7 December 20 Pearl Harbor Poets:

 

7 December 2020 / 1941                    Remembering Honor

 

For some people, what happened will never be over, but it will not be too long before they are gone, and nobody will have first-hand memories.

Jun Okumura, Meiji Institute for Global Affairs

 

The poets and their poems brought to you in today’s post all look at a specific event: Pearl Harbor, remembered every year on this day by Americans and by Japanese, although in different ways. So, rather than focus only on the written reactions to December 7, 1941, created by Americans, the poems here are a mixture of Japanese and American writers. The number of poems is higher than any other Monday post, so glance over the ones that don’t catch your eye, but do read a sample of both American and Japanese poets to appreciate the variety of tones and meanings.

An end to the memories and emotions attached to December 7, 1941 will darken into history’s pages when at least two, probably three, generations of Americans and Japanese are gone, and even then, that day may linger in transgenerational body memory and in an intangible haunting. In 2019, only three American survivors of the event could be found. So, a good question is “why do people remain interested in December 7, 1941?” Many reasons and rationalizations can be named, but it all comes down to fear and honor, and fear of loss of honor.

 

Fear

In brief, fear can quickly be dispensed. Fear is obvious and pervasive before, during, and after war’s events. Because humanity has never known a time without wars, we are always asking, “When will it happen again?” During war, peace often feels like an unobtainable state of affairs that doesn’t even have a clear path or definition. Then there is fear of war’s aftereffects – its toll on the lives of military and civilians, fear of invasion, and fear of living under the “victors,” with their strange ways. War continues in the form of alternative conflict resolutions which often fail to bring peace. The fears that war brings can be intimate and deeply personal: loss of loved ones, inability to adjust to the home front, fear of living with the wounds of war both physical and psychological. The idea of ending a war means returning to normalcy. The list of fears is long, causing battle fatigue at the war front and at home.

 

Honor

Like fear, honor before, during, and after wartime, is complex, and although definition commonalities exist, the core meanings are distinct, between American characterizations in contrast with Japan’s.

Honor is the word and the concept that explains, more than most other beliefs and values, the reason that nations wage war. This holds true for both Japan and America. Economic and territory gains are also in the mix; however, the motivation behind the aggression on both sides includes a large dose of honor as a sustaining value.

Both cultures connect honor directly with standards of moral conduct – what is right. Both military forces had/have codes of conduct. For example, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, it was for the honor of their Emperor, for the people of Japan, and for the performance of the military itself. Yes, the less conceptual reasons were for natural resources, better trade arrangements, and for expansion into the Pacific area; however, the core motivation was honor. Before Pearl Harbor, the U.S. had intended to attack Japan first, but it was Japan that did just that first. Americans responded with anger and the urge for revenge, as well as political motives. Again, the honor of the country had been called into question, and the U.S. responded with vengeance.

American honor can be said to have its genesis in the War for Independence. The U.S. military, in particular holds honor, based on ethical and moral behavior, as a particularly important value. The general citizen, too, is expected to act honorably. These quotes reflect Americans’ ideal of honor.

 

Every good citizen makes his country's honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defense and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it.                                      Andrew Jackson

No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.                                                             Calvin Coolidge

 

In late December 2016, Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, traveled to Pearl Harbor. Standing alongside President Barack Obama just after the two leaders had laid wreaths at the USS Arizona Memorial, the Japanese prime minister expressed his "sincere and everlasting condolences." Abe also used his speech to emphasize the strides that two nations that were enemies have made in the last 75 years as allies and vowed, "We must never repeat the horrors of war again." Jun Okumura, a visiting scholar at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs, remarked, "Essentially, Abe has followed the lead from President Obama's speech in Hiroshima in May 2016."

 

Japan

It is said that if you scratch the surface of Japanese person you will find a samurai. Every samurai clan had its own set of virtues/values that were a matter of life and death if not observed. In fact, the two swords worn by a samurai stood for honor and duty. It is no surprise then, that honor is the key and the driving value that guides the Japanese, even in modern times.

The Japanese believe that people are trained to die with honor and beauty just like cherry blossoms. The extreme beauty and quick death of the cherry blossoms are associated with the life of an honorable person. An honorable person should die without losing his honor and good reputation, say the Japanese.

