Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895

The story of the “The Bell of Sayon ” is based on the true tragic accident of a girl from the Atayal tribe. The accident occurred on September 27, 1938, when this young girl, carrying the luggage of her respected teacher, who was on his way to war, slipped off a log bridge near the stream of Nanao (present day region of Nanao and Suao of Yilan prefecture) and disappeared after being swept away by the raging river. The name of this story originates from “The Bell of the Patriotic Maiden Sayon,” which is engraved on a hanging bell that was presented to the eighteenth governor-general of Taiwan, Hasegawa Kiyoshi , in order to commemorate Sayon (real name, Sayon Hayon, born on January 18, 1922).

The governor-general of Taiwan was moved by the story of Sayon, and after he sent “The Bell of the Patriotic Maiden Sayon” to the Liyohen community, the narrative of “The Bell of Sayon” was retold in various artistic mediums. First, it was sung as a song, then it appeared as a painting and a picture-card show, and later it became a minstrel song, an epic song, a play, a novel, and a movie. Eventually it even became a part of the teaching content of textbooks. The following chronological list assembles the various versions of “The Bell of Sayon” tale produced during the 1940s.¹

Murakami Genzō , producer, playscript Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon] (one act), Kokumin engeki [National drama] 1.10, December 1941.

Wu Man-sha, Shayang de zhong: Ai guo xiao shuo [The bell of Sayon: A tale of patriotism] (Nan fang za zhi she [Nanfang Magazine Company]), March 1943.

Movie script, Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon], Taiwan jihō [Taiwan bulletin], May 1943.

Wu Man-sha, author, Chun Guang-yuan , translator, Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon] (Tōa shuppansha [East Asian Publishers]), July 1943.

Nagao Kazuo , author, Junjō monogatari aikoku otome: Sayon no kane [Pure-hearted story of the patriotic maiden: The bell of Sayon] (Kōdō seishin kenkyū fukyūkai [Association for research on the propagation of imperial spirituality]), July 1943. (Shimizu Hiroshi, producer, premier screening of Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon], July 1943.)

Kokumin gakkō kyōkasho [national school textbook], Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon], 1944.

Murakami Genzō’s playscript was the earliest production of the “Bell of Sayon” tale. In this paper, I will explain the background against which Murakami Genzō’s playscript was produced and its relation to Wu Man-sha’s The Bell of Sayon. I intend to discuss the other works in another paper.²

I will look first at the historical background that produced the “Bell of Sayon” tale, which was born during the time when the Japanese imperialization movement (kōminka) was in full swing in Taiwan. It can be said that the “Bell of Sayon” tale was a child of this imperialization movement and that it emerged as a product of the movement. Many argue that the Japanese imperial movement began after the Marco Polo Bridge incident of July 7, 1937. This is basically true. However, when examined in more detail, the following facts become clear. Two years after the occurrence of the July 7 North China incident, also known as the Marco Polo Bridge incident, Asayoshi Hakusei and Ema Tsunekichi ’s Japanese Imperialization Movement (publishers: Takahara Hiroshi; book agents: Higashi Taiwan shinpōsha, Taipei shikyoku [East Taiwan Publishing Company, Taipei branch]) was published (October 1939). Although much about the two writers is unknown, the book was published relatively early in the period following the Marco Polo Bridge incident, and is thus useful in understanding the origins of the imperialization movement.

According to the authors, at that time it was already unclear when the imperialization movement had started, as the following passage indicates.

We do not have clear knowledge of whether or not they used the word “imperialization” from earlier times. Therefore, we initially examined the book, Taiwan no shakai kyōiku [The social education of Taiwan], annually published by the Ministry of Education (Bunkyōkyoku shakaika ). However, the term “Japanese imperialization movement” (kōminka ) did not appear until after 1937. Next, upon searching through the government records from the beginning of the colonization period, instructions in a speech given at the Education Consultation Association (Gakuji shimon kai) by the chief of the Civil Administration Association, Viceroy Gotō Shimpei , on November 10, 1903, were discovered and are as follows.

Although assimilating people of different dispositions through a national language is difficult, in the future, in assimilating this kind of Taiwan there is no one who would object to making them citizens of our Emperor and washing them in this Imperial blessing. … (page 10)

According to the above quote, “the term ‘Japanese imperialization movement’ did not appear … until after 1937.” And since it is out of the question that the instructions of Gotō Shimpei of 1903 could be given as the source of the Japanese imperialization movement, it would not be a mistake to say that the beginnings of the so-called imperialization movement came about after the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge incident.

