Gunka, literally “military song”, was a heavily Western-influenced music genre created in the Meiji era intended to foster patriotic fervor at home and on the battlefront and reached its peak in WWII. Soldiers undoubtedly familiarized themselves with these rigorous and indefatigable war songs. Homefront gunka were taught in schools, played over the radio, and printed in sheet music forms available for public consumption. Song lyrics were printed onto cards and placards to be distributed to homes and schools for housewives and children to learn. While the battlefront songs boasted of the Imperial Army’s militant strength and its soldiers’ bravery, the homefront gunka often praised and expressed gratitude to those fighting for the empire.
Within Japan’s imperial territories, a unique pan-Asia concept developed, which came to be known as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Said to be Japan’s response to The Monroe Doctrine, the Co-prosperity Sphere concept proposed that regions in Asia were as pivotal to Japan as Latin America to the U.S.; and that Japan was to liberate Asia from the rules of white colonial powers. However, through examining the historical reality of Japan’s territories, the “Co-Prosperity” narrative evidently did not hold water. The people living under Japanese colonization hardly received any political or economic rights and opportunities, let alone to co-prosper. After all, the implementation of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere seemed to have eventually perverted into horrendous war crimes against humanity.
Music has an unrivaled ability to influence people’s emotions, and henceforth actions. Scholars and writers alike have attempted at exploring the psyche of soldiers and members of the homefront, but there has yet to appear a study centering on musical psychology. Gunka appears to be an overlooked source material, despite its unique value in revealing a sophisticated network of music production and dissemination, as well as linking the authority’s intent with the public and the army’s reception. Furthermore, it prompts historians to question the adequacy of Japanese military music as a supplementary mental dose of loyalty, as well as the ramifications of its messages.
My poster will present gunka lyrics and I will offer, orally, a close reading of those strategically formulated words. It also will include entries from soldiers’ and children’s personal writings with references to gunka lyrics. Photographs from the time period that depict of individuals singing along to gunka in ensembles, as well as music instruments and performances will be present. Depending on the mode of transportation, I may bring physical items (e.g., music box, authentic lyric cards).