Japan

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  • War Bonds for the China Incident

    A grand array of military aircraft soaring above the national and war flags of Japan highlights the empire’s boundless and unrelenting military might. Japanese propaganda poster calling for the purchase of war bonds.

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  • National Spiritual Mobilization

    A stoic figure is depicted with stone-like ruggedness illuminated by the light of hope. Japanese poster calling for the spiritual mobilization of its populace to steel themselves for the upcoming struggle. The text and imagery alludes to the stoic character of the Japanese people and calls for them to exercise this iron-willed determination in the face of adversity.

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  • Expo for the Holy War in China

    Japanese poster promoting an exposition in support of the Second Sino-Japanese War. A katana is raised triumphantly above the backdrop of the Great Wall of China flying a Japanese flag. Signifies Japanese primacy over China while also extolling Japan’s martial heritage. Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, easterly portions of the Great Wall were indeed controlled by the occupying Japanese forces up until their surrender in 1945.

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  • Edo Sword

    Nationalism looks to the past to advise current realities, and Japanese militarists were no different in taking inspiration from the exalted samurai warriors of yore, their revered martial tradition embodied by the katana as seen here. In response to rising nationalist sentiment within the armed forces, a new style of sword was designed for the Japanese military styled after a traditional tachi of the Kamakura Period (1185–1332).

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  • Samurai Postcard

    Postcard commemorating successive Japanese victories in the Pacific. The Imperial Japanese Navy is personified here as a mighty samurai. The subsequent fall of British Malaya and Singapore to the Japanese was described as “the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history” by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Backed by the three flags of the main Axis powers, it highlights the supremacy and solidarity of the fascist triumvirate as they continued to enjoy victory on all fronts.

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  • Showa Sword

    Japanese soldiers during the Second World War garnered a reputation for their ferocity and unrelenting spirit in the face of countless unfavorable engagements. This was undoubtedly due to Japan’s stoic military culture. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), despite being a modern military force, was built on the feudal concept of Bushido, the moral code of the ancient samurai in which honor surmounted all else. In order to instill this warrior spirit in their soldiers and cement their ancestral link to the fearsome warriors of yore, the Japanese High Command endowed upon all their officers a traditional Japanese katana.

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  • Type 93 Gas Mask

    Japan was the only nation in the Second World War to employ biochemical warfare as part of its official military doctrine, resulting in a ghoulish aesthetic unique to the Sino-Japanese front.

     

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  • Yasukuni Sword

    Katana forged in the fires of the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, within which are enshrined all fallen members of the Imperial Japanese armed forces. It is said that this blade is imbued with the spirits of these martyrs. Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Tokyo, founded to honor the spirits of those who gave their lives in service to the Emperor. Amongst the enshrined 2.5 million names are 1,068 convicted war criminals, including several Class A war criminals. In 1933, the radical fascist Minister of War, General Sadao Araki founded the Nihon-tō Tanrenkai (Japanese Sword Forging Association) in the grounds of the shrine to preserve old forging methods and promote Japan’s samurai traditions, as well as to meet the huge demand for katanas which all military officers were mandated to carry.

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