Again, after the July 7 Marco Polo Bridge incident, a pamphlet entitled Current Affairs Pamphlet (Volume One): The Facts About the China Incident and Taiwan’s Position was published (Taiwan Jihōsha, September 1937). According to this publication, “The development of this situation involves our Taiwan becoming transformed into a ‘state of war’ starting from this past August 14” (p. 60). In other words, shortly after the Marco Polo Bridge incident, Taiwan became entangled in the Japanese “state of war.” The pamphlet goes on to tell us that on the following day, August 15, the Taiwanese army commander, Furushō Mikio , announced in a speech, “Once again, ‘Alert the Taiwanese officials and civilians’!” And in that speech he urged the Taiwanese “to display honor as imperial subjects and to show the truth of [their] patriotism with a sincere heart” and to increase their self-awareness as “imperial subjects.” Of course, this encouragement was directed toward all residents of Taiwan, focusing mainly on the Taiwanese (hontōjin ).

On August 16 a warning was put forth by Governor-General Kobayashi . And again, the term “Japanese imperialization (kōminka)” was used:

All you Taiwanese (hontōjin) are also definitely equal to the Japanese (naichijin ). Those Taiwanese who do not have the opportunity to stand on the war front and perform courageous acts should not avoid their equivalent obligations and responsibilities on the home front. In this way, you can obtain valuable honor as a citizen of this true empire. … If there are people with weak convictions, they will absolutely not become imperial subjects. Those who do not become imperial citizens, or those people who do not participate in the Japanese imperialization movement fundamentally cannot be true citizens of Japan. … Foremost, you must be true loyal subjects of the empire. … In particular, for the Taiwanese, it is enough to just completely rely on the empire. (pp. 57–59)

As one can see from the above quotation, Taiwan was quickly drawn into the military establishment, and the Taiwanese were persuaded to assume “obligations on the home front.” From this point on it was stressed that Taiwanese (hontōjin) were “citizens of the empire” or “imperial citizens,” and the need for them to participate in the “imperialization movement” was emphasized. It was declared that “foremost, they must be true loyal subjects to the empire” and “rely entirely on the empire.”

This is one theory regarding the imperialization movement. Although nowhere in the pamphlet are the words “imperialization movement” used, it is an important source in that it proves that the so-called “imperialization movement” began as an emotional campaign encouraging a kind of “absolute reliance” on the “empire.”

At this point, I would like to present one proposal. That is, I would like to place the literature written during the imperialization movement period, such as what appeared after the July 7 Marco Polo Bridge incident, into its own category in the history of Taiwanese literature, which will be known as “Literature of the Imperialization Movement Period.”³ In other words, I designate as “imperialization movement period literature” what was written in Taiwan during the period of the “state of war,” when the “imperialization movement” was spreading throughout Taiwan. The time period consists of the eight years from when Taiwan was drawn into a “state of war” on August 14, 1937, until Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945. From this perspective, “The Bell of Sayon” can be regarded as a representative work of imperialization movement period literature. In addition, it was created on an extremely popular and common level and holds a special position as an entertainment story.

The imperialization movement had its start as related above. However, as we saw from the previous quotation, with the exception of the spiritual encouragement of self-awareness “as imperial citizens,” the initiation of the movement itself was a slow process. Following the above events, with the enactment of such policies as Japanese language assimilation (kokugo katei ) (1937), temple/shrine reorganization (jibyō seiri ) (1938), and the Japanization of Taiwanese names (kaiseimei ) (1940), the imperialization movement picked up speed and spread throughout the entire island after the Imperial Service Association (kōmin hōkōkai ) was established in Taiwan on April 19, 1941. According to the book edited by Ōsawa Sadakichi , An Easy Guide to the Imperial Service Association (published by the Imperial Service Association Publicity Department, July 1941), the government assistance movement, fostered by the Government Assistance Association formed in Japan by the cabinet of Konoe Fumimaro on October 12, 1940, was the model for the imperial assistance movement promoted by the Imperial Service Association in Taiwan and “the Government Assistance Movement in Japan was a spiritual womb, and the assistance movement which was born through the special conditions in Taiwan was the imperial assistance movement” (pp. 10–11).

