54
Rumors Following the Kantô Earthquake of the Taishô Era
SATÔ Kenji
1. Perspectives of Life and Death
I would like to start this article with my memory of attending the symposium called, “Sociology of life and death” (21st Century COE project “Establishment of sociology of life and death regarding culture and value of human life”), held on October 14, 2006. The symposium started with the presentation of the main subject “consideration on life and death from a sociological perspective” by Takegawa Shôgo (University of Tokyo), coordinator of the symposium. Nakasuji Yukiko (Aichi University of Education) discussed the culture of death in contemporary Japan, focusing on the difference within the intimate sphere from the standpoint of comparative sociology. Soeda Yoshiya (formerly of University of Tsukuba) took up the massacre carried out during the era of the Soviet Union with the provocative title “Communism and mass death,” pointing out the dark side of “Marxism conducted,” which is greatly different from the ideal “Marxism inscribed.” Ôoka Yorimitsu (Chûkyô University) analyzed the way of praying for the repose of one’s soul and recollection supporting anonymous graves in Sweden to shed light on the “ethos” of elderly care in this country. Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan phone: +81-3-5841-3877, fax: +81-3-5841-8930, e-mail address:
[email protected] *This is a translation of an article in Japanese that appeared in the Shiseigaku Kenkyû, Vol.11 (Death and Life Studies, Vol.11), published by Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo, in 2009.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
55
The three reports seemingly have little in common, yet the topics provided by the respective presenters are suggestive and interesting. I was stimulated by the discussion provoked at the symposium and suggested the following three points as a commentator. Those points, made extemporaneously, but illustrating my own perspectives on life and death studies from my limited standpoint, are also closely related to the materials I will discuss in this paper. Hence, I would like to review the three points briefly now. The Domains of Official/Common/Private and Interpretation of their Effects
My first contribution to the discussion concerned the domain of “thought” and that of “behavior” when talking about issues related to life and death. I presented this contrast, suggesting the necessity of correlating and deliberately considering these two domains. The domain of “thought” is an expression of one’s feeling or inner being, therefore, it is necessary for the understanding of beliefs or religions of the study subjects and the figuring out of the meaning of “death.” Meanwhile, the domain of “behavior” consists of an action and execution made by the study subjects, for example, “visiting anonymous graves” and “praying at family altars.” Since such gestures and behavior are sometimes conducted unconsciously by people, it is not always possible for the actors themselves to explain consciously why they act as they do. Accordingly, one is always required to decipher meanings that have been already forgotten and the work of latent functions. Consideration of these two domains may have been the basic common method for sociology since Durkheim’s discovery of social facts. It is still an important point to be discussed in the present. “Death” as a fact is a philosophical, ethical and religious subject. At the same time, it is a material thing, whose social forms need to be grasped, and their meanings examined. The necessity of the dual domains of “thought” and “behavior” is closely related to the “materiality” of death. This may come from the way of “death,” an event which transpires based on the materiality of the human body. In addition, “death” seems to be essentially a definitive and irreversible momentary event. However, in actual social life, it comes with a certain time filled with specific difficulties such as battling illness and receiving nursing care, involving mixed
56 feelings and a variety of actions of many people. Hence, it has materiality that must be investigated. In this regard, the form of death in our culture should be analyzed and considered as “object.” Handling of the remaining body (“corpse”) impresses the inevitable materiality of death upon us in a more direct manner. It invokes in us a deep and acute feeling which has to be governed by a form of “ceremony.” Accordingly, it is requisite to share a variety of technical knowledge and roles. Viewing, burial, gravestone and family altar are all included in the technical knowledge that accompanies specific “thought” and “behavior.” I cannot discuss this in detail here, but scholars in the fields of archaeology and anthropology have postulated on basis of Neanderthal fossil remains with large amounts of pollen the existence of an action of “offering flowers,” understanding this as an original form of funeral which marked the distinction between human beings and animals. The formation of ceremonies for death, in a way, is a subject closely related to the origins of human society and culture. The tendency today to interpret graves and gravestones simply in terms of the form of the family that enshrines and protects the dead is too simplistic. It is clear such views are derived from the fact that the dividing line between the intimate sphere and the official sphere has become overly simplified, narrowing the perspectives and issues of debate. When the meaning of “gravestones” is questioned prior to the occurrence of this narrowing, the possibility of the “common” and the “official,” exploding the logic of the intimate that has been enclosed in the exclusive sphere of the “private.” In recent years, the domain of “thought” has been enclosed within the sphere of the “private,” therefore, we may conceive the possibility of clarifying the forgotten perspectives of “common” and “official” through the investigation of shown or hidden meaning that is latent in the domain of “behavior.” It may appear a little sudden to bring up the phenomenon of “rumors” which contributed considerable momentum to the cause of the tragedy of a “massacre” and to seek to interpret the structure of modern cities where the massacre occurred. However, in this example, I perceive the effects of complex interactions of the above “private,” “common” and “official” spheres.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
57
Structural Properties of “Abnormal Death”
My secondary comment for the discussion was about “abnormal death,” that is “not normal death.” This is also a category which closely relates to the tragic deaths caused by the rumors that will be discussed in this paper. “Abnormal” death includes a wide range of death on the other end of “usual” death (“regular death,” “normal death”). It partially overlaps with “violent death (Hi-gô no shi).” However, the latter is viewed through the lens of a Buddhist concept, “the theory of the deed as cause and the result as effect” (or karma). Accordingly, it focuses on unwilling or meaningless death caused by unexpected accidents which relates to non-ideal death. The point I was attempting to explore as a commentator was, however, the contrast of structural properties based on the principle prior to such strong implication. I hoped to investigate the multilayered state of “official,” “common,” and “private,” which existed behind my first comment. In simple terms, “normal death” today always occurs in the intimate sphere, which is primarily accidental, sporadic and thoroughly discrete. Death of an intimate person brings much pain and sorrow to those concerned, while it is accepted as an inevitable fact by them with the support of family, relatives, neighbors, and colleagues who organize a funeral. In this way, it is handled in the intimate sphere. On the contrary, “abnormal death” is characterized by senselessness or frustration, which is far from such discrete and ritual acceptance. The feeling of deadly senselessness is not necessarily derived from an unknowable chance or probability. It more likely involves binding power exercised by the system or structure, as symbolized by a mass death due to war, genocide, disaster, and famine. Here lies the potential that “abnormal death” holds as a research object in the study of life and death. One of the typical examples of the system/structure with binding power is war in the modern society. War is a system which forces its constituent members to accept the distribution of death. In the case of “normal death,” “acceptance” of an intimate person’s death is one of the challenges. However, in the case of a war, “allowance” and “justification” of others’ deaths are challenges, whether or not they are intimate. A system of war cannot be established unless the death of others is sanctioned and justified. That is why you are forced to accept your own death as an inevitable matter. The
58 mass death that was a conspicuous feature of wars in the 20th century was due in part to from the increased destructiveness in of weapons technology. However, if you examine the matter more closely, it was also caused by the expansion of egoism and ethnocentrism to the point that they forced, sanctioned, and justified the death of others. For example, behind the rhetoric of exclusion through such labels as “enemy of the people,” “evil,” “heresy,” “dangerous element,” “fascist” or “abnormal,” lies allowance and justification of the death of others. “War” is a circumstance in which the binding power and senselessness of such inflammatory expressions can be clearly recognized. The mechanism of “abnormal death” is common in disaster, famine, genocide and revolutions. A solitary death, seemingly an extremely discrete and individual death, can be also included in “abnormal death” in modern society, because a number of such deaths pass unnoticed, and may be interpreted as unacceptable death caused by a flaw in the welfare system. What should be done here is to figure out the structure which produces an “abnormal death” associated with forced senselessness and false meaning, and find a way to remove such binding power and reform the structure. In this paper, I intend to discuss “abnormal death” caused by the rumors spread during the Kantô Earthquake. However, the structure exposed here is more multilayered and complex than that which can be found in previous discussions. Learning from Others’ Deaths
My third comment relates to imagination concerning “the afterlife.” However, this is a thoroughly material concept rather than a religious perspective of passing away, since it actually means imagination for the society after the “private” — the living body — is lost. In this context, we may be losing imagination regarding “the afterlife” in our society. This is also closely related to the “private,” “official,” and “common” issue discussed regarding the gravestones. Simplification of the borderline/dividing line between the intimate sphere and the common sphere in recent years is also involved. For example, when talking about someone’s death, one often hears the usual term “the bereaved family” and the expressions of sympathy such as “he must have been so reluctant to leave such a
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
59
young child.” Such common expressions concerning the afterlife seem to be circumscribed by the imagination of human relationships based on the private “family” or “blood.” However, this custom of expression based on the feelings of a closed “family” has become insufficient now, when imagining the nature or the function of “the afterlife.” Because the functions of “the afterlife” or “next world” questioned here involve the human imagination of the future or the “common” that continues after death, namely the loss of the “private” self. The imagination of the society where the source of communality exists, relates to the feeling of a wider relationship in which the human beings exhibit interdependence beyond the “private.” The category of “sites of memory” continues to engender a rich discourse on the politics of anniversaries, memorials, and monuments. However, what the sociologists should really consider is the fact that, in the modern society, it has become harder to learn from the various experiences obtained from others’ deaths. It is more a matter of imagination in the exploration of death, rather than of education or policy establishing an enlightened system. Accordingly, the discussion should only start with a reexamination of our daily life that includes an alternative set of imaginings. This is why, in this article, the phenomenon of rumors spread during the Kantô Earthquake is discussed as an escalation of various elements hidden within daily life, not as the strange human behaviors seen in abnormal circumstances. I have also tried to avoid discussion filled with criticism, dogma or didacticism. Sections 2 to 4 below are based on the discussions proposed in February 2008, constituting a revised version of the report first posted by the Workshop Considering Lessons from Disasters (hosted by the Cabinet Office Disaster Prevention Section). Originally at the workshop, Professor . This point touches on the argument about the “grammatical perspective of the person describing the death.” From which personal position is one discussing the death? I remarked about “the death from the first person’s standpoint” and “the death from the third person’s standpoint” in the symposium, however my comments were insufficient. One cannotignore “the death from the second person’s standpoint.” But unfortunately, both then and now, I require further preparation in order to develop more fully such ideas. At this moment, I would propose that “the personal position” of my comment is not the category of grammatical subjects, but the predicament of the discursive space which underlies the constellation of subjects who are forced to consider the issues of death.
60 Hiroi Osamu (University of Tokyo, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies) was supposed to be in charge of this subject of the rumors spread in the Kantô Earthquake. Unfortunately, however, due to his death, I was requested to assist with that topic. Since I obtained a certain amount of knowledge concerning the spread of rumors in 1923 when I wrote my book “Ryûgenhigo” [Satô Kenji, 1995], I gladly accepted the assignment. However, it obliged me to reprocess materials and records of that time, to reconfirm my hypothetical understanding against historical facts. As described below, in practice it is hard to establish the facts. Nevertheless, I would like to consider the mechanism of the rumors which caused the painful “abnormal deaths,” in line with analyses of the sites of that time. 2. The Challenge of Examining “Rumors” as Objects of Study
In the case of the rumors that spread during the Kantô Earthquake, where and when did they emerge? Through whom and how did they travel? While these are factual questions, such facts are very difficult to pin down in a precise manner. Far-ranging retrospective investigation and verification efforts — which demand painstaking pursuit of the subjects involved in the communication process — are necessary to determine times, places, and similar details. Unfortunately, there are as of yet no studies, even of a fragmentary nature, that carefully and case-by-case trace the dissemination process for the innumerable rumors that pervaded the dissemination space of the great disaster of the Kantô Earthquake. Perhaps it is impossible. Even studies that have successfully tracked down the origin and spread of a single specific rumor are extremely rare, the notable exceptions being those concerning “the rumor of female abduction” in Orleans and “the run on the Toyokawa Credit Union (Toyokawa Shinyô Kinko Toritsuke Sawagi).” When we must deal with rumors on a large scale with diverse variations, as at the time of the Kantô Earthquake, the indeterminacy of the lines of transmission necessarily grows exponentially as they cross one another. Re-gathering data is not an option, since there are few people left who have any memory of the era. That it is so difficult to grasp and record the phenomena of “rumors” lies at the very heart of the challenge.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
61
The Difficulty of Detecting Rumors
First, rumors are difficult to recognize and easy to conceal. Recognition is difficult because it is often the case that some bit of information is only clearly revealed to be rumor afterwards. Moreover, concealment is deeply connected to the tendency of participants in the dissemination process to avoid recalling their role after learning that such information was merely a rumor. Most people on the scene are not able to clearly recognize any given “rumor” as a “rumor.” Accordingly, it is very hard to be self-aware in the act of “dissemination,” let alone to consciously formulate any idea of “prevention.” Since it is impossible to predict exactly when a major earthquake might occur, it is difficult to be ready and prepared for a natural disaster, unlike making plans based on a weather forecast. In addition, when a major disaster suddenly strikes the destruction generally encompasses a broad area, with the entire region suffering from extreme tension due to the state of emergency. Under such conditions, it is particularly hard to distinguish between the “rumors” and “information” swirling around the scene of disaster. I will later discuss Watsuji Tetsurô as an example from the Tokyo suburbs, but first I would like to turn to Tsuchida Kyôson, who was living in Kyoto at the time, as he recalled the information environment following the disaster: After the earthquake, I heard many stories that I thought might be baseless rumors. From what I heard, the tallest of tall tales was being spread in Manchuria: “The Kantô region was destroyed by a tsunami, and if you climbed up to Usui Pass, you would see below nothing but a vast stretch of seawater.” It was even said that a newspaper special edition published a story to this effect. I don’t know whether this was true or not, it might have been said to enhance the rumor. However, even among ourselves, there was a rumor going around that the Marunouchi building had collapsed, and thousands of people had been crushed. There are some people, not having gone to Tokyo to see for themselves, who still believe this. So we in the homeland are in no position to laugh at those in distant Manchuria. [Tsuchida Kyôson
62 1924: 5] Thus, in the end, one of the most important characteristics of a rumor is that it is contraindicated by fact (“misinformation” or a “false report”). Yet it is often the case that actual rumors contain many fragments of information that are fact. Because of this composite nature, we can only assess the veracity of the information after collecting, sorting, and checking many facts. While determining whether or not something is a “rumor” might seem easy at first glance, the closer we get in time and space to the site of information dissemination, the more we realize just how difficult it actually is. If there is no evidence to convincingly deny a story, even when it is implausible, it is received as “unconfirmed information,” in which state it can continue to be passed on. There are even times when information that has been definitively denied and rejected at its source is transmitted to another site as unverified new information. It is, moreover, not uncommon that after some time has passed this story returns to haunt the original site of contradiction in the form of whispers, accepted as more credible in the second round. Abnormal levels of growth and transmission in the communication process are also important characteristics of rumors. Yet, once again, it is frequently only afterwards that we can grasp the unusually active growth and transmission levels, together with the broad area of circulation. At the actual scene of rumor transmission, people instead turn to hearsay — “everyone is saying so” or “I heard the same thing from someone else” — as itself a form of proof. It is important to remember that rumor can function in this manner as well. Unfortunately, there is a natural tendency upon learning that something was not factual, and thus definitely a rumor, to dismiss it as a general anecdote about “panic” and “confusion,” without pursuing analysis of why such confusion and mistakes emerged and spread. In most cases, it is set aside as an “abnormality.” Indeed, the afore-mentioned Tsuchida Kyôson conveyed a sense of distance and estrangement when he wrote, “even though only two months have gone by, it feels more like five or ten years,” in recalling the information environment rife with rumors following the earthquake
