Memorialized Maritime: Shinto Ships in the Spiritualization of Newly Japanese Seas, 1905 to 1990s Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

My thesis looks at how the Imperial Japanese navy became a recognizable cultural entity during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, how it entered cultural memory after the navy was completely destroyed in 1945, and how it continued through to the end of warship memoirs in the 1990s. I expand the conventional scope of analysis in naval historiography to argue that the Japanese navy defined public hopes, religious logic, and projections of an imagined and divine Japanese landscape. This thesis is not an exhaustive day by day, year by year recounting of Japanese naval history, but a cultural history that covers the nearly one-hundred-year time span in order to capture the prewar and postwar continuities of naval identity. I conduct my analysis through three mediums of primary sources: commemorative navy postcards produced from 1907 to 1945, songs and newspaper articles explicating links between religious traditions and warships, and warship memoirs published from 1964 to the 1990s. This thesis demonstrates how persistent navy nationalism forces us to reevaluate how the Japanese navy both markets itself and is regarded as a sacred institution by individuals.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Navy Comes Alive on the Shoulders of a New Japan......................................1

Chapter 1: A Mural of Castles and Poems Carried to Sea.........................................................7

Chapter 2: Worshiping Shintō Steel on Oceans........................................................................24

Chapter 3: Resurrecting a Bereaved Navy................................................................................40

Chapter 4: Narrating the Battleship Fusō: Mourning over Mulberries and Tranquil Seas.......56

Conclusion: The Resurrected Navy in the Information Age and a New Naval Arms Race.....65

Bibliography..............................................................................................................................68 

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	History
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	History, Asia, Australia and Oceania Religion, History of Art History
Keyword	Buddhism Maritime Shinto Navy Postcard Naval
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Laura Nenzi, Emory University
Committee Members	Hwisang Cho, Emory University Chris Suh, Emory University

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