Governor-General Hasegawa of Taiwan took on the position of president of the Imperial Service Association, and he explained the causes and the motives for the foundation of the Imperial Service Association movement in his speech for the opening ceremony”:

The role that Taiwan, as the key national defense for the southern gate of the empire, should take in the defense of the empire, in economics and in cultural factors has increased more and more in importance. All citizens of Taiwan should hold fast as imperial citizens and strive to establish a national organization in order to fulfill the national policy with complete devotion. At this time there is nothing more important than for the Taiwanese to fulfill the achievement of the important mission that has been imposed on them. In other words, that is the reason for the birth of this Imperial Service Association.

Today, the establishment of this Imperial Service Association Movement is a movement for the preservation of practical morality as loyal subjects throughout the island. The Imperial Service Association is nothing more than an island-wide citizens’ organization by which all Taiwanese must gather their strength in unity to conform to the nation’s objectives and in this way, unify together six million into one heart and push forward in the direction that Japan faces. (p. 15)

In this way, the Imperial Service Association was established as an “island-wide citizens’ organization” and evolved into the Imperial Assistance Association movement, by which “all island citizens gather[ed] their strength in unity to conform to the nation’s objectives in order to unite together six million into one heart and push forward in the direction that Japan faces.”

In the broad view, this Imperial Service Association movement can be regarded as one part of the imperialization movement. Accordingly, literature produced during this time may be said to belong to the genre of imperialization movement period literature. The “Bell of Sayon,” then, was created precisely during the time of the imperialization movement, and with the development of the movement, its contents were embellished and further misconstrued, and it changed rapidly at the time of the inauguration of the Imperial Service Association movement. What spurred this rapid transformation was Murakami Genzō’s play, The Bell of Sayon. I shall explain its significance below.

To be frank, many similarities can be pointed out between Murakami Genzō’s play, The Bell of Sayon (hereafter, “Murakami’s book”), and Wu Man-sha’s The Bell of Sayon (hereafter, “Wu’s book”). First, the character development is very similar. For example, both authors have established the presence of Sayon’s lover—in Murakami’s book identified as Patsusai Naui and in Wu’s book as Patsusai. Although Sayon’s “teacher’s” real name is “Takita Masaki ” and he was single, in Murakami’s book—his name is changed to Kitada Naoki and he is married to a woman named Kitada Akiko . Like Murakami’s book, Wu’s book also described him as a married man, although The “teacher’s” true name, Takita, is used, and the wife’s name was also “Akiko.”

One can notice similarities in other characters of both writers. In Murakami’s book supporting character roles are given to Shirase Shigeo , the Taiwan government-general mining, part-time engineer and his wife, Miyako , the Taiwanese guard Kō , and Shirase’s subordinate Saito . In Wu’s book, the name of the mining engineer, Shirase Shigeo and his wife, Miyako, are the same. As for the rest, although their roles differ slightly, the same characters, such as the assistant Kō Koku-ryo, and the old man, Saito, and people with the same names also make appearances. Since these are all fictitious characters, it can clearly be seen that Wu’s book was modeled after Murakami’s book.

Furthermore, there are many similar features, such as the description of the Liyohen community (Murakami’s book: “A peaceful village of 46 houses”; Wu’s book: “A peaceful community of less than 50 houses”) and the explanation of the summons scene (in both books it is written that a telephone call was received notifying the arrival of draft papers from the country office calling for enlistment in the military in Taipei by the following day).

In addition, what is very interesting is that as a whole Wu’s book further embellished fictitious aspects of Murakami’s book and developed it into a tale emphasizing Sayon’s role as a patriotic maiden. For example, in Wu’s book, upon her teacher’s departure, Sayon carries two pieces of his luggage and, in addition, carries Police Officer Takita’s Japanese sword. Although this kind of fictitious portrayal is not apparent in Murakami’s book, during the scene of Sayon’s tragic accident, the Japanese sword is used as a symbol for further illustrating Sayon’s role as a patriotic maiden and the spirit of the Japanese people. In Murakami’s book, Sayon’s tragic accident portrays her as a patriotic maiden by her sacrifice. Prior to her demise, Sayon signed the flag of the Rising Sun that was to be brought to the battlefield by her teacher. To her fiancé, Patsusai, she handed a shirt she had made for him. In this scene, Wu’s book does follow the portrayal of Murakami’s book, except for the Japanese sword.