The desire to preserve honor and avoid shame played a key role among Japanese Americans during World War II. The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 shamed many Japanese Americans.  It also resulted in intense racism and discrimination against Japanese Americans by some other Americans. Soon after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. rounded up anyone considered Japanese and forced them into internment camps.

“Death before dishonor” was not an empty slogan to the samurai. They lived and died by the strict warrior code, believing that death in battle or even seppuku (ritual taking of one’s own life due to a loss of honor) was preferable to living a life of dishonor.

Duty was foremost during the life of a samurai; however, the core meaning of honor and duty were so interrelated that sometimes the words were nearly synonymous. The responsibilities given to the samurai were viewed as absolute obligations - and were typically received with gratitude for being allowed to serve. The duty of samurai code valued honor above life.

These samurai virtues (the code of the warrior/bushido) motivated the pilots who attacked Pearl Harbor, and just as the samurai pledged absolute duty to the Shogun, the pilots flew their Zeros into combat with these same values.

Over 75 years have passed since World War II, and Japan has gone through many post-war changes. If you saw many young Japanese today showing their individuality through outrageous fashion and non-conformist behavior or if you watched television programs that bring audiences pleasure by humiliating individuals, you might assume that the shame/honor tradition has been eroded. However, obligations to family, school, employer, and friends still tend to guide most Japanese behavior. For instance, students are encouraged to work hard and enter prestigious colleges with the goal of bringing honor to their families. Television news occasionally broadcasts a president of a bankrupt company weeping and bowing his head in shame as he apologizes for the failure of his company. Japan still remains a culture of shame, honor, and duty.

 

POEMS from JAPANESE

The war served as a call to arms for Japanese poets as well. In a manifesto published in March 1942, writer, and poet Nishio Yō spoke to the unique role poets and patriotic verse (aikokushi) could play in Japan’s war. “Poets fight by taking up the pen,” he said.

Tanka* poetry published shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack is a window into the initial public reaction in Japan to the outbreak of the Pacific War. The tanka is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song or verse, tanka translates as "short song," and is better known in its five-line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count form. In other words, there are 5 syllables in line 1, 7 syllables in line 2, 5 syllables in line 3, and 7 syllables in lines 4 and 5. Whereas tanka became a powerful tool of propaganda in the hands of professional poets, it also allowed amateur poets and political figures to express their private, diary-bound dissent.

“The hundred million” (ichi oku) was a common shorthand to describe the Japanese nation, expressing both the vast number of subjects and their unity in purpose. In struggling as one, placing their very existence on the line, Japan could transform its very destruction (horoburu, “fall to ruin”) into a glorious and “graceful” event.

Pearl Harbor, Ozaki Yukio suggests, cast a veil over the eyes of Japan’s military and political leaders. This one battle led them to deceive themselves that victory is in Japan’s grasp. But no amount of wishful thinking would lead the war to a successful end. To Ozaki, the war against Britain and America was a “fool’s errand.” His poems justify one historian’s view of him as “a persistent critic of both actors and audience.”

詰手なき将棋をさしつつ勝ち抜くと嘯く人のめでたからずや

Tsumete naki Shōgi o sashi tsutsu Kachi nuku Usobuku hito no Medetakarazu ya

A fool’s errand To press on playing shogi Deceiving oneself That victory lies ahead Despite no hope of checkmate

When war broke out on December 8, Nanbara Shigeru composed three poems (two shown here) that convey his deep distress. These poems would be kept under lock and key until 1948, three years after the Japanese surrender.

 

人間の常識を超え学識を超えておこれり日本世界と戦う

Ningen no Jōshiki o koe Gakushiki o Koete okoreri Nihon sekai to tatakau

Beyond common sense Beyond any learning It has happened— Japan, At war against the world

日米英に開戦すとのみ八日朝の電車のなかの沈痛感よ

Nichi Bei-Ei ni Kaisen su to nomi Yōka asa no Densha no naka no Chintsūkan yo

Only the attack On America and England Explains the sorrow Permeating the train car On the morning of the eighth

 

Saitō Ryū, a former general and well-known poet who helped form the nationalistic Great Japan Tanka Poets Association, wrote a poem with a similar sentiment on December 8, 1941.