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
63
[Tsuchida Kyôson 1924: 4]. Tanaka Hisara, magazine illustrator, similarly noted with an air of detachment that, in the midst of the crisis, “the mood had gone from anxious to frenzied … I cannot help but smile bitterly when I recall how we all were so unbalanced, going off the rails” [Tanaka Hisara 1923: 218]. It is generally thought that the tendency toward concealment stems from how often the phenomenon of rumors is connected in various ways to the issue of social discrimination. Pointing out such factors at work is certainly not wrong. However, difficulties in developing a clear picture of what transpired cannot be solely attributed to desire on the part of those who spread rumors to avoid any personal responsibility. Those who were on the scene tend to seal off their experiences in the past because they feel a sense of distance from having been so desperately vulnerable to such information that they can hardly believe it. The Difficulty of Suppressing Rumors
Second, it is hard to suppress and control rumors. Authorities who seek to crack down on rumors are also confronted with thorny problems in targeting and management. To begin with, regulating the “hearing” or “transmission” of information in circulation is very difficult in terms of the technical application of the law. Article 2.16 of the Police Penal Regulations, which dealt with penalties for relatively minor crimes, that is, misdemeanors, served as the legal framework at the time of the Kantô Earthquake. According to the code: “a person who spreads rumors or makes a false report for the purpose of agitating others” was subject to being taken into custody for up to thirty days or paying a fine of up to twenty yen. These terms were stiffened in the “Rumor Control Ordinance,” issued on September 7th as one of various emergency edicts to maintain social order: “a person who spreads rumors or makes a false report for the purpose of agitating others” was to be subject to serving in prison for up to ten years or paying a fine of up to three-thousand yen. However, it is very unlikely that the emergency edicts issued after the earthquake occurred were able to effectively control the myriad rumors that ran rampant in the wake of the disaster. The legal phrase “for the purpose of ” was important for limiting prosecution to deliberate actions and
64 plots to foment social disruption. On the other hand, there was no way of sifting through the overwhelming quantity of facts to establish sharp distinctions, as noted in the police records: “if we adhere to the standard of simply having transmitted rumors, virtually all urban residents were at that time implicated ”[Metropolitan Police Department 1925: 580-581]. In fact, in the information environment of that time, it “planted the seeds of anxiety” [Tsuchida Kyôson 1924: 1] in people who sought to communicate any kind of information, rather than establishing trust in police control. Tsuchida elaborated on this sense of anxiety: “The scope and severity of the earthquake were still completely unclear. Whether family and friends were safe or in danger was utterly unknown. Even though it was a time for sharing even fragments of any communication, if the transmitted information happened to be completely wrong, the Rumor Control Ordinance might be applied if one were connected in any way” [ibid.: 1-2]. He then provided some actual examples of the crackdown: On September 8, the newspaper published the names of several unfortunate people — three beggars, five shop boys, two cart drivers, and two old women — subject to the application of this rumor ordinance. On September 9, the newspaper published the names of those arrested for spreading malicious rumors: Mr. A, shop boy; Mr. B, rickshaw driver; Ms. C, nursemaid; Mr. D, launderer. On September 10, the newspaper noted that rickshaw drivers Mr. A and Mr. B, printer Mr. C, and cart driver Mr. D had been immediately arrested, although it said nothing about what was done with the horse and cart of the cart driver who had been detained [ibid.: 2]. As things were calming down two months later, Tsuchida wrote, “For all that, I wonder whatever happened to Mr. A, Mr. B, and Mr. C, who at the time so unfortunately fell afoul of that law. There has been no word of them anywhere” [ibid.: 4]. While we cannot reach any definite conclusions based on this quick look at the newspaper media, the actual application of these regulations seems to have been rather partial and small-scale in light of the major phenomenon constituted by rumors during the time of the Kantô Earthquake.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
65
While this is jumping ahead a little, rumors need to be understood as misunderstandings and misinterpretations repeated over and over again, as a form of collective escalation, rather than as “demagoguery” intended to incite political turmoil or serve private interests. In order to assess their political character, we need to dig for what is deeply embedded in the everyday, not make forced connections to the participants’ intentionality or scheming. Rumors during the Kantô Earthquake could not be contained within the framework of peace preservation laws targeting intentional plots. Rather, they rapidly spread through layered and overlapping mutual misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and unintended consequences. For this reason, government authority premised on modern law, which regulates and judges crime based on individual intent, necessarily finds it difficult to control and suppress such phenomena. The Difficulty of Tracking Rumors
Third, it is difficult to track down rumors. In Tokyo, the most urbanized region in Japan, that is, the area possessed of the highest population density and most heterogeneous demographics, rumors became an enormous problem during and after the Kantô Earthquake. As I will discuss in further detail later, their circulation encompassed a broad area in a very short period of time. We might see this explosive growth as indicating “simultaneous multiple eruptions” generated by a popular consciousness threaded through with anxiety and discrimination. Of course, more work is necessary before we can arrive at the conclusion of “simultaneous multiple eruptions.” While the operational capacity of mass media, such as newspapers, was gravely damaged, refugees were in actuality also important transmitters of information. Moreover, the movements of such figures as rescue workers, police, and military personnel could be said to have constituted a medium for transmission in this information space. Thus, it is very likely that information was being communicated through multiple channels in the midst of considerable confusion. However, within an urbanized space, transmission via “anonymous” refugees or passers-by soon leads to a deadend when attempting to trace the communication process. Since encountering information of unclear origin was close to actual everyday experience in the metropolis, this did not con-
66 stitute a definitive reason for urban listeners to judge a story to be dubious. This in turn has proved to be an obstacle for researching the dissemination process for rumors during the Kantô Earthquake. At the time, suppression and arrests were accorded a higher priority than research clarity or investigation of cause, and it would be a bit unfair to criticize the authorities for said response on the scene. The records of the Metropolitan Police Department do indicate that some efforts were made: “detailed investigations will be performed to ascertain the origins of the rumors, how they spread, and their actual contents”[Metropolitan Police Department 1925: 478]. However, they soon reached the conclusion that “cracking down on rumor suspects is more urgent than conducting investigations.” When injuries or murder were concerned, there was some possibility of clarifying the “who” and “how” of the process, because as a case for prosecution it became the object of police investigation. Yet there are few cases in which these kinds of materials were disclosed in the form of investigation-level concrete descriptions that we might use. Moreover, when cases were closely connected to rumors, they often turned into collective incidents involving unspecified numbers. At times, the criminal investigation could not determine a culprit, thus constituting a grave challenge for judgment according to modern law. It is possible to read the entries in Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire published by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in July of 1925, as testimony to the inability of the police to effectively collect all the facts necessary in investigating subjects likely to have been involved, even for criminal cases that demanded judgment. The Bureaucracy as a Recording Device
Research on rumors during the Kantô Earthquake must also grapple with the fundamental difficulties described above. We have no other option but to use such remaining materials to get at the actual conditions for rumors, since we cannot now re-survey people who lived through the earthquake. The records of the police as a bureaucratic organization offer useful clues precisely because police stations were located in every region, and thus were able to collect and record information through their dense and extensive communication network, even in the midst of chaos.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
67
Table 1 transforms the “Outline of Rumors” from the “Overview” of Taishô Taishin Kasai-Shi (Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire) into a list in table form. The original materials refer to specific times as far as was known. This first became possible with reports that clearly indicated the time when police stations were called into action. Many studies, such as the 1941 “Studies of Martial Law” [Tasaki Kimitsukasa and Sakamoto Noboru 1997] and the study by the Police Agency [Police Agency 1962], have used this record to examine the spread of rumors. My observations that follow largely draw from the Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire, and my approach is to take a step back and use the whole as a form of social record. Of course, this approach does not assume that the information in these materials is completely reliable, nor is it premised on the correctness of the entries. Moreover, we should not let the more abstract notion of a network make us forget that each police station represented a distinct individual observation point, characterized by a range of stances on rumors and massacres. We must keep in view the potential impact of this kind of individuality as a methodological point, and, if necessary, factor it in as material bias. On the other hand, simply discounting such materials as unreliable because of this admixture of uneven individual characteristics would produce an overly narrow study. Indeed, the records left by police filing reports within their bureaucratic organization shared a fixed format. This commonality distinguishes them from individual experience; they constitute a social record with which we can at least begin our own investigation. From this perspective, we can see that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire constitutes a set of useful and quite valuable materials. 3. The Actual Conditions of Rumors as Seen in Records Gathered by the Police
Materials should not just be quoted only for the specific place where they apply. If necessary, we can control our view by changing the order or arranging it in a table, making the totality easier to understand intuitively and also easier to discern mutual relationships. That kind of procedure it-
68 self is a creative research process. In order to get an overview of the actual conditions of rumors during the Kantô Earthquake, I arranged materials in a number of tables. As I mentioned above, Table 1 showed the outline of spreading rumor, but unfortunately, these materials lack information on the area where each individual rumor was observed to arise. As a result, this gave rise to an understanding of the entirety of Tokyo as a single homogeneous information space. In fact, rumors arise in contexts that are deeply tied to concrete and individual contexts of relatively narrow local societies and their scenes of daily life. For that reason, the mode in which the “Overview” arranged the materials, completely lacking any information on location, means that we must conclude that it is insufficient for use as a resource in rumor studies. Having reached that conclusion, I returned to the same text, to the article called “Controlling Rumors,” which contains reports on activities of each individual police station, and arranged those reports into a new table, Table 2. In other words, the principle of the structure of Table 2 is layered upon Table 1. Entering information for the area under the jurisdiction of each police station, I arranged the entries according to the time in which each was recognized to have appeared. For those individual stations whose reports lacked time data, I augmented the information for those rumors I was able to correspond to the contents of Table 1 and distributed them to the applicable times. One further report in Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire, “List of of Homicides during the Disaster” is valuable material for showing the actual conditions of escalation. This table takes the original reports arranged in the order of the reports from the individual police stations and rearranges them in a temporal order of the times when the rumors were recognized as appearing. The original reports follow the principles for reporting within the bureaucratic system of the police — in a manner that we might call unself-aware. What we are trying to draw out from a bird’s eye view is the movement of the total information space that includes rumors. Organizing the materials to clarify the temporal framework is important as a method for objectification. This is shown in Table 3. Using the data from these three types of tables, let us attempt an overview of the actual state of rumors during the Kantô Earthquake.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
69
The Outbreak and Disappearance of Rumors
First let us consider the outbreak and disappearance of rumors. When did rumors arise? Much of the research to date has treated rumors as if they had already broken out by around 1PM on September 1st. This is based both on Table 1 and on the statement in the “Overview” that “It appears that rumors began circulating in the district around 1 PM on September 1st.” [Police Agency, 1925: 445]. But when we look at reports from individual police stations, it is unclear which correspond to this designation of 1 PM, nor do we know in which areas the outbreak of rumors was first recognized. Among the individual station reports, the earliest is the report from the Hisamatsu station in Nihonbashi-Ku, recording an outbreak in the district around 2 PM. On that point, we must admit that there are a few inconsistencies in the entries of Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire. In any case, within an hour or two of the initial shocks at 11:58 am, rumors had broken out. But at the stage of the afternoon of the 1st, conditions were not necessarily that urgent. For example, at 4 PM on the 1st, the Shibuya station reported that “officers investigated and confirmed that there were no worries among the people and that for the time being they were able to sustain this sentiment.” [ibid.: 1284] The Atago station responded to a 6 PM order from the Police Agency to “gather uniformed and plain clothed officers and have them stand watch at Shibaen Bridge, Shiba Park and other key points” that “in the end there were no incidents, so we disbanded at 7 PM.” [ibid.: 1000] In other words, while the police recognized the outbreak of rumors by the end of the day of September 1st, they did not perceive any danger that would necessitate the continuation of special policing. To augment our understanding of these conditions, I prepared Table 4 which shows at a glance when each police station recognized the outbreak of rumors in its district. According to this table, we see that eight police stations recognized the outbreak of rumors in their districts by the end of September 1st. Within the morning of the 2nd, seven more stations could be added to the list. By the afternoon, it had expanded to twenty-eight stations. However, even in the twelve stations for which there are no accounts of the outbreak or control of rumors, we can presume the existence of rumors from the descriptions in the “Outline of Facts” of investigations
70 of violent crimes at the Nihon-zutsumi Station in Asakusa-Ku and the Tokyo Marine Police Station, if we cross-check with Table 3. There is also no report from the Yanaka Station, but in Recollections of Peace-keeping During the Great Kantô Earthquake (1949), there is a report from the chief of the Yanaka station concerning a rumor of a person who had violated the Peace Preservation Law. So there are contradictions and gaps in the materials that make it difficult to assert, just because we lack entries for 12 police stations, that there were no rumors in those districts or that the district officers did not recognize the existence of rumors. Next is the question of when rumors were “extinguished.” The reports contain phrases such as “at last we obtained a return to peace,” “after several days we achieved the benefits of pacification,” “the people’s hearts and minds finally calmed down,” “those voices subsided,” “there remained no trace,” and “within a day we quieted the district,” revealing that each police station managed to control rumors in its district. The fact that there is a subtle consistency in these phrases is due to the character of the police as an organization. While many do not record precisely when, many record that by around September 5th they had returned to a period of peace (Ômori, Kanda Nishikichô, Nakano, Nippori, Hachiôji, Atago, Mita, Tsukishima, Akasaka Aoyama, Fuchû, Sugamo and so on). On the other hand, there are cases when later dates were recorded — ”Middle of September” (Mukojima, Totsuka, Shibuya), “October” (Setagaya), “Beginning of October” (Kôjimachi). In some cases of over one month, there is a good chance that rumors disappeared once, only to appear again. Returning to Table 1, the entries themselves end on the 4th and the number of entries for the 3rd and 4th is certainly small. This may be due to a notion that there is no need to re-record an issue when it arises multiple times, in other words, it may be due to a change in sensitivity. But just looking at this Table, it gives the impression that rumors disappeared after September 5th. Looking just at the individual station reports in Table 2, however, we see significant recording of rumors from September 3rd and 4th. From the 5th through the 11th, individual stations recognized the circulation of rumors and made efforts to respond. Moreover, with the report summary from September 15th, included in Recollections of Peace-keeping
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
71
During the Great Kantô Earthquake, concerning the investigation of a person at the Yanaka Police Station for a rumor of violating the Peace Preservation Law, as well as the articles in regional newspapers, it is clear that we cannot claim that there was a general demise of rumors around September 5th. The summary reports of the Police Agency end with the entries on the 4th of September because the agency was conscious of its responsibility for issuing orders to individual stations from the 2nd that correspond to such reports as “from the 3rd we promoted the control of self-defense units” (Waseda, Tsukishima, Ôtsuka). In addition the Cabinet issued an order on the 5th and there was a law for the control of rumors — An Emergency Proclamation — issued on the 7th. In fact, as a portion of the police station reports mention, it seems that we should understand that it was only in October that there was finally a state of “inactivity” of the kind described by Edgar Morin in La Rumeur d’Orléans (1980). How Did Rumors Flow?