Reflecting the situation of the times, Murakami’s book relates that in Taiwan’s near future a voluntary enlistment system will be implemented and that Patsusai and others would become “fine Japanese soldiers.” This is because in 1938, when Sayon’s tragic accident occurred, the enlistment system had not yet been implemented in Taiwan, but by the time his scenario was written (June 1941), the enforcement of a voluntary enlistment system had been announced. In addition, patriotic marching tunes and the Taiwan military anthem and other songs were inserted to further enhance the tale’s military spirit. Furthermore, Sayon’s death is glorified in the grandest manner: “From within Sayon Hayon’s death, we can hear the pulse of a very strong spirited Japanese woman. Sayon is no longer just a young aborigine girl. As a brave, robust ‘graceful Japanese woman’ (Yamato nadeshiko ) she faced a very noble death.” “She is truly a brave, praiseworthy graceful Japanese woman.”

Of the five versions of The Bell of Sayon listed at the beginning of this paper, Wu’s book exhibits the most militaristic atmosphere. Various devices are employed, such as the raising of the national flag on New Year’s Day, the worship of the emperor from a distance, the performance of a drama on Japanese imperialization, a report on production increases, and Patsusai’s volunteering to become a military porter; in a dream, Sayon serves as a nurse in the military.

The above has shown both the similarities between Murakami and Wu’s books and some unique characteristics of each. Clearly, Wu’s book follows the content as well as the story of Murakami’s book. The question arises as to why the stories are so similar to each other. As mentioned above, Wu Man-sha did not understand Japanese. Consequently, he could not have read Murakami Genzō’s play in Japanese. How then did Wu Man-sha come to understand the content of Murakami’s book? As I will relate below, Murakami Genzō’s play, The Bell of Sayon, was performed in Taipei. It was during this time that Wu Man-sha saw the play in Taipei and used it as a basis for his script of The Bell of Sayon.⁴ This is the source for the creation of Wu’s book, and the reason for the similarities in both writers’ tales.

Until now, no research has addressed the above facts concerning The Bell of Sayon. In addition, it was relatively unknown until recently that Murakami Genzō’s play The Bell of Sayon was performed in Taiwan. I will now describe how Murakami Genzō’s play The Bell of Sayon came to be performed in Taiwan.

The particulars of Wu Man-sha having observed the performance of Murakami Genzō’s The Bell of Sayon are described in note 4 above. Another useful source is “Saikin mita jikyokugeki shokan [Reflections on recently observed plays],” in Minzoku Taiwan [Folklore Taiwan], March 1942) by Takita Sadaharu , who was a professor at Taipei Imperial University at that time. He relates the following:

Actually it can be said that the performances of Raccoon and of the Central Theater Group’s (Chūō butai ) The Bell of Sayon are quite skillful presentations. By this type of drama group coming to Taiwan, there have been many types of discussions in Taiwan, and much stimulus and suggestions have been provided by the transition to the actual performance, and by the large number of performers, actors, stage equipment, lighting, etc., and it can be thought that quite a large number of facets of Taiwanese drama have also been enlightened. … We continually pray that through the thorough studying and researching by leaders of drama in Taiwan, there will be a birth in this land of performance groups that can manage well performances at least on the level of Raccoon and The Bell of Sayon, and in the near future there will appear productions to the level of Raccoon which will receive the support of delighted cultured persons. (January 22, 1941)

Takita Sadaharu is quoted in Hamada Hidesaburō ’s “Taiwan engeki no tame ni [For the sake of Taiwan’s drama]” (Hamada Hidesaburō, ed., Taiwan engeki no genjō [The state of Taiwanese drama], Tanseishobō, May 1943), and it is through this book that I first came to know of this very interesting article.

In the above quote, the phrase “The Bell of Sayon of the Central Theater Group” refers to the performance of Murakami Genzō’s production of The Bell of Sayon presented by the imperial capital’s Central Stage Drama Group.⁵ Takita Sadaharu, through an invitation from the governor-general’s Information Bureau, observed performances held in 1941 (from November to December) of the Nihon shojo kageki [Japanese Maidens’ Review], the Kurogane idō butai [Kurogane Traveling Stage], and the Chūō butai [Central Stage Group]. Takita relates his impression of The Bell of Sayon performed by the Central Stage Group:

The Central Stage Group has performed the two pieces, Murakami Genzō’s Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon] and Ōbayashi Kiyoshi ’s Shiganhei [Volunteer soldier ]. The first piece has 5 parts and when the curtains open the location is a police substation in Liyohen that has a backdrop of high green mountains. The lifestyle created by Police Officer Kitada and his wife Akiko living deep in the mountains together with the Taiwanese aborigines, is presented as a lifestyle of bright happiness. Observers receive a good first impression, and the play takes the winning mark on this point. In this way we are drawn into the tension of Police Officer Kitada’s orders to go to the war front. Next, the tragedy of the maiden Sayon appears. However, the arrival of the climax of this play, which is the tragedy of Sayon, comes too disappointingly easily, and the reasons and explanations for the great heroism of the tragedy and the internal reasons for the tragedy are vague. Also, the tragic scenes of Sayon, who shed blood, are too long to the degree of tediousness. This is the responsibility of the playscript and the directors. However, the typhoon passes, and the sound of the so-called bell of Sayon hanging peacefully near the quiet police station providing unlimited deep emotions is quite effective. Police Officer Kitada played by Mitsui, and Asako played by Hamura lend strength to the performance. On a side note, it needs to be additionally noted that using the fruit of the Chinese quince on a palm tree on the set is something that would not be permitted in actual Taiwan.

What we can see from the above review of the play, the performance of The Bell of Sayon by the Central Stage Group was for the most part generally successful. Wu Man-sha also observed the Central Stage Group’s The Bell of Sayon as it is depicted in this review. His viewing of the drama of this period was later incorporated in his novel, The Bell of Sayon.

Next, I wish to examine the details of this Central Stage Drama Group. According to Hamada Hidesaburō ’s “Idō engeki kōen hōkoku: Gunmakenka engeki ryokō [Report on the performances of the traveling group’s trip to Gunma prefecture]” carried in Kokumin engeki [National performance] (December 1941, nos. 1–10), the Drama Group/Central Stage was formed in August 1941 in Tokyo. And then “as the playscript of the flagship public performance, Murakami Genzō’s The Bell of Sayon was first completed.” Below I cite some recorded details written before the Central Stage Drama Group was completely formed.

Plans among members to finish construction of the Drama Group/Central Stage were for early summer of this year [1941]. In this situation, those referred to as members are the group of young authors (novels, plays) who embrace a great passion for performance, including the five: Murakami Genzō, Ōbayashi Kiyoshi, Muneta Hiroshi , Mori Kenji , Hamada Hidesaburō, and the many others whose names are not provided, but who have participated in contributing in various capacities. … Entering July the group slowly started to materialize as a drama association. Searching for performers and others while placing importance on the spiritual union, eventually the association was completed in the middle of August and as the playscript of the flagship performance, Murakami Genzō’s The Bell of Sayon, was first completed. Progressing further, Yata Yahachi’s Yashi no shima [Palm tree island], Ōbayashi Kiyoshi’s Shiganhei [Volunteer soldier], Kikuoka Hisatoshi ’s Yaji Kita bōchō dōchūki [The travel diaries of Mr. Yaji and Mr. Kita ’s prevention of espionage] were all completed, and after finishing an examination of all these works, they started practicing in late August. …

In this way, in the beginning of November, the time was ripe and the group started a travel performance in Gunma prefecture, and took the first steps of their Drama Group’s activities. …

As the program of their performance, the group prepared the following repertoire of three pieces:

1) Murakami Genzō, producer, Hamada Hidesaburō, director, (modern performance) Kinnō Urakaidō [The dark side of the loyalists] (3 scenes)

2) Murakami Genzō, producer, Ōbayashi Kiyoshi, director, Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon] (4 scenes)

3) Kikuoka Hisatoshi, producer and director, (variety) Yaji Kita bōchō dōchūki [The travel diaries of Mr. Yaji and Mr. Kita’s prevention of espionage] (14 acts)

The group was formed in this manner and the Drama Group/Central Stage in the first part of November, 1941 “started a travel performance in Gunma prefecture, and took the first steps of their drama group’s activities” inside Japan. Then in December, as mentioned above, the group held performances in Taiwan. Murakami Genzō’s The Bell of Sayon that was written as the “flagship performance playscript” of the Central Stage Drama Group is contained as one act in the same issue of Kokumin engeki [National performance] that is quoted above.⁶

Here, the new question arises as to why Murakami Genzō wrote the playscript [The bell of Sayon], and in this regard, attached to the same playscript as “notes of the author” the following is written:

This summer [of 1941], at the time that I accompanied Mr. Hasegawa Shin and Ōbayashi Kiyoshi and traveled to Taiwan, I heard the facts of the story The Bell of Sayon from Governor-General Hasegawa and I used it as material for a dramatization. And because a good part of the author’s creative work is contained in the play, I have to request the consent of the Taiwanese people.

