Electoral Reform
Electoral poster from Nagano Prefecture promoting the electoral reform (or electoral purge) movement, a program instituted by the Imperial Japanese government to address electoral fraud and corruption. Such abuses were rampant within Japan’s pre-war liberal governmental period, known as the Taishō democracy. The nationalist governments that followed would reverse these trends, taking a harsher stance towards political corruption as a whole. Intended as a grassroots movement with state backing, the citizenry was devised to receive patriotic inculcation alongside these anti-corruption campaigns, as is reflected in the triumphant, patriotic messaging of the poster.
The inherent nationalist ethos behind the bureaucratic reforms promoted by this poster are evident in the traditional Japanese motifs featured within it, including cherry blossoms and the silhouette of a mounted samurai warrior. The silhouette featured here is of a famous samurai commander by the name of Masashige Kusunoki. Idealized as a national hero in pre-war Japan, he was seen as a role model of samurai virtue for his unwavering loyalty to the medieval Emperor Go-Daigo. Revered as the very embodiment of the ancient bushido warrior code, Masashige Kusunoki is alleged to have declared “If only I had seven lives that I could give the Emperor!” before sacrificing himself in the line of duty. This allegory has since resulted in the coinage of the Japanese lexeme ‘Shichi-sho Hokoku‘ (Seven Lives for the Nation), based off of Kusunoki’s famous 14th-century quote. The lexeme would be frequently employed by Imperial Japanese soldiers, particularly the kamikaze pilots, who understood their role to be the ultimate proclamation of loyalty, self-sacrifice and fulfillment of duty.
Th cherry blossoms featured herein serve as yet another traditional motif from Japanese culture, with its ephemerality heavily tied to the aforementioned notion self-actualization through self-sacrifice. The lyrics of a famous military composition illustrates this dogma best by comparing the ephemeral bloom of the sakura (cherry blossom) to that of the destiny of Japan’s soldiers, both in fatalistic terms: “Cherry blossoms only bloom prepared to fall, so let us scatter like cherry blossoms in the wind, for the sake of our nation.”
Poster reads (from right to left, top to bottom): Election Purge | Election date: April 30th | Show Japan’s Spirit at the Elections | Nagano Prefecture
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Electoral poster from Nagano Prefecture promoting the electoral reform (or electoral purge) movement, a program instituted by the Imperial Japanese government to address electoral fraud and corruption. Such abuses were rampant within Japan’s pre-war liberal governmental period, known as the Taishō democracy. The nationalist governments that followed would reverse these trends, taking a harsher stance towards political corruption as a whole. Intended as a grassroots movement with state backing, the citizenry was devised to receive patriotic inculcation alongside these anti-corruption campaigns, as is reflected in the triumphant, patriotic messaging of the poster.
The inherent nationalist ethos behind the bureaucratic reforms promoted by this poster are evident in the traditional Japanese motifs featured within it, including cherry blossoms and the silhouette of a mounted samurai warrior. The silhouette featured here is of a famous samurai commander by the name of Masashige Kusunoki. Idealized as a national hero in pre-war Japan, he was seen as a role model of samurai virtue for his unwavering loyalty to the medieval Emperor Go-Daigo. Revered as the very embodiment of the ancient bushido warrior code, Masashige Kusunoki is alleged to have declared “If only I had seven lives that I could give the Emperor!” before sacrificing himself in the line of duty. This allegory has since resulted in the coinage of the Japanese lexeme ‘Shichi-sho Hokoku‘ (Seven Lives for the Nation), based off of Kusunoki’s famous 14th-century quote. The lexeme would be frequently employed by Imperial Japanese soldiers, particularly the kamikaze pilots, who understood their role to be the ultimate proclamation of loyalty, self-sacrifice and fulfillment of duty.
Th cherry blossoms featured herein serve as yet another traditional motif from Japanese culture, with its ephemerality heavily tied to the aforementioned notion self-actualization through self-sacrifice. The lyrics of a famous military composition illustrates this dogma best by comparing the ephemeral bloom of the sakura (cherry blossom) to that of the destiny of Japan’s soldiers, both in fatalistic terms: “Cherry blossoms only bloom prepared to fall, so let us scatter like cherry blossoms in the wind, for the sake of our nation.”
Poster reads (from right to left, top to bottom): Election Purge | Election date: April 30th | Show Japan’s Spirit at the Elections | Nagano Prefecture
