What is Ippeisotsu by Tayama Katai about?

Question

What is Ippeisotsu by Tayama Katai about?
Japanese Literature during the Russi-Japanese War

Answer 1

Tadayoshi Sakurai. Human Bullets: A Soldier’s Story of the Russo-Japanese War. Translated by Masujiro
Honda. Edited by Alice Mabel Bacon. New York: Kegan Paul, 2005. xvi + 270 pp. Appendices. $127.50
(cloth), ISBN 0-7103-0874-4.
Reviewed by D. Colin Jaundrill, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University.
Published by H-War (December, 2005)
A Young Lieutenant’s Russo-Japanese War
This edition of Sakurai Tadayoshi’s classic
memoir, Human Bullets: A Soldier’s Story of the
Russo-Japanese War, includes the original 1907
English translation and an introduction by Count
Okuma Shigenobu. While this remains a valuable
text, simply reprinting the original edition poses a
number of problems, including a lack of basic
contextual information. A hundred years after the
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), readers might
have benefited from the addition of footnotes and a
critical introduction. However, Human Bullets
remains a fascinating resource for readers
interested in the military history of the early
twentieth century or the history of modern Japan.
Human Bullets recounts Sakurai’s
experiences during the Russo-Japanese War. His
unit, the 22nd Infantry Regiment, arrived in
Manchuria on May 24, 1904, just in time to
participate in the preparatory actions leading up to
the siege of Port Arthur. Throughout the months of
June and July, the 22nd Infantry (part of General
Nogi Maresuke’s 3rd Army) saw action at Waitushan,
Kenzan, and Taipo-shan. Sakurai’s
performance earned him a promotion to first
lieutenant and command of a company
immediately prior to the first general assault on
Port Arthur. Wounded in a failed attack on August
23, Sakurai lay among his fallen comrades until
rescued by another Japanese soldier the next day.
Owing to the severity of his wounds, Sakurai
returned to Japan for treatment, where he penned
Human Bullets during his convalescence. Over the
next decade, Sakurai’s memoir was translated into
English, Chinese, German, French, Italian, and
Russian.
Human Bullets serves two purposes for
readers primarily interested in the military aspects
of the Russo-Japanese War. First, it provides an
"on the ground" perspective of what combat was
like for soldiers and junior officers in the Japanese
army. Sakurai gives us an idea of how Japanese
soldiers and officers related to each other, how they
viewed the enemy, and how they prepared for
battle. In one of the memoir’s more poignant
episodes, Sakurai describes the mood in camp on
the eve of the regiment’s first battle: "That night I
could hardly sleep for excitement; I tossed and
fretted in bed, pictured to myself the battle of the
morrow, or talked nonsense with the comrade in
the nearest bed. I saw the occasional flickering of
small fires in the dark and knew that not a few
were awake, smoking and cogitating" (p. 79).
Unfortunately for most Western readers, Human
Bullets is one of the few literary works of the
Russo-Japanese War to have been translated from
Japanese. Many other fascinating works, including
Mori Ogai’s Uta nikki ( Poem Diary ), Mizuno
Hironori’s Kono issen ( This Battle ), and Tayama
Katai’s short story "Ippeisotsu" ("A Soldier"), have
yet to be translated.
Second, Human Bullets should be of interest
to scholars and students of the First World War.
Historians often approach the Russo-Japanese war
as an awful prelude to the horrors of the western
front. Sakurai depicts the violence of modern
siege warfare in a fashion instantly recognizable to
anyone familiar with the Somme: virtually
impregnable fortifications; massive, multi-day
artillery preparations; and infantry mowed down
like grass as they struggle to move forward in the
face of machine gun fire. Missing, however, is the
criticism of general officers so characteristic of
Western WWI literature. In Sakurai’s account,
unsuccessful attacks are necessary first steps
toward victory, not pointless tragedies. Recounting
his reaction to the capitulation of Port Arthur, he
H-Net Reviews
writes: "Not only I, but all the wounded who had
taken part in the siege, wept while we rejoiced.
The bleached white bones of our brave dead that
filled the hills and valleys of Port Arthur must have
risen and danced with joy!" (p. 255). Had the war
gone on for four years instead of one, Sakurai’s
account might have more closely resembled
memoirs of the western front.
Beyond its value for military historians,
Human Bullets is a rich text on the history of Japan
during the early twentieth century. In the standard
narrative of modern Japanese history, the Russo-
Japanese War marks the culmination of the Meiji
period’s (1868-1912) modernizing efforts and
Japan’s arrival as an imperial power. With world
curiosity aroused by its victory over Russia, Japan
had an opportunity to reposition itself within the
hierarchy of nations as an empire coequal with the
great imperial powers of the West. Accordingly,
statesman Okuma Shigenobu’s introduction to
Human Bullets attributes Japanese victory not to
military prowess per se, but to the kind of national
character necessary for a great power: "[Our]
soldiers vie with each other in offering themselves
on the altar of their country, (sic) the spirit of
sacrifice prevails to a marked degree. This is the
true characteristic of the race of Yamato" (p. x). In
contrasting Japanese and Russian attitudes towards
king and country, Okuma predictably regards
Japan as the superior nation.
Human Bullets also emphasizes a message
of Japanese superiority vis-a-vis other Asians. For
the most part, Chinese are absent from this twonation
contest. When they do appear, the residents
of Manchuria either function as spies for the
Russians or coolies for the Japanese. On several
occasions, Sakurai questions their humanity:
"Were they men or animals? With ill-favored
faces, they would whisper to each other and pass
on" (p. 33). The English translation hides even
more blatant racism. In the original Japanese,
Sakurai refers to the locals not as "Chinese," but as
"chan," an ethnic slur used frequently in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Despite occasional lapses, the translation
itself contains relatively few problems. Some
passages seem overly jingoistic when rendered in
English, but the original Japanese often sounds
equally contrived. What really hampers this
edition of Human Bullets is the lack of crucial
contextual information. Readers should know that
Sakurai had political connections to influential
figures like Okuma. They should also know where
Human Bullets stands in the broader genre of
Japanese war literature. A solid critical
introduction would have remedied these issues and
made this edition stand out from its predecessors.
I recommend the University of Nebraska Press’
1999 edition, which includes a short introduction
and has a much smaller price tag. While these
issues are significant, they should not dissuade
readers from taking a look at Human Bullets.
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Answer 2

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Answer 3

What you advise about the information " katai" in katai nihongo is fairly Muzukashii nihongo really. there is not any such aspect as katai nihongo. i imagine you're refering to confusing eastern in english...Then, Muzukashii can be a suitable word to assert as Muzukashii ability confusing or confusing.