Tatenokai

The Template:Nihongo or Shield Society was a private militia in Japan dedicated to traditional Japanese values and veneration of the Emperor.<ref name="henkaku">Template:Cite journal collected in Template:Harvnb (of that in pp.33–35)</ref><ref name="o-ency-tate">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="ando-tate">Template:Harvnb</ref> It was founded and led by author Yukio Mishima.<ref name="o-ency-tate"/> The private militia was officially founded in 1968 for the purpose of preventing indirect aggression by proponents of foreign ideology seeking to destroy Japanese traditional culture, and protecting the dignity of the Emperor as a symbol of Japan's national identity.<ref>Template:Cite journal collected in Template:Harvnb (of that in pp.724–725), Template:Harvnb (of that in pp.77–78)</ref><ref name="o-ency-tate"/><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

The name of Tatenokai comes from two classical waka, one from the 7th century Asuka period and the other from the 19th century Edo period, which express the determination to become a shield to protect the Emperor.<ref name="o-ency-tate"/><ref name="juro-4-na">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="higun-na">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Background

The Tatenokai was a militia organization that took over from its predecessor, the Template:Nihongo, which was founded in 1967.<ref name="o-ency-tate"/> The original members were the staff of New Right monthly magazine Template:Nihongo and several Waseda University students.<ref name="suzu1-mochi">Template:Harvnb</ref> They had enlisted in the Japan Self-Defense Forces with Yukio Mishima in 1967, and after changing its name to Tatenokai, the group gradually increased its membership by allowing new students to enlist in the JSDF.<ref name="suzu1-mochi"/>

The Tatenokai was officially founded on October 5, 1968. Mishima decided to increase the size of the private army due to his growing alarm over the scale of left-wing protests in Japan and to this end placed recruitment advertisements in right-wing newspapers. Membership ultimately rose to 100 members, most of whom were students at Waseda University.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Along with outdoor activities, the members, who joined voluntarily, were subjected to rigorous physical training that included kendo and long-distance running.<ref name=":0" />

Origin of the Name

The name "Tatenokai" (楯の会) was inspired by two traditional Japanese waka poems: A poem from the Template:Nihongo seriesTemplate:Efn included in the Man'yōshū, and a poem by 19th century poet Tachibana Akemi.<ref name="o-ency-tate"/><ref name="juro-4-na"/><ref name="higun-na"/>

Regarding the writing, initially, they planned to write the name Template:Nihongo in all kanji, like the Template:Nihongo, a Sonnō jōi organization of the Chōshū Domain at the Bakumatsu (end of the Edo period),<ref name="ando-mitate">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Nihongo Yukio Mishima's suicide (Template:Harvnb)</ref> however, some members felt that using only kanji was too stiff, so they decided to add the hiragana Template:Nihongo to make it Template:Nihongo to add a softer nuance.<ref name="ando-mitate"/><ref name="hosaka-mitate"/>

1970 coup attempt

Template:Conservatism in Japan {{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} On November 25, 1970 Mishima and four Tatenokai members briefly seized control of the Japan Self-Defense Force's headquarters and attempted to rally the soldiers to stage a coup d'état, and unsuccessfully tried to inspire the JSDF to rise up and overthrow Article 9 of the 1947 Constitution to restore autonomous national defense and the divinity of the emperor,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="ency-jiken">Template:Harvnb</ref> after which Mishima and Masakatsu Morita, the Tatenokai's student leader, committed seppuku (ritual suicide).<ref name="ency-jiken"/> The rest of the members, around 90 people, were not informed about Mishima's plan at all.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Participants

