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A Review of “Ancient to Modern: Religion, Power, and Community in India”

Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists, by Eiko Maruko Siniawer, is an important work that examines the role played by violent men in modern Japanese politics. From late Edo period shishi to postwar yakuza, these men used violence and the threat of violence to affect outcomes in parliamentary elections. However, this reviewer was dissatisfied by the lack of an explanation for why these violent men changed their aims from progressive goals in the Meiji era to unabashedly conservative, perhaps even reactionary, ones today. Chapter 1 covers the origins of modern Japan and the oft-ignored gamblers and drifters who impacted the Meiji Restoration of 1868. After briefly discussing the shishi (“men of spirit” in Siniawer’s translation) and their use of assassinations and terrorism, the author focuses on the gamblers and drifters. These men worked on the side of the revolution to topple the Tokugawa shogunate and continued to be a force in politics even after the creation of the Meiji state. Considering the new Meiji state elitist and not adequately reflecting the voice of the people, they worked for the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement, which demanded a parliament. In chapter 2, the sōshi (“manly warriors”), the political heirs of the shishi, take center stage. Although unable to vote or run for office, these men guarded their bosses or disrupted opposition rallies and participated in elections through violence or the threat of violence. Although some of these men helped to advocate for democracy at home in the 1890s and the early twentieth century, others went to Korea and China to support Japanese imperialism abroad. By the 1920s, men from this culture of violence had begun to fuse with men from a similar culture of violence, the gamblers and drifters, men who would later be identified as yakuza (the Japanese mafia). Thus, chapter 3 is focused on two men who were both yakuza bosses and prominent party politicians. Chapter 4 traces how in the 1930s the political parties incorporated this brand of violence into their fascist, paramilitary arms to break strikes and oppose socialist and Communist parties. In Japan’s case, however, unlike in Mussolini’s Italy, the army and government themselves adopted fascism, so there was no future for independent political parties. Fascism from above swallowed these groups whole and destroyed any remaining opposition. World War II and the trauma of extreme violence invalidated violence as a political tool. As described in chapter 5, violence receded; instead, bribery rose to the forefront. However, the yakuza cannot be completely dismissed from the political sphere. Precisely because violence was no longer common, a small outburst of violence was enough to shock people, and, for this reason, the connection between conservative political operatives and the yakuza remained strong. The yakuza’s shock value and willingness to oppose the left remained effective through the 1970s. It was only in the 1980s that ties between politicians and yakuza turned toxic enough to force politicians whose ties were exposed to resign. This is an important book for the simple reason that there are almost no English-language works that trace the history of the connection between the yakuza and the right wing, including the conservative parties, in Japan. The international comparisons with Britain, the United States, Italy, and Germany also serve as useful reminders that this connection between violence and politics is a universal and not a uniquely Japanese issue. As noted in the beginning, however, this reviewer felt that the transition of these men of violence from progressive to conservative politics was not adequately discussed. Why would the shishi and gamblers both support the revolution? Why did the sōshi agitate for parliament? Why did the yakuza enter politics on the side of the conservatives to break strikes? When they returned to politics after the war, why were they staunchly anticommunist, and why do they remain on the right to this day? If these groups felt a certain connection with each other, then why did their political stances change? These questions might not be within the purview of this book, but this reviewer would have been more satisfied if some of the answers had been posited.