Hayashi Fusao
Encyclopedia
was the Pen name
of a Japanese novelist and literary critic
in Shōwa period
Japan
. He is known for his early works in the proletarian literature movement, although he later became a strong ultranationalist. His real name was Gotō Toshio (後藤寿夫) , although he also used the alias "Shirai Akira".
seminars while a student at Tokyo Imperial University
. His literary career began in 1926, when he published a short story
, Ringo ("Apple") in Bungei Sensen ("Literary Battlefront"). This also marked his beginnings as a leading member of the Proletarian Literature Movement.
He was imprisoned in 1932 for his activities with the Japanese Communist Party
, and on his release, he wrote Seinen ("Youth"). This was quickly followed by Bungaku no Tame ni ("For Literature"), Sakka to shite ("As an Artist"), whose themes deny the subordination of literature to politics. Hayashi joined Kobayashi Hideo
to publish the mainstream literary journal
Bungakukai ("Literary World") in 1933. This more neutral stance was still not enough for the authorities, and Hayashi was imprisoned twice more in the 1930s by the Thought Police
, and as a condition for release, was forced to publicly renounce his leftist political beliefs.
Hayashi moved to Kamakura
, Kanagawa prefecture
in 1932, and (aside from a brief stay in Izu
), lived there all of his life.
Hayashi then wrote Roman Shugisha no Techo ("Notes of a Romanticist") in 1935, declaring his estrangement from Marxism. In 1936, he renounced his connections with proletarian movement.
In 1943, he toured Korea
, Manchukuo
and Japanese-occupied north China
as a member of the Literary Home-Front Campaign (Bungei Jugo Undo), a speech-making troupe organized to promote patriotism and support for the war.
After World War II
, he turned to apolitical popular novels with family themes, including Musuko no Seishun (My "Son's Youth") and Tsuma no Seishun ("My Wife's Youth"). However, in Dai Toa Senso Kotei Ron, ("The Great East Asia War was a Just War", 1963), Hayashi astounded his former Marxist colleagues with an apologia for Japanese militarism
and the Pan-Asianism
in World War II
, and a stinging criticism of leftist pacifism
. Controversy over the work continues, over 40 years since its publication.
Hayashi's grave is at the temple of Hokoku-ji in Kamakura.
Mishima Yukio
regarded Hayashi Fusao as his tutor, although he was later highly critical of Hayashi in a critique published in 1971.
. It was immediately highly controversial on its release, and it has served as a model for later revisionist historians
. Hayashi's premise can be summarized as follows:
To Hayashi the real enemy of the Asian nations is the United States
, just as the United States has been a Japan's foe for the last one hundred years. Although Hayashi remains apologetic about the suffering caused by the Japanese invasion of Asia, he promotes the viewpoint that the war liberated not only Japan, but also the rest of Asia from Western domination.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of a Japanese novelist and literary critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
in Shōwa period
Showa period
The , or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, from December 25, 1926 through January 7, 1989.The Shōwa period was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He is known for his early works in the proletarian literature movement, although he later became a strong ultranationalist. His real name was Gotō Toshio (後藤寿夫) , although he also used the alias "Shirai Akira".
Literary career
Hayashi was interested in leftist politics as a youth, and led MarxistMarxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
seminars while a student at Tokyo Imperial University
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
. His literary career began in 1926, when he published a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, Ringo ("Apple") in Bungei Sensen ("Literary Battlefront"). This also marked his beginnings as a leading member of the Proletarian Literature Movement.
He was imprisoned in 1932 for his activities with the Japanese Communist Party
Japanese Communist Party
The Japanese Communist Party is a left-wing political party in Japan.The JCP advocates the establishment of a society based on socialism, democracy and peace, and opposition to militarism...