 

英米を葬るとき来てあな清し四天一時に雲晴れにけり

Ei-Bei o Hōmuru toki kite Ana sugashi Shiten ichijini Kumo hare ni keri

The time has come To slaughter America and England Oh, how refreshing The clouds in the four heavens Have simultaneously cleared

 

The theme of sacrifice became even more commonplace after Pearl Harbor. Japan’s total war pressed soldiers and civilians alike to sacrifice themselves for the nation; poets thus stressed a readiness to die that even Japanese subjects on the home front must embrace.

A tanka by Saitō Ryū written shortly after the outbreak of war best highlights this trend.

 

一億の民たたかひて盡くらくは滅ぶるにしてや潔よからむ

Ichi oku no Tami tatakahite Tsukuraku wa Horoburu ni shite ya Isagiyo karamu

The hundred million People fight as one Should our strength give way Or should we fall to ruin— How honorable an end

 

Symbolist free verse poet Itō Shizuo’s (1906–1953) “Imperial Edict” (Ōmikotonori). Combining collective relief at the decision to wage war against America and Britain with a touching awareness of a new unity of purpose, this short poem epitomizes how poetry could serve as propaganda for Japan’s war.

 

昭和十六年十二月八 何といふ日であつたらう 淸しさのおもひ極まり 宮城を遙拜すれば われら盡く ―誰か涙をとどめ得たらう

December 8, 1941 What a day it was, one filled with a refreshing feeling. As we bow toward the Imperial Palace from afar, each and every one of us, who could hold back their tears?53

 

Source: Japan, Pearl Harbor, and the Poetry of December 8^th - Jeremy Yellen and Andrew Campana  / Asia Pacific Journal December 15, 2016 Volume 14 | Issue 24 | Number 3

 

POEMS from AMERICANS

Fremont “Cap” Sawade is 91 and his eyesight is fading. He can’t read “The Fateful Day, the poem he wrote all those years ago on December 9th, with the wreckage of the Pacific Fleet still smoking. He sat at a desk at Hickam Field and started writing this poem. He’d never written one before. He hasn’t written one since. But over the next week, this one flowed out of him.

 

'The Fateful Day’

‘Twas the day before that fateful day,

December Sixth I think they say.

When leave trucks passed Pearl Harbor clear

The service men perched in the rear.

No thought gave they, of things to come.

For them, that day, all work was done.

In waters quiet of Pearl Harbor Bay,

The ships serene, at anchor lay.

Nor did we give the slightest thought

Of treacherous deeds by the yellow lot.

Those men whose very acts of treason,

Are done with neither rhyme nor reason.

For if we knew what was in store

We ne’re would leave that day before.

For fun and drink to forget the war

Of Britain, Europe, and Singapore.

For all of us there was no fear

This time of peace and Christmas cheer.

Forget the axiom, might is right,

Guardians of Peace, were we that night.

We passed the sailors in cabs galore,

Those men in white who came ashore.

But some will ne’re be seen again,

In care-free fun, those sailor men.

The Sabbath Day dawned bright and clear,

A brand of fire ore the lofty spear,

Of Diamond Head, Hawaii’s own.

A picture itself that can’t be shown,

Unless observed with naked eye,

That makes one look, and stop, and sigh.

What more could lowly humans ask

To start upon their daily task.

The men asleep in barracks late,

Knew no war, that morn at eight.

The planes on fields, their motors cold,

Like sheep asleep among the fold.

The ships at anchor with turbines stilled,

Their crews below in hammocks filled.

And faint, as tho it were a dream,

A sound steels on upon this scene.

A drone of many red tipped things,

The Rising Sun upon their wings.

Those who saw would not believe,

And those that heard could not conceive.

A single shocking, thundering roar,

Followed by another and many more.

To rob the sleep from weary eyes,

Or close forever those that died.

A hot machine gun’s chattering rattle,

Mowed men down like herds of cattle.

A bomb destroys an air plane hangar,

The planes within will fly no more.

Bombs explode upon a ship,

Blasting men into the deep,

To sink without the slightest thought

Of what brought on this hell they caught.

What seems like years, the horrible remains,

Blasting men and ships and planes.

And just as quick as they had come,

Away they went, their foul deeds done.

