Illustrated Version The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (The recognized best read to understand Japan and the Japanese)

Author: Ruth Benedict (USA)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-12-01
Features: The Japanese were the most elusive enemy the United States had ever fought. In no other war against a strong adversary had we had to consider such radically different habits of action and thought. Just as we had encountered with the prewar Russia in 1905, we were fighting a nation that did not belong to the Western cultural tradition but was fully armed and trained. The actual war conventions about human nature that the Western world recognized did not exist for the Japanese. This made the war in the Pacific not just a series of island beach landings, nor merely an insurmountable logistical problem, but the primary issue became understanding the enemy's nature. To combat them, we had to understand their behavior. The difficulty was immense. Since Japan's closed doors were opened 75 years ago, the Japanese have always been described with an extremely strange series of "but also" phrases, something never seen in the description of any other nation in the world. A serious observer, when speaking of a people outside of Japan, would hardly add a phrase like "but also arrogant and domineering" when describing them as polite. When he said that a people's behavior was incredibly tough, he would not add "but also easily adaptable to drastic changes." When he described a people as compliant, he would not explain that they were reluctant to obey authority. When he said they were loyal and magnanimous, he would not claim "but also treacherous and insidious." When he said they were inherently brave, he would not elaborate on their cowardice. When he said they acted without regard for others' judgment, he would not follow up by saying they had a truly shocking conscience. When describing their army's robot-like discipline, he would not go on to depict how the soldiers of that army were unruly, even mutinous. When he described a nation that was enthusiastic about Western culture, he would not emphasize their strong conservatism. When he wrote a book describing a nation that universally revered beauty, thus giving actors and artists high honor and dedicating great effort to cultivating chrysanthemums, the author would typically not add that the nation was equally devoted to sword worship and the highest honor of the samurai. However, all these contradictions became the warp and woof of books about Japan. They were real, and both the sword and the chrysanthemum became part of this picture. To a great extent, the Japanese were both combative and peaceful, both martial and aesthetic, both aggressive and polite, both rigid and adaptable, both docile and unwilling to be dominated, both loyal and easily treacherous, both brave and cowardly, both conservative and open to new ways. They were extremely concerned with how others perceived their behavior, yet when they were unaware of their own faults, they would be tormented by guilt. Their soldiers were extremely disciplined but not unyielding. As understanding Japan had become so crucial to the United States, these contradictions, along with many other equally confusing ones, could not be ignored. Crises were piling up before us—what would the Japanese do? Was there a possibility of forcing them to surrender without invading? Should we bomb the Imperial Palace? What could we expect from Japanese prisoners of war? What should we say in our propaganda against the Japanese army and homeland to save American lives and weaken Japan's determination to fight to the last man? There were also severe disagreements among those who understood Japan well. When peace came, would the Japanese nation need a prolonged military occupation to maintain order? Would our army have to fight against desperate, last-standers in Japan's mountain fortresses? After the French and Russian revolutions, would Japan also need a revolution to bring about world peace? Who would lead this revolution? Or should we choose to exterminate the Japanese as another option? This caused great in our judgment. In June 1944, I was commissioned to study Japan. I was allowed to use all the techniques available to a cultural anthropologist to explain what kind of people the Japanese were. That early summer was when our major counteroffensive against Japan was just beginning to show real strength. Americans were still saying the war with Japan would last three more years, or ten, or even longer. In Japan, people were discussing that the war would last a hundred years. They said the United States had won a partial victory, but New Guinea and the Solomon Islands were still thousands of kilometers away from their home islands. Their official newspapers barely acknowledged the navy's defeat, and the Japanese people still saw themselves as the victors.