Next, when did the spread of rumors hit their peak? From the entirety of the records, it appears that it was sometime between the afternoon of September 2nd to the early morning of the 3rd. In both tables 1 and 2, similar rumors were flying about across the different items of location, numbers of people, and methods of attack during that period. We can see that confusion was spreading across a significantly broad area. This corresponds with a variety of accounts, such as the stories of survival that appeared in periodicals after the earthquake. What kind of perspective emerges in the paths of transmission of rumors? Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire, published by the Police Agency, does not give a precise account of the routes of transmission of rumors. One source that touches on the question is the “Addendum (On the Rumors Appearing at the Beginning of the Disaster)” in “Detailed Reports of the Martial Law Office, vol. 3” [Tasaki Kimitsukasa and Sakamoto Noboru 1997]. The Addendum divides rumors into three types: 1. Those located in the Kôtô area 2. Those located in the Western Tokyo area
72 3. Those located within the city limits in general. While considering the site of origin of the rumors, the report also argued, “In sum the rumors from the Kôtô and Yokohama areas may be seen as completely independent, and we may conclude that those in the western portions of Tokyo entered from the Yokohama area. However, the rumors within the city limits in general derived from incursions from both Kôtô and Yokohama, with a portion originating in the well-intentioned declarations of some police officers acting on their own initiative.” [ibid.: 159]. Yoshikawa Mitsusada argues that based on the materials in Recollections of Peace-keeping During the Great Kantô Earthquake the transmission routes of rumors within the city of Tokyo proper may be divided into four lines: 1. Those located in the Kôtô area 2. Those located in the Koishikawa/Ushigome area 3. Those located on the west side of the city 4. Those located within the city in general In addition, he argued “The rumors that emerged from one corner of Yokohama on the evening after the earthquake and fires became the mainstream and quickly flowed into Tokyo, absorbing those rumors that emerged from each part of the city and, like a raging wave, rushed into Chiba, Saitama, Gumma, Tochigi, and Ibaraki prefectures. In this sense, Yokohama may be said to be the source of the outbreak of rumors.” [Yoshikawa Mitsusada 1949: 25]. His reason for adding the category of “Those located in the Koishikawa/Ushigome area” was that the seed of the rumors in Yokohama came from the Rikken Rôdôtô (The Constitutional Labor Party, Yamaguchi Masanori) which had its headquarters here and which took the information brought to it by messengers very seriously. On this point as well, his interpretation places a heavy emphasis on a transmission from Yokohama. As I will explain later, I believe it is insufficient to understand the phenomenon of rumors by this kind of simple theory of transmission. Nevertheless, one can certainly discern a spread of rumors in fact in the “northeast” — that is, the “Kôtô area” — and the “southwest” — that is the “western Tokyo area” — when we rearrange the materials. The overview of violent crimes given in Table 3 may be taken as a compilation of examples of the most painful results tied to the intensification,
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
73
Fig.1 Escalation in the Northeast and Southwest of Tokyo
to the point of murder and injury, within the space of rumor reflected in Tables 1 and 2. On the other hand, this record may be seen as a holdover from the character of the “investigation” that was its basis. It has more detailed information on location than any other report, making it possible to form a rather rushed interpretation regarding transmission and spread. From this we may surmise that the spread and escalation (intensification) of rumors occurred, from the perspective of those areas of damage and loss expanding in the center of the city of Tokyo in the “northeast” and “southwest.” This fact becomes visible in Figure 1. The northeast refers to the area around Senju, Terajima-machi and Azuma-machi. The first item on Table 3, the case of “murder and robbery” at 9 AM on September 2nd appears to correspond to a report of an incident from the Ôji police station. According to that report, “In the area of Ogumachi, something like 20 construction workers had, since the 2nd, come
74 into Kôhoku Village and Nishiarai Village in Southern Adachi district and simply run amuck, stealing food from fourteen farm houses, pillaging, thieving, attacking relief material distribution centers and committing murder, so we immediately investigated on the third.” [Police Agency 1925: 1300]. It is possible that these reports and fragments of information about actual crimes, noted at a relatively early stage, were used as one of the underpinnings of the many rumors of “attacks by lawless Koreans” that spread from the evening to the night of September 2nd. In the southwest, we see in Table 3 incidents of violence on September 2 from 5 PM in Ôsaki-machi and Hiratsuka Village. The incidents of injury and murder on the road in Ikegami Village, South Shinagawa and Ooi-machi may be considered part of the rumor space that emerged in the same direction. Unlike in the northeast, we may consider the existence of refugees from the severely damaged Yokohama as an actual medium of transmission. When compared to Table 2, we see that by 2:00 or 2:30 PM there were already various versions of stories of “arson” from Yokohama or “attacks” coming to Tokyo being told within the district of the Shinagawa police station. As this information was floating about, the end of day turned to night and we can understand that the fears of the surrounding areas continued to grow. The Temporality of Rumors
Table 5 was produced by processing the records of cases of violence in Table 3, dividing them into those that occurred during the day (from 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM) and those that occurred in the night (from 5:00 PM to 5:00 AM) and counting the totals. As one might expect, there were approximately twice as many cases of outbreak of violence at night than during the day. For those living the lives of refugees, the evening was a time of even greater anxiety. Earlier I touched upon the entry in Table 3 regarding the incidents on the evening of September 2nd noted by the Ôsaki Police Station. These were four incidents of violence and attempted murder on the road in Hiratsuka Village. Tanaka Hisara, who I introduced earlier, was a resident of Hiratsuka Village and his short piece in Shufu no tomo, “The Bamboo Spear Commotion” [Tanaka Hisara 1923], gives rich testimony of the atmo-
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
75
sphere of the place and time. Let us take a quick look. “It was an incident just before dusk on September 2nd,” observes Tanaka. “That day my older brother was away and I had gone into town where I bought provisions so that, for awhile, we would not suffer for lack of rice, wheat, miso, soy sauce and canned goods. It was when I put them down on the veranda and heaved a sigh. The alarm bell at the archery grounds began to ring out wildly.” Everyone hastened into the open area where some called out that ruffians were coming and that everyone should flee. “At that moment a ruffian, bearing a bloody sword, seemed to appear in the corner of the open space. I could barely believe it when, of a sudden, ‘bang! bang!’ the sound of gunfire! The alarm bell rang out with abandon. There was no longer any room for doubt.” At that point, Tanaka had the women carry the provisions he had just bought and flee in the direction of Shinagawa. For the time being he decided to stay since many called for the men to not flee. In his heart, he wanted to run, but this feeling was mixed with that brand of male vanity that disdains turning one’s back to the enemy. He made up his mind to stay and gathered with others in a nearby meadow. “I tucked up the skirts of my kimono in my sash and made my hand towel into a head band. I hurriedly made a bamboo spear of about 9 feet in length. In a blink of an eye a peasant uprising had come into being. No matter how one looked at it, it was more an uprising of white-faced, thin-boned office workers, so there wasn’t much to expect of it. The leader, at least, was the real deal: a retired army major who lived nearby. He was a dottering old man who carried an ancient long-handled pestle with an unhurried air. His share of noblesse was a bit impressive, but his forces were, all told, not quite thirty. Considering the number of houses in the area, there should have been more. But when we looked into it, many occupants were single or layabouts. Whatever the case, our unit was the front line of defense for the hamlet and, to tell the truth, it chilled me to the bone.” In time, with anxieties alternately rising and easing from scouts’ reports, they found courage in the movements of police cars and the army and their numbers increased. What is most interesting is the uneasy psychological landscape of the night of the 2nd, when rumors had begun in the evening. Tanaka left the following impression: “The sun set. Without lights, it was a complete black-
76 ness. Only the eastern sky was aglow with the fires still burning, the red light shining on the cheeks and spears of the people. As time passed, the gloom in the air grew.” [Tanaka Hisara 1923: 218-219] This wasn’t just a dark night. It is worth reflecting on the fact that it was an anxious night with Tokyo still burning and the light of the flames visible from afar. On the same night, Watsuji Tetsurô wrote the following from Sendagaya, a suburb, but still closer to the city center. “The flames to the east gradually began to subside and around midnight the redness of the sky dimmed. Around that time I thought that there would be no more fear of approaching fires. But the smoke continued to rise. I only felt completely secure when I could no longer see the color of the fires in the morning, around four o’clock.” [Watsuji Tetsurô 1923: 201-202] It is unclear when Tanaka, who had directed his relatives to flee to Shinagawa, went to meet them. According to the contents of his account, it was unlikely to have been the evening of the 2nd. It may even have been after the Peace Preservation edict was issued on the 7th. He wrote, “I went that evening to meet my older brother’s wife in Shinagawa, but I was challenged everywhere I went by groups with bamboo spears. I barely returned with my life. Shinagawa was still in a greater uproar than Hiratsuka Village.” As he relates, the actual experience of being “challenged” (called to a stop and asked for proof of name and status) was, for both the challenger and the challenged, an experience that let anxiety run wild and increased mutual misunderstanding. 4. Rumor Growth and Propagation
Using actual examples, including those included in the tables, I will reexamine the mechanisms by which these rumors grew and propagated. As mentioned above, the rumor phenomenon cannot be understood as a particular piece of information issued by a clearly definable subject that is transmitted, wavelike, along a defined pathway. Rather, it is more correct to say that information was refracted among multiple, interlinked subjects, which magnified or expanded it, or even radicalized it to the point where it could not be controlled. The Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire issued by the To-
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
77
kyo Metropolitan Police Department is clearly based upon the concept of “the masses,” which had been imported into Japan at the beginning of the twentieth century. It treats rumor as an example of the impulsiveness, vulnerability and gullibility experienced by the so-called “irrational masses” in confusing and unusual situations. Given what we have learned about rumor since then, it is obvious that such a viewpoint is insufficient to explaining the phenomenon. Subsequent studies delved into the role played by the “ambiguity” of information, and determined that there were rules to its “leveling,” “emphasis,” and “assimilation” (e.g. [Allport 1952]). Others saw the rumor generation and dissemination process as what one might call rampant meaning-making born of a proactive effort at “collective problemsolving” (e.g. [Shibutani 1985]). Today, the word “information” is an overly generalized term that encompasses all types of knowledge content. Its original meaning, however, was important knowledge relevant and necessary to rendering a particular judgment or performing a specific action [Satô 2001: 46-50]. It is the latter type of “information” that is wanted in an emergency situation like an earthquake or fire. People who found themselves in this context sought the vital type of information necessary to make decisions that would allow them to survive and sustain themselves. Rumors were not simply misinformation and lies that spread randomly and organically like an epidemic; in one sense they were also the manifestation of a positive subjectivity that sought to deal with the problems at hand. An Information Vacuum
The first necessary condition for the propagation of rumor is a situation in which people feel a shortage or deficiency of information. As is well known, only three of the seventeen major Japanese newspaper offices escaped collapse: Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun, Hôchi Shimbun, and Miyako Shimbun. The surviving three barely managed to issue an extra edition the next day, so until distribution was started up again on the 4th, there were three days of “information vacuum.” Telephone service had been limited primarily to business settings, but this too broke down. Since a shortage of information is linked to anxiety, the sudden failure of the infrastructure that supplied daily information needs was significant. Simi-
78 larly, people had certainly not been conscious of the power of the infrastructure itself. In other words, the fact that they could not read their daily paper or make a phone call felt “abnormal,” and sent the message that they were in an “emergency” situation. It is not enough in this case to simply substitute alternate methods for disseminating correct information, whether by putting up posters or using a megaphone. One cannot ignore the role of the disorienting effect, caused by the collapse of the daily infrastructures themselves, in creating the anxiety necessary to the creation of rumors. Of course, there were some areas where information sharing and a cooperative community spirit still persisted, but Tokyo generally had embraced a huge influx of population; white-collar residential districts were expanding everywhere. That neighborhood connections had grown weaker in most parts of the great city is undeniable. This meant that people did not regularly rely on a neighborhood network to get their information. Because of the suspension of information due to the earthquake, these weakened communication channels were reinvigorated. Nevertheless, it was clear that such channels could not function in the same way in an urban society. Hozumi Shigetô, who lived in the Minami-machi of Ushigome Ward, describes how weak community relationships were prior to the earthquake: “My small neighborhood of 85 households had not changed much; most families had lived there for generations. Even so, there was virtually no sense of community there. It would probably have been different if there had been more shops, but for some reason the area had only a rice merchant and a laundry. Instead, most residents commuted to work; the husbands left early and came back late. It was basically a bedroom community. For that reason no one had any real contact with their neighbors, or even knew their names, for that matter. No bows were exchanged even when they met on the street, but then again, people probably did not know who lived on the same block in any case” [Hozumi Shigetô 1924: 4]. Jikei-dan (vigilante groups), which threatened public order just as did the growth of rumors, were not simply an expression of collectivism or some cooperative group. Rather, they were mobs of strangers, from neighborhood contexts such as that described by Hozumi Shigetô. The two
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
79
worst affected areas in the northeast and southwest of the city, mentioned previously, were also characterized by the heterogeneity that accompanies urban sprawl. In other words, these areas were susceptible to the “mob” phenomenon. The Senju and Kôtô areas in the northeast were absorbing an influx of Chinese and Korean workers. Similarly, the population of Ôsaki and Hiratsuka in the southwest had risen rapidly in response to the many factories that were built there during WWI. The Segmentation and Fragmentation of Information
It is important to realize that while there was an information lack/shortage/vacuum, contexts like those described above were not the proverbial blank slate. Rather, they were spaces in which contradicting knowledge circulated, and within which certain preconceptions and prejudices were already inscribed. Indeed chaos, rather than blankness, was their special characteristic. It was precisely this sort of profusion of disorganized information that served to spark rumors. Time and again, handbills issued by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the Martial Law Headquarters, such as those pictured in Figures 2-1 and 2-2, functioned to stimulate this fragmentary, disunified information space (Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire image 19, “Examples of public notices”). Messages regarding the control of rumors are collected in Table 6, taken from the instructions and notices posted and distributed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and others. While these were somewhat effective in quashing rumors, as discussed below, they could also become the spark for new rumors. The abovementioned recollection from Tsuchida Kyôson, even though the timing is later, shows that the extra editions issued by local as well as external newspapers had a similar rumor-starting effect. Philosopher Watsuji Tetsurô traveled to Tokyo on the 3rd to ascertain that his relatives and friends were safe. In an article written about his visit, “Impressions of the Disaster Area”(1923), he relates: “My whole body trembled with joy when I saw the posters on every street corner, announcing that forty warships loaded with rice were hastening towards Tokyo from Osaka. At the same time, my blood really boiled when I heard rumors of arsonists who had evil intentions toward their brethren” [Watsuji
80
Fig. 2-1, 2-2 Handbills
Tetsurô 1923: 202-203]. While his recollection of the message on the posters is not quite exact, they were probably those disseminated by the publicity department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Must not this simultaneous feeling of great happiness and intense anger have been shared by many of the other disaster victims? If we consider that illegal and lawless behavior caused such violent emotions, one may well imagine the reaction to messages such as that issued to various branches of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police on September 2nd: “There have been some arrests at Yodobashi and Ôtsuka”; or leaflets distributed to the public on September 3rd: “Almost all you heard about lawless Koreans are not right.” These ambiguous announcements could only have increased people’s anxiety, since they do not completely deny the occurrence of illegal behavior. In this information space, fragmentary, short-lived and illogical knowledge was inscribed continually. As another example, we may look at Watsuji’s essay for the interpretation of clouds in the wake of the earthquake. The images of clouds captured in photographs and postcards (see Fig. 3-1 to 3-3) show that they did look unusual. In his essay, he describes how he believed the interpretations of a stranger, and then wavered in this interpretation upon hearing a different interpretation from another stranger.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
Fig. 3-1 Postcard “Suspicious smoke viewed from Yamanote
81
Fig. 3-2 Postcard “Fierce fire viewed from Mitsui House in Banchô
Fig. 3-3 Postcard with no caption
82 After the big quake, Watsuji and his family took refuge in the garden. After the third aftershock, just as they were making preparations to sleep out in the open, he heard “the rumor that Mt. Ôshima had erupted” from “a man who looked like a merchant, wearing a short jacket with a seal.” He writes, “I looked where the man was pointing, and saw an enormous white thunderhead rising from the south. Running all the way to the northeast, at true east it had formed what looked like a mountain range. The white ridge of the cloud stood out beautifully against the clear blue sky.” Since less than fifteen minutes had passed since the first quake, Watsuji thought it strange that the smoke plume could already have reached Tokyo from Mt. Ôshima, “but at the time I couldn’t think of a better explanation for it.” Instead, he was temporarily satisfied with the explanation, thinking that the explosion he had heard from that direction must have been the eruption. However, “shortly after two or so in the afternoon, an even larger thunderhead appeared over Sendagaya in the northeast. Doubting that this too could be smoke from an eruption or explosion, we decided amongst ourselves that it was just a regular rain cloud. Before long, a roar that seemed to be thunder emanated from the cloud.” They continued looking at the cloud, thinking they would have nowhere to hide from an impending rain shower, given that they were too afraid to go back into the house. However, the cloud never moved. And the sound was rather short for a peal of thunder. Indeed, it resembled the cloud they had been told emanated from an erupting Mt. Ôshima. “I went out into the street to check out the situation. I’ve forgotten who I heard it from, but someone told me that the cloud to the south, over Meguro, was smoke from the explosion of a powder magazine. The one in the northeast, I was told, was from an artillery factory that had blown up. A few days later I learned that both rumors were false, but at the time I bought the story about the Meguro explosion right away. It seemed more credible than the story that Mt. Ôshima had erupted.” He was not quite sure, since he had heard the explosive sound after he noticed the cloud, but states that “I was content with this explanation for about an hour.” At three or four in the afternoon, “I went out to a railroad crossing to ask the various people who were coming back from Tokyo about the fires.” An elderly railroad crossing guard told him that there were massive fires
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
83
in Kanda and Hibiya, as well as some in Nihonbashi, Asakusa, Hongô, and Kôjimachi. “So those clouds were smoke from the fires, I realized for the first time, horrified. So those thunderheads were probably smoke from fires. These were serious conflagrations, it seemed.” Even so, he writes that he did not then realize the severity of the fires; that they were even jumping over moats and consuming buildings made of non-flammable materials. “The large thundercloud in the south had disappeared by the evening, and the tall one in the northeast gradually drifted toward the east, getting even bigger. As the sun went down, the bottom of the cloud turned red.” Just like the cloud, which dominated the sky by nighttime and could be seen from anywhere, Watsuji’s interpretations of it changed moment by moment. Most likely people all over Tokyo were speculating about the clouds in the same way, attributing them to arson, eruptions, or explosions of some kind. Watsuji himself concludes his essay without arriving at the real story: “I asked around about what the large cloud to the south had been, but I still don’t really know. Someone said it was smoke from Yokohama, which I suppose could be true.” In any case, what is significant here is not the real source of the clouds, but rather the fact that there was a ready supply of these invented explanations in the post-earthquake information space, and that people temporarily believed them. The Kantô Earthquake, to borrow Hozumi Shigetô’s expression, took people out of the bedroom and “kicked them into the streets.” Now that people were approaching their neighbors with the question, “What a terrible thing. Are you all right?,” new pathways of communication were opened. Communication started, in other words, between normally unacquainted people, within a tense and uneasy atmosphere. Diaries written during WWII include descriptions of how strangers would spontaneously start talking with each other when the air-raid sirens sounded. This behavior resembles Watsuji’s as well, when he left his house and went into the streets, or to the railroad crossing. One can say his actions were an attempt to relieve his anxiety by talking with someone, not just an effort to gain information. Obviously, this sort of communication produces extremely fragmented, contradictory information, thus providing ready fodder for rumors.
