Saber · Shrine · Tenno

On Birth of the First Documentary on Yasukuni Shrine

August 23, 2007

Interviewed by: Hongyu Li, journalist with the Southern Weekly

Interviewee: Li Ying, director of "The Yasukuni Shrine"

This is the first documentary on the Yasukuni Shrine in the world.

The Yasukuni Shrine does not sacrifice any memorial tablet, but a saber and a set of “Enshrinement Lists”. The “spirits “of over 2,400,000 war dead dwell on a saber, the “body of Shinto“, which is kept in such a most secret place that even the high priest of the Yasukuni Shrine could not see in normal times. During the annual purgation and some mysterious ceremonies, the saber will be covered thoroughly by a white cloth, and can’t be seen by visitors. The “Enshrinement Lists” record the names and biographies of all the “war dead”.

None of the people who requested removal of their families and ancestors from the lists has received any positive reply. The Yasukuni Shrine believed that, by the evocation ceremony, all the spirits of the war dead would gather and rest with the saber, just like a drop of water that would never, after falling into a basin, resume its independence as a single drop.

However, such a religious belief can't justify itself. Director Li visited some experts who gave the following disproof:  When the war came to an end, Japan built up many shrines commemorating the war dead in the Japanese colonies such as Korea and Taiwan, then collected those "spirits of martyr" to the Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine after war.

According to the Shinto, they held a "Release" ceremony. They firstly released the spirits up to the sky, then "evoked" them in Tokyo. That was how the spirits left the place where they came from. “So the only reason is that the Yasukuni Shrine doesn't want to make any response", said Li Ying.

On the other hand, the inseparation theory of the “spirits of martyr" has thrown the Japanese politicians into a contradiction. To visit the Yasukuni Shrine is to worship all the war dead, including Hideki Tojo and other 13 class-A war criminals. ”They must honor the judgment of the Tokyo Trial, but they keep visiting the shrine and worshiping those war criminals. Their claim that they were just worshipping the war dead but not the war criminals makes no sense, and fails their own logic."

"Saber is a symbol of the Samurai, war and cruelty, but they don't think so. They think those are for ritual purpose only", said Li Ying, "In a sense, my work is trying to find out how that contradictory combination, either the saber and chrysanthemum, or the cruelty and beauty, come to arise together at the Yasukuni Shrine, and what relationship their dignity, pride, and symbolic meaning have with the Tenno". The chrysanthemum design is used exclusively by the Tenno, as is shown on the gate of Yasukuni Shrine. It's seen on almost all the Tenno’s stuff, like his warship, cars, cups, and even dishware.

Kariya Naoharu, a 92 years old samurai sword craftsman made the last "Yasukuni Sword" in the documentary, who was as well the last one who made "Yasukuni Sword" in Japan. During the war, the “Japanese Sword Forging Workshop” located within the Yasukuni Shrine where he worked with had made 8100 "Yasukuni Swords", which were supplied to the battlefield in China for Japanese generals, colonels and lieutenants.

When shooting the interviews, Li Ying, standing behind the camera, kept asking Kariya Naoharu: How do you feel the spirits of the Yasukuni Shrine when working there? What special meanings does the place have for you? In most cases, the old man just kept silent. Just one time, when Li Ying asked him unintentionally: What music would you like to listen to in the spare time? Kariya Naoharu staggered up, and put a tape into the recorder. It was a speech by the Showa Tenno, taking about the history of nearly 100 years and the “achievements” of the country since the reign of Meiji Tenno.

The end of the documentary includes a large number of historical video clips such as the beheading in the invasion war, the Tenno's visit to the shrine, skyraiders that were dropping bombs, and the Hiroshima ruins after the explosion of the  A-bomb………… 

Analysis on the Spirit of Japanese Nation

Southern Weekly: Have you ever thought of the reasons why nobody in Japan would do this when or before you make this documentary?

LI Ying: NO, and I didn't know that at the time. Until later I began to collect references and films during making the film but were told there were none, I realized what was happening. It was too difficult to go on with the making. I went to Yoichi Sai for help, the Director-General of Japanese Film Directors Association who is a Japanese-born Korean. I asked him is there any possibility to find a Japanese partner to finish this documentary. He said no way, and that  almost everyone in Japan was trying to avoid this topic.

I began to wonder why since then. The more I shot, the more feeling came to me. It was too difficult, which made me feel as though I had a wolf by the ears. I think the Japanese are much more “foresighted” on this issue. They know the difficulties.  I was a green hand. I knew nothing about it. All I knew was to keep on moving.

Southern Weekly: I think you are quite conservative in this documentary. You tried hard to avoid any subjectivity.

