[薄桜鬼] The Shinsengumi boom, “the male ideal of beauty in the spirit,” Hakuouki, a military song, and the end of the samurai era?
An illustration of "Hakuouki", an otome video game to be adapted into an anime series in 2010. The character in the above image is Hijikata Toshizo.
Shinsengumi [新撰組] is popular in Japan for the same reason that maple leaves in autumn are much admired. Maple leaves are not flowers per se but for a very brief time in autumn, they are more beautiful than any flower on earth. Likewise, many members of Shinsengumi were not samurai-born, but for a very brief in history, they were more samurai-like than any real samurai.
The Shinsengumi boom
If I had to trace the beginning of the Shinsengumi boom, I would probably trace it back to the debut novel Moeyo Tsurugi [燃えよ剣] (1962) written by Shiba Ryoutarou [司馬遼太郎]. Shiba Ryoutaro (1923 – 1996) was a very prolific historic novelist and essayist and he was also reckoned to be one of Japan’s leading men of letters in the post-war era. Moeyo Tsurugi is a novel based on the life of Hijikata Toshizo [土方歳三]. If you ever were to Google for reader reviews of this book, you would come upon pages and pages of reader testimonies that they were moved to tears by this book – quite in spite of their usual skeptical and cynical selves. I also tried to read to it a while ago but personally only found it so-so (I much preferred to read Shiba’s essays instead – which I am enjoying at the moment and find them to be very sharp and interesting indeed).
Anyway, one of the reasons why Moeyo Tsurugi captured a wide audience is that it defines manhood in its ideal form. (So I am told.) In Japanese, they use the phrase otoko no bigaku [男の美学] to describe that ideal. Otoko means “man” and bigaku means literally “aesthetics,” but in this instance you may think of it as “the male ideal of beauty in the spirit” (as opposed to mere looks). Readers (men and women alike) find Hijikata Toshizo as a character attractive because his life is lived in that “male ideal of beauty in the spirit” – which in turn boils down into two words: love and honour. I do not wish to comment on the aspect of love in the post-war era that makes readers project their ideal on Hijitaka (because it is depends too much on the individual for me to generalize about), but I certainly can see why readers yearn for the spirit of honour that Hijikata stayed true to till he drew his last breath.
So it was little surprise to me that Hijikata Toshizo eventually ended up appearing as a character in an otome video game, which brings me to -
The otome game Hakuouki [薄桜鬼]
Not that this is the first ever video game in which the player gets to become romantically involved with members of Shinsengumi – there have been other titles such as Bakumatsu Renka・Shinsengumi [幕末恋華・新選組]. What piqued my interest was the name of “Hakuouki” itself, because there is a poetic yet creepy sound to it. Haku means “thin,” ou means “sakura,” and ki means “demon.” I have not played the game before, but my guess is that Hakuouki is probably short for hakumei no sakura no godoki oni [薄命の桜の如き鬼], or “a demon as tragic and short-lived as sakura flowers.” (This is just my guess – please feel free to fill me in if you have played the game.)
You may began to see why this video game has a name like that once you know the story:
Plot Summary: Chizuru (the heroine) suspects that her father (who is a medical doctor) has gone missing, and travels to Kyoto to find him. Upon arrival, she accidentally witnesses a scene she should not have seen and comes under the protection of Shinsengumi, who wants to keep it secret. Later, she also learns that members of Shinsengumi are objects of a human experiment in which they consume a drug called ochimizu [変若水], which makes them i) invincible in battle but also shortens their lifespan; ii) makes them yearn for blood and go insane.
Note the part about shortened lifespan in exchange for heightened prowess in the story which in turn makes members of Shinsengumi lose their minds. This story set-up reminds me of -
The military song “Touki no Sakura” [同期の桜]
There is a military song called Touki no Sakura, which used to be well known during wartime Japan. I have only heard it sung once when I was watching a movie about kamikaze pilots. In any case, the lyrics is only a Wikipedia search away and below is my rough translation:
You and I are the same year’s sakura
We bloom in the courtyard of the same military school
Understanding that a blooming flower should wither
Splendidly we wither for the sake of our countryYou and I are the same year’s sakura
We bloom in the courtyard of the same military school
Although we are not of the same flesh and blood
For some reason, we are like-minded and cannot separateYou and I are the same year’s sakura
We bloom in the courtyard of the same air force brigade
In the southern sky of the setting sun we gazed up
The number one plane shall not returnYou and I are the same year’s sakura
We bloom in the courtyard of the same air force brigade
We cannot wait for the day which we have sworn upon so much
Why do we wither, why do we die?You and I are the same year’s sakura
Even if we separate and die
At Yasukuni Shrine in the capital of flowers
In the tree branches of spring, we shall meet again
The reason for my mentioning this song is that it is a good point of reference for the motif of sakura as death and destruction in a “clean and noble manner” (see my previous post on the concept of isagiyoi [潔い] for detail). Touki no Sakura is a creepy song to me, and for better or worse its tune inevitably pops up in my head whenever I think of Hakuouki.