84 Producers of Meaning
My third point is that there were many evacuees who had lost their homes. The anxiety of these people, fed by their lack of understanding and a shortage of information, also served to recirculate rumors and thus perpetuate the process. This continual circulation, or rather diffusion/refraction of information, is a key factor in understanding the post-disaster rumor phenomenon. Watsuji, for example, did not come into contact with particularly radical examples of this, but depending on conditions, rumors could cause a collective frenzy. The anxiety of those who had been driven out into the street due to the loss of their homes through collapse or fire made them very receptive to rumors. In his book The Great Kantô Earthquake (2004), Suzuki Jun points out the difference in judgments rendered by the same person during a normal day, and during an emergency situation. Analyzing Shinsai nisshi (Report of the earthquake), by witness and bank employee Somekawa Haruhiko (Ransen), then 44, Suzuki finds that there is a distinct difference between the rational Somekawa at his desk job at the bank, and the bewildered Somekawa after the earthquake who was forced to live for some time in the streets, taking refuge near the train tracks [Suzuki 2004: 191-192]. The earthquake itself was an unpredictable and incredible event, but people did not have enough appropriate knowledge about fires either. One cannot ignore the fact that the many rumors about “arson” and “bombings” sprang from people’s lack of knowledge about large-scale fires. Watsuji Tetsurô, for example, relates that he had never hard of a fire that took more than two hours to extinguish, and was unable to imagine one that could not be put out even after an all-day effort [Watsuji Tetsurô 1923: 191]. One may assume that Watsuji’s story of the woman in the Fukagawa Morishita-chô also reflects a fairly common occurrence at the time. When no major fires occurred on the 1st, after the first earthquake, this woman felt that the worst was over. When a craftsman she knew came rushing over to her home, she even asked him to send a roofer over the next day. Just then, however, “a fire started on the other side of the tracks. Since it was moving so quickly, she could not even grab any belongings” before fleeing. While her home survived nearby fires once, it was destroyed by new flareups originating from a different direction. In this sort of unexpected situa-
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
85
tion, it is easy to see that someone would believe a stranger’s “explanation” that the cause was arson. The circulation of rumors about bombs, like those about arson, were surely sparked by the public’s lack of knowledge about large-scale fires. The numerous loud explosive sounds at the height of the fire were something most people had never experienced before. When Watsuji “first heard three explosions, like cannons, to the south,” it did not occur to him at that moment that these were chemical explosions, which is what they were, but rather: “it seemed to me like some sort of signal” [Watsuji 1923: 191]. Had he voiced such an idea to someone else who sympathized with his claim, they might have launched the type of rumor that sought to explain whose signal it was, or how it was part of some enormous criminal plot, and so forth. But as Ôshima Yoshikiyo, a doctor of engineering, testified: “The people who were around these explosions, which I too witnessed, all thought they were bomb attacks. However, the majority were explosions of underground gas pipes” [Home Ministry Social Bureau 1926: 324]. Uncontrolled Propagation of Interpretations
My fourth point is that rumor is always followed by the intensification of the hearer or reader’s imagination. This uncontrolled process is what complicates the way rumor occurs. This phenomenon is closely related to the second topic discussed above, that is, the fact that the information space is a patchwork of fragmentary and sometimes contradictory knowledge. In other words, a new interpretation about a topic is inscribed upon the “vacuum,” as though to compensate for the lacking information, or to reduce the sense of “cognitive dissonance” (Festinger). Contrary to what is often implied by “democratic version” of rumor theory, it is not only regulatory bodies like the police or the military that supply the information upon which rumors are based. Rather, common people living under abnormal conditions or people displaced by an emergency also supply fodder for rumors. The rumors of “disturbing symbols” described in some contemporary records of the Kantô Earthquake are one such example. Specifically, rumors spread, and were reported to the police, that symbols written on walls or gateposts of houses in white chalk
86 were some kind of secret code for targeted attacks or raids. However, these symbols were actually reminders for milk and newspaper delivery people, or night-soil men. Why did these preexisting scribbled marks suddenly become “secret codes” with a special meaning? The people, thrust into anxiety and fear of the unknown because of the extreme situation, suddenly noticed what they had always passed over before, giving it a new interpretation. The Shinagawa Police Station reported: “the masses, beset with anxiety, are creating their own rumors. We have heard that people are misinterpreting the marks left as reminders by milk and newspaper delivery people and by night-soil men, believing they are codes being used by Koreans planning arson, poisoning, and murder” [Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department 1925: 1233]. Shibuya Police Station had similar reports: “On the same evening [the 3rd], someone submitted strips of paper upon which some sort of code was written, claiming that ‘These are signals written by Koreans planning violent acts.’ And another person gave evidence that they had witnessed a Korean drawing the marks in the Moto-Hiroo area.” Also on the 3rd, according to the records of Yotsuya Police Station, “we received reports from people who believed that the symbols left on houses and street corners by toilet cleaners were, according to their shape, codes for arson, poisoning, bombing, murder, etc.” Examples of other records that mention these supposedly suspicious marks are “Information Related to Koreans,” compiled by the Navy Legal Affairs Bureau [Tanaka and Osaka 1997: 103-104]; a report from the Akabane Gunpowder and Explosives Team to the Navy Adjutant, probably drawn from bulletins issued by neighborhood associations ([History of Kita Ward Compilation Committee 1995: 650]; [Tanaka and Osaka 1997: 110]); and Uchida Ryôhei’s eyewitness account [Kang and Kim 1963]. Pamphlets issued by the publicity department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on September 6th, titled “About marks drawn on gateposts and walls,” were undoubtedly intended to counter such rumors. We cannot just reject such episodes as absurd and unlikely to happen in contemporary times. As Figure 4 shows, precisely the same kind of rumors are circulating in the background of our everyday lives even today.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
87
◆Sticker marking examples and their possible meanings◆ Black Male, Does not listen, Pretends to be out, Taking anticrime measures? etc. White Female, Good reaction, At home, Possibility to make a purchase, Undefended, etc. Red Have a child/children, Off on weekends, Single female, etc. Give a push and get them to buy something, Use other maker’s product, living with Yellow family, etc. Gold Senior couple, Asset holder, always away, etc. Silver Young couple, not financially fit, housewife, etc. The number of stickers can mean the frequency of visit. Some put on stickers of flowOther ers or characters. ◆Sign, letter, and figure marking examples and estimated meaning◆ Couple without a child, off on Good feeling, already purchased, etc. SS ◯ weekend One more push, lack of information? Couple (can be “D”), or a certain C △ etc. rank? ×
No intention. Better to stay away, etc.
B
V
Visited already, Refused, etc.
918
SM
Single male
20
SW
Single female
Ya
With baby, or a certain rank? Away from 9 to 18 O’clock In their 20th or visit/visited on 20th? Related to Japanese Mafia, dangerous people
Fig. 4 Information on the “Meanings” of Stickers Attached to Name Plates
88 Tracing History
My fifth point is that rumors give shape to history that normally goes unnoticed, and which people repress into their sub- or unconscious. My point here is that simplistic theories about rumors as “misinformation” overlook the partially “psychoanalytic,” partially “mythic” nature of rumor propagation. Rumors about well-poisoning, for example, are naturally related to the real-world problem of securing water, a necessity of life. It is quite possible that cholera, a memory from not so long ago, was responsible for mobilizing such rumors. One method for sterilizing well water was by pouring in lime powder. In the late 1870s, there was a rumor that “the cholera epidemic was the fault of doctors and policemen, who were putting poison, or the livers of live patients, in the wells.” A doctor in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture was actually murdered on account of such a rumor. Of course, the ready availability of water in today’s urban spaces would require us to reassess the role of wells back then. Nevertheless, it is clear that the rumor abruptly brought into focus the importance of wells. The combination of wells and poison was probably an inverted expression of the knowledge that water should be sterilized. It is also possible that such rumors arose as an explanation for observations of actual abnormalities, such as the “strange color of the pond at the museum,” “dead fish,” and “strange water color in a well,” recognized by the police at around 6 PM on the 2nd (see Table 2). Security authorities were conscious of the need for sanitation and sterilization at evacuation centers, and were clearly conscious that there could be confusion surrounding their efforts to sterilize with chlorinated lime: “Fearing, in a situation like this, that people would surely associate the sterilization of water sources with the Korean problem, we prepared some handbills and enlisted local youth associations and others to make sure as many people as possible understood” [Tokyo Metropolitan Police Members Association 1923: 60]. In a certain sense, the “Ômoto Sect” rumor that appears in Tables 1 and 2 also draws on past knowledge. Watsuji Tetsurô mentions in his essay “the Ômoto Sect gave us a bit of a scare twenty-three years ago with their prediction of a great earthquake” [Watsuji 1923:183]. Watsuji is referring to Deguchi Onisaburô, who predicted cataclysm and salvation in the year
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
89
1922, based on the writings of the founder of the sect. While such predictions are forgotten when the chosen date passes uneventfully, the fact that his message was spread widely by the media meant that it remained as shared knowledge. Cited in conversations after the earthquake, Deguchi’s story became content for rumor as well. I have speculated elsewhere that the Asahi morning edition issued just prior to the earthquake on September 1st also provided material to expand the rumor space [Satô 1995]. I have reproduced the original in Fig. 5. Particularly striking are the words and phrases “suspicious Korean,” “group of conspirators,” “members of the Suiheisha [a burakumin rights group],” “create a disturbance,” “police sergeant” and “rape.” Very remarkable is the phrase “Three suspicious Koreans arrested. Members of a conspiracy?,” especially considering the rampant rumors regarding Koreans after the earthquake. The phrase “phony detectives have surfaced frequently” in the article “Former police sergeant rapes over ten victims” is also a telling phrase. It is disturbing that this topic overlaps with the widespread rumor, discussed next, that Koreans were disguising themselves as policemen. In the provincial French town of Orleans in the 1970s, rumors rife with anti-Semitism circulated after a woman was abducted [Morin
Fig. 5 Morning edition of Tokyo Asahi Newspaper on September 1st
90 1980]. One cannot ignore the ethnic discrimination and antagonism in the rumors about “lawless Koreans” and “Korean invasion,” which were, like the Orleans case, similarly rooted in the historical realities surrounding colonialist hierarchies and power. Morin argues that the rumor about the woman’s abduction stemmed from a magazine article’s mythical presentation of the story, which was magnified and propagated through the chatter of high school girls. Given this relationship between media, history, and rumor, one may assume that the phrase “suspicious Koreans” probably offered many readers an “opportunity” for interpretation. Urban Anxiety
As my sixth point, I’d like to revisit that aspect of rumor propagation whereby the alienation that is part of urban life is taken to an extreme. How the topic of “disguise” insinuated itself into rumors well illustrates this effect. According to Table 1, rumors about people disguising themselves as police officers had appeared by the 4th. Table 2 shows that at about 9 PM, someone reported to Shitaya Ueno police station this rumor: “In Ueno Park and the fire-devastated areas of Shichiken-cho and Kaya-cho, there are Koreans disguised as police officers who are harassing evacuees. So stay alert when you see the policeman.” This rumor might have emerged earlier, since even on the 2nd the Hongô Komagawa police station had already heard of a rumor (time of report unspecified) about “Koreans with red cloth or a red stripe inside their left sleeves, disguised as policemen and soldiers.” It is likely that the “red cloth” and “red stripe” indicate the blending of socialist imagery into the rumor. On the surface, the rumor certainly emphasizes the idea of intrigue and plots perpetrated by Koreans. However, I argue that the rumor could also indicate a sort of gap between regular citizens/evacuees and the police/military, one that suggests a certain distrust of the latter by the former. The rumor certainly seems to suggest that the people felt the police department and the military were somehow failing to address their concerns. If we consider the rumor an expression of popular antipathy toward these institutions, then there are many similar examples to be found during WWII. There were even cases of policemen themselves being stopped by
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
91
