- This chapter has chartered the three and a half thousand
year history of two nationality groups in Asia, the Japanese
whose general origins may be traced to its Chinese immigrant
community who merged together with an earlier population
whose identity is unknown, and the Hindi, who comprise a
mixture of Aryan conquerors who arrived from Persia and
an ancient population whose identity for the purposes of
this manuscript was not made clear. The flow of Chinese
into Japan took on the nature of immigration rather than
of conquest, whereas in India, the Aryans arrived there
specifically for the purpose of conquest. There was never
any real possibility for the ancient indigenous Japanese
tribes to escape from Japan to another place, in India that
option was always open, practically speaking however the
emigrations that did take place were not on a large scale,
at least insofar as this topic has been looked at in this
manuscript. Both in Japan and in India a distinct and common
culture was cultivated using the resources of those who
had recently arrived from near as well as from those who
had always been part of the landscape. One of the conspicuous
differences between these two cultures was the institution
of the caste system, a system that hierarchically graded
the various classes and one which was prominently followed
in India immediately after the Aryan invasion of that country,
but which did not exist in any form in Japan. The ancient
myths in both Japan and in India ascribed different statuses
amongst various categories of people. In Japan the imperial
family was accorded a different status to the general Japanese
population. In India the population was divided along class
lines so that every individual in society was classified
according to his class. In both these countries rituals
were conducted in honour of the ancestors (as was the case
iChina). Originally Japan exclusively adopted Confucianism,
and it was only much later on that they welcomed Northern
Buddhism to their shores. This was deemed acceptable because
this form of the religion did not essentially have to rely
upon monasteries for its functioning, and therefore did
not threaten to create a focal point of power that competed
with the regime. From this point of view Japan is similar
to China. In contradistinction, in India, there never was
a Confucian tradition, even if the idea of a duty of loyalty
towards one's superiors, an idea that is an important component
of Confucian ideology, was meticulously followed in India.
Buddhism as it took shape in the North had its origins in
India, and yet it was completely eradicated in the subcontinent,
since its mere mode of operation was viewed as a threat
to Hinduism, especially since Buddhism was opposed to the
caste system. This Buddhist opposition to class distinctions
obviously did not affect its chances of integration in China,
in Japan, or in any other Asian country; the reason for
this was that the caste system that prevailed in India was
not imitated in any other territory. The whole subject of
class differences and of the superiority of the upper class
in India is intimately connected with the mythology that
upheld this motif. In Japan the myths were used as an adhesive
substance unifying the nation by spreading the message of
the uniqueness of the Japanese as well as the inherent superiority
of their emperor especially with respect to his religious
preeminence. In India myths did not come to unify the Indians
rather they came to split them; from this perspective what
is evident is the diametrically opposed scenarios when comparing
the effects of myths in Japan to those in India. In India
there is no talk of myths being used to glorify the land
called India. Myths, there, do not even instill an obligation
of loyalty towards this or that ruler or emperor. The difference
between Japanese mythology and Hindu mythology lies in the
fact that the Japanese myths were active in bringing together
a nation under one centralized regime, which regime was
recognized as holy from a religious perspective. Contrarily,
in India the Hindu myths (as distinct from the Buddhist
and Sikh myths) were invented for the express purpose of
ensuring that members of the inferior classes do not rebel
against the superior status accorded members of the upper
classes. In India myths were used specifically for preserving
the status quo ante of the societal composition. In Japan
they came to strengthen the people, the state, and the sole,
unique, and legitimate government of Japan. Obviously the
myths of the Buddhists and those of the Sikhs were quite
different from one another, as different as each was to
the Islamic myths, but all of this is not relevant; the
Buddhists were in any event wiped out, and the Sikhs and
Muslims were segregated from the general Indian population.
Another aspect has also been illuminated: Myths are never
co-incidental. Despite the fact that they are, apparently,
simple narratives of events, there is nothing at all simple
about them. Mythical fables comprise the fundamental Constitutions
of social co-existence in (perhaps) all human frameworks,
and this is true at least of India and of Japan. If, nowadays,
in the modern Western world, the most essential clauses
providing for the smooth running of society and of their
institutions are drafted in a document called a Constitution;
at other times in history and in other countries this document
would variously be referred to as a myth, a folk tale, a
parable, an epic, the Jewish Bible, the New Testament, or
the Koran. Therefore the Hindu story which contains images
styled on the Biblical binding of Isaac is a Constitutional-
Judicial proclamation cautioning each man in Hindi society
to believe that which is attributed to their deities and
to obey those precepts that have to do with the status of
the Brahmans, and for example, the given fact of the superiority
of the Aryan race within the framework of Indian society.
As Hall quotes in his book, it was Baron Kikuchi Dairoku
who, in a series of lectures that he delivered in London
in 1909, argued the case for Japan's uniqueness and superiority,
over and above all other nations in the universe, when he
said: From the first Emperor, Jinmu, there has been an unbroken
line of descent to the present Emperor. This unique character
of our Imperial dynasty, together with the fact that all
Japanese … are regarded as either descended from the
Imperial family or from those who came over with it from
the … Plain of High Heaven, may be said to constitute
the fundamental character of our nationality as distinguished
from other nations. The support for this contention is contained
in an unimpeachable source- Japanese mythology. This is
reminiscent of the primary Jewish claim, which is based
upon that which is written in the Hebrew Bible, viz. that
the Pentateuch was given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
In light of the aforesaid is it correct to say that for
the Japanese the devastating surrender suffered by them
at the end of World War II was equivalent to the shattering
experience of the heavens falling down on earth? If so,
it would appear that the power of myths, especially that
of the Japanese, was able to withstand such a calamity.
