Zen and Philosophy

Chapter 6. The Birth of a Philosopher: (1904–1907)

Chapter 6 The Birth of a Philosopher (1904–1907) The Russo-Japanese War broke out on February 9, 1904.1 By early May it claimed the life of Nishida’s dear friend, Mukö Kikutarö, then a lieutenant commander in the Japanese navy.2 Because Mukö’s wife had died in December 1903, his death left their newborn baby an orphan. Brooding over Mukö’s orphaned child, Nishida wrote a memoir about Mukö.3 Nishida’s younger brother, Hyöjirö, a captain in the military who had been stationed in Tokyo since 1902, was also called to active duty as the war escalated. He returned to Kanazawa to entrust his wife, Hatsue, and their baby daughter, Toshiko, to Nishida’s care and left for Hiroshima on June 29. The troops left Hiroshima by boat for Port Arthur. The Ninth Division—made up of soldiers recruited from the Hokuriku region, of which Hyöjirö was a part—was placed under the command of General Nogi Maresuke, who led the Third Army. For some time Hyöjirö had little to do at the military camp and asked Nishida to send him the book of Russian grammar he had left back home so that he could continue to learn the language. Hyöjirö participated in the first general assault that began on August 19. The battle plan was reckless; the Third Army was to break through the Russian forts on the northeastern hills that surrounded Port Arthur within three days.4 The Russians were equipped with machine guns, while the Japanese had only single-shot rifles. In the fierce and bloody battle, Hyöjirö was killed in action near Mt. Banryü (Banlong) on August 24.5 The news of Hyöjirö’s death was delivered to Nishida when he was visiting a beach at Kanaiwa in the company of Fujioka and Fujii Otoo.6 Intellectually, Nishida tried to justify the death of Hyöjirö as an “honor” for the country, but emotionally it was extremely hard for him Birth of a Philosopher (1904 –1907) to accept it. A few months later in November he submitted to a newspaper a memoir about his brother.7 His essay was filled with the silent cries of the bereaved. He did not recover from the death of Hyöjirö for a long time and passed the rest of the year depressed. His practical side, however, took responsibility for his brother’s widow and child. He saw to it that Hatsue was remarried, and he and Kotomi adopted Toshiko and raised her as their own daughter. When Hyöjirö’s body was recovered following the fall of Port Arthur, Nishida acquired a plot of land at Nodayama Cemetery and erected an imposing gravestone , more than two meters high, with an inscription done by Miyake Shinken. For the consolation of his soul, Nishida turned to Zen practice. He welcomed the new year at Senshin’an and stayed there until January 6. Master Setsumon’s return to Senshin’an on New Year’s Eve greatly comforted Nishida. The account of zazen, words of Zen masters, and the news of the Russo-Japanese War that was constantly streaming in filled his diary during the first days of 1905. The stormier the outside world became, the deeper he turned inward, as if to heal the psychological wound inflicted on him by the death of Hyöjirö. On January 2, the day when the news of the Third Army’s successful siege of Port Arthur reached Japan, Nishida, still at Senshin’an, felt mixed emotions. Although he could not help but feel good about Japan’s victory, he was critical of the citywide celebration. Zen practice, in which he was firmly established by then, afforded him the objectivity to see the folly of such festivities. His diary for January 5 reads: Zazen in the morning. Since last night I’ve been possessed by doubt. . . . I have no choice but to proceed with full vigor in the direction I have chosen. I’m too old now to change the course of my life. Zazen in the afternoon. At noon there was a rally in the park to celebrate the fall of Port Arthur. I could hear people shouting “Banzai!” They are going to have a lantern procession this evening to celebrate the victory. How fickle are the human hearts that give themselves to such foolish festivities! People don’t think about the many lives that were sacrificed and about the fact that...