In this way, The Bell of Sayon as created by Murakami Genzō, as is related above, was the “flagship performance playscript” “performed as the first traveling performance by the Central Stage Group in various localities and received favorable acclaim.” (“Henshū o oete [Finishing the editing]”) in (Kokumin engeki [National performance] nos. 1–10) and unintentionally, in Taiwan, the place where it was born as a story, it became a part of traveling stage performances.

The performance of the Central Stage Group in Taiwan, while forming the tale of “The Bell of Sayon,” achieved two ends. The first of these, as I related above, was that the “The Bell of Sayon” tale that was born in Japan was came back to Taiwan and gave rise to Wu Man-sha’s The Bell of Sayon. The other is that the story became connected with the birth of the Taiwanese traveling theater (Taiwan idō engeki ). Below I will examine circumstances connected to the birth of the Taiwanese traveling theater.

According to Hamada Hidesaburō’s “Taiwan engeki no tame ni [For the sake of Taiwanese drama],” quoted above, while “taking the Central Stage Group and traveling throughout Taiwan giving performances” in January of 1942 “under orders of the Imperial Service Association, [Hamada] took responsibility as one member of a volunteer group of leaders, and, temporarily entrusting the Central Stage Group to other managers, he gladly stepped into the Taiwan theater practice arena and assumed leadership of the ‘First Volunteer Drama Troupe’ (Dai ikki engeki teishintai ) which had just recently been created at that time.”

The “First Volunteer Drama Troupe” was the so-called executive organization of the Taiwan traveling theater that had recently been created in January of 1942 and for which two groups consisting of thirty males and females had been selected as “Taiwanese performers.” Hamada had been requested by the Imperial Service Association to be the theater leader of this group of people. Below, I summarize the activities of this Volunteer Drama Troupe, using as my sources Hamada Hidesaburō’s “Taiwan engeki no tame ni [For the sake of Taiwanese drama]” and Takeuchi Osamu ’s “Taiwan engeki shi [Records of Taiwanese drama],” which are both published in Taiwan engeki no genjō [The present state of Taiwanese theater] (quoted above).

1942

January: The Taiwanese traveling theater was formed. Two preexisting drama troupes, the Nanshin-za Troupe and the Takasago Theater Group, designated by the Imperial Service Association as volunteer drama groups and managed by representative “Japanese” (naichijin), were formed.

January 12th: The First Volunteer Drama Group (“Taiwanese” [hontōjin]—two groups, 30 people), in addition to performing a solemn initiation ceremony in front of the deities at a Taiwanese Shinto shrine, immediately thereafter entered into the Taipei Dazhi National Spiritual Training Center in order to receive enculturation and education as volunteer troupe members, and held a training session there for ten days. Hamada Hidesaburō, while traveling together with the Central Stage Group making performances throughout Taiwan, was requested to become a volunteer drama troupe leader in order to provide guidance on drama.

January 29th: At the Sakaeza Theater in Taipei the volunteer drama troupes “Nanshin-za Troupe” (directed by Togawa Hayao ) and “Takasago Theater Group” (directed by Minami Yasunobu ) held a joint trial performance. Hasegawa Kiyoshi, Taiwan’s governor-general, observed this performance.

(Program)

The Nanshin-za Troupe: Presented by the Taiwan Government-General Information Bureau. Shiganhei [Volunteer soldier] (4 scenes); Takeuchi Osamu’s Tanki doko e iku [Where are you going shaman?] (2 scenes); picture-card show Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon].

The Takasago Theater Group: Presented by the Taiwan Government-General Information Bureau. Shiganhei [Volunteer soldier] (4 scenes); Takizawa Chieko ’s Nisshōki no moto ni [Beneath the Japanese flag] (1 act); vocal solo Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon]; picture card show Sayon no kane [The bell of Sayon]; dance Kensetsu no fū [An ode to establishment].

February 1st: Departure for the first performance of the volunteer drama troupe.