Jikei-dan (vigilante groups) and asked to identify themselves. A report from Ushigome police station records “a rumor today [the 4th] that claims ‘Koreans attacked police boxes in the Shinjuku area. Stealing police uniforms, they put them on and went on a rampage.’ Furthermore, there are people who harbor a distrust of police officers, stopping them on the street to demand they submit to a physical inspection.” The introduction of the “disguise” motif, however, took a more tragic direction, and that was because it opened a channel to the pervasive distrust of strangers. Disguises were not limited only to police officers and soldiers; it was easier to disguise oneself as an evacuee or to pretend to be Japanese. People who encountered the vigilante “checkpoints” that were eventually set up here and there around the city soon faced the difficulty of providing proof that they were not suspicious or potentially dangerous. On the morning of the 4th, writer Ubukata Toshirô returned to the inner city from his evacuation site in the suburbs to check on the condition of his house. On the way, he was apprehended at a vigilante checkpoint. “Hoping to take a shortcut, I took a small path. After a little while, there was a rope suspended across the road, and I was stopped by five or six vigilantes wielding various weapons: wooden and metal swords, spears, and so on. I told them my name and address, just as they asked, and they let me pass without any trouble. There were more checkpoints ahead. After I had finally reached my house, spoken with the neighbors, and taken care of business, I started out toward the suburbs again. I was immediately caught by a vigilante group, basically just outside my house. ‘Where are you going?’ ‘Who are you?’ they all asked me at once; I became a bit flustered. I finally stuttered out my answers while wiping the sweat from my brow. Once I took a closer look, though, I realized they were all neighborhood acquaintances. ‘Goodness, it was you all. Your threatening attitude really confused me,’ I said. One of them, the owner of a variety store, answered me in a serious tone: ‘It doesn’t matter how well we know each other. Today is different’” [Tsurumi et al. 1962: 71]. This particular case ended in a humorous fashion, but one can glean from the police reports that there were quite a few instances where those who could not speak well, or spoke in heavy dialect, were interrogated or even assaulted. Current research has not explored why some Jikeidan (vigilante groups)
92 became dangerous and violent and others did not, but this is an important topic. It begs the question: to what extent were urban people able to overcome that sense of heterogeneity/instability that is characteristic of cities? Surely this deserves further examination. Trauma and Subjectivity
As my last discussion point, I’d like to mention a rumor that, because it did not have to do with damage or crime, is not found in the reports of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and other institutions that maintain public order. This rumor claimed that a crowd had beaten up newspaper reporters and the like who had come to take photos of the disaster. The kernel of truth in this story certainly bears further discussion in contemporary society, where mass media journalism has become so pervasive. In his essay “Ten-sai Boppatsu (Sudden Disaster),” published in Camera magazine, photographer Miyake Katsumi mentions a rumor he heard from a friend: “In Marunouchi, I saw someone who was taking pictures of evacuees get beaten up by a big crowd” [Miyake Katsumi 1923]. Cinema historian Tanaka Junichirô recalls that when the crew was shooting a Nikkatsu production entitled The Great Kantô Earthquake: The Real Story, they encountered “menacing disaster victims who heckled us: ‘So you want to put our suffering on display do you?!’” [Tanaka 1979: 51]. Miyake Katsumi himself observed camera-toting youths who converged from all directions “who came on the pretext of helping out, when really they just wanted to gawk.” Arriving on fully packed buses, “they would lean out the windows looking at the city, exclaiming ‘Wow, cool’ and ‘Fantastic — better than I expected’ and other incredibly thoughtless and insensitive comments.” Angered by this spectacle, Miyake felt that “such people are more reprehensible than profiteers or looters at the scene of a fire, and should be punished accordingly” [Miyake 1923: 514-515]. Watsuji Tetsurô felt similarly when he saw a gentleman, water bottle and camera slung over his shoulder, apparently on a sightseeing trip: “I suddenly felt the urge to punch him” [Watsuji 1923: 202]. These are cases of disaster victims actively criticizing “curiosity seekers” from their own on-the-ground perspective. But their attitude clearly resonates with current criticism of TV and other contemporary mass media.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
93
5. The Issue of “Publicity” as “Syndrome”
Rumors that appeared after the Kantô Earthquake produced the tragic result of the mass mortality of Korean “Others.” Here I have discussed the mechanism by which this occurred in urbanized districts on the periphery of Tokyo. There could be different contexts to additionally discuss regarding the massacres in Saitama and Chiba prefectures led by rumors spread due to the movement of evacuees along the railways and major roads. In any case, it is true that the tragic results of this incident made security authorities aware of the importance of rumor control in the 1930s and 1940s. Sociologist Shimizu Ikutarô published a book titled “Ryûgen-higo (Rumor)” in 1937, the foundations of which probably lay in his own experience as an earthquake victim. I think, however, we should not overlook the fact that acts of problemsolving at the level of the “common,” spilling over from the domain of the “private,” are interwoven in the rumor phenomenon itself. This is the difficulty I discussed at the beginning. It bears noting again that as in the case of the neighborhood associations (chônaikai) that formed after the earthquake, which had the character of contemporary NGOs, in an urban local society that was becoming increasingly privatized, the working and the experience of mutual aid at the residential neighborhood level held within them the power to construct a public that could open that private space to the space of neighborly interaction. What we must ask today is why that potential did not develop further while retaining the reach of the “common.” I have no ready answer here, but this dilemma of the common was accelerated by the responses to rumor, which then saw practical applications after the earthquake, and would subsequently appear in the same form as radio opened a new era in mass media. Wireless radio broadcasting was started by the United States in 1920, followed by fifteen countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, the Soviet Union, and France. “Newspaper companies noted the speed and simultaneity of radio, which were excellent advantages for journalism, and all of them started to introduce and promote radio to the public at the same time from about 1922, when the government initiated a detailed study of
94 radio broadcasting” [Takeyama Shôko, 2002: 13]. At the Tokyo Peace Exposition in Ueno Park in 1922, an experimental broadcast of gramophone music from the roof of the Asahi Newspaper Corporation in Kyôbashi made news when it was successfully picked up by a receiver on the Exposition site. The Kantô Earthquake occurred in September 1923, in the midst of increasing interest in the new medium of radio. According to Takeyama, “this caused people to think that radio might have prevented the panic caused by rumor propagation, and requests to start broadcasting rapidly increased” [ibid.: 15]. As a result of reports of the earthquake damage sent to Osaka and to the United States by wireless, relief goods arrived quickly, impressing upon people the effectiveness of wireless technology, as Niina Naokazu, a standing director of initial Tokyo Broadcasting Station recalled [ibid.: 29]. Due to increasing demands to start radio broadcasting, which was referred to as the “wireless phone,” the Ministry of Telecommunications officially announced the Broadcasting Facility Wireless Telephone Regulations, which confirmed incorporation, in other words, management of radio broadcasting by a private company, on December 21st. However, when radio broadcasting began in Japan in 1925, the Ministry of Telecommunications, which administered the public utility corporation, took control of the management of the broadcasting station. Takeyama writes: “All of the contents of broadcasting were under control of the Ministry of Telecommunication, the supervisory authority. Not only that, management, organization, and personnel matters of top management could not be conducted without obtaining approval from the Ministry…. Japanese radio broadcasting business was set in this frame from its beginning, and the vitality in programs that existed in the experiments of newspaper companies disappeared, replaced with rigid contents.” It thus followed a state-official path of development. Studies in the social history of radio (e.g. [Mizukoshi Shin 1993]) have shown that in the early stage of radio, not only receivers but broadcasting functions were part of the plans for technology development and diffusion. In this sense, the translation term “wireless phone” was not a mistake or misunderstanding. However, Murobuse Kôshin, a writer of the time, contrasted the culture that the newly started radio broadcasting created with
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
95
communication by telephone wire, sharply criticizing radio’s “collectivism” for the “dictatorial” and “autocratic” elements it contained. Whether you want or not, there comes a voice. The voice is onesided like all voices that issue orders. Radio makes everyone a listener. The masses are listeners. They are not individual listeners. They are a group of listeners like the audience in a hall for speech. Furthermore, they are not voluntary listeners, free to leave the hall. (Murobuse Kôshin, “Rajio bunmei no genri” (Principles of Radio Civilization), Kaizô, July 1925 edited by [Tsurumi 1962: 211]. Even though it was one-sided and monopolistic, the radio had the power to spread information immediately through a wide area, which gave it great potential, exceeding the reach of the newspapers, which had been interrupted by the earthquake. People held high expectations for wireless broadcasting, believing it could distribute correct information simultaneously as a remedy to rumors that were difficult to control. Unfortunately, however, the radio medium’s vocal transmission risked creating a massive collectivity that had never existed before, one that would follow the lead of a “common” based on sentimental communality of resonance and sympathetic vibration. The structural problems embodied later in “Announcements from Imperial General Headquarters” were already latent within the form of radio as a mass medium. We can find the dilemmas of the “common” present there as well. How to maintain or create a common domain is a major challenge in considering frameworks of human society. A “society” is not as continuous and permanent as many sociologists suggest; it is a fragile and precise system of mutuality. A full treatment of their development would require another study, but the “official,” “common,” and “private” I have used as a frame here can be organized as shown in Fig. 6. On one hand, there is the systematizing and standardizing sphere of state instruments that constitute the “official,” while on the other there is the site of individuals, which localizes, personalizes, and fragments. The individual’s right not to be interfered with in the private domain is the foundation of democracy in a sense, and this led to the modern nation states
96
Fig. 6 Constellation of perspectives of “official” “private” and “common”
that developed in tense mutual dependence following the formation of the state system. However, in contrast to previous “civil society” theory (which tended to set the value of the individual in too universal and fixed a way), a new perspective is now emerging that reconsiders “society” dynamically, taking the position that the norms and divisions of official and private are themselves continually being rewritten. This is also a question of how to conceive the domain of the “common,” as well as an inquiry into the ways that it is realized. I have focused in this essay on rumors, which tend to be generalized retrospectively as “erroneous reports,” “prejudice” or the disorder of the “crowd.” Yet, as I have attempted to illustrate, if we return to consider them in their context, we find a problem-solving subjectivity compelled to exceed the bounds of the private. We also find the dilemmas of the “common.” Simply stated, rumors are neither a product of an unbelievable, foolish abnormal psychology nor a disease caused by prejudice and discrimination. Spread of rumors is a “syndrome” in which a mechanism lying hidden in daily communication is activated and grows under a crisis situation such as a disaster. Thus, we need to seek the causes of the disease, which may be widespread, in the social structures of daily life. This article offers a case study of one such historical example.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
97
Reference (by publication year) Tanaka Hisara, 1923, “Take-yari Sawagi (Bamboo lances disturbance),” Shufu-no-Tomo, Vol. 7, No. 10, Sufu-no-Tomo-Sha. Miyake Katsumi, 1923, “Tensai Boppatsu (Outbreak of natural disaster),” Camera, October issue, ARS. Watsuji Tetsurô, 1923, “Chii Inshô Ki (The Impression of Catastrophic Scene),” Shisô, No. 25, Iwanami-Shoten. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Jikeikai (the Association of Police Members), ed., 1923, Jikei, Vol. 5, No. 51 (November issue), Jikeikai Magazine Department. Tsuchida Kyôson, 1924, Ryûgen (Rumors), Konishi-Shoten. Hozumi Shigetô, 1924, “Chôkai to Jichi-sei (A Neighborhood Association and the system of selfgovernment),” Chôkai Kiyaku Yôryô (Guideline of the Statute of Neighbourhood Association), Tokyo-Shiyakusho (City Hall). Keishi-Chô (Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department), ed., 1925, Taishô Taishin Kasai Shi (Records of the Taishô Great Earthquake and Fire), Keishi-Chô. Naimu-Shô Shakai-Kyoku (Department of Social Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs), ed., 1926, Taishô Shinsai Shi (Records of the Taishô Earthquake Disaster), Vol. 1, Naimu-Shô Shakai-Kyoku. Yoshikawa Mitsusada, 1949, Kantô Dai-Shinsai no Chian Kaiko (Recollection of Peace-keeping During the Great Kanto Earthquake), Houmu-Fu Tokubetsu Sinsa Kyoku (Special Board of Review, Minister of Justice). G. W. Allport and L. Postman [trans. by Minami Hiroshi], 1952, Dema no Shinri-Gaku (The psychology of rumor), Iwanami Shoten. Keishi-Chô Keimu-Bu (Security Department of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department) and Jieitai Tôbu Hômen Sôkan-Bu (Eastern Army of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force), 1962, Dai-Shinsai Taisaku Shiryô (Measures against Earthquake and Fires Disasters), Security Department of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Tsurumi Shunsuke, et al. ed., 1962, Nihon no Hyakunen 5 Shinsai ni Yuragu (One hundreds of years of Japan 5 Disaster), Chikuma Shobô. Kang Duk Sang and Kim Sun Tan, ed., 1963, Gendaishi Shiryô 6 Kantô Dai-Shinsai to Chôsenjin (Modern history 6 The Great Earthquake Disaster and Koreans), Misuzu Shobô. Tanaka Junichiro, 1979, Nihon Kyôiku Eiga Hattatsu Shi (History of Development of Japanese Education Movie), Katatsumurisha. Edgar Morin [trans. by Sugiyama Mitsunobu], 1980, O-ru-re-a-n no Uwasa (La Rumeur d’Orléans), second edition, Misuzu Shobô. Tamotsu Shibutani [trans. by Gotô Masayuki], 1985, Ryûgen to Shakai (Rumors and society), Tokyo Sôgensha. Mizukoshi Shin, 1993, Me-di-a no Seisei (Genesis of Media), Dôbunkan. Kita-Ku Shi Hensan Iinkai (Editorial Committee of North-Ward History), 1995, Kita-Ku Shi Shiryô Hen: Gendai 1 (Materials of North-Ward History: Modern age 1), Kita-Ku. Satô Kenji, 1995, Ryûgen-Higo (Rumors), Yushindô Kôbun-Sha. Tasaki Kimitsukasa and Sakamoto Noboru, ed., 1997, Kantô Dai-Shinsai Seifu Riku-Kaigun Kankei Shiryô (Historical Documents of Government, Army and Navy in the Great Kantô Earthquake), Vol. 2, Nihon Keizai Shinbun-Sha. Tanaka Masataka and Ousaka Hideaki, ed., 1997, Kantô Dai-Shinsai Seifu Riku-Kaigun Kankei Shiryô (Historical Documents of Government, Army and Navy in the Great Kantô Earthquake), Vol. 3, Nihon Keizai Shinbun-Sha. Satô Kenji, 2001, “Jôhô e no Sogai (Alienation of/into information),” Nihon Bungaku, Vol. 50, No. 4. Nihon Bunngaku Kyôkai (Association of Japanese Literature). Takeyama Akiko, 2002, Ra-ji-o no Jidai (Radio era), Sekaishisô-Sha. Suzuki Jun, 2004, Kantô Dai-Shinsai (The Great Kantô Earthquake), Chikuma Shinsho.
