PATRIOTISM BY SUICIDE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4528, 26 January 1942, Page 5

PATRIOTISM BY SUICIDE

AMAZING DEATH CULT OF THE JAPANESE HARAKIRI THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE HONOUR

(By

Stephen Kelen

ill “ The Sydney Morning Herald ”)

We are rapidly learning that in the Japanese we face a strange, unscruand, in many ways, a reckless l JSmy. Fighting them is different from fighting any of the Occidental Powers, including the Germans. We have to fight fanaticism at its best—and worst. The audacious attack on Pearl Harbour, the sensational sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse, and the dare-devil attacks by airmen make us wonder at that indifference toward death which makes the Japanese so formidable in war. But Japan long before entering this fateful struggle had her cult of heroes. The foundation of that cult —according to the Japanese—lies in the Bushi-do, the spirit of chivalry, and was the noblesse oblige of the samurai or warrior class of feudal days, “when knighthood was in flower.” WIFE KILLED HERSELF The 47 Ronins who avenged the death cf their master and then at the command of the Court committed suicide; the wife who killed herself when her husband went to the Manchurian front so that any anxiety on her behaif should not distract him from fulfilling his duty to his Emperor and country; the three privates of the pioneer corps who, while attacking Chapei in 1932, crawled to the barbed wire entanglement with explosives and blew themselves up; these were “illustrious” instances seized upon by the Propaganda Ministerium of Nippon to publicise Japanese heroism and self-sacrifice. Later came the news of Japanese who were willing to immolate themselves for their country in the “human torpedo.” This was a torpedo in which a man could sit. As he could steer direct for the target there was little chance that it could be missed. There was no chance that he would survive. More than 1000 men and a few women were willing to offer up their lives in this manner. After a few months of intense publicity, however, the news died out, only to spring up again in Italy in a different form. There, according to the Italian Propaganda Ministry, a so-cailed suicide squad was formed. • DON’T WANT TO LIVE” Their duty was to fly old aeroplanes full of explosives on to the English

Mediterranean fleet and crash down to the deck. It was the same idea as their Oriental Axis partners are now most probably following. But where the Italians only talked, the Japanese will act. That is the danger. So far the reader sees only the Japanese fighting man’s devotion to his country, the attitude of “do or die.” But let us take a deeper insight into Japanese psychology. People who die so recklessly probably don’t want to live. Is he a hero, therefore, who dives down on battleships from the air, who blows himself up with torpedoes, who shouts “Banzai” while advancing into a whirlwind of fire? Or is he a man who prefers to commit suicide in this particular way ? It is hard to answer. In most cases, perhaps, we would not be far from the truth if we said it was suicide with a difference—a suicide bringing the highest possible honour. Harakiri, or seppuku (meaning to kill oneself by cutting open the abdomen), is the ideally honourable death for these Orientals. For (to us) quite trifling reasons they are often willing to die in this ghastly manner. LOVERS JUMP INTO CRATERS By the same token, lovers who' for one cause or another are unable to marry, jump into craters together. Especially popular is the “Shinju” or “Joshi”—double suicide of love—among the people in peace-time. But now that Japan is at war, all potential suicides of the male sex will automatically report for military service. They will let the authorities know of their morbid intention, and the authorities will see that this intention is turned to patriotic service. They will be trained as flyers, sailors, or for the army, and it will be a strange thing "if they are not given some sacrificial duty from which there is not much chance of return. People who go to war in this frame of mind can bring disaster and great damage to their enemies. Japanese statistics in 1937 showed that about 20,000 persons commit suicide every year. Actually the number must have been even higher. After 1937, no more statistics were issued about suicides, and the Japanese oapers slowly dropped their favourite feature.