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Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates how Port Arthur war sites (Ryojun senseki) from the Russo-Japanese War were, through various representations, performances, and discourses from 1905 to 1945, made into powerful sites of memory utilized to justify Japanese colonial rule in perpetuity.

Paper long abstract:

Port Arthur (Ch. Lüshun, Jp. Ryojun) was the scene of a seven-month-long siege during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) that resulted in over 100,000 casualties on both sides. Following the conflict, the city became the global face and main point of entry for Japan's Manchurian empire. Port Arthur had tremendous symbolic value for the greater Japanese empire throughout the following period to 1945. Through the relatively recent concept of "war sites (senseki)," which connected modern ideas of historical preservation with the "cult of the fallen soldier," Port Arthur was transformed into a giant memorial for the imperial Japanese war dead, and subsequently used to justify Japan's colonial claims to rule. This paper examines Port Arthur war sites (Ryojun senseki) as socially produced spaces where memories, narratives, and ideologies of war were shaped, circulated, and (re)produced in service of Japanese nation and empire building. It proposes a triadic view of the space of war sites as being comprised of representations such as monument building, performances including educational tourism, and discourses centering on the "heroic war dead (eirei)" and the idea of Port Arthur as "sacred space (seichi)." The meanings, interpretations, and uses of war sites, the paper argues, were not fait accompli; rather, they emerged as a result of activities involving many makers and shapers of memory. In particular, the paper identifies military elites such as Nogi Maresuke and Tōgō Heihachirō who advocated for some of the earliest and most prominent Port Arthur war site memorials, as well as the Society to Preserve War Sites in Manchuria (Manshū Senseki Hozon-kai) which furthered this process in the 1910s. In addition, it examines war site tourism promoted by agencies such as the South Manchurian Railway Company (Minami Manshū Tetsudō Kabushikigaisha) which sponsored educational tours and visits by notable literati including Natsume Sōseki and Yosano Akiko to Port Arthur war sites at this time. Finally, the paper concludes by touching on the state of Port Arthur war sites today, including their re-invention and re-use for Japanese and global tourism from the 1990s.