そのことは自由主義の行き詰まりによって展開されたるマルキシズムの唯物史観に於いて、さらに一段露骨なる鋒鋩を現すに至ったのである。殊に徳川封建社会の封鎖政策のため、近世資本主義文明の進展に一歩遅れをとった我国においては、あらゆる部面において欧羅巴の水準を追いつくということが仕事であり、課題となり、たとえば鹿鳴館時代のごとき屈辱を敢えて忍んでまで、その国民生活の西欧化に熱中しなければならなかった。
さりとて、われらの先覚が血によって闘いとった明治時代の大胆なる過去否定と、「知識は力也」とのベーコンの主張によるヨーロッパ近世の合理主義、国際的普遍主義に魅力を感じ、日本の世界水準化を目ざして邁進した勇気と実践をまで否定してはならない。
これあってこそ狭い日本が島国的生活から自己を開放して世界史的指導民族の一つとして登場することが出来たのであり、そこに多少の行き過ぎはあったとしても、それは歴史の必然的過程の一断面として、むしろやむを得ざるもの。われわれの父祖達は、かかる行き過ぎを犯してまで、飽くまで謙虚な態度もて純真にヨーロッパ文化の洗礼を受けたればこそ、今日の日本が支那や印度と異なった独立的な指導国家として世界的使命を担うものになり得た事実を否定することは出来ない。明治の歴史は決して単に清算さるべき誤謬の歴史ではなかったのである。
しかし乍ら大正の末期より昭和にかけては、この明治の余勢を駆って建設向上の一路を踏み来ったものとの理解には到達し得ない。如何に贔屓目に見るも、そこには行き過ぎと停滞の矛盾の相が現れ、民族の堕落さえ伴って来たことは否定し得ない。
知識階級の教養の目標の如きは「如何にして日本人であることから離れること」にあるかに集中せられ、国民的、民族的であることこそ即ち反動的であり、文化人の恥辱であるとさえ考えられ、久しきに亘り彼等知識的選良を以て任ずる人々の思想と生活は「如何にして西欧的であるか」に根拠を置いていたのである。
かかる雰囲気の中にあっては、肇国の精神を把握することは愚か、国史の純潔を誇る思惟すら滅却され、日本精神のあらゆるものが、忘却の彼方に追いやられて、最高学府の講壇では平然として「天皇機関説」が講義せられて何等の不可思議すら感ぜざる程に立至り、巷には皮相浅薄なる米英文化の模倣が充満し堕落したジャーナリズムはさらに一層それを扇動助長して停止するところを知らざる有様となった。
かかるさ中に勃発した満州事変引き継ぐ支那事変こそは日本人の民族本能を異常に刺激し、覚醒し、高揚せしめた。これが世界的風潮としての全体主義的な思想と相俟って日本文化、日本精神の真剣な研究は、その口火を切られ、国体の本義透徹の門戸はようやくにして開かれんとする端緒に到達した。
久しくヨーロッパ的外来思想の重圧下にあった日本の思想界にとって「肇国の精神に還れ」「祖国を再認識せよ」の声とともに、ここに勃発として動く日本主義の潮流は、その生長を希求するものにとって暗々たる夜色を通じて輝き出でたる真に精神史的な黎明であり、外来思想への多年の遍歴ののち、ようやく魂の故郷日本へ帰り、日本精神そのものの中に荘厳偉列なものを希求せんとする、やむにやまれぬ民族的欲望が、その爆発の前夜にあるところへ、大東亜戦争が突発したのである。
まことに神代以来悠久なる歴史伝統を有する我国は、たとい外面的には西欧化し尽くしたかに見えていても、その内面的本質は、これを失ってはいなかったのである。それは恰も北氷洋上に悠然と浮遊する氷山にも似ているのである。
氷山は、現るるその姿は僅少であって、無限の潜勢力を有している。一度氷山が何物かに衝突する場合、今まで水面下に沈積されていた潜勢力は忽ち顕勢力となって、むしろ非合理不可思議なる力を発揮する。満州事変はまさに、かくのごとくにして起ったのである。さらに支那事変、大東亜戦争と、ひきつづき大氷山の威力は多々益々発揚されてやまぬものがある。
しかし乍ら恰も航空勇士に優秀なる飛行機が必要なるごとく、この大決戦に勝ち抜く為には、ただ非合理不可思議なる力にのみ信倚することは許されない。完勝と壮大なる大建設を目ざし、今こそ必勝不壊にして且つ高邁なる日本的世界観を樹立し、国体の本義に徹するの根本を培い、意志には勇気を感情には歓喜を、知性には達観を与えて、一切の活動の最後の統一原理たるの性格を備えしめなければならぬ時期こそは到来したのである。