Hamada has the following to say about the formation of the troupe:

From February 1942 the two volunteer drama troupes born in this way—formed as one organization of the Imperial Service Association, which was one wing of the “imperial building movement” (kōmin rensei undō )—advanced the Japanese imperialist movement in Taiwan another step. (“Taiwan engeki no tame ni [For the sake of Taiwanese drama],” p. 19)

Shortly later, in April of the same year [1942], the Taiwan Traveling Drama Troupe evolved into the Taiwan Drama Society (Taiwan engeki kyōkai). The president was the Imperial Service Association central headquarters general section head, Yamamoto Shimpei , and the vice president was the Imperial Service Association central headquarters public relations head, Ōsawa Sadakichi , and Hayashi Teiroku also served as the Imperial Service Association central headquarters cultural head. “The island-wide drama groups became a unified leadership system under the direction of the Imperial Service Association” (Takeuchi Osamu, “Taiwan engeki shi [Records of Taiwanese drama],” p. 99).

I have tried to clarify above the connection between Murakami Genzō’s The Bell of Sayon and Wu Man-sha’s The Bell of Sayon, and I have further demonstrated the connection between the Central Drama Group’s Taiwan performance and the Taiwan traveling theater. Finally, I want to touch upon a broader objective of the imperialist movement, the problem of the military conscription of the Taiwanese (hontōjin) and the Takasago aborigines (Takasago zoku ).⁷

In another paper (see note 1 above), when I quoted the article “The Governor-General Sends an Offering Bell: The Story of the Patriotic Maiden, Pure-Hearted Sayon,” which was carried in the April 13, 1941, issue of the Asahi Shinbun (Taiwan version), I related how there was clearly an intent to beautify Sayon’s tragic accident by placing it within the context of the war. Furthermore, the same article also describes how military porters and attached civilians of the “Takasago” aborigines were sent to war following the Marco Polo Bridge incident. I quote that section here:

Since the [Marco Polo Bridge] incident members of the Takasago tribes throughout the island are absolutely inspired by the heroic and peerless activities of the imperial army, and many of them, writing their entreaties in blood, are saying “Please hire me as a military porter,” “Use me as an attached civilian” and in particular, in response to the summons from the local area police stations the villagers are holding emotional send off and farewell parties, where they are sending off conscripts with the words, “Fight bravely.”

The resulting military conscription imposed on those people from the “Taiwanese” (hontōjin) and “Takasago aborigine” populations originated in the military porter system after the Marco Polo Bridge incident, and was gradually followed first by the implementation of a Takasago Volunteer Corps, then by volunteer enlistment, and finally by a compulsory draft system.

In this way, as I showed in the first part of this paper, Taiwan was incorporated into the “state of war.” In what can be hailed as a complete imperialization, the “home front responsibilities” were explained to the “Taiwanese” (hontōjin) as “All Taiwanese, as loyal subjects, are equal to the Japanese. And for you Taiwanese who do not have the chance to stand on the war front and perform brave and daring actions, you should not shirk all the equivalent domestic responsibilities,” of which “the first is to become a true loyal subject of the empire.” The military conscription in Taiwan was implemented according to the following schedule within the imperialization movement, and was in the end a forced conscription.

June 20, 1941: announcement of the implementation of a voluntary conscription (implemented the following year).

March 1942: enlistment into the “Takasago Volunteer Patriotic Corps” and “Takasago Volunteer Corps” begins.

April 1, 1942: implementation of the army special volunteer conscription.

May 12, 1943: implementation of the navy special volunteer conscription.

September 1944: partial implementation of the compulsory draft system.

April 1945: total implementation of the Taiwanese compulsory draft system.

As listed in the “flagship performance playscript” of the Central Stage Group seen above, three scripts had been prepared in addition to The Bell of Sayon, one of which was Ōbayashi Kiyoshi’s Shiganhei [Volunteer soldier]. In the context of Taiwanese literary history, the version of Shiganhei by Zhou Jinpo published in the September 1941 issue of Bungei Taiwan [Taiwan literary works] is well known; Ōbayashi Kiyoshi’s Shiganhei was written about the same time. The implementation of the voluntary conscription system was announced on June 20, 1941, and both pieces were written in direct concert with that announcement. However, one author was a Taiwanese and the other a Japanese and their viewpoints were completely opposite—one corresponded to the volunteering soldier and the other represented the summoner of volunteers, and their literary styles were naturally quite different.

