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- Convenor:
-
Philip Seaton
(Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Philip Seaton
(Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Performing Arts
- Location:
- Lokaal 5.50
- Sessions:
- Saturday 19 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel demonstrates music’s ability to express/evoke a range of moods and attitudes about war. It analyses the diverse ways in which war-related music has been imported, composed and performed in Japan since the twentieth century, from children's songs, to classical music and anime songs.
Long Abstract:
This panel comprises four papers that collectively introduce some of the key issues surrounding music related to war in Japan in the pre- and postwar eras.
The first two papers focus on the prewar. The paper “Western songs in Japanese elementary school education before World War II: Shoka (songs for children) in music textbooks” discusses “honyaku shoka” (lit. “translated songs”), namely children’s songs introduced into Japan mainly from the West in the prewar era. These songs were first introduced in an age of imperialism, and their new lyrics could have distinctive imperial overtones (such as Hotaru no Hikari). Then the paper “Remembering European War and Peace in Sendai: The Premiere of Kate Ingeborg Hansen’s Slesvig (1932)” analyses a string quartet premiered in Japan that commemorated the incorporation of Southern Jutland into the Danish nation following the Treaty of Versailles.
The second two papers focus on the postwar era. “The A-Bombs in Music and the Music in A-bomb Commemorations” looks at the large number of major works of classical music that depict or commemorate the atomic attack on Hiroshima, and the broader role of music in memories of the A-bombs and “prayers for peace”. The final paper, by contrast, analyzes music’s connections to war in the realms of entertainment and pop culture. “JSDF brass bands and tourism: the Japan Self-Defense Force, anison (anime songs), and tourism in harmony” examines how anime songs form an important part of the repertoire of JSDF brass bands and the use of music within the PR of the contemporary Japanese military.
Collectively these papers cover a wide temporal range, from the early twentieth to the early twenty-first century. They also cover various genres (children’s songs, chamber music, orchestral, pop/anison, brass band) and attitudes towards war, from celebrating national victories, to mourning the dead and treating war as entertaining fun. As such, the panel sheds light on the ability of music to express/evoke a wide range of moods and attitudes associated with warfare, and therefore the diverse ways in which war-related music has been imported, composed and performed in Japan.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 19 August, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
With a primary focus on Hiroshima in classical music (although other genres and Nagasaki are discussed, too), this paper analyzes both the representations of the A-bombs in music and how music contributes to commemorative practices and “peace tourism” via “music tourism”.
Paper long abstract:
The atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II are central to Japanese memories of the conflict. With a primary focus on Hiroshima in classical music (although other genres and Nagasaki are discussed, too), this paper analyzes both the representations of the A-bombs in music and how music contributes to commemorative practices and “peace tourism” via “music tourism”.
First the paper catalogues the major works of classical music about Hiroshima by Japanese composers. Many are abstract/modern in the mould of “Western art music” (the widely used academic term for contemporary “classical” music). Contrasting these works with the neo-romantic Symphony No. 1 “Hiroshima” by disgraced composer Samuragochi Mamoru (actually his ghost writer Niigaki Takashi), the differing ways A-bomb-related music engages the intellect and emotions are discussed.
Then the paper examines how music in Hiroshima contributes to commemorative events within “peace tourism”. There are peace concerts and events organized by groups such as the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra that commemorate the wartime past in music. The Peace Park itself has often been a musical stage with the A-bomb dome serving as a backdrop to open air performances. And in recent times, “hibaku pianos” (which were damaged in the bombing) have gathered attention, both as the subject of films/dramas and in touring activities, whether visitation to the recently-opened hibaku piano museum or the pianos being transported outside Hiroshima for concerts.
This paper, therefore, explores the multiple connections between (classical) music, war memories, and contemporary commemorations of the atomic bombs.
Paper short abstract:
Japan Self-Defense Force brass bands often play anime songs. They sometimes induce tourism by anime fans. This paper examines the history and meanings of these performances for both JSDF and fans.