98 Table 1 Outline of the spread of rumors described in the Taishô Taishin Kasai-Shi (The citations have been abbreviated while maintaining the content.) Sep. 1st
2nd
Around 1 PM ・Mt. Fuji has erupted and remains active. ・A tsunami will hit Tokyo bay. ・Additional huge aftershocks will occur. Around 3 PM ・Some socialists and Koreans are committing arson. Around 10 AM ・“Lawless Koreans” will descend on communities. ・Fires last night were due to arson by “lawless Koreans” or bombing. ・A violent Korean mob is hiding in a certain shrine. ・Several thousands of Ômoto Sect believers have conspired and are headed to Tokyo Around 2 PM ・Prisoners released from the Ichigaya Prison are hiding in a rural area and have planned to start fires at night. ・Some 200 Koreans have created mayhem, robbed and started fires in Kanagawa Prefecture. They will descend on Tokyo. ・Some 3,000 Koreans crossed the Tama River and have clashed with residents. ・The massive fire in Yokohama was caused by Korean arsonists. Robbery, sexual assaults and burning and destruction. Youth groups and veteran groups have been stifling them in cooperation with police. ・Several tens or several hundreds of Koreans are heading to Tokyo from Yokohama. ・Nearly 2,000 Koreans armed with guns and swords have already crossed Rokugô railroad bridge. ・Armies have placed machine guns on a bank of the Rokugô River to prevent Koreans from heading to Tokyo in cooperation with veteran groups and young men’s associations. ・The Koreans who had their march to Tokyo disrupted, switched their direction to Yaguchi. Around 3 PM ・Mr. X living in Zoshigaya was arrested by citizens while attempting to set fire to Mr. Y’s house in Mukaibara. Around 4 PM ・Koreans who have planned to attack the Otsuka powder magazine are gathering at the magazine. ・Koreans descended on Haramachida and are fighting with youth groups. ・Some 200 of Koreans descending on Haramachida, invaded Aihara-katakura-mura, looted farmhouses and killed women. ・Approximately 200 to 300 Koreans came from Yokohama to Mizonokuchi and started a fire. They crossed the bridge of Tamagawa-Futago and are heading to Tamagawara. ・Koreans attacked the Meguro powder magazine. ・Koreans killed women in Tsurumi. Around 5 PM ・Some 110 Koreans gathered around Yotsugibashi in the district of the Terashima police department. They repeatedly yelled that a tsunami was coming and committed outrageous attacks with lethal weapons and some of them started a fire.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
3rd
4th
99
・A certain Korean followed by many residents from Totsuka threw poison into a well near the terminal station of the Otsuka train line. Around 6 PM ・Koreans had planned riots, but they changed their plan due to the earthquake. They are intending to destroy Tokyo by using prepared bombs and deadly poisons. It is dangerous to drink well-water or eat food. ・The change in color of the water in the well in front of Ueno Seiyoken was due to poisoning. Abnormalities were found in the water in the wells of Ueno Park. The color of the water in the pond of the museum changed and goldfish there were all dead. ・Two Koreans who threw two bombs at Matsuzakaya store in Uenohirokoji were arrested. They had two bank bills that they recieved from socialists. ・The burning of Ueno station was caused by two Koreans who poured petroleum from a beer bottle. ・Some 200 Koreans descended on Sendaizaka in the district of the Shinagawa police department. They are pillaging with swords and are battling with neighborhood security. ・Some 200 Koreans are coming from Zoshiki in the district of the Nakano police department to Yoyohata. ・Some 60 Koreans raised a riot in Yoyogiuehara. Around 7 PM ・Several hundreds of Koreans invaded the district of the Kameido police department and are committing outrageous acts. ・Some 40 Koreans descended on Ôwada Bridge from Nanao-mura in the district of the Hachioji police department and are fighting with youth groups. Sounds of gunshot are heard repeatedly. Around 1 AM ・Some 200 Koreans who came from Honjomukojima attacked Dai-Nippon Spinning Company and Sumida Railway Station. Around 4 AM ・Several hundreds of Koreans will descend on Ueno Park from Hongoyushima. Evacuate to Yanaka. No need to bring any personal belongings. Necessities will be brought by the rich. Around 10 AM ・Thirty armies headed to Tsukishima to suppress riots by Koreans. Around 3 PM ・When Koreans are released from police departments, capture and kill them immediately. Around 6 PM ・Koreans threw poison in wells in Tokyo city. Around 9 PM ・Koreans whom a member of a youth group caught and brought to a police department were immediately released. ・Beware of Koreans who are disguised as policemen in Ueno Park and burned-out fields.
100 Table 2: Reports of rumors from various police department included in the Taishô Taishin Kasai-Shi Sep. 1st
2nd
Around 2 PM “A tsunami is coming....” (Nihonbashi·Hisamatsu) Around 4 PM “The fire of the building of hygiene products in Mitasankou-Chô, Shiba Ward is approaching the next power magazine of the department of the army. When the powder magazine explores, the surrounding area will be damaged, therefore residents near the area should be evacuated right away.” (Shibuya) “A rumor that the Koreans commited arson was rampant in this district….” (Ôji) Around 6 PM “At this time, a rumor of Koreans’ assault spread in the district first….” (Atago·Shiba) “A person started a fire at Kamitotsuka, Totsuka-machi….” (Yodobashi-Totsuka branch) Around 8 PM “A rumor of assaults by Koreans spread in this district….” (Komatsugawa) Not Specified “In the early evening, 2 Chinese, 4 Koreans and 5 Japanese were given shelter; some had asked for protection at the police station; some were detained by police officers….” Evening (Soto-Kanda·Kanda) “Rumors first started to spread in this district….” (Soto-Kanda·Kanda) “Koreans are not only setting off bombs in an attempt to destroy the city of Tokyo, but also are planning to poison people….” (Sugamo) Around 5 AM “A strong earthquake will occur again….” (Tomisaka·Koishikawa) “A rumor of acts of arson by Koreans first occurred in this district….” Before dawn (Yodobashi·Totsuka) Around 10 AM “There is a bill at the war college saying that ‘a strong earthquake will occur at 1 PM and lawless Koreans will descend on’….” (Kagurazaka·Ushigome / Yotsuya) “Lawless Koreans start a fire, spread poison or have bombs….” (Waseda·Ushigome) “One man came to our police department and claimed,‘Most of the fires in downtown area yesterday were due to arson by lawless Koreans. Immediately make veterans set up guardposts.’….” (Waseda·Ushigome) “The fires are set by Koreans and socialists….” (Yodobashi) “Koreans come to rural areas in the suburbs of Tokyo and about to set a fire….” (Nakano) Around 11 AM “Four Koreans who started a fire were found in Waseda, two of whom ran away from Toyamagahara to Ôkubo….” (Yodobashi) “Someone posted a notice on the walls of the Military College on the morning of September 2nd, which read, ‘A strong earthquake will occur’ and ‘Lawless Koreans will descend on’….” Morning (Yotsuya) Around 12 PM “A tsunami is coming….” (Aioi·Honjo) “Lawless Koreans committed violence or planned to attack weapon warehouses….” (Ôtsuka·Koishikawa) Around 2 PM “Rumors of violence by Koreans spread….” (Motofuji·Hongô)
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
101
“Most of the large fires are due to arson by lawless Koreans. Many people arrested Koreans who set fires in Akasaka, Aoyama and Fukagawa….”(Komagome·Hongô) “Koreans threw poison into wells….” (Komagome·Hongô) “Prisoners released from Ichigaya prison are hiding in Yamanote and rural areas and are planning to set fires at night….” (Ôsaki·Shinagawa) “Most of the fires in Tokyo and Yokohama were caused by lawless Koreans….” (Fuchû) Around 2:30 PM “Many of the fires in Yokohama were due to arson by lawless Koreans. They have got together and looted everywhere. They have raped, done violence and tried to burn all of the buildings remained. Youth groups and veterans have been defending the area in cooperation with police departments. The Korean groups are heading to Tokyo, comprised some tens or some hundreds members. Residents in Kanagawa, Kawasaki and Tsurumi are now on the alert....” (Shinagawa) “About 2,300 Koreans have been coming to Tokyo with guns or swords from Yokohama….” (Shinagawa) “About 2,000 Koreans have crossed the Rokugô railroad bridge….” (Shinagawa) “The armies set the machine guns to prevent Koreans from invading Tokyo at the bank of Rokugô. Many veterans and youth men’s groups are assisting….”(Shinagawa) “Koreans were repelled by army units at the Rokugô river, but they are now heading to Yaguchi and Tamagawa….” (Shinagawa) “Fires in Tokyo and Yokohama were caused by bombs in conspiracy with Koreans and socialists….”(Shinagawa) “People became frightened because they believed that the marks left as reminders by milkmen, newspaper delivery people or night-soil men were the secret codes for Koreans to set a fire, killing or spreading poison….” (Shinagawa) Around 4 PM “The Korean arson groups will descend on Aoyama….” (Aoyama·Akasaka) “A strong earthquake will occur again….” (Aoyama·Akasaka) “The rumors of violence by Koreans have newly occurred….” (Hisamatsu·Nihonbashi) “Some 300 lawless Koreans descended on Minami-Senju, and are about to start fires on Asakusa Kannon and fields in Shintani-Chô….”(Kisakata·Asakusa) “Some hundreds of Koreans who are coming to Tokyo attacked Tsurumi in Kanagawa Prefecture, threw poisons in wells, started a fire or looted.” (Ômori) “About 2,000 Koreans did violence in the district of Setagaya police department and now are coming to our district….” (Shibuya) “Many Koreans descended on to Haramachida and have been fighting with young men’s associations and veterans….” (Hachiôji) “About 150 Koreans from Haramachida invaded Aihara-Chô, then entered Katakuramura and killed women….” (Hachiôji) “About 200 Koreans are heading to Yugi-mura from Haramachida….” (Hachiôji) “About 40 Koreans came from Nanao-mura to Yamato-bridge and are fighting with young men’s associations. We hear the sounds of gunshots repeatedly….” (Hachiôji) Around 4:30 PM “ From Ôsaki, a lot of lawless Koreans are descending on….” (Takanawa·Shiba) “Mr. X living in 1-chôme of Denmachô was misidentified as a Korean and shot at 2-chôme of the same neighborhood. He was badly injured….” (Yotsuya) “Some 2,300 lawless Koreans set fire to Mizonokuchi in Kanagawa Prefecture and already crossed the river at the Futako ferry in Tamakawa-mura….” (Setagaya)
102 Around 5 PM “A rumor that lawless Koreans are doing violence….” (Roppongi·Azabu) “Lawless Koreans congregated around Yotsugi Bridge and are doing violent acts....” (Terajima) “Some hundreds of Koreans who attacked Tokyo are setting fires in the rural areas around Tokyo and now coming to our district….” (Fuchû) “A strong earthquake will occur again….” (Ôme) “Mr. Kobayashi X was misidentified as a Korean, and just about to be harmed by a group of people in Shirokanedai-Chô, policeman told that he was not a Korean and saved….” (Takanawa·Shiba) “According to a driver, some 200 Koreans committed homicide, robbery, or arson in Mt. Terao in Kanagawa Prefecture and gradually they were approaching Tokyo….” (Ôsaki·Shinagawao) “About 3,000 Koreans already crossed the Tama River and descended on Senzokumura and Nakanobu now….” (Ôsaki·Shinagawao) “In conspiracy with socialists, Koreans attacked Hachiôji-city and they are now coming to our district together….” (Ômeitsukaichi) “Koreans will set fire to many still-standing houses in Yamanote tonight, since they intend to reduce the entire city of Tokyo to ashes….” Afternoon (Waseda·Ushigome) “Rumors such as assaults by Koreans are prevailing….” Afternoon (Itabashi) “From Yokohama, lawless Koreans are descending on the district to start fires with bombs or to kill the people by poisoning wells….” Afternoon (Yotsuya) Around 6 PM “The staff of our police department went to Hibiya Park and found that rumors of violence by Koreans were spreading….” (Nishiki-Chô·Kanda) “Koreans and others who had already planned to destroy the city of Tokyo, taking advantage of the confusion of the Earthquake, started fires by arson or using bombs, and threw poison into water or confectioneries to kill people….” (Ueno·Shitaya) “The change of color of the water in the well in front of Seiyoken in Ueno Park is due to poison….”(Ueno·Shitaya) “The color of the water in the pond of the museum changed and all the fish have died ….”(Ueno·Shitaya) “Two Koreans were arrested in the act of throwing bombs in Matsuzakaya kimono shop in Uenohirokoji. They had two 100-yen bank notes provided by socialists….” (Ueno·Shitaya) “Matsuzakaya disappeared due to bombs thrown by Koreans. Two Koreans, who started a fire in Ueno station using petroleum in ale bottles, were beaten to death by the station staff….” (Ueno·Shitaya) “Some 200 lawless Koreans are heading to Yoyohata from Zôshiki within the jurisdiction of the Nakano police department….” (Yodobashi) “About 60 Koreans are doing violence in Yoyogi-Uehrara….” (Yodobashi) “Some tens of Koreans are descending on Haijima-mura….” (Ôme) “A group of Koreans is heading to Fussa-mura from Hachiôji….” (Ôme) “Koreans have thrown bombs at various places to set fires….” (Ôme) Around 6:30 PM “A certain person was given a warning from the manager of Shinagawa station, that socialists and Koreans are involved in a conspiracy to poison wells….” (Takanawa·Shiba) Around 7 PM “A rumor of Koreans’ rampage spreads….” (Nishikanda·Kanda)
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
103
“Many lawless Koreans are coming to our district….” (Omote-Chô·Akasaka) “About 100 Koreans invaded our district and committed robbery, assault, and homicide everywhere….” (Kameido) “A rumor of Koreans’ attack spreads….” (Fuchû-Tanashi branch) “300 Koreans are rushing from Umayabashi….” (Aioi·Honjo) “300 Koreans descended on to Takaido and Izumi-mura and did violence….” (Nakano) “About 300 lawless Koreans already destroyed Minami-senju and are now invading our district….” (Senju) Around 8 PM “Several tens of Koreans are descending on Monzennaka-Chô….” (Nishihirano·Fuka gawa) “Koreans started a fire using bombs, comitted robbery, and also raped or spread poison everywhere….” (Nishihirano·Fukagawa) “The dead fish in Kiyosumi Park is the result of poisoning by Koreans….” (Nishi hirano·Fukagawa) “A rumor of assaults by Koreans reached this district for the first time….” Evening (Hibiya·Kôji-machi) “Dr. X, a professor of the Imperial University, was mistaken for a Korean, and was in immediate danger of harm near the Meiji shrine. He managed to be rescued by a police officer….” Evening (Aoyama·Akasaka) “Someone notified the police urgently that a Korean was in the closet of a person living in 5-chôme of Kitamachi. The police investigated the closet and found some burnt raxa [heavy woolen] cloth. The owner had picked it up while evacuating for protection against fire and brought it home from the street. Because of the smell from this cloth, the neighborhood jumped to the erroneous conclusion that a Korean had tried to start a fire….” Evening (Aoyama·Akasaka) “Some Koreans have committed extreme violence, not only setting fires with bombs and killing the people by throwing poison into wells, but also robbing and raping….” Evening (Minamimoto-machi·Akasaka) “Koreans are descending on….” Evening (Aioi·Honjo) “Koreans have started a fire, robbed and raped, taking advantage of this disaster….” Evening (Mukojima·Honjo) Around 10 PM “50 Koreans are descending on. Be careful….” (Aioi·Honjo) “Mr. X who came to this district from Shinagawa was surrounded by a neighborhood group of vigilantes, being mistakenly regarded as a Korean. Although a member of the police department tried to protect him, the group was enraged by it. The police officer was badly injured; however the person was finally rescued by the use of arms....” Night (Atago·Shiba) “There was a rumor that ‘strong fires had already spread to Shichiken-Chô, Ikenohata of Shitaya ward this night and the fires were coming to Nezuyaegaki-Chô; therefore, this district would surely burn down’....” Night (Komagome·Hongô) “Koreans with red cloth or a red stripe inside their left sleeves, disguised as policemen and soldiers. Female Koreans disguised as pregnant women hiding bombs in their bodies….” Night (Komagome·Hongô) Not Specified “Various rumors such as arson, bombing and poisoning have increased….” (Atago·Shiba) “The socialists are planning to burn the train depots taking the opportunity of this chaos in Tokyo….” (Sugamo)