Ōbayashi Kiyoshi’s Shiganhei was staged “in the area near Tainan Anping,” and in the playscript the scene of the young Taiwanese submitting their “entreaties in blood” is depicted through the eyes of the Japanese. As indicated above, the first performance of the Drama Volunteer Corps, which was presented by the Taiwan government-general Information Bureau, took place “in every area of Taiwan under recommendation of the Taiwan government-general” (“Afterword” in Kokumin engeki [National drama], nos. 2–3, March 1942), prior to the implementation of the army special volunteer conscription system on April 1, 1942. It was thus helpful to the imperialization movement in terms of volunteer conscription enlistment.

Next, as I stated previously, the performance of Shiganhei by the Central Stage Group preceded the performance by the Drama Volunteer Corps. In Takita Sadaharu’s article mentioned above, after his review of The Bell of Sayon, he relates his reflections concerning his impressions of Shiganhei, and overall he criticizes it as “having no attraction for viewers, and no emotional scenes.”

However, through the Central Stage Group’s performance of Murakami Genzō’s The Bell of Sayon and Ōbayashi Kiyoshi’s Volunteer Soldier they contributed to the enhancement of the war consciousness of the Takasago aborigines and Taiwanese in Taiwan, and they performed a useful role as a wing of the government assistance movement in Japan and as a drama group connected to the imperialization movement deep within Taiwan.

NOTES

*Translator’s note: Transliterated forms of both Japanese and Chinese names in this article follow the traditional East Asian method of order, family name first, and then first name. In addition, the Pinyin transliteration system was used to romanize the Chinese names.

The author wishes to extend his appreciation to Matthew J. Eynon, Department of Japanese Studies, Tenri University, for translating this article from the original Japanese.

1. In an earlier paper, “Substantiating Research Concerning the Process of the Birth and Circulation of Sayon no kane, Part 1,” I discuss the historical facts concerning the tragedy of Sayon, which occurred on September 27, 1938, and the presentation by Taiwan Governor-General Hasegawa of “The Bell of the Patriotic Maiden Sayon” on April 14, 1941, to the Liyohen community. See Tenri-Taiwan gakkai nempō 10 (March 2001).

2. “Substantiating Research Concerning the Process of the Birth and Circulation of Sayon no kane, Part 3,” unpublished.

3. among other scholars who accept the literature of this period as “imperialization movement literature” are Li Yu-hui and Hoshina Hironobu.

4. When I asked Mr. Wu Man-sha if “before he had written Sayon no Kane, he had read Murakami Genzô’s Sayon no kane (Kokumin engeki 1.10, December 1941) or any other works by that name,” he quickly provided the following answer. I include only the relevant parts here: “Thank you for asking about my book The Bell of Sayon. I have never read Murakami’s book, and I just saw the play that the Japan New Drama Troupe presented in Taipei. I felt the story is lovely, therefore, I wrote a story based on its summary and structure. It became popular among the readers after it was published and so I asked Zhang Yuan-fu (Chun Guang-yuan) to translate it into Japanese. I have not seen Mr. Zhang for years, however, I heard that he has passed away” (August 3, 1998).

Nothing further is known about the translator he mentions.

5. In the Fuyō ni Haneutsu : Taipei Prefecture, Taipei No. 3, Middle School, Records (June 1998) it is written in “No. 1, History Viewed Through a Chronological Table” that around December 27, 1941, there was a “viewing of Sayon no kane.” Most likely Sayon no kane was performed during the year-end closing ceremonies of the second semester. I received this data from the research student Zhao Xun-da of the Taiwan Literature Graduate School of National Cheng Gong University.

6. Like Murakami Genzô’s Sayon no kane, Yata Yahara’s Yashi no shima [Palm tree island] and Ōbayashi Kiyoshi’s Shiganhei [Volunteer soldier] were also included in the Kokumin engeki [National performance], the former in the January issue of 1942, and the latter in the March issue of 1942.

7. Translator’s note: The distinction is being drawn here between the original Taiwanese aborigines consisting of nine tribes (a tenth one added in 2001) who were called Takasagozoku by the Japanese and who live mainly on the eastern side of the island, and the mainlander Han Chinese (hontōjin) who arrived to Taiwan in great numbers after the seventeenth century and who came to populate the main centers on the western side of the island.