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Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History Paperback – October 1, 2002

by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
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Why did almost one thousand highly educated "student soldiers" volunteer to serve in Japan's tokkotai (kamikaze) operations near the end of World War II, even though Japan was losing the war? In this fascinating study of the role of symbolism and aesthetics in totalitarian ideology, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney shows how the state manipulated the time-honored Japanese symbol of the cherry blossom to convince people that it was their honor to "die like beautiful falling cherry petals" for the emperor.

Drawing on diaries never before published in English, Ohnuki-Tierney describes these young men's agonies and even defiance against the imperial ideology. Passionately devoted to cosmopolitan intellectual traditions, the pilots saw the cherry blossom not in militaristic terms, but as a symbol of the painful beauty and unresolved ambiguities of their tragically brief lives. Using Japan as an example, the author breaks new ground in the understanding of symbolic communication, nationalism, and totalitarian ideologies and their execution.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    428 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Chicago Press
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0226620913
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0226620916
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Why did almost one thousand highly educated "student soldiers" volunteer to serve in Japan's tokkotai (kamikaze) operations near the end of World War II, even though Japan was losing the war? In this fascinating study of the role of symbolism and aesthetics in totalitarian ideology, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney shows how the state manipulated the time-honored Japanese symbol of the cherry blossom to convince people that it was their honor to "die like beautiful falling cherry petals" for the emperor.

Drawing on diaries never before published in English, Ohnuki-Tierney describes these young men's agonies and even defiance against the imperial ideology. Passionately devoted to cosmopolitan intellectual traditions, the pilots saw the cherry blossom not in militaristic terms, but as a symbol of the painful beauty and unresolved ambiguities of their tragically brief lives. Using Japan as an example, the author breaks new ground in the understanding of symbolic communication, nationalism, and totalitarian ideologies and their execution.

From the Back Cover

Why did almost one thousand highly educated "student soldiers" volunteer to serve in Japan's tokkotai (kamikaze) operations near the end of World War II, even though Japan was losing the war? In this fascinating study of the role of symbolism and aesthetics in totalitarian ideology, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney shows how the state manipulated the time-honored Japanese symbol of the cherry blossom to convince people that it was their honor to "die like beautiful falling cherry petals" for the emperor.

Drawing on diaries never before published in English, Ohnuki-Tierney describes these young men's agonies and even defiance against the imperial ideology. Passionately devoted to cosmopolitan intellectual traditions, the pilots saw the cherry blossom not in militaristic terms, but as a symbol of the painful beauty and unresolved ambiguities of their tragically brief lives. Using Japan as an example, the author breaks new ground in the understanding of symbolic communication, nationalism, and totalitarian ideologies and their execution.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 428 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0226620913
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226620916
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

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Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
19 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gary J. Chenett
5.0 out of 5 stars We need to learn this dedication if we are called to defend our Great Country
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2012
Verified Purchase
No holds spared,
It is difficult to read at times but one thing is very apparant, mess with the Japanese and you will have to fight them to the death to overcome them.

I only hope that all American Troppps are indoctrinated in the defense of their home land this well or will be when needed.

I did my best in Nam, The Japs do not play........
There are no free fire zones, no quarter given your enemy EVER, and being brutal only to them means you pissed us off, go away or we will continue our brutality.....
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Bucky K
1.0 out of 5 stars Was misled by the 5 star reviews into buying this book and regretted
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book has very powerful themes with which I am immediately sympathetic, and I was delighted that an academic has written it. I was very much looking forward to reading it.

I was misled by the 5 star reviews into buying this book and regretted. I am posting this review to warn others. I am sorry to report that it was unreadable and a complete waste of money. If you don't believe me and need to read it for research purposes, try borrowing it from the library first, because you would not want to reread or own it.

I found the writing style unprofessional, extremely wooden and plodding, and full of stock phrases and non-sequiturs, so much so that the author loses all credibility with me by the end of the first chapter. I wish someone had said something in the reviews. I really would never have guessed since all 5 reviews gave it 5 stars, leading to my purchase.

