Pen Butai

The Pen Butai (ペン部隊, lit. "Pen Corps" or "Pen Brigade") was a Japanese government organisation which existed between 1938 and 1942.[1] It was composed of Japanese authors who travelled the front during the Second Sino-Japanese War to write favourably of Japan's war efforts in China.[2]

History

The Pen Butai was formed in 1938 after a meeting between the Cabinet Intelligence Department and writers Kan Kikuchi, Masao Kume, Eiji Yoshikawa, Riichi Yokomitsu, Haruo Satō, Nobuko Yoshiya and Fumio Niwa.[2] The aim was to have popular authors travel the Sino-Japanese front and write favourably of their experiences in form of stories, novels, plays, poems and personal journals for propagandistic purposes.[3] Those who participated were offered free travel, accommodation and food, access to off-limits war areas and the possibility to interview important military figures.[3] The invitation sent out by the government met with such an enthusiastic response that not all writers who wished to join could be accommodated.[4][5][6] 22 men and two women were flown overseas in September 1938; a smaller group followed two months later.[4] These included Kikuchi, Kume, Yoshikawa, Yoshiya, Fumiko Hayashi, Matsutarō Kawaguchi, Kunio Kishida, Masajirō Kojima and Tadao Kumei.[3][5][7][8]

The subsequently published works by the writers involved were supportive of the war as had been expected,[4] and only very few exceptions dared to present its brutal reality.[3] Tatsuzō Ishikawa's[a] Ikite iru heitai ("Soldiers alive"), which depicted the war in a realistic manner, was censored.[2][9]

In 1942, the Pen Butai was assimilated by the Nihon bungaku hōkokukai ("Patriotic Association for Japanese Literature"), led by Sohō Tokutomi and Kume, and a subordinate of the Cabinet Intelligence Bureau.[1][10]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ishikawa travelled the Sino-Japanese front for the magazine Chūō Kōron, not as a member of the Pen Butai.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b "ペン部隊". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Hutchinson, Rachael; Morton, Leith Douglas, eds. (2019). Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature. Routledge. pp. 128–129. ISBN 9780367355739.
  3. ^ a b c d Brandon, James R. (2009). Kabuki's Forgotten War 1931-1945. University of Hawaii Press. p. 83. ISBN 9780824832001.
  4. ^ a b c Kuroshima, Denji (2005). "Introduction". A Flock of Swirling Crows And Other Proletarian Writings. University of Hawaii Press. p. 8. ISBN 9780824829261.
  5. ^ a b Bradley Horton, William (2014). "Tales of a Wartime Vagabon: Hayashi Fumiko and the Travels of Japanese Writers in Early Wartime Southeast Asia". In Buchheim, Eveline; Futselaar, Ralf (eds.). Under Fire: Women and World War II. Verloren Publishers. p. 40. ISBN 9789087044756.
  6. ^ Cipris, Zeljko (24 November 2005). "Responsibility of Intellectuals: Kobayashi Hideo on Japan at War". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  7. ^ Robertson, Jennifer (2002). "Yoshiya Nobuko: Out and Outspoken in Practice and Prose". In Walthall, Anne (ed.). The Human Tradition in Modern Japan. SR Books. p. 169. ISBN 9780842029124.
  8. ^ Dollase, Hiromi Tsuchiya (2013). "Kawabata's wartime message in Beautiful Voyage (Utsukushii tabi)". In Hutchinson, Rachael (ed.). Negotiating Censorship in Modern Japan. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 9780415520782.
  9. ^ a b Askew, David (28 September 2005). "Living Soldiers/Dying Soldiers: War and Decivilization in Ishikawa Tatsuzo's Soldiers Alive". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  10. ^ "日本文学報国会". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 July 2023.