104
3rd
“All kinds of information such as spreading poison, throwing bombs, homicides and robbery were widely carried out after September 2nd….” (Ôji) “A rumor of assaults by Koreans is spreading....” (Minami-Senju) 12:00 AM “Poisons are scattered in drinking water....” (Mukôjima·Honjo) “The plan to set a fire to the warehouse of Hazama Bunshichi, oil wholesale dealer in Ukechi-machi, exists….” (Mukôjima·Honjo) Around 1 AM “From Honjo-Mukojima, about 200 Koreans are attacking Dai-Nippon Spinning Company and the Sumida Railway Station…. ” (Minami-senju) Around 3 AM “Mr. Okawa’s house provided for evacuees was attacked….” (Mukôjima·Honjo) “After they passed through Ohata in the Terashima police department, they are descending on our district from Azuma and ukechi….” (Mukôjima·Honjo) Around 4 AM “A man said that fires were not easily extinguished, and many Koreans were descending on here from Hongô and Yushima, so immediately evacuate to Yanaka district. He told everyone not to bring household goods since the rich would distribute them later. People distrusted the man and he disappeared. He appeared at Ryoun-bashi and made the same propaganda. He was finally arrested by a police, who was a socialist and had bank bills of 60 yen and 3 cigarettes.....” (Ueno·Shitaya) Around 7 to 8 AM “Rumors of arsons by Koreans spread in our district, and the rumor that some people planned to attack the Ôtsuka powder magazine appeared….” (Tomisaka·Koishikawa) Around 10:30 AM “Koreans with bombs are commiting arson, destruction and homicides, and some of them threw poison into wells….” (Tsukishima·Kyôbashi) “Some 30 armed soldier came to our district to arrest Koreans….” (Tsukishima·Kyô bashi) Around 12 PM “A tsunami is coming….” (Mukôjima·Honjo) “Koreans started a fire and spread poison….” Noon (Sakamoto·Shitaya) Around 1 PM “This earthquake is caused by the eruption of Mt. Fuji….” “Large tsunami attacked Tokyo bay, resulting in major damages….” (Tomisaka·Koishikawa) “Rumors of Ômoto Sect appeared that they predicted this Earthquake, which had been already written in the scripture, and since the devotees become angry with the oppression by the government, several thousands of believers are heading to Tokyo.....” (Tomisaka·Koishikawa) “Some people are putting posters which say, ‘You should be careful of arsonists’, ‘This large earthquake will not stop, and the other earthquakes will occur xx times at yy o’clock: the Meteorological Observatory’, and so on….” (Tomisaka·Koishikawa) Around 3 PM “Lawless Koreans have spread poison in the water resources, so we had to stop supplying water. Because they threw poison in this well or the poison has contaminated our food, you should be careful….” (Tomisaka·Koishikawa) Around 6 PM “Lawless people have destroyed the remained cashboxes and robbed money from them….” (Horidome·Nihonbashi)
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
4th
105
Around 6:30 PM “Ômoto believers with bombs hired several cars to attack the Imperial City of Tokyo….” (Aoyama·Akasaka) “A rumor concerning Koreans was transmitted first on the night of September 3rd. These are; ‘from Omori and Shinagawa or Yokohama, 2,000 Koreans are descending,’ ‘Some 300 or 500 Koreans are about to come to this district,’ and ‘Some Koreans are hiding in each district and are already robbing, killing the people or throwing poison into wells,’....” Evening (Toriisaka·Azabu) “Someone submitted strips of paper upon which some sort of code was written claiming that ‘These are signals written by Koreans planning violent acts,’ and another person gave evidence that they witnessed a Korean drawing the marks in the Moto-Hiroo area....” Night (Shibuya) Not Specified “A youth on patrol killed another Japanese person walking, because he was mistook him for a Korean….” (Kôji-machi·Kôji-machi) “The false content of the rumors has been gradually recognized on 3rd….” (Hibiya·Kôji-machi) “There is a suspicion that Koreans poisoned the wells….” (Nishiki-Chô·Kanda) “Rumors have increased, and someone has spread a rumor that ‘a strong earthquake will strike again.’….” (Omote-machi·Akasaka) “Someone advises that the marks in alleyways must indicate the sign for bombing, spreading of poison, and homicides depending on their shapes, which were the memorandums that a toilet cleaning person wrote down….” (Yotsuya) “Mr. X lived in Kasumigaoka, while guarding his own house, wounded a passerby with a gun this day [it may be September 3rd]….” (Yotsuya) “Behavior of the neighborhood vigilantes became more violent on September 3rd, all of them had lethal weapons and dominated the street….” (Kagurazaka·Ushigome) “Yesterday in the morning, a female around 30 years old resting at Kiyomizu-do in Ueno Park received a candy and a bun with bean-paste from an obese man wearing western clothes. After she ate them, she suddenly fell ill and spat blood....” (Ueno·Shi taya) “Koreans have poisoned wells.” “Poison was dumped in Mr. X’s well in Naka-Shibuya ….” (Shibuya) “A group of Koreans attacked the Kichijôji branch police department.” “Some 300 Koreans are descending on this district from Hachiôji….” (Fuchû-Tanashi branch) “‘Koreans are descending on to Hakonegasaki-mura from Saitama.’ ‘The violence of Koreans have escalated in Tokyo, Yokohama and Saitama’ ….” (Ôme) Around 1 AM “The policeman hired by the Bank of Japan reported ‘There is a rumor that violent mobs are attacking our bank to destroy the cashboxes.’….” (Horidome·Nihonbashi) Around 9 PM “In Ueno park and the fire-devastated area of Shichiken-Chô and Kaya-Chô, there are Koreans disguised as police officers who are harassing evacuees. So stay alert when you see the policeman….” (Ueno·Shitaya) Around 11:30 PM “On the back street of 5-chôme, Aoyama-Minami, people heard alarm whistles and sounds of gunshots several times. It caused a commotion since people regarded them as Koreans’ attack….” (Aoyama·Akasaka)
106
5th
6th
8th
11th
Not Specified “Five people including Mr. Kaneko Eijiro drank water from a well for watering street and garden, and they vomited, so they were admitted to a university hospital. The water was examined, but nothing abnormal was found….” (Nishiki-Chô·Kanda) “A Korean, whose name was XX, walking around Hitotsubashi was suspected and examined, at the time he was found in possesion of a document entitled ‘Preface to the Faction of Justice.’ Temporarily, he was sent to Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department ….” (Nishiki-Chô·Kanda) “Koreans attacked a branch police department and robbed uniforms from the police, then wearing the uniforms, they committed assaults….” (Kagurazaka·Ushigome) “Someone repeatedly rang the alarm bell saying that Koreans were already in Ôi-machi ….” (Shinagawa) “Due to the report that a Korean was killed at the south area of Shinagawa-bridge, a police staff was immediately dispatched. The officer found that a youth in a fishing village was mortally wounded, having been mistaken for a Korean….” (Shinagawa) “Because the Socialists are inducing Koreans to acts of violence, they have to be punished….”(Shinagawa) “Due to a report that a Korean started a fire in Sangenjaya, we investigated and found that the criminal was not a Korean but a servant, who set a fire at his master’s warehouse….” (Setagaya) “Female Koreans brought poison with them and spread it into wells....” (Senju) Around 9 AM “Foreign-registered destroyers came to the Tokyo bay.” “Many suspicious sail boats are tagged on the coast of No. 1 and No. 2 fields.” “One foreigner came to the coast of No. 1 with a powerboat. Watch his behavior.” (Tsukishima·Kyôbashi) Not Specified “In the areas around Hikawa Shrine, Koreans actually commited physical violence at will. Obiously, the fighting with Koreans started in the area of Sangenjaya….” (Aoyama·Akasaka) “Koreans are hiding at Aoyama Cemetery and laying a plot at night….” (Aoyama· Akasaka) “Rice store employees connected with hooligans planned to spread various rumors; however, they were arrested when their plan was discovered….” (Nakano) Around 10 PM “Three Koreans invaded a certain place in Akasaka….” (Yotsuya) Not Specified “ ‘Several tens of Koreans invaded Tachikawa and are fighting with neighborhood vigilantes.’ ‘They attacked both Naganuma and Tama Villages’ ....” (Fuchû) Not Specified “Koreans sheltered in the police station had sufficient allocation of food and clothing, and they were transfered to Narashino for asylum there on September 8th….” (Nishikanda·Kanda) “Koreans set a fire at the mansion of Viscount Hashimoto at Shimo-Hiroo….” (Shibuya) “A servant in Mr. X’s house in Naka-Shibuya was raped....” (Shibuya) Not Specified “Mr. Takahashi X, an employee of Mr. Hirano in Shimo-Shibuya, was killed by a Korean….” (Shibuya)
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
107
Table 3: Police Records of Violent Crimes Committed Following the Kantô Earthquake Police station
Time
2nd
Ôji
9:00 AM
Senju
12:00 PM
Location House of Kawadegawa Kinjiro and other 10 houses in Motoki, Nishiarai-Mura and Kamiogu Around Azaichikichikabashi in Hanahata-Mura, MinamiadachiGun
5:00 Terajima Azuma-Chô PM
Type of Crime
7
19
Transferred on Oct. 5
034
001
Attempted murder
2
1
Transferred on Sep. 7
043
002
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 13
054
003
5
4
Writ served on Oct. 12
020
004
5
1
Writ served on Oct. 16
022
005
5
3
Transferred
024
006
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 19
025
007
1
Writ served on Oct. 9
015
008
2
Writ served on Oct. 16
019
009
1
No charges on Oct. 14
017
010
Injury
Ôsaki
Ôsaki
On the street of About 691, Hebikubo, Injury 5PM Hiratsukamura, Tokyo-Fu
Ômori
On the street, About Ikegami-mura, Injury 5PM Tokyo-Fu
Shinagawa
Ôsaki
Shinagawa
On the railway About of Taishidô, 5PM Setagaya-Chô On the street 5:30 of 3, MinamiPM shinagawa, Shinagawa-Chô On the street of 336, Hebikubo, 5:30 HiratsukaPM Mura, TokyoFu On the back 6:00 street of the PM victim’s house
Number Number Original By Processing arrested of victims order Time
Robbed money and assets, comHomicide, mitted homicide, robbery, and and walked out of a fraud restaurant without paying, and other assaults.
Around Hoshi Pharmacertical About Attempted company in 5PM murder Kiritani, ÔsakiChô
Setagaya
Outline of facts
Homicide Accidental death
Injury
Attempted murder
Maimed with a sword or bat. Assaulted a person with a Japanese sword after questioning the passerby about his identity. Misidentified a person as a “lawless Korean” and injured the person using a bat, sledgehammer and fire hook. Misidentified a person as a “lawless Korean” and injured the person using a bat. Misidentified a person as a “lawless Korean” and bruised the person using a bat. Killed a person with a hunting gun.
Misidentified a person as a Korean 21 and inflicted injuries resulting in death. Misidentified people as lawless Koreans and injured them 6 using wooden swords and bats. Misidentified a person as a “lawless Korean” and beat 4 and tried to kill the person using a bat.
108
Ôsaki
On the street of 6:00 288, Hiratsuka- Attempted PM Mura, Tokyo- murder Fu
Ôsaki
On the street of About 842, Togoshi, 6:00 HiratsukaInjury PM Mura, TokyoFu
Ômori
About On the street, 6:00 Ikegami-Mura, Injury PM Tokyo-Fu
Fuchû
7:00 Karasuyama, PM Chitose-Mura
Injury and homicide
At the Yotsugi 8:00 Bridge, AraHomicide PM kawa floodway At the guardrail 8:00 of Kameido rail Kameido Injury PM in Azuma-Chô, Tokyo-Fu Terajima
Kameido
8:00 1,157, Omurai, Homicide PM Azuma-Chô
Shinagawa
On the street 8:30 of 1.285, ÔiPM Machi
Mizukami
Upper part area of Hirai Bridge, 9:00 Shimo-Hirai, Homicide PM KomatsugawaChô, Tokyo-Fu
Kameido
10:00 617, Kasaigawa, Homicide PM Azuma-Chô
Kameido
10:00 276, Kameido, Homicide PM Azuma-Chô
Homicide
Kameido
11:00 3, 215, Kameido, Attempted PM Tokyo-Fu murder
Nakano
On the street of About Shimo-Takaido, Injury 11 PM Takaido-Mura, Tokyo-Fu
Misidentified a person as a “lawless Korean” and maimed 6 the person using a bat. Misidentified a person as a “lawless Korean” and harmed 2 the person using a gun and a sword. Misidentified people as lawless Koreans 1 and harmed them using a bat. Beat people with a fire hook Japanese swords, bamboo 15 lances and bats, resulting in one death.
1
Writ served on Oct. 16
018
011
1
Writ served on Oct. 22
021
012
8
Transferred
023
013
17
Writ served on from Oct. 7 to Nov. 25
075
014
Killed a person with a bat.
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 10
057
015
Harmed the renal area using a bat.
1
1
No charges on Oct. 5
065
016
4
2
Writ served on Oct. 28
073
017
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 13
016
018
5
1
Transferred on Nov. 5
013
019
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 7
067
020
Killed a person.
4
1
069
021
Fired a hunting gun at a drowning person, but it was unknown if it hit the person or not.
Writ served on Oct. 5
1
1
No charges on Oct. 7
072
022
Injured a pedestrian.
11
1
Transferred on Oct. 8
026
023
Beaten and killed people using bamboo lances. Misidentified a person as a lawless Korean and killed the person using a Japanese sword. Misidentified a victim on a boat which carries night soil as a lawless Korean and using a bat, beaten the victim resulting in the victim being killed. Misidentified a person as a lawless Korean and beat the person resulting in instant death.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
12:00 885, Kasaigawa, Kameido Homicide AM Azuma-Chô
Shinagawa
—
On the street of 1736, Ôi- Ma- Homicide chi, Tokyo-Fu
3rd
On the bank of Arakawa 12:00 floodway, Terajima Homicide AM Ôhata, MinamiKatsushikaGun
Senju
North part of 1:20 Ôhashi, Senju- Injury AM Chô
On the side 3:00 of Kinoshita Terajima Homicide AM floodway, Azuma-Chô 3:00 Terajima Arakawa station Homicide AM On the side of 3:00 Terajima Kine floodway, Homicide AM Azuma-Chô Terajima
On the bank of Before Kine floodway, Homicide dawn Azuma-Chô
5:00 239, Kameido, Injury AM Azuma-Chô On the cost of 6:00 Terajima Kami-Ôhata, Homicide AM Azuma-Chô
Kameido
7 AM Hikifune street, Terajima to 12 Kine, Azuma- Homicide PM Chô, Tokyo-Fu Kameido
7:00 1,157, Omurai, Homicide AM Azuma-Chô
Under the dike 8:00 of Arakawa Homicide AM floodway 9:00 Tamanoi, Terajima Homicide AM Terajima-Chô Terajima
Terajima
10:00 On the ShiraAM hige Bridge
Homicide
Misidentified a person as a Korean and beat them, resulting in death. Misidentified a person as a Korean and killed the person using a Japanese sword.
109
4
1
Writ served on Oct. 7
068
024
1
1
Transferred on Sep. 15
014
025
Killed and shot people.
7
4
Writ served on Oct. 10
046
026
Misidentified a person as a Korean and beat their head with his fist, causing injuries requiring 10 days to heal.
1
1
No charges on Oct. 6
045
027
Killed a person who was hiding, using a Japanese sword.
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 28
058
028
Killed a person using a saber.
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 28
059
029
Killed a person using a Japanese sword.
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 28
060
030
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 17
055
031
1
1
No bill on Oct. 5
066
032
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 29
061
033
1
2
Writ served on Oct. 19
050
034
6
3
Writ served on Oct. 29
074
035
1
1
No charges
053
036
4
6
Writ served on Oct. 10
052
037
1
1
No charges
048
038
Killed a person who was carrying a dagger, using a Japanese sword. Harmed a person’s head using an axe. Many people killed a person whose leg was shot. Using a Japanese sword, killed people who were being beaten by a group. Beat and killed people using square logs and bamboo lances. Beat and killed a person. Beat and killed people. Someone beat a person, and a group of other people killed and threw that person into the river.
