Essay on Japanese naval and aviation magazines in the University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Benge, Akasya

English

ScholarlyCommons@Penn

University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Unique at Penn The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts 8-6-2019 Blue Skies to Red Seas Akasya Benge Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/uniqueatpenn  Part of the Japanese Studies Commons, and the Library and Information Science Commons This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/uniqueatpenn/40 For more information, please contact repository@pobox.upenn.edu. Blue Skies to Red Seas Abstract Essay on Japanese naval and aviation magazines in the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Keywords Aviation, Japanese Navy Disciplines Japanese Studies | Library and Information Science Tagsadvertisements, イラスト,グラフ誌, ヒトラー, 第二次世界大戦, design, EastAsia, emperor,ephemera, 雑誌, 軍隊, 軍事, hirohito, hitler,Japan, japanese empire,japanese imperial navy,Japanese magazines,magazines, military,mitsubishi, Navy, PacificWar, photographs,photography, popularculture, publishinghistory, showa, vintage,war, World War, WW2,WWII, 出版業界, 大衆文化,大東亜戦争, 天皇陛下, 太平洋戦争, 帝国海軍, 広告, 戦前, 戦中, 日本海軍, 昭和,[Ed. note: Today’s post is by Penn Libraries intern Akasya Benge. Many thanksto Akasya for her painstaking work in inventorying recently acquired JapaneseNaval Collection magazines (Kaigun, Kaigun Gurafu, Umi to Sora, and TeikokuKaigun) and reflecting on what she found within. Come check the magazines outfor yourself in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center!]I came to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries as an intern with alreadyspecialized interests. I studied abroad in Japan in high school, college, and post-graduate, and obtained my master’s degree in art history with a focus onpremodern Japanese art. However, the project I ended up focusing on at thePenn Libraries was to inventory a sizable collection of 1930s and 1940s Japanesenaval magazines. These magazines provide a look into propaganda both prewarand while at war, allowing readers to explore a subject little known orresearched in the West – the presentation of upcoming war to the Japanesepublic.♣ WELCOMEWelcome to Unique at Penn, part ofthe family of University ofPennsylvania Libraries blogs. Everyweek this space will featuredescriptions and contextualization ofitems from the collections of theUniversity of Pennsylvania Libraries.The site focuses on those materialsheld by Penn which are in some sense“unique” - drawn from both ourspecial and circulating collections,whether a one-of-a-kind medievalmanuscript or a twentieth-centurypopular novel with generations ofstudent notes penciled inside. See theAbout page for more on the blog andto contact the editor.♣ RECENT POSTSBlue Skies to Red Seas“If a Woman Had Been Mayor”A Woodblock on Pilgrimage:From Flanders to PhiladelphiaEtta Winigrad: Artist of theFigurative and the FantasticalA Collection of Korekushon♣ ARCHIVESAugust 2019February 2019ABOUTPOSTED BY MOLLY DES JARDIN IN POSTS ≈ LEAVE A COMMENTBlue Skies to Red SeasTuesdayAUG 201906Search…  GoFollow昭和前期, 昭和天皇, 昭和時代, 東郷平八郎, 海軍, 三菱August 2018December 2017November 2017July 2017October 2016July 2016June 2016May 2016March 2016December 2015November 2015October 2015September 2015August 2015June 2015March 2015February 2015January 2015October 2014September 2014July 2014June 2014May 2014April 2014February 2014January 2014December 2013November 2013Cover of Umi to Sora, October 1935—It seems an odd choice for any university outside Japan, but the University ofPennsylvania Libraries has one of the largest collections of pre-WWII Japanesenaval material in the United States, primarily dating from the 1920s-1940s.Indeed, it is the rarity of these materials that makes them so fascinating. Whilethe United States understands its own narrative and choices leading up to andthe conclusion of World War II, less is known in the Western world about howthe Japanese people felt during those same troubled times, especially becauseof their own efforts to whitewash their imperial past after the war.The focus of this post is the Japanese