I will give you an example of the confused writing. The very first paragraph of the very first chapter (I deconstruct the words in my [ ] comments):

"In ancient Japan the most sacred plant was rice. The ears of rice housed the souls of the deities, objectified as grain, and the plant thus represented agrarian productive energy. Cherry blossoms [introduction of new topic: cherry blossoms] were the symbolic equivalent of the rice plant [how so? how are they equivalent to rice plants?]. Because of the equation [why "because of"? You have not explained how cherry blossoms are equated to rice plants!], cherry blossoms also stood for life-sustaining energy."

A few pages down:

"Since the ancient period, the aesthetics of rice has been expressed in poems, essays, and visual arts, which in turn have further propagated the perception of the beauty of rice...Even today brand names of rice almost always bear the character for luster in them [really? very interesting! some examples of brand names would really be helpful here to illustrate this claim]. Like the aesthetics of mirrors [introduction of new topic: mirrors], also thought to embody Japanese deities, the aesthetics of rice lies in its luster as well as in its whiteness and purity. The visual aesthetics of cherry blossoms as rice, then, [then? how did this conclusion come about? I thought we were talking about rice and rice's luster?] ultimately derives from its religious nature [are we talking about religion now? I thought we were talking about aesthetics of rice and its luster]."

It's a train wreck in logical writing and rational explanation. Claims are laid down in each sentence which are not supported by evidence. Instead, evidence for another claim is introduced instead. I skipped ahead, hoping to still glean something out of this very interesting subject, but I just saw more of this writing style.

Academic books are often very dull, but at least they are readable if one needs to read them for research purposes. However when the writing style is so confused as to get into the way of the reader understanding the valuable research contained in the book, I am afraid the book does not justice to the important themes it addresses.
11 people found this helpful
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Nelson H H Graburn
4.0 out of 5 stars Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2012
Verified Purchase
A rare and penetrating account of the lives and thoughts of Kamikaze pilots, as revealed
through their letters, and the memories of their relatives and of the few survivors. Illustrates
the educated cosmopolitan world views of this the cream of Japanese youth of the 1940s
and the brutality of their officers who forced and shamed them into suicidal performances.
Some have suggested that the data used may not have been typical of all tokutai
pilots (of planes and one man submarines).

Nelson Graburn, Visiting Prof Emeritus, Minpaku, Suita, Osaka
One person found this helpful
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ChimChim
5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant, disturbing, and illuminating cautionary tale
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2016
I read this book because during my graduate research I had read two other books by the same author, Rice and Self and Monkey as Mirror. I found those books very interesting and although Cherry Blossoms, Kamikaze, and Nationalisms was on a totally different topic I was curious to see how Ohnuki-Tierney would tackle it.

I found this book so moving that it brought me to tears more than once. It is incredibly poignant and sad. I was particularly struck by the accounts of tokkotai pilots who saved their hair and nail clippings so their families and girlfriends would have something, anything, to cremate. The book details the evolution of the sacred symbolism of cherry blossoms, and how pre-war and wartime Japan's rising military-industrial complex used it in propaganda ("militarized its aesthetics," to use the author's term). Ohnuki-Tierney demonstrates how the oft-cited Japanese militarism and nationalism were whipped up and exploited by the imperialist factions, and how the tokkotai were mobilized as cannon fodder even after it became evident the war was already lost. The lives of these young men, some of them Japan's best and brightest, were destroyed just to make a dramatic statement. The author also shows that while the tokkotai were patriots, they were anything but the suicidal nutjob rabid imperialists they are portrayed as in the West. They (and the entire Japanese public) were barraged with messages about the nobility of sacrifice for nation and empire; there was no space for, or toleration of, dissent. This is not to say that all Japanese were unwitting dupes in WWII, by any means, but rather that the actions of the kamikaze cannot be reduced to culturally-essentialist notions of Japanese "honor," "warrior-ethic," "cruelty," "nationalism," etc.: Specific decision-makers knowingly manipulated the public and soldiers for their (the shot-callers') own aggrandizement and power. This history should serve as a cautionary tale everywhere, but in the US especially.
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Top reviews from other countries

Yersan Chen
1.0 out of 5 stars Not receiving my product on time
Reviewed in Germany on September 22, 2014
Verified Purchase
Until now I haven not received my product, yet, even though it's been three weeks already. I will need the product soon.
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Kai Linder
3.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous detail, but convoluted
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2013
Verified Purchase
The amount of detail and depth explanation is massive, but it gets lost in itself quite often and seems to lose sight of its own points.
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