Hakko ichiu

nihongo|"Hakkō ichiu"|八紘一宇|literally "eight cords, one roof" i.e. "all the world under one roof" was a Japanese political slogan that became popular during the first part of the Showa era, and was popularized in a speech by Prime Minister of Japan Fumimaro Konoe on January 8, 1940. [Beasley, Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945, page 226-227]

The term was coined early in the twentieth century by Nichiren sect religious activist and ultranationalist Tanaka Chigaku, who cobbled it from parts of a statement attributed in the chronicle "Nihon shoki" to legendary first emperor Jimmu at the time of his ascension. [As early as 1928, the Japanese editorials were already preaching the theme of the "hakko ichiu" without using the specific term. Michio Nakajima, "Tennō no daigawari to kokumin", Aoki Shoten 1990, p.129-130.] Ambiguous in its original context, Tanaka interpreted the statement by Jimmu, mythically descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu, as meaning that imperial rule had been divinely ordained to expand until it united the entire world. While Tanaka saw this outcome as resulting from the emperor's moral leadership, many of his followers were less pacifist in their outlook. Radical nationalist Ikki Kita was quick to adopt the term, and to interpret it as meaning that the Japanese were a divine race destined to pacify the world, by force if necessary [Brendan, The Dark Valley, A Panorama of the 1930s, page 43] Army officer Ishiwara Kanji, who masterminded the Manchurian Incident, joined Tanaka's ultranationalist organization in 1920, and by 1928 was using "hakkō ichiu" as a slogan to justify the seizure of Manchuria's resources in preparation for a war leading to Japanese dominance over all Asia.

Emperor Shōwa and his reign became associated with the rediscovery of "Hakkō ichiu" as an expansionist element of Japanese nationalistic beliefs. [Bix, Herbert. (2001). [http://books.google.com/books?id=zjmVltzm1kYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Hirohito+and+the+Making+of+Modern+Japan&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA199,M1 "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan," p. 201.] ] The naval limitations treaties of 1921, and especially 1930, were a tragic mistake in their unanticipated effect on internal political struggles in Japan; and the treaties provided an external motivating catalyst which provoked reactionary, militarist elements to desperate actions which eventually overwhelmed civilian and liberal elements in society. [Morrison, Samuel Eliot. (1948). [http://books.google.com/books?id=BozSWv25Gd8C&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Hakko+Ichiu:&source=web&ots=s2kXXsOHHI&sig=u62e4i_DanWP1CEW9x7xcNGKehs&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA3,M1 "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: The Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939 - May 1943," pp. 3-10.] ] The evolution of "Hakkō ichiu" serves as a changing litmus test of these factional relationships during the next decade. [GlobalSecurity.org: [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/japan/kodo.htm "Kodo (Way of the Emperor)"] ]

The term "hakkō ichiu" did not enter general circulation until 1940, when the second Konoe administration issued a white paper titled “Fundamental National Policy”, which opened with these words, and in which Prime Minister Konoe proclaimed that the basic aim of Japan's national policy was "the establishment of world peace in conformity with the very spirit in which our nation was founded" [Edwards, p. 309.] and that the first step was the proclamation of a "new order in East Asia" (later known as the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere").

As the Second Sino-Japanese War dragged on without conclusion, the Japanese government turned increasingly to the nation's spiritual capital to maintain fighting spirit. Characterization of the fighting as a "holy war" ("seisen"), similarly grounding the current conflict in the nation's sacred beginnings, became increasingly evident in the Japanese press at this time. The general spread of the term "Hakkō ichiu", neatly encapsulating this view of expansion as mandated in Japan's divine origin, was further propelled by preparations for celebrating the 2600^th anniversary of Jimmu's ascension, which fell in the year 1940 according to the traditional chronology.

Notes

References

*Beasley, William G. (1991). [http://books.google.com/books?id=SScFJQAACAAJ&dq=Japanese+Imperialism+1894-1945&client=firefox-a "Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945."] Oxford: Oxford University. 10-ISBN 0-198-22168-1; 13-ISBN 978-0-198-22168-5
* Bix, Herbert P. (2001). [http://books.google.com/books?id=zjmVltzm1kYC&dq=Hirohito+and+the+Making+of+Modern+Japan&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan."] New York: HarperCollins. 10-ISBN 0-060-93130-2; 13-ISBN 978-0-060-93130-8
*Brendon, Piers. (2002). [http://books.google.com/books?id=3dUMAAAACAAJ&dq=The+Dark+Valley:+A+Panorama+of+the+1930s&client=firefox-a "The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s."] New York: Vintage. 10-ISBN 0-375-70808-1; 13-ISBN 978-0-375-70808-4
* Brownlee, John (1997). " [http://books.google.com/books?id=eatISvupicUC&dq=brownlee+Japan&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 Japanese Historians and the National Myths, 1600-1945: The Age of the Gods.] " Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 0774806451
* Earhart, David C. (2007). [http://books.google.com/books?id=WffIAAAACAAJ&dq=Certain+Victory+Earhart&client=firefox-a "Certain Victory: Images of World War II in the Japanese Media." Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. 10-ISBN 0-765-61776-5; 13-ISBN 978-0-765-61776-7
* Edwards, Walter. [http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=136132202&ETOC=RN&from=searchengine "Forging Tradition for a Holy War: The "Hakkō Ichiu" Tower in Miyazaki and Japanese Wartime Ideology."] "Journal of Japanese Studies" 29:2 (2003).
* Morrison, Samuel Eliot. (1948). [http://books.google.com/books?id=BozSWv25Gd8C&dq=Hakko+Ichiu:&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: The Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939 - May 1943."] Oxford: Oxford University Press. 40 editions -- [reprinted by University of Illinois Press at Urbana, 2001. 10-ISBN 0-252-06973-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-252-06973-4]

ee also

* Japanese war crimes
* Uyoku dantai
* Japanese militarism
* Militarism-Socialism in Showa Japan
* Japanese nationalism
* Japanese fascism
* Lebensraum