naval and aviation magazines held bythe Penn Libraries, readily available publications to the Japanese reading publicof the time. They have such names as Umi to Sora 海と空, a title that translatesto “Sea and Sky,” and expresses an equally evocative image in Japanese as itdoes in English. The early 1930s publications of this magazine are scattered withmeticulous diagrams of airplanes, as well as peaceful hovering planes gentlysoaring above the sea.October 2013September 2013August 2013July 2013June 2013May 2013April 2013March 2013February 2013January 2013December 2012October 2012September 2012August 2012July 2012June 2012May 2012♣ AUTHORSadminuatpaAlexander DevineDianne MitchellLynne FarringtonJacqueline BurekJohn F. AnderiesRegan KladstrupMarissa NicosiaMitch FraasBeautifully detailed drawings of ships – which seem more suited to a children’sbook than a military magazine – are also contained in these issues. A sense ofMichael P. WilliamsMolly Des JardinRichard GriscomNancy ShawcrossPushkar SohoniSimran Thadani♣ LINKSPenn's Apps on TapPenn's Rare Books CatalogingBlogPenn Libraries Catalog (NewFranklin)Penn's Rare Book andManuscript LibraryDigitalPennPenn in HandSchoenberg Database ofManuscripts♣  LATEST FROMPENNRAREMove Forward May 25, 2020Lydia Sigourney’s Rags andRibbons May 20, 2020Musical Bridge May 18, 2020♣ SUBSCRIBE TO UNIQUE ATPENNCover of Umi to Sora, February 1935—hope pervades the pictures, the feeling that much had been accomplished andso much more awaited. Foreign militaries are approached with a feeling ofinquisitiveness and interest, rather than malice and fear. This would quicklychange with the 1940s, where Americans became distant and unapproachable,and the Germans, interestingly carefree and friendly. There is even a photographof Hitler printed in the magazine Kaigun Gurafu 海軍グラフ in 1938, bothcommanding and terrifying; this image provides a stark contrast to thephotograph published four years earlier of the Shōwa Emperor (known asHirohito outside Japan) looking gentle and shy.Adolf Hilter in Kaigun Gurafu, August 1938—The Shōwa Emperor in Kaigun Gurafu, July 1934—Other changes that occur over time in Sora to Umi include minute details suchas the use of Japanese years rather than the Western calendar, in Chinesenumerals: for example, Shōwa 17 昭和十七 as opposed to 1942. Something sobarely perceptible may not seem of interest, but as linguists know, a strictdemand to use only Japanese words and eliminate all traces of foreign influencemarks a time of nationalism, and possibly gave fuel to the upcoming war.Cover of Kaigun Gurafu, October 1935—In Kaigun Gurafu 海軍グラフ (Navy Illustrated), meanwhile, in the middle of 1938we can observe another subtle change. From the glossy, graphic-design heavymagazines produced earlier, we temporarily receive something reminiscent ofthe Edo period (1603-1868): heavy, striped paper with feather-like sheets insidereminiscent of Japanese rice paper or washi 和紙. The cover, instead of the usualdramatic photograph, is emblazoned with a simple stamp, reminiscent ofwoodblock prints. This image from May 1938 shows the rising sun, along with aship and airplane intersecting the top and bottom.Cover of Kaigun Gurafu, May 1938—The changes to the cover and the return to a traditional Japanese calendarillustrate the ways in which the Japanese are proclaiming their native heritage.In the 1930s and 40s, Japan was an expanding empire steeped in patrioticmedia, and there was a strong effort to establish the Japanese emperor’sidentity as a living god with roots stretching back into the mists of time. This isamply on display here, with the image of the rising sun literally being reinforcedwith new displays of power – by air and sea.Kaigun Gurafu relies less on imagery and more on facts than Sora to Umi.