Li Ying: In fact, I think this documentary has my voice. I did try to keep conservative, but it's not possible to make a purely objective documentary. Some Japanese film critics said it is a combat between Chinese Kung Fu and Japanese Kendo. I’m not going to knock you down in a few seconds, but to let you take the offensive. I’ll be waiting and watching your shortcomings. So, when I rise up to attack, you’ll find no chance to fight back.  It is the same with film making thing. You have to know exactly the ideas of your opponent before you try to express yourself. To speak up is easy, but that is not all. To win matters most.

Southern Weekly: What do you know about their thoughts or grounds that they have been trying hard to defend?

Li Ying: Actually, Japanese think that they have apologized so many times for the war, and that why you guys are always thinking that we didn’t apology for this and why not just put an end to it. I investigated what the "have apologized for many times" means to them. Most Japanese prefer to say, at the most,  that there were some aggressive behaviors, and such did cause some harm to us. And, that has been not easy for them. Their wording was “aggressive behaviors”, but there is never any official statement that defines it as an invasion war.

Take the war of Japanese invasion into China as an example, there are at least five expressions for this war: China and Japan's 15 Years War, from 9·18 Incident of 1931 to 1945; the Pacific War which many Japanese think that Japan declared war toward the United States; “Asia Pacific War” ….But the Tenno has never clearly defined the war.  He would put it as “that war”, for example, “that war and the wars before”, and “the Second World War”. So, we can see what an ambiguous attitude toward the war, their responsibility, and the post-war history that they have.  

They keep a reserved view on the war’s nature, which is complex in a sense. The war indeed promoted the liberation of some colonial countries such as Indonesian, Burma and etc.,  and expelled the British and French colonizers from such countries. That’s why an Indian judge considered them no guilty during the Tokyo trial. The Japanese took advantage of such views to support their point.  But, that is not their strategic aim. They expelled the colonizers away because they wanted to deploy strategic resources around the Chinese battlefield and occupy China as soon as possible.

Also, it is a big problem to give an objective comment on Japan's invasions since the reign of the Meiji Tenno. It was the Meiji Restoration that laid an important foundation for Japan to defeat Qing Dynasty and Russia and to evolve into a modernized nation, which made it one of the world’s big powers. It was a “glorious” history for the Japanese and made them proud. But, they refuse to talk about the history after that, about their plundering and asking for monetary indemnity.  They robbed for their own interest but not to defend China or the whole Asia's interest when they took Taiwan and sent forces into, robbed much recourse, occupied the Liaotung Peninsula, and controlled the railway. For all those doings, the Japanese has always remained a vague point of view, which is one of the ultimate reasons that make the Yasukuni Shrine so complex. In their official opinion, it was a “glorious path” for the recent Tennos to build Japan into a modernized, developed nation.

So, all in all, I think all the debates are virtually about one thing, the dignity of the Tenno. The military at that time served the Tenno. The generalissimo of the army and navy is definitely the Tenno. They cannot take it if you try to say that the military is atrocious for that  makes them feel that has disgraced their entire nation. That’s also why the Tenno has never been held responsible after the war.

The exhibits at the Yushukan at the Yasukuni Shrine explain everything. Entering the hall, you will first see the saber of the Tenno. The saber is the aesthetics value and spirit of the Japanese military, also representing the dignity of the Tenno.  Nobody held the Tenno responsible for the war, so they think the soldiers should not be either. I made an interview with Hideki Tojo's granddaughter. She said that all people were equal, including Hideki Tojo, the minister, and soldiers. There is no good or bad. All of them died for the country.

Southern Weekly: You didn’t include the interview with Hideki Tojo’s granddaughter into the documentary?

Li Ying: No, I didn’t. I don't wanna make it into an academic argument, I want to leave some room for myself. It is hard to explain in a few words. Anyway, I hope to reveal the complexity and their nationalism in a plain way. I want to show the audience the Tenno’s role behind all of these, and afterwards, they can think by themselves.

Southern Weekly: Is there anything that you didn’t express in the documentary?

Li Ying: I have explained what the spirit of the Yasukuni Shrine is in my way. I think that the audience will come to their own judgment from different angles. I‘m always concerned about such topics as life, death, and spirit. Also, the relationship between individual and nation is an important topic in the documentary.

I think that I have revealed this huge, special spiritual facility of the Japanese nation, the Yasukuni Shrine. I have also offered a couple of approaches to the audience to look into it. In my view, I have exposed its inside with this documentary. In so far as more detailed, academic things, I think the audience may continue to discover outside this documentary.

Director's Statement

My films are always about how people handle life and death in different ways.

The Yasukuni Shrine is a big stage used by the Japanese to worship the war dead, where I saw life and death, memory and oblivion,  and a big mask of wars.

In this world, wars have never stopped its steps toward us. This documentary, through looking into the Yasukuni Shrine, shall be a track and a record of wars that I have diligently maintained over the past decade.