, and on his release, he wrote Seinen ("Youth"). This was quickly followed by Bungaku no Tame ni ("For Literature"), Sakka to shite ("As an Artist"), whose themes deny the subordination of literature to politics. Hayashi joined Kobayashi Hideo
Hideo Kobayashi
was a Japanese author, who established literary criticism as an independent art form in Japan.-Early life:Kobayashi was born in the Kanda district of Tokyo. He studied French literature at Tokyo Imperial University and graduated in 1927...
to publish the mainstream literary journal
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
Bungakukai ("Literary World") in 1933. This more neutral stance was still not enough for the authorities, and Hayashi was imprisoned twice more in the 1930s by the Thought Police
Thought Police
The Thought Police is the secret police of Oceania in George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.It is the job of the Thought Police to uncover and punish thoughtcrime and thought-criminals, using psychology and omnipresent surveillance from telescreens to monitor, search, find and kill...
, and as a condition for release, was forced to publicly renounce his leftist political beliefs.
Hayashi moved to Kamakura
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...
, Kanagawa prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
in 1932, and (aside from a brief stay in Izu
Izu
Izu may refer to:*Izu Province, a part of modern-day Shizuoka prefecture in Japan**Izu, a city in Shizuoka prefecture**The Izu Peninsula, near Tokyo***The Izu Islands, located off the Izu Peninsula...
), lived there all of his life.
Hayashi then wrote Roman Shugisha no Techo ("Notes of a Romanticist") in 1935, declaring his estrangement from Marxism. In 1936, he renounced his connections with proletarian movement.
In 1943, he toured Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
and Japanese-occupied north China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
as a member of the Literary Home-Front Campaign (Bungei Jugo Undo), a speech-making troupe organized to promote patriotism and support for the war.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he turned to apolitical popular novels with family themes, including Musuko no Seishun (My "Son's Youth") and Tsuma no Seishun ("My Wife's Youth"). However, in Dai Toa Senso Kotei Ron, ("The Great East Asia War was a Just War", 1963), Hayashi astounded his former Marxist colleagues with an apologia for Japanese militarism
Japanese militarism
refers to the ideology in the Empire of Japan that militarism should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of a nation.-Rise of militarism :...
and the Pan-Asianism
Pan-Asianism
Pan-Asianism is an ideology or a movement that Asian nations unite and solidify and create a continental identity to defeat the designs of the Western nations to perpetuate hegemony.-Japanese Asianism:...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and a stinging criticism of leftist pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
. Controversy over the work continues, over 40 years since its publication.
Hayashi's grave is at the temple of Hokoku-ji in Kamakura.
Mishima Yukio
Yukio Mishima
was the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...
regarded Hayashi Fusao as his tutor, although he was later highly critical of Hayashi in a critique published in 1971.
Dai Toa Senso Kotei Ron
Hayashi wrote this book in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the Meiji RestorationMeiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
. It was immediately highly controversial on its release, and it has served as a model for later revisionist historians
Revisionist history
Revisionist history carries both positive and negative connotations. Each has its own entry.*Historical revisionism, the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes surrounding a historical event...
. Hayashi's premise can be summarized as follows:
- The Asia-Pacific War cannot be separated from the process of Japanese modernization beginning with the late Edo periodEdo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. - Japanese modernization was a defensive reaction against western aggression in the colonization of Asia.
- The Japanese annexation of Korea and invasion of China and Southeast AsiaSoutheast AsiaSoutheast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
were necessary to contain western imperialismImperialismImperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
and became a catalyst for Asian national liberation. - Japan was not an imperialist state in a Leninist sense.
- In the process of modernization, Japan did not adopt aggressive imperialism in the western European sense.
- The Japanese emperor system is not a fascist institution; it is based on an ethnic and cultural foundation.
To Hayashi the real enemy of the Asian nations is the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, just as the United States has been a Japan's foe for the last one hundred years. Although Hayashi remains apologetic about the suffering caused by the Japanese invasion of Asia, he promotes the viewpoint that the war liberated not only Japan, but also the rest of Asia from Western domination.