(Although, as its name implies — “gurafu” is short for “photograph,” indicatingan illustrated publication — it always contained sections of glossy photos ofvarious naval scenes.) However, even this publication inserts a loving tribute toAdmiral Tōgō Heihachirō 東郷平八郎 (1848-1934), who began his naval careerduring the Meiji period (1868-1912) as a dapper and handsome young man, andeven appeared on the cover of Time Magazine on November 8, 1926. Upon hisdeath in 1934, multiple Western nations sent representative dignitaries to hisfuneral.Another interesting aspect of Kaigun Gurafu is the advertisements. Theadvertisement on the very first page of many mid-1930s issues show a womanproudly displaying her new household gadgets, ranging from everything from afan to a vacuum.Section on Admiral Tōgō in Kaigun Gurafu, July 1934—Mitsubishi advertisement in Kaigun Gurafu, March 1936—Upon first glance, Western readers may think of a husband indulging his wife instate-of-the-art appliances, but the truth is this may not be the case. Japan haslong had a system of women managing household finances, and it seems likelythat this practice began in the 1930s, when the financial and industrialconglomerates known as zaibatsu 財閥 kept the economy relatively healthydespite the Great Depression ravishing the rest of the world. “Salaryman” サラリーマン (a term that originated in the 1930s) in Japan traditionally turned overtheir monthly salary to their wives and in return received pocket moneyor okozukai 小遣い to cover their monthly expenses like food, shopping, andentertainment.So, in a magazine that we might assume had targeted men, why were itemsmeant for women being advertised? It is possible that women were buying themagazine. Given that even European and American women’s reading habits arenot well studied, how much less is known about the reading habits of Japanesewomen in the 1930s? Even more illuminating are our own attitudes to earlyJapan, where many assume was repressive for Japanese women. By the Shōwaera, were women as enthusiastic about the military as men? Did they read thesemagazine in earnest for their sons or themselves?Regardless, by 1938, the advertisements directed towards women were movedfrom the front to the back, and the clothing they wore (modern, Western, andfreeing) was replaced with traditional kimono. Now a woman, instead of activelycleaning, sits demurely in front of a Mitsubishi space heater, practicing hercalligraphy.Mitsubishi advertisement in Kaigun Gurafu, September 1937—Mitsubishi advertisement in Kaigun Gurafu, January 1938—Another advertisement shows two women, painted as old-fashioned beauties,both in kimono, using a Mitsubishi sewing machine to then make even morekimono. The message is clear: we don’t want your Western ideas (or products)here.Mitsubishi advertisement in Kaigun Gurafu, January 1939—SHARE THIS: Twitter FacebookFor me, to study such a different era than the one I normally focused on gaveme an opportunity to see the artwork and ideology comparison from one era toa much earlier one. What remained quintessentially Japanese both at war and atpeace? I hope it will encourage other researchers to dive further into thisunknown tract of research, and bring to light more perspective that is not ourown.About Molly Des JardinI'm the Japanese Studies librarian, and liaison for Korean Studies, at the PennLibraries.View all posts by Molly Des Jardin »← Previous postRELATEDA “Loochooan” NewTestamentJapanese Naval CruiseBooks and the RenshūKantaiEarly Taishō JapaneseJuvenile PocketFiction: TatsukawaBunko and itsImitatorsIn "Posts"In "Posts"In "Posts"L E AV E  A  R E P LYPDFmyURL.com - convert URLs, web pages or even full websites to PDF online. Easy API for developers!The conclusions and views presented on posts within“Unique at Penn” reflect those of their writers and do notrepresent the official position of the University of Pennsylvania or the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.Blog at WordPress.com.

Blue Skies to Red Seas

Kosmopolis

University of Pennsylvania 
ScholarlyCommons 
Unique at Penn The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts 
8-6-2019 
Blue Skies to Red Seas 
Akasya Benge 
Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/uniqueatpenn 
 Part of the Japanese Studies Commons, and the Library and Information Science Commons 
This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/uniqueatpenn/40 
For more information, please contact repository@pobox.upenn.edu. 
Blue Skies to Red Seas 
Abstract 
Essay on Japanese naval and aviation magazines in the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. 
