Popular Protest in Post War Japan: The Antiwar Art of Shikoku Gorō

Dedication

Tōge dedicates the volume of poetry to “people who died in the August 6 1945 atomic bombing and those who continue to suffer the effects of radiation & other injury.” The Cold War context is evident in the Dedication’s inclusion of “people around the world who abhor the atom bomb.” Despite its modest appearance, the Japanese book anticipated an international context, noting that the publication coincided with the Third World Festival of Youth and Students held in East Berlin that year. The theme of the enormous festival, part of socialist sphere cultural diplomacy, was “Peace and Friendship against Nuclear Weapons” and “Youth United against a New War.” Tōge and his collaborators struck a delicate balance between earning the support of diverse fellow citizens and walking the line with U.S./Japanese authorities who carefully maintained the promise of democracy as part of maintaining legitimacy as the “Free World,” even with the threat of war and ideological battle with the Soviet Cold War enemy.

Because of Occupation surveillance, Shikoku and Tōge chose the most economical and discreet technology to produce the first edition of 500 copies. Gariban (mimeograph) prints directly from a handwritten text, as is evident on these pages (read right to left, top to bottom). Compare the hurried cursive handwriting by the poet Tōge on this page with the uniform block printing by another writer on the “Give me back father” poem.

This page has paths:

This page references: