In the opening words of "Japan: The Sword and the Chrysanthemum" (1988), narrator Jane Seymour describes "the sword and the chrysanthemum" as "the paradox of Japan" and asks, "How can such polite, peaceful, artistic people be at the same time so violent, aggressive and brutal?" She goes on to announce that "This program examines the samurai spirit in Japan's past and present, how it has shaped the past and might affect its future." The hour-long program offers a remarkably frank discussion of many of the more disturbing aspects of Japanese history and culture, including the Japanese military's inhuman treatment of captured civilians during World War Two. Seymour, who also serves as on-camera host at various locations in Japan, reveals the personal stake she has in the subject when she says, "Indeed, from my own personal experience, my Dutch mother was imprisoned for three-and-a-half years by the Japanese in Indonesia and my own childhood was haunted by the atrocities of her experiences."
The hour includes segments on Japanese history and traditional culture that might explain this paradox. We get an overview of the "austere military code" of the samurai, who constituted, for many centuries, the dominant social class in Japan. Even in preparation for war, the samurai showed finely-tuned cultural sensibilities in the artistic design of the helmets they wore into battle. This segment includes footage of the production of a samurai- themed TV show and the supervision by sword master Kunishiro Hayashi of a filmed duel between two female fighters. This is followed by a segment on the history of Christianity in Japan in which a period of official tolerance of Christians ended in the early 16th century, to be replaced by a policy of persecution and extermination. "Of all the groups to suffer violence in the Japan of the samurai, none suffered more than the Christians," we are told.
There is a long segment on an annual fighting festival in Nara and how it has survived the centuries as a socially acceptable outlet for aggression by its young male participants. This is followed by a brief segment on ninja warriors and the spying arts. Then we get to a long, delicate sequence devoted to Zen Buddhism and rock gardens at Buddhist temples where samurai came to meditate. "The samurai turned to zen to concentrate their minds and build their courage." We see shots of the Golden Temple in Kyoto built by Shogun Yoshimitsu, "the first great samurai patron of the arts," and a recreation of a traditional tea ceremony.
Controversial novelist Yukio Mishima is seen in archival footage, including news shots of his last hours before killing himself in an act of ritual suicide at a Japanese military base after giving a speech to the troops calling for restoration of the Emperor's power. This is followed by some scenes of Japanese gangsters--the Yakuza--and then a lengthy segment on Sumo wrestling, with footage of the Grand Champion of Japan, Chiyonofuji Mitsugu. In another segment on modern life in Japan, the camera shows us pictures from manga--Japanese comic books--depicting violent scenes, including images of rape, in magazine which are widely read and distributed, yet the narration notes that Japan is one of the safest societies for women in the developed world. Interestingly, this program preceded the explosion of American interest in anime and manga in the 1990s.
Finally we get to Japanese behavior during World War II. Early in the hour there are newsreel shots of emaciated Allied prisoners being released from POW camps after Japan's surrender and later in the piece we see footage secretly taken of Japanese murders of civilians during the Rape of Nanking, in which the Japanese conquest of China's then-capital led to the slaughter of over 200,000 Chinese civilians. At this point, narrator Seymour says of the cruelty that it "does demand an explanation." There is an attempt to do so, drawing on such concepts as the breakdown of Japanese group ethics outside of Japan and the prevalence of hierarchy in Japanese social structures, but as someone who has read a lot on this subject and is still looking for answers, I would have liked a deeper examination of this question than we get here. Still, this program gets points for at least confronting the issue head-on and not trying to evade it. As such, it's one of the earliest films on the subject that I've seen to acknowledge Japanese atrocities in WWII so explicitly. The hour closes with footage of a gathering of Japanese war veterans and the question, "Will their children once again see warfare as a solution to Japan's problems?," before offering a hopeful response.
