Zen and Philosophy

Chapter 24. History, State, and the Individual: (1940–1941)

Chapter 24 History, State, and the Individual (1940–1941) On January 15, 1940, the Abe cabinet dissolved and Yonai Mitsumasa, an admiral, was appointed prime minister. Two days earlier, the Tsuda incident had broken out, when the home minister took issue with Tsuda Sökichi’s Kojiki oyobi nihonshoki no kenkyü [A study of the Records of Ancient Matters and the Chronicles of Japan]. Tsuda,1 a leading historian, had applied his method of “empirical scientific investigation ” to the Records of Ancient Matters and the Chronicles of Japan, two primary sources of early Japanese history. Ultranationalists, led by Minoda and his followers, accused Tsuda of undermining the sacred origin of Japan and going against the kokutai, the emperor system.2 On February 10 the book was banned. On March 7 Yamamoto Ryökichi invited Nishida to record their conversation3 at a studio of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). The recording session was a present from the former students of Yamamoto to celebrate his seventieth birthday. Their conversation on “Sözö” [Creativity] was transcribed soon after, but it was not made public because it contained Nishida’s criticism of the suppression of individual creativity under totalitarianism.4 The Tsuda incident took an unexpected turn on March 8, when Iwanami Shigeo, the publisher of Tsuda’s works, was indicted on the charge that he had violated the publishing ordinance, article 26. According to the ordinance, the publisher of materials that “may change the political system or confuse the interpretation of the Meiji constitution” was subject to the same charges as the author. Tsuda and Iwanami were brought to trial.5 Nishida saw Tsuda on March 7 at a meeting of scholars (Kokumin gakujutsu kyökai) and did not get the impression that anything radical would come out of the harassment.6 History, State, and Individual (1940 –1941) He wrote to Yamamoto that “if the power of justice is influenced to this extent by the plotting of Minoda and his clique, I think we have to give up all scholarly research. P.S. Please burn this letter.”7 Iwanami Shigeo reacted to the charge in his characteristically flamboyant way. On the very day of the indictment, he purchased property in Atami, a hot-spring resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He went ahead and built a house there, where he could “rest and nurture his body in case he was to be imprisoned.” Nothing but the best building materials were used, and for the bathtub they drew the local hot-spring water. There was an old oak tree on the ground, which Iwanami did not want to cut down, so he asked the architect to design the house accordingly; hence, the name of this country house, “Sekirekis ö” (abode cherishing the oak tree). Iwanami found it a perfect hideaway for entertaining his guests and friends, even though he had built it as a place to rest.8 Nishida had put the final period to Nihon bunka no mondai by the end of January,9 and the book was scheduled for publication on March 30. Although he did not directly deal with historical facts in the book, the recent Tsuda incident made Nishida worry about a possible attack from Minoda. Scholarly writings were no longer exempt from ultranationalists ’ criticisms.10 On the day Nihon bunka no mondai was published Nishida wrote to Yamamoto: Nihon bunka no mondai . . . is a kind of ad lib work for me and not truly polished. I know that I should have given more detailed accounts for the sake of the general reader, but I didn’t have enough time to do that. Also, there is that faction, Minoda and his clique, that is trying to do us in. I had to take many precautions when choosing words, especially in places where I dealt with sensitive subjects. Because I had to waste my energy on such stupid concerns, I became quite fed up. I would imagine they will take up this book regardless of what I said and attack me. I’m also worried about what might happen to Iwanami.11 The book sold more than 40,000 copies within ten days of its publication , clearly demonstrating to Minoda and his group Nishida’s infallible position as the “boss” of the Kyoto school.12 Minoda wrote a critique, “Nishida tetsugaku no Nihon bunkaron ni okeru datsuraku ” [Lacunae in the theory of Japanese culture in the Nishidan philosophy ] in Genri Nippon,13 but the vague title suggests that his critique...