Bakumatsu: The end of the samurai era?
The Bakumatsu and early Meiji period are generally perceived to be “the end of the samurai era.” A lot of literary and artistic efforts out there have been devoted to bemoan that bygone era, although I sometimes cannot help but look at it from another perspective -
On the face of it, the samurai class had been abolished and all men thereby became “equal”. But under this facade, the other side of the coin is that “all male citizens have became samurai”. Before, the business of war was the business of a relatively small number of men born of the samurai class. After this break with tradition, the business of war became the business of all able-bodied male adults. Now all grown men in good health must become soldiers and participate in wartime aggression. You get conscription. You get a nation of able-bodied men obliged to die in the name of honour and glory that was previously applicable to only a relatively small number of men. This is most likely retrospective historic bias on my part, but the appearance of Shinsengumi would seem to be the symbolic beginning of this trend.
This is not to say that Shinsengumi were at fault (they were victims of great and unstoppable tides in history), but there is just something creepy I find about this symbolic bearing they represent. Perhaps it is just me thinking too much – I can see that the members of Shinsengumi were probably notable people, but whenever I think of this touch of creepiness they seem to embody, I just cannot ever quite bring myself to be a Shinsengumi fan.
Two comments:
1) I went and listened to the gunka song on youtube and i was struck by how much it reminded me of leiji matsumoto’s anime OPs from the 70s. Then I had to remind myself that not much time has elapsed from one era to the next (plus Matsumoto’s dad was a Zero pilot)..
2) This is an interesting article (with a strong opinion, but that’s beside the point) touching on some of the aesthetic points here.
ttp://www.friesian.com/divebomb.htm
animekritik:
1) I just checked it out on YouTube now. It may be due to the accompanying music. When I first heard it sung a capella in a movie, the tune did not remind me of any anime OP from the 70s in particular.
2) I took a look, but thought it…. a so-so essay of a rather predictable stand. (But then again, I always stress that I am not cut for academia.) I always say that one cannot understand Japanese culture without understanding Chinese/Korean cultures – if Zen/Ch’an and Tao are so wrong, then what makes the Chinese/Korean and Japanese develop such different attitudes toward violence and death? That would have been a much more interesting topic to explore – and actually knowing the languages and studying source materials in their original instead of quoting what is available in English translations may help. Besides, it’s not like the samurai class in Japan did not get their heavy dose of Confucianism (or Confucianism developed in the South Sung known as 朱子学 to be precise).
BTW, please allow me to take this opportunity to mention a minor point that is probably not clear from the main post: I like the name “Hakuouki” (for its poetry yet creepy touch) and that is why I wrote about it.
You have such an interesting perspective! I’ve been really enjoying reading your blog.
I’m not familiar with this game, but the costume design for Hijikata immediately reminded me of Hijikata from Hideaki Sorachi’s Gintama.
Tan:
Many thanks and please come back often. And spread the word to your friends too. ^-^
I have not watched Gintama but have seen some pictures – I guess I see your point.
Wabisabi,
OK, you bring up an excellent point. Can we isolate the Japanese psyche apart from this massive influence from the continent? People like Motoori Norinaga pretended to do so, but these days we tend to disparage his work so…
The main writer at friesian.com is a western civ/philosophy specialist, and quite brilliant (and witty) on European matters IMHO, but well, here he’s had to do with the secondary resources at his disposal.
That said, his starting point is Kantian ethics and so his “attack” might be better understood that way. In a nutshell, re China and Korea I think he would argue that Chan and Dao ethical systems are vulnerable to the sort of devolution/degeneration/mutation that the Japanese subjected them to, because of a vagueness of concepts et cetera.
animekritik:
Thank you for the follow-up comment. Again, please allow me to stress that I am no academic and no expert – I am a banker and I work mainly on corporate/government financing deals. I only read history for pleasure and in a sporadic manner and really do not know much about the debates within academia.
> Can we isolate the Japanese psyche apart from this massive influence from the continent?
My gut feeling would tell me no, but this is just my gut feeling.