Keywords 
Aviation, Japanese Navy 
Disciplines 
Japanese Studies | Library and Information Science 
Tags
advertisements, イラスト,
グラフ誌, ヒトラー, 第二次
世界大戦, design, East
Asia, emperor,
ephemera, 雑誌, 軍隊, 軍
事, hirohito, hitler,
Japan, japanese empire,
japanese imperial navy,
Japanese magazines,
magazines, military,
mitsubishi, Navy, Pacific
War, photographs,
photography, popular
culture, publishing
history, showa, vintage,
war, World War, WW2,
WWII, 出版業界, 大衆文化,
大東亜戦争, 天皇陛下, 太平
洋戦争, 帝国海軍, 広告, 戦
前, 戦中, 日本海軍, 昭和,
[Ed. note: Today’s post is by Penn Libraries intern Akasya Benge. Many thanks
to Akasya for her painstaking work in inventorying recently acquired Japanese
Naval Collection magazines (Kaigun, Kaigun Gurafu, Umi to Sora, and Teikoku
Kaigun) and reflecting on what she found within. Come check the magazines out
for yourself in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center!]
I came to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries as an intern with already
specialized interests. I studied abroad in Japan in high school, college, and post-
graduate, and obtained my master’s degree in art history with a focus on
premodern Japanese art. However, the project I ended up focusing on at the
Penn Libraries was to inventory a sizable collection of 1930s and 1940s Japanese
naval magazines. These magazines provide a look into propaganda both prewar
and while at war, allowing readers to explore a subject little known or
researched in the West – the presentation of upcoming war to the Japanese
public.
♣ WELCOME
Welcome to Unique at Penn, part of
the family of University of
Pennsylvania Libraries blogs. Every
week this space will feature
descriptions and contextualization of
items from the collections of the
University of Pennsylvania Libraries.
The site focuses on those materials
held by Penn which are in some sense
“unique” - drawn from both our
special and circulating collections,
whether a one-of-a-kind medieval
manuscript or a twentieth-century
popular novel with generations of
student notes penciled inside. See the
About page for more on the blog and
to contact the editor.
♣ RECENT POSTS
Blue Skies to Red Seas
“If a Woman Had Been Mayor”
A Woodblock on Pilgrimage:
From Flanders to Philadelphia
Etta Winigrad: Artist of the
Figurative and the Fantastical
A Collection of Korekushon
♣ ARCHIVES
August 2019
February 2019
ABOUT
POSTED BY MOLLY DES JARDIN IN POSTS ≈ LEAVE A COMMENT
Blue Skies to Red Seas
Tuesday
AUG 2019
06
Search…  Go
Follow
昭和前期, 昭和天皇, 昭和時
代, 東郷平八郎, 海軍, 三菱
August 2018
December 2017
November 2017
July 2017
October 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
March 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
June 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
October 2014
September 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
Cover of Umi to Sora, October 1935—
It seems an odd choice for any university outside Japan, but the University of
Pennsylvania Libraries has one of the largest collections of pre-WWII Japanese
naval material in the United States, primarily dating from the 1920s-1940s.
Indeed, it is the rarity of these materials that makes them so fascinating. While
the United States understands its own narrative and choices leading up to and
the conclusion of World War II, less is known in the Western world about how
the Japanese people felt during those same troubled times, especially because
of their own efforts to whitewash their imperial past after the war.
The focus of this post is the Japanese naval and aviation magazines held by
the Penn Libraries, readily available publications to the Japanese reading public
of the time. They have such names as Umi to Sora 海と空, a title that translates
to “Sea and Sky,” and expresses an equally evocative image in Japanese as it
does in English. The early 1930s publications of this magazine are scattered with
meticulous diagrams of airplanes, as well as peaceful hovering planes gently
soaring above the sea.
