Know Your Enemy

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 11, 2 July 1945, Page 27

Know Your Enemy

A KORERO Report This is Part I of an article on the Japanese character and some of the influences that determine it. Part II will appear in the next issue.

“ttnow your enemy ” is sound advice. The successful application of it to the Japanese is difficult enough to be of absorbing interest. We are presented with a people whose character appears to be a mass of contradictions. In this war they have shown qualities which arouse both horror and admiration. They are fanatically brave, careless of their own and any other lives, and filled with the will to conquer. We are given daily evidence of contrasting elements in their character so unnatural • as to be almost past belief. We already knew, for example, the Japanese sense of beauty, their love of natural scenery, of flowers, birds, and butterflies, of running streams and waterfalls. Yet the Japanese have contributed almost nothing to the thought and spiritual progress of the world. This may well be so, for the same gentle Nature lovers will in a moment become •savage barbarians, taking to any outrage and cruelty with both gusto and enthusiasm, completely convinced of their divine mission to lead and rule the world. The Japanese truly regard sincerity as one of the cardinal virtues, and yet by word and deed have proved capable of the most incredible chicanery. But it is certain that they are not hypocrites. The mood of the moment is utterly genuine. In the face of these contradictions, there is the temptation to dismiss the Japanese as incomprehensible to the western world. This is not enough. Upon the soundness of our understanding of them will depend the treatment in store for the Japanese not only at the hands of the Allied Governments, but also by

those men and women who may be called upon to assist in Japanese reconstruction. To further this understanding of the Japanese character we must go back into history to discover the conditions which shaped it. The relevant facts we should find suggested in the racial origin of the people, in the history of their national beliefs, and of those social institutions derived from and developed by religion. The people of Japan are of mixed racial origin, but it is impossible to determine with accuracy the time and source of the different early migrations. The original inhabitants of Japan, the Ainu, came from North and East Asia, and were probably living when Japan formed a part of the Asiatic continent. Their remains are found in all three islands of present Japan. Then from South-east Asia and the Pacific Islands came a more virile Malayan migration. The invaders seem to have divided into two columns, one of which came straight to Kyushu, the southern island of Japan, while the other settled on the Korean peninsula. Those who settled in the Japanese islands had no difficulty subduing the rather timid Ainu, and made slaves of those who did not escape northwards. The newcomers, therefore, acquired a character of strong aristocratic tendency, with all the arrogance of the conqueror. The Korean settlers, however, found themselves among a culture far superior to their own—that of China. Though sufficiently aggressive to establish themselves in security, the settlers were profoundly influenced by Chinese

civilization and customs. With the passing of the centuries, the fierce Malayan characteristics, which had been emphasized among the migrants to Japan, became more and more weakened in Korea. Inter-marriage also played a large part in the subjection of the Malayan strain to the Mongolian. Then occurred an event of far-reaching consequence. From the Korean peninsula another large migration entered Japan, landing on the coast of Idzumo province, just opposite Korea. After centuries of separation, the two branches of the original Malayan migration were reunited. But by now they were almost different peoples. Those who had come direct to Japan (known as the Kumaso groups), although superior in the arts of warfare, were quick to recognize the superior culture of the Idzumo, the new arrivals from Japan. The combination of Kumaso and Idzumo, each supplying what was lacking in the other, proved irresistible. Together they pushed northwards, until the whole of the central island of Honshu as far north as Sendai was completely

over-run. The Ainu aboriginals took refuge in the northern island of Hokkaido, where their remnants, fast dying out, are still to be found. The merging of the two groups form the Japanese as we know them. The two distinct types are still to be seen—the aristocratic type with long thin face, aquiline nose, refined and sensitive, traditionally held to be of Kumaso origin, and the pudding-faced peasant with sunken nose, wide nostrils, thick lips and protruding teeth, the relic of the Mongolian migration of the Idzumo. But whatever their differences in appearance or habit, all Japanese are bound togethei' by the same religious beliefs. It is this religion which has formed, and still conditions, Japanese national character. The real religion of Japan, fundamentally unchanged by impact with Buddhist and Chinese influence through the centuries, is still Ancestor Worship. In the Japanese form of the Ancestor Worship cult are three distinct rites—the Domestic Cult, the Communal Cult, and the State Cult—concentrating respectively on the worship of the Family Ancestors, the Clan or Tribal Ancestors, and the Imperial Ancestors. The first is the religion of the home, the second is the religion of the local divinity, while the third is the national religion. Ancestor Worship is the religion of ghosts, rising from primitive man’s speculation about the mystery of death. The ghosts of the departed are imagined as constant presences, able in some way to share the pleasures and pains of the living. If pleased they can confer benefits, if angered cause grievious injury. Though their bodies have melted into earth, their spirits fill the air around. By death they have acquired mysterious power ; they have become Kami “ Superior Ones.” It is important to remember that this word misleadingly translated into English as “ gods,” carries no moral qualification whatever. The potentiality of each individual for good or for evil is hampered by the burden of his physical body. Freed by death, those potentialities have full play.

The fundamental beliefs underlying Ancestor Worship are five in number :— (1) The dead remain in this world. They haunt their former homes and share in the life of their descendants. (2) All the dead become “ Superior Ones ” —Kami—but retain the character they had in life. (3) Their happiness depends on the attention given them by the living, and, conversely, the happiness of the latter depends on their giving that attention. (4) Every event, good or evil, fair season or foul, typhoon or earthquake, abundance or famine, is the work of the dead. (5) All human actions are finally controlled by the dead. So powerful are these beliefs that we may fairly say that in all matters it is the dead rather than the living who have been the rulers or Japan. It is they who have controlled the lives of her people in matters both great and small, and who have thus been the shapers of the national destinies.

