Shanghai Library Shanghai Institute of Science and Technology Information Zhang Yi
"The Japanese Army Between the Two World Wars", [Japan] Fumigo Kurosawa, translated by Liu Tianyu, Social Sciences Documentation Press, January 2020 edition
Japan's military history has always been a topic of great concern to the academic community since modern times. In addition to the famous seniors Akira Fujiwara (1922-2003), Keiichi Eguchi (1932-2003) and Qin Yuhiko (1932-) and others, the research results of scholars such as Hokra (1951-), Kawada Minori (1947-), Reiichi Bubu (1948-) and Shinichi Kitaoka (1948-) who were born around the 1950s are also very outstanding in this field.
These classic works by scholars in the 1950s include: "Research on the Force War System - National Enemy of the Japanese Army" in 1981 (published by Sany Bookstore, later changed to Social Review Society), and "Research on the Modern Japanese Political and Military Affairs" in 2005 (published by Iwaha Bookstore. This book was translated and introduced by the Social Sciences Documentation Press in 2012 and translated as "Research on the Modern Japanese Political and Military Relations Relations: The historical origins of Japan's war of aggression against China) and the 2009 "Yiichi Tanaka - the pioneer of the country's Strength War" (published by Furong Bookstore, which was translated and introduced by the Social Sciences Documentation Press in 2017 and translated as "Yiichi Tanaka - the initiator of the Japanese general war system"), and the 2011 "Yiichi of Showa Army-Nagata's Strength Sect" (Zhonggong Xinshuo , This book was translated and introduced by the Social Sciences Documentation Press in 2015, and translated as "The Trajectory of the Japanese Army (1931-1945) - The Concept of Tengshan Nagata and its Branches", revised and removed the subtitle and reprinted) in 2020 and reprinted) and "The Complete History of Showa Army" from 2014-2015 (1-3, a New Book on Modern Society), and "The Modern Times of Japan" by Ryoichi Ryoichi of the Ministry of Revenue in 1998 (9) "Reverse Army" (Central Public Information News Agency 1998 / Nakaku Document of Japan's Modern Times In 2012, this book was translated and introduced by the Social Sciences Documentation Press in 2016, and translated as "The History of Japanese Army: The Alienation of Modernization"), and "The Japanese Army and China Policy - 1906-1918" by Kitaoka Shishichi in 1978 (Published by Tokyo University Press Association).
It is worth noting that among the works that have been introduced in the mainland, the introduction time has been long since the original works were published in Japan, especially this book by Ryoichi of the Ministry of Revenue. In the 2016 period, it has been the eighteenth year since it was published in Japan (1998). Although this book "The Japanese Army between the Two World Wars" written by Fumigo Kurosawa (1953-) is a new book this year (2020), the publication of its original Japanese book was twenty years ago, that is, the beginning of this century (original name: "The Japanese Army during the War Period", published in 2000 by 『』すず官网). The understanding of the earlier publication helps us to establish a correct understanding of the age of reference materials used by the author (especially modern people's works).
The author of the book, Fumigo Kurosawa, is also a member of the scholar group around the 1950s mentioned in the previous article. This book "The Japanese Army between World Wars" is a collection of research papers by the author. The main text of this book is mainly divided into three parts: the first part "The Impact of World War I and the Japanese Army" is a key part of the book, which focuses on the Japanese Army's response to World War I and "Taisho Democracy". This part puts forward the basic arguments of the book, namely: the so-called "second founding of the country" and "Taisho Democracy" of World War I impacted the Japanese Army and made it undergo a more flexible transformation; the second part "The Road to the Manchuria Incident" focuses on the establishment process of the so-called "1925 system"; the third part "The Road to the Pacific War" focuses on the collapse of the "1925 system" and the establishment process of the "1940 system". The latter two parts are mainly explained along the time and logic context set in the first part, and at the same time focus on the two concepts of "1925 system" and "1940 system". Through these two concepts, the author's unique understanding of the transformation of the Japanese Army's overall war system during the two wars.
The reference materials used in this book are mainly divided into two categories: one is monographs and papers by other researchers, and the other is first-hand historical materials.
The monographs of other researchers listed by the author mainly include: Fujiwara Akira's "History of Military Affairs" (published by Toyoshi Shin-Chun Shin-Chun Shin-Chun in 1961), "History of Japanese Military" (published by Japan Review Agency in 1987), "Research on the Force War System - National Enchantment of the Japanese Army", and the above monograph "Modern Japan (9) by Ryoichi of the Ministry of Revenue Reversely speaking, "The History of the Military and Political Affairs of Qin Yuhiko (1932-) - March Event 2·26" (Published by Kawaidai Shufang Shinshu in 1962), "The Army and the Army" (Published by the Japanese Broadcasting and Publication Association in 1968), "The History of the Military and Political Affairs of the Military" (Published by the Japanese Broadcasting and Publication Association in 1934-)" (Published by the First Legal Co., Ltd. in 1983), and "The History of the Military and Publication Association in 1987).
