Zen Terror in Prewar Japan: Portrait of an Assassin

by Brian Daizen Victoria, James Mark Shields Professor of Comparative Humanities and Asian Thought, Bucknell University (Foreword by)

Overview

Written by a Zen priest, this book explodes the myth of Zen Buddhism as a peaceful religion.



Can Buddhism, widely regarded as a religion of peace, also contribute to acts of terrorism? Through an insider’s view of right-wing ultranationalism in prewar Japan, this powerful book follows a band of Zen Buddhist–trained adherents who ardently believed so. Brian Victoria, himself a Zen priest, tells the story of a group of terrorists who were responsible for the assassination of three leading political and economic figures in 1932.

Victoria provides a detailed introduction to the religious as well as political significance of the group’s terrorist beliefs and acts, focusing especially on the life and times of the band’s leader, Inoue Nisshō. A deeply troubled youth, Inoue became a spy in Manchuria for the Japanese Army in 1909, where he encountered Zen for the first time. When he returned to Japan in 1921, he determined to resolve his deep spiritual discontent through meditation practice, which culminated in an enlightenment experience that resolved his long-term doubts.After engaging in “post-enlightenment training” under the guidance of Rinzai Zen master Yamamoto Gempō, Inoue began a program of training the “patriotic youth” who formed the nucleus of his terrorist band.

After the assassinations, Inoue and his band were sentenced to life imprisonment, only to be released just a few years later in 1940. Almost unbelievably, Inoue then became the live-in confidant of Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro, a position he held through the end of WWII. In the postwar era, Inoue reinvented himself again as the founder and head of yet another band of ultranationalists known as the “National Protection Corps.” His eventful life came to an end in 1967.

Victoria concludes with an assessment of the profound impact of the assassinations, which culminated in Japan’s transformation into a totalitarian state and set the stage for Pearl Harbor. The author also examines the connection of Buddhism to terrorism more broadly, considering the implications for today’s Islamic-related terrorism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538131671
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/14/2020
Series:	Asian Voices
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	392
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Brian Daizen Victoria, a fully ordained Sōtō Zen priest, is currently a senior research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. His publications include Zen at War and Zen War Stories. Zen Terror in Prewar Japan is the third book in the trilogy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by James Mark Shields

Preface

1 Introduction

2 Setting the Stage: Japan from the 1860s through the 1930s

3 A Troubled Youth

4 An Adventurer in China

5 Fighting in World War I

6 The Winding Road to Enlightenment

7 The Voice of Heaven

8 The Blood Oath Corps Incident

9 Patriots on Trial

10 Imprisonment: The Zen of Pasting Envelopes

11 From Prison Cell to Prime Minister’s Estate

12 An Ultranationalist in Postwar Japan

13 Unraveling the Historical Matrix

14 Unraveling the Religious Matrix

15 Trilogy Conclusion

Epilogue

Appendix 1: The Assassination of General Nagata Tetsuzan

Appendix 2: Zen in the February 26, 1936, Incident

Appendix 3: Historical Background Materials

Notes

References

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Studies like the present one are rare and shed precious light on the complex relations of religion and violence. The anchoring of the discussion in the close study of an individual life amid the political complexities of his time wards off predictable ideology and provides fascinating material for ongoing reflection, as if on a tormenting koan.

Japanese Journal of Religious Studies

"For 20 years Brian Daizen Victoria has written about the connections between Buddhism and militarism in Japan.. .. In this concluding volume he. .. uses Inoue's remarkable life story to highlight the key role that Zen Buddhism played in motivated the terrorists in Inoue's band.. .. An outstanding piece of scholarship, engaging and disturbing in equal measure."

Good Reads Reviews

Zen Terror in Prewar Japan completes Brian Victoria’s trilogy that mines the seam of killing-facilitation in twentieth-century Japanese Zen, focusing here on the writings and statements of the leader of a small group of terrorists led by a Zen practitioner. Buddhism contains rich resources for supporting non-violence and peace, but also some teachingsthat have been used to support violence. Victoria does a signal service to Buddhism by shining a spotlight on harmful delusions that have arisen in some of its followers, which should help to undermine these beliefs, drawing instead on more positive resources in the tradition. As a Zen teacher might have said, ‘If you see “Buddhist” bullshit on the road, kill it!’

Peter Harvey

This third volume completes a masterly trilogy exposing how the violent undercurrents in Zen surfaced in modern times in the form of a militaristic right-wing ideology. Rather than focusing on Zen warmongering, as in the first two volumes, the subject of the present book is terrorism. Buddhism and terrorism might seem unlikely partners, but Victoria's carefully documented research traces how a partnership of febrile nationalism and Zen ideology led to Inoue Nisshō becoming the leader of a terrorist group in pre-WWII Japan. The book makes sobering reading for those who still see Buddhism as exclusively a religion of peace, and will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the chilling relationship between religion and terror.

Damien Keown

Brian Daizen Victoria, a Zen priest and a highly regarded senior research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, has written a penetrating response to a fundamental question: Can Buddhism, universally regarded as a religion of peace that eschews all forms of violence, also allow for acts of violence including terrorism?.... Brian Daizen Victoria has provided his readers with a superb study of Japanese politics and society in the radical years before Pearl Harbor. The reader gets a ring-side seat to observe politics in Japan from the point of view of the minds of the terrorists themselves and the shockingly high degree of support they had in the upper echelons of the military. This book is must reading for anybody interested in Japanese political history in the years before Pearl Harbor.

Virginia Review of Asian Studies

A wonderfully stimulating and insightful book. I continue to be grateful for the teachings I received from Yasutani Roshi many years ago, but the revelations in previous books by Brian Victoria concerning Yasutani’s promotion of militarism have been disheartening. After leaving Yasutani Roshi I spent five-years as head-monastic at the Rochester Zen Center under Philip Kapleau and later moved to Maine to study under Walter Nowick. It is by way of books such as this one by Brian Victoria that one can share in exploring the topics of Buddhism, militarism, and nationalism. By basing his study on the character of Inoue, Victoria has illustrated the lethal blend that militarism and Buddhism can bring about. One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is how Inoue uses his Zen experience of Kensho to justify his assassinations of key people in government prior to WWII. I should note that Kensho, by itself, cannot overcome deeply rooted habit energies. Sustained precept training (e.g., training in the ethics of non-harming of living beings) is needed for this. But despite a lack of such an ethical base, Inoue justified his plans by referring to his enlightenment experience. Brian Victoria’s book not only plumbs Inoue’s motives, using Inoue’s own words from his journals, he also examines Buddhist ethics in terms of war and discusses differences between Theravada, Mahayana, and Zen ethics. To me, these discussions were the most valuable and impressive, although the overall reading of Zen Terror had the added feature of providing insight into Japanese attitudes concerning family, clan, and attitudes toward militarism. With the above in mind, I strongly endorse Brian Victoria’s book and believe it will be fascinating reading for all those who are engaged in Buddhist studies and/or Zen practice. Research done by scholars such as Victoria help to deepen one’s understanding of the cultural context in which Buddhism has survived over the past two millennia. His book makes me more determined than ever to continue to practice Zen and to renew and deepen my vows to save all sentient beings.

Hugh J. Curran

An excellent contribution to the discussion of religious violence. For those interested in Japanese politics, it gives an extensive background to the turbulent fifty years of Japanese politics to the end of the Second World War. This background illuminates some of the reasons behind the rise of the militaristic Japanese government of the 1930s which led directly to the Pacific War. For those who haven’t read Victoria’s previous two books, this could be a good introduction to the other works of Brian Victoria. Zen Terror in Prewar Japan has an extensive postscript with notes that discuss further the links of violence and religion and details about some of the main players as well as some fascinating photographs that put faces to the names and places.

thezensite

Brian Victoria masterfully describes how peace-practicing Zen Buddhism was utilized as an ideological weapon for justifying terrorist acts in prewar Japan, fervently supporting Japan’s emperor system ideology. The book is not just an historical study but also a dire warning of the danger that, if abused, any peace-loving religion can be exploited to rationalize violence.