The domestic rite of the home affects most intimately the life of the people and is the most kindly in character. The departed are regarded as being part of the household, still in need of the affection and respect of their kindred. In return they guard the home and watch over the welfare of its inmates. But the departed also observe and hear all that happens in the home. They can read thoughts. Any infringement of the law or tradition of the past is a sin against the dead, and, if persisted in, is the supreme crime. From this conception rose the intricate code of “ Filial Piety.” This code applies not only to the behaviour of children to their parents, but also to the conduct of the individual in relation to the entire household. Though this rite, no doubt, has its charming and domestic side, it cannot help but restrict the development of the character of the individual. He must always regard his own conduct in relation not only to those about him, but also to the vast cloud of ancestors stretching far back into the past. His every action is dictated by tradition and by family

desires. He can make no individual decision lest it adversely affect those about him. Nor is this the full range of his inhibitions. These can only be fully realized by consideration of the further restrictions on individual thought and action exercised by the Communal and State cults of Shinto. When speaking of the Japanese “ family ” do not think of the term as being limited to a man’s wife and children, as it is in the West. It is a large group, more nearly approximate to the Scottish clan, and all united by a common devotion to the founder ancestor, known as “ Uji-no-kami.” The shrine of the “Uji-no-kami ” became a separate building, round which the different households would be gathered. It became, in fact, the “ Parish Church.” In old days the authority of the head of the family was absolute, extending even to life and death. In the modified form of to-day, implicit obedience is expected, and given, by younger to elder, by female to male throughout the group. Thus, in the intimate circle of the home, the Japanese

learns his first duty— subordinating of his own personality to the interests of his group. He forms the habit of group thinking and acting, of utter obedience to authority, and, above all, the reference of all his activities to the Kami upon whose favour everything pertaining to his welfare must finally epend. As the individual is ruled by the religion of the home in his every act, so is his family ruled by the religion of the district in all its relations with the outer world. The centre of this religion, as mentioned above, is the parish shrine.” The days in which the worshippers included only the descendants of the founder of the clan are now over. It is most unlikely that the ■deity of each Japanese district should in these days represent the common ancestor of its inhabitants. But to the ■community he is still the Kami in whose power lies the communal well-being. The “ parish shrine,” therefore, from which the " Ujigami ” oversees his children —Ujiko— the centre of the ‘Communal life. The office of priest to the shrine is normally hereditary. His power in the community as representing the religious sentiment of the - district, is —and can at times be irresistible. For just as an offence within the family circle is regarded as an impiety towards the family ancestor, so any breach of village or district custom, any act that might be thought unusual or eccentric would be considered disrespectful to the village code of behaviour. Every member •of the community, therefore, is held accountable for his conduct to the rest. Add to this that in Japan generally, but especially in the villages, privacy is unknown. Everybody lives “ in public.” The home must always be open to visitors : to close its doors would be an insult to the community. And, furthermore, social regulations do not, as with us, emphasize only what must not be done. What one must do is still more important. Let us see now what restraints are imposed on the young Japanese in the course of his life. First, the communal will reinforces that of the household. As soon as they have passed young childhood, boys and

girls will be watched in case they become slack in the observance of filial piety. Any act contrary to that duty would be rebuked by all. The more the growing boy begins to feel the pressure of the household law, the more he is conscious of public opinion. As to marriage, the community would not tolerate the least insubordination to the family will. That would be too dangerous a precedent. When married, he may not do what he thinks best with regard to his wife and children ; that would be grossly selfish. In all matters he must serve the community, and the higher he rises in the social scale the more tightly is he bound by custom and tradition. Modern conditions, particularly in the towns and cities, may have loosened these restrictions to some extent, but in the villages they still function as of old. Communal sentiment and archaic customs exert a numbing pressure on . the development of the individual. If some individual, wilfully or by mistake, offends the communal conscience he will in a moment find himself most effectively ostracized. The silence, and the very softness of the hostility, is its most terrible character. This is the usual punishment for anything that is “ not done.” In feudal days, which lasted until 1867, banishment was the worst fate that could befall a man. Cut off and driven away from his own clan he was indeed alone. There existed in Japan no concept of the brotherhood of man, and the stranger was everywhere the enemy. It seems certain that this conception must have had its effect upon the Japanese attitude towards foreigners in general. It is equally certain that it tended to encourage feelings of antagonism and dislike towards them. While banishment now rarely occurs, the punishment of ostracism is still regularly applied in all educational establishments from middle school upwards. There the class is the community, and the student may endure weeks or months of polite but utterly frigid silence. This will continue until he has publicly apologized to his class mates. But the effect of this ostracism may extend beyond the school grounds.

By incurring it the boy has offended against his family ancestors as well as against his village community, if he has one. The error may affect the whole of the boy’s subsequent career —a disgrace never wholly forgotten or forgiven. This cult of Ancestor Worship explains many peculiarities of the Japanese character, their committee-mindedness, their fear of being alone, their terror of making a mistake, their feeling of security only when acting as a group. We can understand why their education is designed to turn out citizens according to pattern, the discouragement of individuality going

as far as to crush unusual talent, lest the possessor be tempted to think himself different from the rest. We can see why a child will ruin his health to pass an examination, for to fail would be a reflection on the dead. Above all, it explains those terrible outbursts of cruelty, and sadistic madness. The Japanese racial background presupposes an unusually strong and fierce emotional nature daily subjected to constant supervision from without — not from within. Under unusual circumstances—war, earthquake, or plague— normal inhibitions are lessened or removed.