The program makes its points in a calm, deliberate fashion with the camera lingering over its picturesque settings and cultural objects, allowing viewers to savor the beauty of what they're seeing. There is a memorable shot of Seymour sitting on a wooden step at Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto gazing serenely at the rock garden. All of this is underscored by a gentle, evocative music track, composed in the Japanese style by Edward Wynne, with flute playing by John Kaizan Neptune. The program was directed by Peter Spry-Leverton and is a co-production of WTTW and Central Independent Television. When I first recorded this program off PBS in 1988, I was under the impression that it was based on Ruth Benedict's seminal 1946 study, "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture." However, neither Benedict nor her book are mentioned.
The hour includes segments on Japanese history and traditional culture that might explain this paradox. We get an overview of the "austere military code" of the samurai, who constituted, for many centuries, the dominant social class in Japan. Even in preparation for war, the samurai showed finely-tuned cultural sensibilities in the artistic design of the helmets they wore into battle. This segment includes footage of the production of a samurai- themed TV show and the supervision by sword master Kunishiro Hayashi of a filmed duel between two female fighters. This is followed by a segment on the history of Christianity in Japan in which a period of official tolerance of Christians ended in the early 16th century, to be replaced by a policy of persecution and extermination. "Of all the groups to suffer violence in the Japan of the samurai, none suffered more than the Christians," we are told.
There is a long segment on an annual fighting festival in Nara and how it has survived the centuries as a socially acceptable outlet for aggression by its young male participants. This is followed by a brief segment on ninja warriors and the spying arts. Then we get to a long, delicate sequence devoted to Zen Buddhism and rock gardens at Buddhist temples where samurai came to meditate. "The samurai turned to zen to concentrate their minds and build their courage." We see shots of the Golden Temple in Kyoto built by Shogun Yoshimitsu, "the first great samurai patron of the arts," and a recreation of a traditional tea ceremony.
Controversial novelist Yukio Mishima is seen in archival footage, including news shots of his last hours before killing himself in an act of ritual suicide at a Japanese military base after giving a speech to the troops calling for restoration of the Emperor's power. This is followed by some scenes of Japanese gangsters--the Yakuza--and then a lengthy segment on Sumo wrestling, with footage of the Grand Champion of Japan, Chiyonofuji Mitsugu. In another segment on modern life in Japan, the camera shows us pictures from manga--Japanese comic books--depicting violent scenes, including images of rape, in magazine which are widely read and distributed, yet the narration notes that Japan is one of the safest societies for women in the developed world. Interestingly, this program preceded the explosion of American interest in anime and manga in the 1990s.
Finally we get to Japanese behavior during World War II. Early in the hour there are newsreel shots of emaciated Allied prisoners being released from POW camps after Japan's surrender and later in the piece we see footage secretly taken of Japanese murders of civilians during the Rape of Nanking, in which the Japanese conquest of China's then-capital led to the slaughter of over 200,000 Chinese civilians. At this point, narrator Seymour says of the cruelty that it "does demand an explanation." There is an attempt to do so, drawing on such concepts as the breakdown of Japanese group ethics outside of Japan and the prevalence of hierarchy in Japanese social structures, but as someone who has read a lot on this subject and is still looking for answers, I would have liked a deeper examination of this question than we get here. Still, this program gets points for at least confronting the issue head-on and not trying to evade it. As such, it's one of the earliest films on the subject that I've seen to acknowledge Japanese atrocities in WWII so explicitly. The hour closes with footage of a gathering of Japanese war veterans and the question, "Will their children once again see warfare as a solution to Japan's problems?," before offering a hopeful response.
The program makes its points in a calm, deliberate fashion with the camera lingering over its picturesque settings and cultural objects, allowing viewers to savor the beauty of what they're seeing. There is a memorable shot of Seymour sitting on a wooden step at Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto gazing serenely at the rock garden. All of this is underscored by a gentle, evocative music track, composed in the Japanese style by Edward Wynne, with flute playing by John Kaizan Neptune. The program was directed by Peter Spry-Leverton and is a co-production of WTTW and Central Independent Television. When I first recorded this program off PBS in 1988, I was under the impression that it was based on Ruth Benedict's seminal 1946 study, "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture." However, neither Benedict nor her book are mentioned.