The above-mentioned works basically represent the main research results of the history of Japanese army in the last century. In the notes of the book "Preface", the author particularly emphasized the pioneering nature of the above-mentioned works of Keio University in the study of specialized army history and the originality of Li Jiongzhe's works in the study of general history of the military. It should be said that the author's vision is very professional and unique.
The historical materials used in this book can be basically divided into three categories: first, the argumentative articles within the army at that time were mainly based on "Kaixing Society Records", followed by the military provincial official diaries such as "Mida Diary", "Ou Shou Da Diary", and private historical materials such as "Ugaki Ichisei Diary", and "Uehara Yuki's Relationship Information", and finally the army research works published at that time. Most of the sources of the above historical materials are from the former Army Province, which is now the Ministry of Defense.
Among these three types of historical materials, "Records of the Jiexing Society" is the most important source of historical materials for the author's entire book. The Kaixing Society (かいこうしゃ) was established on February 15, 1877, when the Southwest War had just broken out. The name of the Kaixing Society comes from the Book of Songs·Qin Feng·Wuyi: "The king raised his troops and cultivated his armor and soldiers, and walked with him." It probably also contains the meaning of inspiring the morale of the army and hoping to win the flag in the Southwest War. The members of the Jiaxing Society are mainly generals and officers from the Army. "The purpose is to 'consolidate the unity of the Imperial Army generals and officers, mellow their friendly relations, cultivate the spirit of soldiers, conduct academic research, and seek the support of members and the convenience of military families.'" (Page 15 of this book) With the forced disbanding of the Yueyao Society in 1889, Jiaxing Society became the only unofficial group organization within the Army. In 1924, a consortium legal person and a club was established. "The position of president must be the royal family who is an army officer, and the president is the general of the army." (Page 15 of this book) It can be seen that the Jiaxing Society actually has a certain semi-official nature. "The "King Xingshe Ji" was founded in July 1888 by the then Chief of Staff of the Military Supervision Department (later Minister of Education) and President of the Army University of Kyōtaro." (Page 16 of this book) "The published articles can be roughly divided into: (1) research reports, speeches and translations from the official offices, schools, and the army; (2) research by soldiers recommended by officials, schools, and the army; (3) contributions by ordinary soldiers; (4) speeches made by civil servants (referring to civil servants and citizens other than professional soldiers). " (Page 16 of this book) "King Xingshe Ji" has a full text electronic version at the Library of Congress in Japan (https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/3567677), but you need to go to the museum or its cooperative library to read it.
can be seen from the above. As a de facto official journal of the Kaixing Society, the articles published in the Kaixing Society Records mainly include professional papers on military technology and tactics, as well as personal opinions and suggestions on the major policies and guidelines for the strategic development of the Japanese Army. The historical materials used in this book mainly refer to the latter. Most of the authors of these articles were active middle and lower-level officers at that time, including many famous figures who later entered the center of the Japanese army or other famous figures, including: Nagata Tetsuyama, Masasaki Shisaburo, Fukuda Mataro and Tadami Kurirabayashi.
However, it must be pointed out that it is actually arbitrary and inadequate to simply regard the opinion of the Army—and the opinion from a single publication—as the representative view of the Army and its overall strategy. Moreover, the author also tried to use "Kaixing Society Notes" as an argument for some of his arguments about the history of "Taisho Democracy". For this, Mr. Ryoichi of the Ministry of Revenue also made a pertinent criticism in his book reviews specially written for this book (Review: "The Japanese Army of the Great War Period" by Fumiko Kurozawa, "International Politics" No. 126, 2001).
"Taisho Democracy" did not start with the so-called "second founding of the country" as the author said, but began to brew after the Russo-Japanese War, and it had already blossomed and bear fruit in the early days of Taisho (see research works such as Matsuo Takashi 《Taisho 》 (published by Iwaha Bookstore 2001)). Regarding the so-called "adding two divisions" issue that concerns the interests of the army, the two major political parties, the Constitutional Friendship Association and the Constitutional Kuomintang, had jointly organized the so-called "first constitutional protection movement" to oppose it. In early 1913, Kashitaro, one of the representatives of the Army's Choshu clan, was successfully driven off the throne of the prime minister. This is one of the most important achievements of the entire "Taishou Democracy". Therefore, "Taisho Democracy" did not come after the "World War I", but in fact, it had already had a huge and profound impact on the army on the issue of "adding two divisions" and the issue of the existence and abolition of the cabinet of the army's vassal vassal Kaitaro. The author did not mention this in this book, which is surprising.
