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Sawaki Kōdō, Zen and Wartime Japan: Final Pieces of the Puzzle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Brian Victoria
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An earlier article posted at The Asia-Pacific Journal entitled “Zen Masters on the Battlefield” (available here) sparked a heated online debate extending over a series of articles concerning the wartime role of Sōtō Zen Master Sawaki Kōdō (1880-1965).

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 13 , Issue 18 , May 2015 , e2
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
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Copyright © The Authors 2015

References

Notes

1 See articles here and here.

2 Sawaki, “Shōji o Akirameru Kata” (The Method of Clarifying Life and Death) in the May 1944 issue of Daihōrin, pp. 5-7. Available on the Web here (accessed 29 September 2014).

3 Sawaki, “Shōji o Akirameru Kata” (The Method of Clarifying Life and Death) in the May 1944 issue of Daihōrin, p. 6.

4 Sakai Tokugen, Sawaki Kōdō – Kikigaki. Tokyo: Kōdansha Gakujutsu-bunkō, 1984, p. 269.

5 Ibid., p. 245.

6 For further background on the “Imperial Way Faction” see: 1) Crosier, Andrew, The Causes of the Second World War. Wiley-Blackwell, 1997; 2) Buruma, Ian, Inventing Japan, 1854-1964. Modern Library, 2004; 3) Samuels, Richard J., Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia. Cornell University Press, 2007; 4) Hane, Mikiso, Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Westview Press, 2001; and 5) Harries, Meirion, Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. Random House, 1994.

7 Quoted in Victoria, Zen War Stories. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003, p. 187.

8 Ibid., p. 245.

9 Ibid., p. 254.

10 Ibid., p. 251.

11 See the relevant entry in Suzuki's “Chronology” on the English homepage of the Matsugaoka website available here: (accessed on 13 November 2014).

12 Ibid., pp. 264-69.

13 Quoted in Victoria, “Zen Masters on the Battlefield, Part I,” available on the Internet here (accessed 11 November 2014).

14 Quoted in Victoria, Zen at War (2nd ed.). Boulder, Colorado: Rowman & Littlefied, 2006, p. 144.

15 Park Eunsik, The Bloody History of the Korean Independence Movement. Quoted in the “March 1st Movement,” available on the Internet here (accessed 17 November 2014). See also: 1) Cumings, Bruce, Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History. New York: W.N. Norton and Company, 1997; 2) Han, Woo-keun, The History of Korea. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1988; 3) Eugene Kim, ed., Korea's Response to Japan. Western Michigan University, 1977; and 4) Baldwin, Frank, The March First Movement: Korean Challenge and Japanese Response. New York; Columbia University, 1972.

16 Tokyo: Daihōrin-kaku, 1995.

17 Unless otherwise noted, the page numbers included in this article refer to the second volume of Tanaka's book.

18 Originally published in the January 1974 issue of the Risō Sekai-shi (Ideal World Magazine), available on the Web here (accessed 15 November 2014).

19 Quoted in Victoria, Zen War Stories, pp. 137.

20 McDowell, Kevin. “Japan in Manchuria: Agricultural Emigration in the Japanese Empire, 1932-1945.” Available on the Web here (accessed 30 November 2014).

21 Kobayashi Kōji, Manshū Imin no Mura, 1977, p. 78.

22 McDowell, Kevin. “Japan in Manchuria: Agricultural Emigration in the Japanese Empire, 1932-1945.” Available on the Web here (accessed 30 November 2014).

23 The quotation is taken from the English translation of Section 15, “Loyalty,” included in excerpts from The Dharma of Homeless Kōdō (Yadonashi Hokkusan) by Uchiyama Kōshō. Available on the Web here (accessed on 26 June 2014).

24 See reference to Hitler and Mussolini as righteous “demons” in “The End of a (Zen) Buddhist Myth” available on the Web here: (accessed 29 November 2014).

25 For one example of such military-based, zazen practice in Iraq, see here.

26 The entire article, “Shakyamuni – The First Warrior,” is posted on the Website of the “Buddhist Military Sangha” available here: (accessed 24 November 2014).

27 According to Jeff Brady in ‘Military Buddhist Chapel Represents Tolerance’, National Public Radio (13 October 2009), as of June 2009 there are 5,287 Buddhists serving in the US military.