To leave the burning wreckage here,

The scorching hulks of dead ships there.

And blasted forms of dying men,

Alive in hell, to die again.

At night the skies were all but clear,

The rosy glow of a white hot bier,

Showed on clouds the havoc wrought,

And greedy flames the men still fought.

But from the ruins arose this cry,

That night from those who did not die,

“Beware Japan we’ll take eleven,

For every death of December Seven.”

And from that day there has arisen,

A cry for vengeance, in storms they’re driven.

This fateful day among the ages,

Shall stand out red in Hist’rys pages.

Those men whom homefolk held so dear,

Will be avenged, have no fear.

And if their lives they gave in vain,

Pray, I too, may not remain.

 

Franklin Price says that many of the poems he has written came to him, out of the blue, or were triggered by something that happened the day they were written. Sometimes they wake him in the middle of the night, and he has no choice but to get up and get them written. Note that this poem was written on Pearl Harbor Day, 2015. Also note that Price wrote this several generations past the event.

 

Remembering Pearl Harbor

By Franklin Price 12/7/2015

 Remembering Pearl Harbor

It was nineteen forty-one

The signs were staring at us

The holocaust begun

 

Fanatics taking over

From sea to shining sea

The masses were ignoring

The war that was to be

 

It was early in the morning

The bombers flying in

Sinking ships and killing

The fighting to begin

 

Not a lot of difference

Of what we're going through

The killing and the terror

You see it's really nothing new

 

If we don't address it

And fight it when it's small

It soon will lead to World War Three

You see history says it all

 

 

The Ballad of Pearl Harbor

                        Daniel McAdams

Just sitting there mighty

The ships and the people.

Flying American Flags and the eagle.

Just sitting in harbor

That Sunday morn,

Oblivious to battle

And coming forlorn.

 

Drinking their coffee

And eating their breakfast

Things were going

Right along with their wishes

When suddenly a soldier

Did speak up and say,

"They're some blips on the radar

And they're coming our way!"

 

Then the officer said

"Now look here you see,

They're our boys coming home

In their B-17's.

So don't get all worked up,

No excitement today,

So get back to working

And resting and play!"

 

Now planes flying by

Were soon to be heard

But a shout soon went up

"Hey! Those are not our birds!"

Explosions to follow

Soon filled the sky

Now stand up and fight,

Or lay down and die

 

Guns fired back,

The battle was on,

But pretty soon after

The battleships were gone!

They were stuck in the harbor

With no way out,

And smoke's hanging over

The harbor in clouds

 

A valiant defensive

The defenders put forth

Desperately trying to

Even the score,

But their goals completed

The enemy turned back

Leaving behind them

Devastation and black

 

Many men died

On that fateful day

But a little luck came

The American's way!

Their carriers were still,

Far out at sea,

And part of the battle

They never did be!

Pearl Harbor will live on

In infamy

Stories of those who died

To keep their land free!

Their ultimate sacrifice

Helped the whole world to see

That America's the land

Of the brave and the free!

 

Background

The American death toll from the Pearl Harbor attack 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and 64 Japanese. Nineteen U.S. Navy ships, including 8 battleships were damaged or destroyed. Today, 79 years later, more than 1.5 million people a year visit the memorial that floats over the sunken Arizona to pay respects to the loss of life.

Shocking, isn’t it, compared to daily COVID-19 deaths in the U.S.A. alone. Even so, December 7^th remains a current point of interest. Note that although most of the poems presented above were written on or during a relatively short period following the attack, the articles and commentaries on these poems come from the past ten years from writers who are three to four generations beyond 1941.  

The slogan of “Death Before Dishonor”, frequently written in a coiling scroll wrapped around a dagger, is a perennially popular military tattoo–and for good reason. The saying has been used for military units at least as early as ancient Rome (“morte prima di disonore”).

This all ties into the Marine Corps motto Semper Fidelis which means always faithful. But the saying death before dishonor to the Marine Corps means you will die before saying anything that could compromise in any way shape or form your comrades and brothers in arms.

 

Exploration 1: If you read both the American and the Japanese poems, what insights or reactions came up?

Exploration 2: Do you agree that the experience of war is about fear and honor?

Exploration 3: Do you think this selection of poems is representative of the range of emotions associated with a particular war or battle?