Yuki Tanaka

A riveting account of the life and thought of Inoue Nisshō, one of the most infamous—and interesting—ultranationalists in Japan of the 1930s. The first half of the work shows a man who was at once religious and violent, thoughtful and eccentric, a carouser who practiced Zen meditation earnestly—but a man who always was influential. The second half of the bookshifts tone as Victoria presents a forceful, provocative analysis of the impact Zen had on Inoue’s leadership of terrorist groups during the early 1930s, as well as of the ongoing relationship between terrorism and religions more generally. Providing a nuanced understanding of the mindset of Japan’s pre–World War II terrorists, this is an important read.

James L. Huffman

Brian Victoria paints a rich, often moving, psychological and philosophical portrait. Probing deeply into the Buddhist worldview and into the often abstract or even abstruse debates within Buddhist circles, he comes to the shocking conclusion that although ‘no religion is free of having committed terrorist acts or providing the doctrinal/ethical justification for terrorism,’ Buddhism, especially in the Zen form, has a peculiar predisposition for it. Like today’s Islamist cults, it learned to think of assassination as ‘compassionate killing.’ This is a book bound to stir controversy not only in Japan, especially in Buddhist circles, but also in the United States, where Zen Buddhism has attracted many adherents and any association of Zen with terror is unthinkable.

Gavan McCormack

[H]aving concluded his trilogy, Victoria can now be considered as participating in a long tradition of Buddhist thinkers castigating Buddhism for its degeneracy and aiming, in this way, at a thoroughgoing reform.

Journal of Japanese Studies

I am delighted to draw attention to the admirable work of Brian Victoria. His expertise in Zen Buddhism comes both from intensive study of the Japanese sources and from his many years of personal experience. In both areas he has devoted himself to finding the truth and to conveying it with unflinching honesty and complete lucidity. His bold statements and candid judgments are all supported by unambiguous evidence and deserve to be pondered on by all who care about Buddhism and have humane values at heart.

Richard Gombrich

One of the great benefits of this book is bringing back more squarely into view an understanding of Japan’s wartime aggression as a backdrop to understanding modern Japanese Buddhism in today’s time of political correctness. . .and it is important to note that Zen Terror in Prewar Japan is not “Japan bashing.”. .. the book is sure to open new paths for researchers concerning the idea of modern Japanese Buddhism and political violence. I personally found that it reinvigorated my own interest in the topic and provided many important leads to follow, particularly in connection with the role Buddhist philosophy may have played in advice given to the emperor by his inner circle.”

H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online

Zen Terror completes Brian Victoria’s landmark three-volume study of Japanese Zen Buddhist complicity with “Imperial Way Buddhism,” which provided a religious pretext for Japan’s violent expansionism in twentieth-century Asia and its participation in World War II. As a Zen priest, scholar, and a moral being, Victoria digs deeply to uncover the disturbing racist and militarist pronouncements and actions of many teachers who remain pivotal figures in the development of Zen in Japan and here in the West. He argues convincingly that these distortions of Buddhist teachings of peace were not the aberrations of misguided individuals, but the logical end of religion in the thrall of power. We owe a great debt to Brian Victoria for intellectual courage, clear writing, and rigorous ethical standards. The depredations of Japanese Buddhism, including domestic terrorism, in the early twentieth century echo through unfolding ethnic and religious crises in the present—everywhere that Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, or Judaism find themselves entangled with the mechanisms of the nation-state. To ignore or deny this history is to invite its continuation.

Rev. Hozan Alan Senauke

This volume adds a new chapter to the fascinating literature on Imperial Way Zen and offers still another precious antidote to simplistic views of Buddhism as an inherently peaceful religion. It is highly recommended to anyone interested in Japanese religions and religious ethics in general.

Religious Studies Review