As History Repeats Itself

Another essay I wrote for my global coursework centered on Japanese popular music, I analyze how the repetition of musical history shows that society’s underlying structural frameworks can be more static than they first appear. This class taught me much of what I know about post WWII Japanese musical history and how it is closely related to both political and grassroots movements going on at the time.

Music is an important method of tracking shifts in popular sentiment since it often reflects the most pressing issues of its time. Differences across music illuminate particularities in the evolution of a society. But what about music that hasn’t changed? What about music that seems to be a repetition of what has circulated in the past? The repetition of musical history could indicate that while societies have changed, underlying ideologies may be more static than they seem. Particularly, the similarities between the propagandistic Gunka music circulating during the Japanese imperialist age of WWII and school songs—essentially a national anthem for a particular educational institution—that began in the 1990s, demonstrate how the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the present.

Gunka, which translates to ‘military songs,’ were broadly used by the Japanese state during WWII to nurture a patriotic populus who would fight and die for the abstract notion of Japanese imperial glory. There are many subcategories within Gunka itself, as author Junko Oba points out in his piece To Fight the Losing War, such as songs that focus on doomed young soldiers or camaraderie that emerged near the end of the war. I, however, would like to focus on early Gunka centered on raising the morale of troops.¹ One example of such a song is 1897’s ‘The Battleship March,’ an upbeat, major-key march sung by a chorus of men meant to symbolize the soldiers who are fighting to defend “this floating castle of Japan” from enemies. Both the upbeat musicality and the lyrics celebrating battle evoke images of early wartime patriotism; it’s almost suffocatingly militaristic with the triumphant trumpets and blaring snare drums.² The song feels incomplete without images of soldiers marching gallantly while being cheered on by onlookers. These military songs worked to raise the morale of soldiers who were marching off to die and, in the past, have been used in an educational context to nurture a patriotic youth. As Oba notes, during the war “a typical day at school began with a marching drill always accompanied by ‘Patriotic March,’” another popular Gunka.³

Long after the end of the war in 1945, an eerily similar musical genre emerged in education. The 1990s saw with them the rise of school songs, almost positioning each school as if it was its own nation, with this song being its anthem. School songs, however, do not sound distinct. They have a cookie-cutter formula to them and sound very much like early Gunka. Hanasaki Tokuharu High School’s school song, for example, shares the musicality of ‘Battleship March.’ despite not being explicitly called a march.. Both songs utilize western instruments in a major key which imparts a sense of patriotic cheer.⁴ Masafumi Ogawa in his chapter Japan: Music as a tool for moral education? mentions Isawa Shuji, a man who is referred to as ‘the father of music education in Japan’, and his idea of the role of music in education. According to Shuji, one merit of music is “promoting a moral sense and patriotism,” and he placed particular emphasis on the major key as imparting a gallant and vivid mind while diminishing minor keys for their depressing mood that, in his mind, don’t foster a desired character.⁵ A mindset that was likely shared by many Gunka composers.
When the bubble economy burst in the 1990s, there was an increase in violent crimes, such as 14 year old Shonen A’s (Sakakibara Seito) murder of two Kobe elementary school children in 1997 and 1995’s sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo. The increased fear of what was happening to Japan brought a moral panic and sparked an interest in the moral education of young people through music—with the underlying objective of getting the youth back on track. Musical education in Japan is inextricably tied to moral education. The year 1998 saw the establishment of the current musical curriculum in Japan, the main objective being ‘to develop the mind for loving music and musical sensitivity through expression and listening to music, and nurture the basic ability for musical activities, and cultivating rich sentiment.’ As Ogawa laments, the government treats musical education as a means to an end, and there is more emphasis on development of desired moral attitudes than a nurturing of musical ability or enjoyment.⁶ This usage of music as a tool for moral education is exemplified by school songs. Their musicality, as discussed before, is eerily similar to the cheerful major-key march and triumphant trumpets of early Gunka meant to raise morale. In actuality, the objectives behind school songs and by extension musical education in Japan is very similar to those of Gunka—to cultivate a morality and nurture a population that will be assets to Japan. The exact definition of ‘a moral Japanese citizen,’ however, has shifted dramatically with the times. During WWII, Gunka was focused on cultivating a patriotic youth who would be supportive to the Japanese imperial project, whereas in modern-times the youth must become new cogs to fuel Japan’s industrialization and economy—respected members of the community who will fulfill their duties as members of an orderly society. School songs foster a sense of nationalism just as Gunka did, with their focus on Japanese nature and landscapes. Hanasaki Tokuharu’s high school song explicitly references “Mount Fuji, upon which we gaze,” despite the fact it’s impossible to see Mt Fuji from the school’s location.⁷ Rather, Mt Fuji serves to emphasize the collectivity of the students as part of a larger Japanese project. Gunka emphasized the same collectivism to struggling soldiers and working women—promises that their toils were for the glory of the empire, something larger than themselves.
Ultimately, both Gunka and school songs were and continue to be used as musical tools by the government and prominent institutions in the moral education of Japanese youth. While they were employed in very different times, the way that school songs echo tactics of Gunka’s persuasion—with their Western march-like musicality and lyrics emphasizing the collectivity of Japan—allude to a similar project of instilling patriotism and a desired morality. Indeed, these school songs show that history seems to be repeating itself in increasingly alarming ways, and it’s more important than ever to not just listen, but listen critically.

Bibliography

Hanasaki Tokuharu High School Song, trans. Scott W. Aalgaard

Oba, Junko. “To Fight the Losing War, to Remember the Lost War: The Changing Role of Gunka, Japanese War Songs,” in Global Goes Local: Popular Culture in Asia, edited by Timothy Craig, 225-245. UBC Press, 2002.

Ogawa, Masafumi. “Japan: Music as a tool for moral education?” in The Origins and Foundations of Music Education: Cross-Cultural Historical Studies of Music in Compulsory Schooling,” edited by Gordon Cox, 205-217. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.

Tokichi Setoguchi, music, Hiraku Toriyama, lyricist, “Gunkan Machi [The Battleship March]” 1897