The myths continued to fill the hearts of the Japanese,
ensuring that they remain fiercely attached to Japanese
nationalism; after all this nationalism continued to thrive
despite being fractured by surrendering the war. Thus the
myths have never changed. Reality will always be incapable
of inflicting damage to them. It is the latter that will
triumph over reality. And indeed that is exactly what happened.
The democratic Constitution inspired by American values
was overcome by a reality that pushed it in the direction
of the Ancient Mythological Constitution, which is the hushed
but deeply entrenched Japanese Constitution. This Constitution
was not drafted during the Magi period, as Marayuma has
proposed. After all he did not even try to search out the
roots for displaying loyalty specifically to the Japanese
emperor, and which explain the reason behind the local pride
the Japanese people take in themselves, which both go to
the core of nationalism, or the thing which Marayuma calls
fascism; roots which facilitated the rise of the Magi regime.
Nationalism was always around even if such a nomenclature
was unknown and unfamiliar. When it came to the Indian reality
the exact opposite happened. The myths, which were not at
all linked to nationalism but were rather the mainstay behind
the caste system, were forced into submission. The power
of the Indian myths ceased the moment an end was decreed
to the caste system. These myths did not try and shape society
or create a nationality. Instead these myths were an historic
anachronism since they preserved class distinction. When
the idea of splitting society along class lines was thrown
out into the dust heap of history, the myths that encouraged
this divisive approach, an approach that was no longer in
vogue, also became a thing of the past. It is even possible
to say that today's Indian nationalism is possessed of a
deep historic past which over the course of time has been
filled with nostalgia for class distinctions that once exited
but have since ceased to be the norm. >From this perspective,
Hindi myths even nowadays make up a great part of the national
Indian historic memory. Memory- yes, reality- no. A separate
question relates to the extent to which myths- independently
in India and independently in Japan- played a part in the
willingness and execution of a foreign invasion. India never
initiated an invasion outside its borders. External wars
were only fought in the context of Kashmir and only in order
to ward off Pakistani intentions to annex Indian Kashmir
to its borders. This does not classify as an Indian incursion
but rather as an instance of Indian self defence. Since
ancient mythology revolved around class difference rather
than national unification or the formation of a nationality,
it becomes completely evident why India has never been able
to provoke a war in which it would invade areas outside
of its borders. The main reason then is because national
integration did not exist at the time when India had just
gained its independence. Such integration was difficult
to achieve without myths specifically geared towards such
an eventuality. Integration did come about, as it did in
the United States, only after wars had been fought and blood
had been spilt, which in turn facilitated the creation of
new myths. It goes without saying that as far as Japan is
concerned national myths do present one with the option
of executing an invasion, even if it does not render invasions
such as these inevitable. National Japanese pride had obviously
contributed to the Japanese war mood especially when a situation
had arisen where the Japanese had felt that Japan had not
been accorded proper respect or had not been treated as
an equal; these situations did come about, for example,
when international treaties had been signed which had treated
the parties unequally, including the time when the amount
of boats allowed to patrol the seas had been unequally distributed
giving Japan a significantly lower volume than that that
had been accorded the United States and the United Kingdom,
and also counting the time when the "yellow" Japanese
had had to deal with a very different treatment towards
them than that that had been received by the "white"
Western Powers in relation to the possibility of imperial
conquests; Western countries had viewed it their right to
hold on to property situated in the Imperial colonies but
when Japan had occupied colonies which had in the past belonged
to the European countries but which had been subsequently
conquered by Japan's ally, Germany, as in the case of the
French or Dutch colonies, or when Japan had occupied territories
formerly under German control, or even when Japan had considered
herself at liberty to be active in China no less than the
other Europeans, in all these and in similar cases Japan
had had to withstand a hostile attitude from the world's
leading states. Against the backdrop of such an attitude
Japanese national pride made its way to the forefront and
demanded from the Japanese government a tough approach in
its contacts with the West. >From this perspective the
ancient Japanese myths contributed to the international
whirlpool in which Japan had found herself. It is abundantly
clear that the more wars Japan fought, wars that were nourished
by national pride nurtured by ancient mythology, the more
new myths were created as a result of these very wars. New
myths are continuously being created. Myths are not the
sole province of the ancient historic past, as was already
mentioned in the introduction above. There is also the myth
of civil religion in every modern state; whether it takes
the form of national holidays or whether it comprises heroic
stories of the recent past, myths are intimately connected
with the rituals that are themselves connected to the establishment
of a state and the attendant struggles and sufferings of
its inhabitants during its wars. In the Magi's Japan, for
example, a national holiday was proclaimed to celebrate
the day of the commencement of the reign of the first emperor;
nonetheless, as has been mentioned in the introduction,
just like there is no replacement for the memories of infanthood
and of childhood, and just like one cannot compare the memories
of infanthood and childhood to the events that occur to
a person in his mature years, from the point of view of
shaping one's behavior and one's feelings, so too with the
life of a nation; but this question goes beyond the confines
of this present discussion.