Secondly, the impact of other social thoughts that emerged during the Taisho period on the army was not reflected in this book. For example, the famous Kitaichiko Thought, his famous book "The Great Announcement of the Japanese Reform Act" was published by Nishida Tax at least as early as 1928. The author quoted many related works from the same period in the book, but actually ignored this important book, which is quite regrettable. It should be noted that the two famous military riots in the early Showa period, "May 15" and "226" were important signs of Japan's formal development on the road of militarism, and behind them were all the shadows of the idea of "Japan Reform Act". If there is no influence of Kitaichiko's thought on the army in the so-called "between the two wars", this is unreasonable. However, the author rarely mentions this in this book. In addition, the impact of the important social thoughts of the Taisho period, such as the "Great Rebellion Incident" of Qiutoku Akihime and its anarchist ideas, the people-oriented thoughts made by Yoshino, and the "Emperor's Theory" of Minobe Daki's "Emperor's Agency" on the Army are basically not reflected in this book.
In addition to "The Records of the Gathering Society", another important historical source of this book is the Army Province's official diary such as "The Diary of the Mitsuda" and "The Diary of the Ou Shouda" and private historical materials such as "The Diary of Ugaki Ichisei" and "The Relationship Information of Uehara Yuuhara". "The Diary of the Secret" "The Diary of the European Shou" has now been published on the website of the National Official Documents of Japan (https://www.jacar.archives.go.jp/aj/meta/MetSearch.cgi), and users can download the full text for free. "Ugaki Ichiseki Diary" currently has only a paper version published by 1968 by Mitsuka, and only a small part of "Uehara Yuki's Relations Information" can be obtained through the website of the National Library of Congress of Japan.
When citing "Ugaki Ichiseki Diary", the author chose relevant content based on his views on the so-called "Ugaki Disarmament", and described it as a relatively open-minded, flexible and pragmatic soldier. However, in the early stage of Taisho, it was this Ichizumi Ugaki who performed completely differently from the middle and late stages of Taisho.
1913, the naval soldier Yamamoto Kobee, who came to power in place of Katsura's cabinet, issued the revised "Civil Officer Appointment Order". The new Civil Service Order stipulates that the qualifications of the cabinet's Army and Navy Ministers will be expanded from active military officers to reserves and reserves, eased the military's control over the cabinet. This decision of Yamamoto's cabinet soon attracted opposition from the military, and one that is particularly worth mentioning is the anonymous letter "On the Issue of the Minister of the Army and Navy" issued by Colonel Ikchou Ugaki (at the time).Angry, he pointed out in an anonymous letter that doing so will lead to four serious consequences: 1. It will form partisan ideas that are most taboo for soldiers; 2. It is harmful to military development; 3. It undermines the relationship of obeying orders; 4. It is harmful to the role of sacred command. (Ryoichi of the Ministry of Revenue: "History of Japanese Army - Alienation of Modernization", page 77) The most important one is points 1 and 4, which means destroying the independence of soldiers and the army and leading to political parties' interference in military affairs. Ugaki's stubborn conservative argument quickly led to severe demotion, but soon he was reinstated.
From the case of Ugaki Ichisheng, it can be seen that soldiers as individuals will also have changes and inconsistencies in the early and late stages of Taisho, and the author did not mention this in this book. This has to be said to be another negligence in the processing of historical materials in this book.
A core argument of the author in this book is that in the face of the impacts brought by the "World War I" and "Taisho Democracy", the Japanese Army has fully collected intelligence on the one hand, and has also set up a so-called "temporary investigation committee (committee)" for this purpose. On the other hand, the response to these shocks has also shown high flexibility. However, as pointed out in the previous article, just based on the paper in "The Records of the Gashui Society" as an argument, it cannot fully demonstrate the Army's true attitude, and on the other hand, it cannot fully demonstrate the overall historical situation at that time. In this regard, the author should also have a relatively clear understanding: "Therefore, although "Kaixing Society Notes" is not a historical material that can directly argue the specific political process, it is a perfect historical material to see the military policy decisions and policy formation environment, that is, the atmosphere within the army (the concerns and thinking modes of army officers) and ideological background." (Page 17 of this book) The author has made a relatively accurate positioning of the academic value of this book, that is, as the background material for the history of the Japanese army policy formation during the two wars, it provides a relatively supplementary rather than decisive historical material basis. I think that reading this book based on the above understanding may lead to real academic gains.
Of course, for a collection of papers, you should not require too much from the requirements for general historical works. The above comments mainly from the perspective of historical materials collection and application are a bit full of blame. In any case, Mr. Kurosawa's book is a monograph with considerable value and distinctive characteristics in the study of Japanese army history, and is worthy of our careful study and study.
The author of this article is "The 15th Year of Taisho: Imperial Japan in the Perspective of East Asia (1921-1926)", which will be published by Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House
Editor: Huang Xiaofeng