• Yukio Mishima, Leader
  • Born: January 14, 1925 - Died: November 25, 1970

• Masakatsu Morita, Student leader, Waseda University
  • Born: July 25, 1945 - Died: November 25, 1970
  • 1st generation member, the leader of 1st team
  • Morita was born in Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture, he lost his father and mother to illness one after another when he was a toddler (the year he turns 3 years old), and was raised by his brother, who was 16 years older than him, and other his older sisters.<ref name="resshi-1-4">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="inu-0">Template:Harvnb</ref> When his older brother and sisters got married, he was left in the care of his childless aunt, and when the aunt's husband died, he grew up living with his aunt in an outhouse on his older brother's house.<ref name="resshi-1-4"/> Morita grew up to be a cheerful and lively person,<ref name="resshi-1-4"/> but his high school diary was filled with his having a romantic notion of death, and his longing for his mother and father, who were likely living happily together in heaven.<ref name="resshi-1-5a">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="inu-0"/>

• Template:Nihongo, Kanagawa University
  • Born: July 31, 1948 -
  • 2nd generation member, the leader of 5th team
  • His nickname was "Chibi-Koga", to distinguish him from Template:Nihongo, whose surname has the same pronunciation.<ref name="azusa7-koga">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nathan8-chibi">Template:Harvnb, Template:Harvnb, Template:Harvnb</ref> Further, he was short in height, and the kanji character Template:Nihongo in Template:Nihongo, so, by extension Template:Nihongo.<ref name="nathan8-chibi"/>
  • Chibi-Koga was born in Arida-shi, Wakayama Prefecture and lost his father due to illness at a young age.<ref name="date-2a1-2">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="juro-1-a6">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nishi-2-5-c">Template:Harvnb</ref> His mother was a follower of Seicho-no-Ie, a new religion,<ref name="date-2a1-2"/><ref name="juro-1-a6"/><ref name="nishi-2-5-c"/> so he also began attending training sessions for the religion and becoming a follower of it when he was in junior high school.<ref name="date-2a1-2"/><ref name="nishi-2-5-c"/>

• Hiroyasu Koga, Kanagawa University
  • Born: August 15, 1947 -
  • 2nd generation member, the vice leader of 5th team
  • His nickname was "Furu-Koga".<ref name="azusa7-koga"/> The kanji character Template:Nihongo in Template:Nihongo can also be read as Template:Nihongo in kun'yomi.
  • Furu-Koga was born in Takigawa-shi, Hokkaido, and his father, a former elementary school principal, was a lecturer at Seicho-no-Ie headquarters,<ref name="date-2a1-2"/><ref name="juro-1-a6"/><ref name="nishi-2-5-d">Template:Harvnb</ref> so he started participating in training sessions and becoming a believer in the religion in high school.<ref name="date-2a1-2"/><ref name="nishi-2-5-d"/>

• Template:Nihongo, Meiji Gakuin University
  • Born: May 15, 1948 - Died: November 26, 2018
  • 3rd generation member, the leader of 7th team
  • He was tall and had a small moustache.<ref name="azusa7-koga"/>
  • Ogawa was born in the Sanbu-gun, Chiba Prefecture, and grew up with a father who was a former police officer and a mother who was a former teacher, as a boy interested in the Emperor and Japanese history.<ref name="date-7b-16a">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nishi-2-5-b">Template:Harvnb</ref> Ogawa was usually quiet boy, but had an inner fortitude, and was a member of the Template:Nihongo at high school and university.<ref name="nishi-2-5-b"/>

Inspired events

On 3 March 1977, four Japanese nationalists took 12 hostages at the Keidanren Kaikan (headquarters of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations), spreading leaflets at the scene that denounced big business. The hostages were released, unharmed, after an eleven-hour standoff during which the hostage-takers spoke for more than three hours to Mishima's widow, Yōko. Two of the hostage-takers – Yoshio Ito and Shunichi Nishio – were former members of the Tatenokai.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="keidan">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="mura-5-kd">Template:Harvnb</ref> This incident is called the Template:Nihongo in Japan.<ref name="keidan"/><ref name="mura-5-kd"/>

Sources

• Template:Cite book
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• Template:Cite book First edition published 1989.
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• Template:Cite book First edition published in May 1972. Template:NCID
• Template:Cite book First edition published in November 1980 by Kodansha.
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• Template:Cite book First old edition published in June 1976 (In Japan, old edition was out of print due to Mishima's family's claim that the book had parts of what they didn't say.)
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