Paper long abstract:
This presentation discusses the tourism induced by Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) brass bands. JSDF has its own musical bands performing for the encouragement of the troops, celebratory events, and public relations. These brass bands often play anime songs (anison). The bands and some anison (especially the theme songs for anime relating to war) sometimes evoke the image of the war. Recently, some anime fans and/or military fans have gone so far as to travel in order to listen to anison played by JSDF brass bands. This presentation clarifies the following three issues. First, the social position and the role of JSDF brass bands will be clarified through document analysis and field surveys of JSDF promotional activities. In Japanese society, the social position of JSDF is complicated because of anti-war sentiment among the public. As such, JSDF brass bands also have an essential role in improving the image of JSDF. Second, an overview of the history of anison and theme songs for tokusatsu (special effects) films played by JSDF brass bands will be given. The history of collaboration between JSDF and pop culture can be traced back to the film Godzilla in the 1950s. Moreover, theme songs for tokusatsu films such as Godzilla are now frequently performed by JSDF brass bands along with anime songs. Therefore, the relationship between anison and tokusatsu theme songs in the bands’ repertoires will be also considered. Third, through a specific case study on tourism practices related to anison performance by JSDF brass bands, the authors will analyze whether these performances actually evoke images of war in the tourists or some other emotion.
Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on the lyrics of “translated” Shoka introduced to Japan after the Meiji Restoration, how the lyrics differed from the original meaning, and what they mean for Japanese people today.
Paper long abstract:
After the Meiji Restoration (1868), music education in Japan was based on Western music. In particular, “honyaku shoka” (lit. "translated shoka) are songs for children which were published in textbooks for elementary school students and laid the foundation for Western music in Japan. They had a great influence on subsequent Japanese popular music. They were mainly Western folk songs sung with Japanese translations. Their origins were diverse, including from the UK, US, France, and Germany.
What is noteworthy is the “translated” Japanese lyrics. Some songs were given completely new meanings. For example, Hotaru No Hikari (The Light of Fireflies) is based on the Scottish folk song Auld Lang Syne. However, “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?” became “Hotaru no hikari, mado no yuki” (The light of fireflies, the snow on the window) in the lyrics by Chikai Inagaki. Furthermore, the Japanese version of the fourth chorus is.
Chishima no oku mo, Okinawa mo,
(All over the Kuril and Okinawa islands)
Yashima no uchi no, mamori nari,
(A part of Japan's overall defense)
In other words, Hotaru No Hikari was used as part of Japanese imperialist education. However, today the tune is sung at graduation ceremonies and at the end of NHK’s Red and White Song Contest on New Year's Eve. It has become a very familiar song for the Japanese people, albeit separated from its original meaning.
This paper focuses on the lyrics of various “translated” Shoka, how their lyrics differed from the original meaning, how they were passed down to Japanese children, and what they mean for Japanese people today.
Paper short abstract:
This paper describes the circumstances of the composition and performance of ‘Schlesvig’ by Kate Ingeborg Hansen in Sendai in 1932. The performance exemplifies the role of music in linking the provincial town to the wider world.
Paper long abstract:
On 11 June 1932, at a concert at Miyagi College, the Suzuki String Quartet gave the first full performance of ‘Schlesvig’ (sic), a work composed by the head of the College’s music department, Kate Ingeborg Hansen. Hansen, a missionary from Kansas, who spent most of her working life in Sendai, had Danish roots. Her father had emigrated to the United States in 1864 after his homeland in Southern Jutland was annexed by Prussia. In 1893 he took his family to Denmark, and Kate Hansen spent several months with the family of his sister, who had married a German. She composed ‘Schlesvig’ in 1929, presumably as part of her studies for a doctorate in music at the Chicago Music College. The work represents both a tribute to her father, who died in 1926, a commemoration of her family’s time in her father’s homeland, and a celebration of the incorporation of Southern Jutland into the Danish nation as a result of the plebiscite in 1920, according to the Treaty of Versailles.
In my paper I will describe the circumstances of the composition and the performance and briefly characterize the work. Placing the performance in the context of concerts in early twentieth-century Sendai, I argue that the performance of ‘Schlesvig’ represents a prime example of the role of music in linking the northern provincial town to the wider world. Performing and listening to Western music enabled the people of Japan and Sendai to actively participate in modern civilization (bunmei) and to imagine themselves a part of a global community of nations through the music and the associations it evoked.