> People like Motoori Norinaga pretended to do so, but these days we tend to disparage his work so…
I apologize if I do not know who “we” refers to but I presume it refers “the current tide of academic opinion”. The only thing I can say is that tide of opinion is ephemeral. The more important thing is where you stand.
> The main writer at friesian.com is a western civ/philosophy specialist, and quite brilliant (and witty) on European matters IMHO, but well, here he’s had to do with the secondary resources at his disposal.
I tried to read a few more and thought them… okay. I tend to avoid making harsh criticism of the works of living authors/academics (unless I see any strong reasons to do otherwise) because you never know what kind of harm words can do, especially if their entire livelihood depends on it. (I do not withhold my opinion the same way if they are dead though.) That is why I tend to confine myself to discuss things I admire on this blog. In any case, his essays just do not… grab my attention as being brilliant as obviously as did those of, say, Jacques Barzun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Barzun
> In a nutshell, re China and Korea I think he would argue that Chan and Dao ethical systems are vulnerable to the sort of devolution/degeneration/mutation that the Japanese subjected them to, because of a vagueness of concepts et cetera.
I have reservation about that argument, but respect his opinion. I believe if there are abused ideological concepts that brought about kamikaze pilots, the Confucian concepts of 尊王 (respect to royalty) and 忠(loyalty) would probably be more relevant candidates than Ch’an or Tao per se. I doubt that conscripted soldiers can be influenced to die by ideas that are in themselves vague to begin with. Only strong ideas they believe to be the one and only truth – would do that. Ch’an or Tao are ideas for mystics and mystics tend to be small in number and exist on the margin of society…
thanks for sharing this info, i’ve never heard of the game. i always enjoy reading about the shinsengumi, and that era i haven’t done it in a while and now i feel like checking more out.
they seem to be really popular in anime, i loved seeing the shinsegumi appear in bakumatsu kikansetsu irohanihoheto, they were in peacemaker Kurogane and i just heard that now there’s plans to make a live action of it, so i’m curious what it would be like, i tried watching the other shinsengumi TV drama, i might try and watch it again lol. . ^^
susperia:
I really like the brush calligraphy of “Hakuouki”. I think this is the first time I am this happy with brush calligraphy since seeing Narita Masumi’s work in Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto. You can check out Narita-sensei’s official website here:
ttp://www.fudejiya.com/
aaa yes i think i remember you saying that at one point, have to agree, such amazing calligraphy !! thanks for the link!! such skill!! ;D
i’d love to have that game, sadly i’m bad at playing games lol!!! but it would be cool to have anime of it one day or something like it!! ^^
susperia:
Noted with thanks.
“The Bakumatsu and early Meiji period are generally perceived to be “the end of the samurai era.” A lot of literary and artistic efforts out there have been devoted to bemoan that bygone era, although I sometimes cannot help but look at it from another perspective.”
Katsu Kaishu made an interesting comment about this shortly before he died in 1899:
“The samurai spirit must in time disappear. Although it is certainly unfortunate, it does not surprise me at all. I have long known this would happen once the feudal sysltem was eliminated.
But even now, if I were extremely wealthy, I’m sure that I would be able to restore that spirit within four or five years. The reason for this is simple. During the feudal era the samurai had to neither till the fields nor sell things. They had the farmers and the merchants do those things, while they received stipends from their feudal lords. They could idle away their time from morning until night without worrying about not having enough to eat. And so all they had to do…was to read books and make a fuss about such things as loyalty and honor.
Once the feudal system was eliminated and the samurai lost their stipends, it was only natural for the samurai spirit to gradually decline…If you were now to give them money and let them take things easy like they did in the old days, I’m certain that Bushido could be restored.”
CaliforniaDreamin2:
Yes, there is always more than one way to look at the same set of facts.
Speaking for myself, I would hesitate to say for sure that anything in this world really can disappear to nowhere.
Now we call a fangirl who really loves Shinsengumi or that kind of thing, 歴女 or 戦国乙女. Though I already knew you are the one before this term came out.
http://bangin.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/%e6%88%a6%e5%9b%bd%e4%b9%99%e5%a5%b3sengoku-otome/
But I assume you have already known this, am I right?
bangin:
Well… I guess I can see your point.
Hey, you were pretty accurate about Hakuouki being short for hakumei no sakura no godoki oni [薄命の桜の如き鬼]. That’s pretty much what it means after I have played the game. I am not done with it yet, but as far as I know, Hijikata Toshizou seems to be the only one out of the five Shinsengumi members playable that was bestowed with the name “Hakuouki”.