110 Terajima
11:00 Tamanoi, AM Terajima-Chô
Homicide and injury
Shibuya
On the street of 12:00 Attempted 1782, Shibuya, PM murder Tokyo-Fu
Terajima
12:00 Tamanoi, PM Terajima-Chô
Homicide
Tamanoi, 12:00 Terajima-Chô, Homicide PM Tokyo-Fu Tamanoi, 1:00 Terajima Terajima-Chô, Homicide PM Tokyo-Fu Terajima
Kojimachi Kameido
Kameido
Senju
Terajima Nihonzutsumi Kameido Mita
Yotsuya
Kisakata
Injured people using a sledgehammer and killed them. Harmed people with intention to kill them. Killed people who were beaten and were dying by stabbing their necks using a dagger. Killed a person using a cedar log
Stabbed a person to death; however, the defender denied it. Misidentified people On the street of 2:30 as lawless Koreans 2-16, Nagata- Homicide PM and killed them using Chô, Kôjimachi a Japanese sword. At an amuse- Homicide Harmed and killed 3:00 ment park in and attempt- people using bats and PM Kameido-Chô ed murder Japanese swords. Patrol officer killed Around 3:00 Homicide other patrol officers Sakai Bridge, PM and injury and the patrol officer Kameido-Chô was also injured. Harmed the Koreans, using an axe while the On the street of victims brought the 5:00 Attempted 2-881, SenjuKoreans to a police PM murder Chô department, the injuries requiring 2 or more months to heal,. Near a Ôkura 6:00 Harmed a person usmilk store in Injury PM ing a Japanese sword Sumida-Chô Maimed a person us7:00 35, Imado-Chô, Injury ing a Japanese sword PM Asakusa-ward and a bat. 7:00 510, Ohata, Beat and killed a Homicide PM Azuma-Chô person using a bat. Using a Japanese 9:00 7, Hinode-Chô, sword, killed a perHomicide PM Shiba-ward son who was hiding a Korean. Misidentified a person 9:00 37, Shiomachi, as a Korean and Injury PM Yotsuya harmed the person using a Japanese sword. In front of Rakutenchi Misidentified a per9:00 airplane museum Homicide son as a Korean and PM in Shintani-machi killed the person. 14, Asakusa-ward
1
2
Writ served on Oct. 19
051
039
2
2
Transferred on Nov. 9
027
040
1
2
Writ served on Oct. 19
049
041
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 29
062
042
1
1
No charges
047
043
1
2
Writ served on Sep. 5
002
044
6
3
Writ served on Oct. 14
064
045
1
4
Transferred
071
046
3
2
Writ served on Oct. 10
036
047
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 10
056
048
1
1
Transferred on Dec. 14
012
049
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 5
070
050
1
1
Writ served on Sep. 12
003
051
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 23
008
052
2
1
Writ served on Oct. 27
011
053
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
Mita
In a warehouse of Shibaura About branch of River Homicide 9 PM and Port section of Tokyo city
At Sugamo About Sugamo Bridge in 9 PM Sugamo-Chô
2
1
Transferred on Oct. 20
005
054
Harmed people and damaged vehicles usDestruction ing command-sabers, 21 and injury wooden swords and bats.
2
Writ served on Oct. 14
028
055
2
1
Writ served on Sep. 7
041
056
6
1
Transferred on Oct. 20
006
057
4
1
Writ served on Sep. 7
042
058
Killed people using Japanese swords.
11
7
Writ served from Sep. 12 to 18
037
059
Killed people using an axe and sticks.
6
2
Writ served on Oct. 31
063
060
1
1
Writ served on Oct. 25
007
061
1
1
Writ served on Sep. 7
029
062
7
1
Writ served on Oct. 8
044
063
2
1
Writ served on Oct. 12
038
064
Senju
On the street of 52, Yononi, 9:20 Nishiarai-Mura, Homicide PM MinamiadachiGun
Mita
In a warehouse of Shibaura 10:00 Homicide branch of River PM and robbery and Port section of Tokyo city
Senju
On the street 10:00 of 2-Chôme, PM Senju-Chô
Attempted murder
On the street of 161, Yanagi10:00 Senju hara, Minami- Homicide PM Ayase-Mura, Tokyo-Fu Around a rail12:00 Kameido way in Ukechi, Homicide AM Azuma-Chô 4th In the river under Oyama 1:00 Bridge in Toriisaka AM MitakoyamaChô, Shibaward
Sugamo
Senju
Senju
About At victim’s 1 AM house
Killed a hiding person using a Japanese sword.
111
Homicide
Homicide
930, Shika2:00 hama, KôhokuHomicide AM Mura, MinamiAdachi-Gun In the rice field, About 147, Yanagihara, Homicide 8 AM Ayase-Mura, Tokyo-Fu
Killed a person using a bat and hunting gun. Confined and killed, and robbed 35 yen from a person sleeping in a warehouse, because he thought the person was Korean. Maimed a person, using a Japanese sword and bat. It required 2 months to heal.
The victim suddenly became mentally ill and threw himself in the river as a suicide. He did not die and found a person swimming in the river, misidentified him as a Korean and killed him using a Japanese sword. Misidentified the victim as a lawless Korean because of what a neighbor had said, and shot the person to death. Misidentified a person as a Korean and killed the person using a bat. Killed using a Japanese sword and bat.
112 Senju
Ayase-Mura, 9:30 MinamiadachiAM Gun
Homicide
Oji
Near a police 11:00 box in TôriHomicide AM shinmachi, Minami-Senju
Kojimachi
On the street near the head12:00 quarter of Ômo- Injury and PM to, 46, Nakaassault Rokubanchô, Kôjimachi-ward
Mita
12:00 7, Hinode-Chô, Homicide PM Shiba-ward
Senju
Ichichikabashi, 1:30 HanahataHomicide PM Mura, MinamiAdachi-Gun
Sugamo
In front of 3:00 Sugamo Junior Injury PM High School
Komagome
On the street, 9:00 Sakanamachi, PM Komagome, Hongô-ward
Sakamoto
On the street of 11:00 115, Miwa-Chô, Homicide PM Shitaya-ward
Sugamo
Attempted murder
3426, Mukou12:00 hara, NishiAM Sugamo-Chô
Injury
8 PM At the victim’s to 12 house AM
Robbery and blackmail
5th Oji
Sugamo
On the street of 7:00 1, Ikebukuro, Injury PM Nishi-SugamoChô
Killed using a Japanese sword and a bat.
2
1
Killed a victim who was in protective custody at a police department using a Japanese sword.
18
1
Did injury and violence.
3
Killed people using a Japanese sword because he thought they were hiding a Korean.
039
065
Transferred on Oct. 21
035
066
1
Transferred on Oct. 16
001
067
1
4
Writ served on Sep. 12
004
068
Killed using a Japanese sword and bat.
10
5
Writ served on Oct. 10 and 11
040
069
Misidentified the victim as a Korean and harmed the victim using a Japanese sword.
2
1
Writ served on Oct. 10
030
070
Misidentified people as Koreans and maimed.
13
4
Writ served on Sep. 17
009
071
6
1
Transferred on Nov. 4
010
072
4
2
031
073
1
3
Transferred on Oct. 24
033
074
2
2
Transferred on Sep. 2
032
075
Misidentified a person as a Korean and killed the person using Japanese swords and bats. Some said that the victim was a false army or socialists; however, a patrol officer demonstrated that the victim was not a false army or socialist. The victim and the officer were injured with a fire hook and others. Threatened using a bat and robbed rice and other matters, whose cost 160 yen Beat and harmed the victim patrolling as the defender was drunk.
Adapted from “List of of Homicides during the Disaster,” in Taishô Taishin Kasai-Shi, 1925, pp. 591-602. Entries have been rearranged in chronological order.
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
113
Table 4: Emergence of rumors recognized in each police station Sep. 1st
2nd
2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM About 6:40 PM 8:00 PM not specified 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 12:00 PM Morning Afternoon 2:00 PM 2:25 PM 4:00 PM About 4:30 PM Evening 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM
3rd
8:00 PM not specified About 10:30 AM Evening 6:00 PM not specified
No description of rumors total sum
Hisamatsu·Nihonbashi Shibuya, Ôji Atago·Shiba Totsuka branch of Yodobashi Komatsugawa Sotokanda·Kanda, Sugamo Miyasaka·Koishikawa Kagurazaka·Ushigome, Waseda·Ushigome, Yodobashi, Nakano Ôtsuka·Koishikawa, Aioi·Honjo Yotsuya Itabashi Motofuji·Hongô, Komagome·Hongô, Ôsaki branch of Shinagawa, Fuchû Shinagawa Aoyama·Akasaka, Kisakata·Asakusa, Ômori, Hachiôji Takanawa·Shiba, Setagaya Minamimoto-machi·A sakusa , Mukôjima·Honjo, Hibiya·Kôjimachi, Mita·Shiba, Roppongi·Azabu, Terashima, Ôme, Itsukaichi branch of Ôme Nishiki·Kanda Nishikanda·Kanda, Omote-machi·Akasaka, Kameido, Tanashi branch of Fuchû, Senju Nishitaira·Fukagawa, Nippori branch of Minami-Senju Ueno·Shitaya, Minami-Senju Tsukishima·Kyôbashi
1 2 1 1 1 2 1
Toriisaka·Azabu Horidome·Nihonbashi Koji-machi·Koji-machi, Sakamoto·Shitaya Shinbabashi·Nihonbashi, Tsukiji·Kyôbashi, Kitakonya·Kyôbashi, Yanaka·Shitaya, Nihondutsumi·Asakusa, Shichiken-Chô·Asakusa, Taihei·Honjo, Haraniwa·Honjo, Ogibashi·Fukagawa, Susaki·Fukagawa, Tokyo Suijô, Machida branch of Hachiôji
1 1 2
6
2
3
7
2 1 1 4 1 4 2
28
3 5 1 5 2 2
2
1 3 2
12 12 62
114 Table 5: The occurred time of the crime 2nd
Date Time
05- 17- 00-
Number of the cases
2
22
6
24
Nighe-time Daytime
3rd 05-
17- 00-
15
14
3
35 28
2
4th 057
5th 17- 003
17-
1
1
0
13 17
15
052
3
1
7
1
Total sum 74 49 25
Table 6: Orders, Announcements, Signs, and Other Information Distributed by Police Departments and the Headquarters of Martial Law (only those related to rumors) September
1st
2nd
3rd
Details The Japan Meteorological Agency announces that no further earthquakes will occur and that fires have died down. The Japan Metereological Agency announces that there is no danger of a tsunami in Tokyo Bay. Please refrain from publishing newspaper articles that will increase public unrest, and instead immediately publish articles that will allay people’s fears. A case regarding arresting unruly people. There are people who are starting fires or creating violence under the cover of the disaster. Some individuals have been arrested in Yodobashi and Ôtsuka. Tighten controls over lawless people and be sure to maintain security.
Sender Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Police Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs Orders to each police station by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Orders to each If suspicious individuals are observed, dispatch police officers police station by to along roads to disperse them. the Tokyo MetroDo not disperse police officer in several locations. Concentrate politan Police police department staff at only important locations. Department Urgent notice: Public Relations Rumors of improper behavior by “lawless Koreans” have been Section, Tokyo on the increase; however, there is no basis for these groundless Metropolitan rumors. Many Koreans are law-abiding. Do not persecute or Police Departinflict harm on them. ment Urgent notice: Yesterday there had been reports of Koreans seen carrying out illegal activities. However, they disappeared with tightened Tokyo Metrosecurity measures. Most Koreans are law-abiding. Do not politan Police persecute or inflict harm on them. If you observe any suspiDepartment cious individuals or activities, please report them immediately to your local police station. Many reports of illegal behavior on the part of Koreans are groundless rumors. People are emotionally unstable due to the Tokyo Metrounexpected disaster. Spreading rumors will only increase public politan Police unrest. Please do not publish any articles about Koreans. If an Department article on Koreans is found, publication of your newspaper, magazine, or book will be prohibited.
Remarks 5,000 Mimeographed handouts 5:30PM
5:00 PM
After 6 PM
Notice No. 2, Printed handouts, About 6 AM
30,000 Mimeographed handouts
RUMORS FOLLOWING THE KANTÔ EARTHQUAKE OF THE TAISHÔ ERA
4th
5th
In light of the current situation, please heed the following instructions: 1. Do not incite trouble by spreading news of disturbances by lawless groups. The military and local officials are enforcing security in neighborhoods in Tokyo. The situation in Tokyo is beginning to stabilize. Essential materials are prepared according to plans and the materials are already being provided to residents. The most important thing is to remain calm. Please do not create confusion by spreading rumors of assaults by “lawless Koreans” or that there will be a recurrence of a strong earthquake. If you have any concerns, please make inquiries to the military police and conduct yourself in a calm manner. From the evening of September 5th, the police and military have set up checkpoints at important locations in Tokyo to prevent looting. To maintain tighter security, people who passing the checkpoints will be stopped and questioned one by one. It is advised that members of the general public should refrain from leaving their homes at night. Order No. 2 from Commander of Martial Law in Kanto With increase of military personnel, security will be tightened. The following orders are issued. 1. A group of neighborhood security or people in charge of security measures should inform the closest police department and seek instructions. 2. Only military officials or police can ask passersby to identify themselves or set up a checkpoint in areas under martial law. 3. A group of neighborhood security and general citizens are not allowed to bring weapons with them unless they are given permission by the military or police. We have learned that some people feel uncomfortable with disruptive behaviors of Koreans in the wake of this disaster. If you are suspicious about the behavior of Koreans, immediately notify a security military or police and follow their instructions. It is not allowed for the general public to harm Koreans as it violates the fundamental principle of closer relations between Japan and Korea, and also creates a negative perception abroad. People regarded the marks above as secret codes for injustice by Koreans and were very suspicious about them. We investigated and found that the marks were drawn by an employee of Chuo Seiketsu Co. Ltd. for reminders as directions for toilet cleaning and the number of toilets.
6th
115
Warning notice Official notice by the Commander of Martial Law in Kanto Public Relations Section, Tokyo Metropolitan Notice No. 7 Police Department Public Relations Section, Tokyo Metropolitan Notice No. 15 Police Department
Promotion section, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Notice No. 16
Official announcment by the No. 2 Cabinet
Promotion section, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Notice No. 17
To youth groups We gratefully acknowledge that you have provided public security day and night. Fortunately, public safety has been restored Official notice by with the dispatching of the military and police. Although there Police Commis- 30,000 are many rumors of Koreans on rampages or recurrence of a sioner strong earthquake, according to our investigations almost all these are false rumors. We hope that all of you will help maintain public safety.
116
7th
This expansion is not because new frightening events have occurred, but to control a variety of rumors, which spread as disaster victims have come to this rural area from other places…. Residents in rural areas should not be misled by groundless rumors. Evacuees should not act unkindly to residents in rural areas. You should trust local government workers and police, be calm just as you would be in normal times and do not cause the army any trouble. If you spread groundless rumors, you will be punished. There are many people who spread groundless rumors about violence by Koreans, recurrence of a large earthquake or an escape of prisoners. These people are being punished. Please guard your words in view of the times. The following urgent notice was issued today: Regardless of methods, such as issues and communications, people who promote a criminal which commits an assault, creates turmoil, or harms life, assets or body, spread matters which disturb peace with a purpose to disturb the calm and order, or disturb the minds of the people, will face a maximum of 10 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 3,000 yen. Effective from today, September 7th
Official notice by the Commander Distributed by of Martial Law in airplanes Kanto Promotion section, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Notice No. 18
Promotion section, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department
Notice No. 19
Information Department, It should be clarified that there is no after-dark curfew or travel Commander of restrictions in effect. Martial Law in Kanto
Information No. 1 Headquarters of Martial Law
References: Taishô Taishin Kasai-Shi, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, 1923; “A Review of Public Safety after the Great Kantô Earthquake,” Ministry of Justice, 1949, “Historical Materials of Government and Army of the Great Kantô Earthquake,” Vol. 1, Historical materials on government and material law,” Nikkei, 1997.