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
♣ AUTHORS
adminuatpa
Alexander Devine
Dianne Mitchell
Lynne Farrington
Jacqueline Burek
John F. Anderies
Regan Kladstrup
Marissa Nicosia
Mitch Fraas
Beautifully detailed drawings of ships – which seem more suited to a children’s
book than a military magazine – are also contained in these issues. A sense of
Michael P. Williams
Molly Des Jardin
Richard Griscom
Nancy Shawcross
Pushkar Sohoni
Simran Thadani
♣ LINKS
Penn's Apps on Tap
Penn's Rare Books Cataloging
Blog
Penn Libraries Catalog (New
Franklin)
Penn's Rare Book and
Manuscript Library
DigitalPenn
Penn in Hand
Schoenberg Database of
Manuscripts
♣  LATEST FROM
PENNRARE
Move Forward May 25, 2020
Lydia Sigourney’s Rags and
Ribbons May 20, 2020
Musical Bridge May 18, 2020
♣ SUBSCRIBE TO UNIQUE AT
PENN
Cover of Umi to Sora, February 1935—
hope pervades the pictures, the feeling that much had been accomplished and
so much more awaited. Foreign militaries are approached with a feeling of
inquisitiveness and interest, rather than malice and fear. This would quickly
change with the 1940s, where Americans became distant and unapproachable,
and the Germans, interestingly carefree and friendly. There is even a photograph
of Hitler printed in the magazine Kaigun Gurafu 海軍グラフ in 1938, both
commanding and terrifying; this image provides a stark contrast to the
photograph published four years earlier of the Shōwa Emperor (known as
Hirohito outside Japan) looking gentle and shy.
Adolf Hilter in Kaigun Gurafu, August 1938—
The Shōwa Emperor in Kaigun Gurafu, July 1934—
Other changes that occur over time in Sora to Umi include minute details such
as the use of Japanese years rather than the Western calendar, in Chinese
numerals: for example, Shōwa 17 昭和十七 as opposed to 1942. Something so
barely perceptible may not seem of interest, but as linguists know, a strict
demand to use only Japanese words and eliminate all traces of foreign influence
marks a time of nationalism, and possibly gave fuel to the upcoming war.
Cover of Kaigun Gurafu, October 1935—
In Kaigun Gurafu 海軍グラフ (Navy Illustrated), meanwhile, in the middle of 1938
we can observe another subtle change. From the glossy, graphic-design heavy
magazines produced earlier, we temporarily receive something reminiscent of
the Edo period (1603-1868): heavy, striped paper with feather-like sheets inside
reminiscent of Japanese rice paper or washi 和紙. The cover, instead of the usual
dramatic photograph, is emblazoned with a simple stamp, reminiscent of
woodblock prints. This image from May 1938 shows the rising sun, along with a
ship and airplane intersecting the top and bottom.
Cover of Kaigun Gurafu, May 1938—
The changes to the cover and the return to a traditional Japanese calendar
illustrate the ways in which the Japanese are proclaiming their native heritage.
In the 1930s and 40s, Japan was an expanding empire steeped in patriotic
media, and there was a strong effort to establish the Japanese emperor’s
identity as a living god with roots stretching back into the mists of time. This is
amply on display here, with the image of the rising sun literally being reinforced
with new displays of power – by air and sea.
Kaigun Gurafu relies less on imagery and more on facts than Sora to Umi.
(Although, as its name implies — “gurafu” is short for “photograph,” indicating
an illustrated publication — it always contained sections of glossy photos of
various naval scenes.) However, even this publication inserts a loving tribute to
Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō 東郷平八郎 (1848-1934), who began his naval career
during the Meiji period (1868-1912) as a dapper and handsome young man, and
even appeared on the cover of Time Magazine on November 8, 1926. Upon his
death in 1934, multiple Western nations sent representative dignitaries to his
funeral.
Another interesting aspect of Kaigun Gurafu is the advertisements. The
advertisement on the very first page of many mid-1930s issues show a woman
proudly displaying her new household gadgets, ranging from everything from a
fan to a vacuum.
Section on Admiral Tōgō in Kaigun Gurafu, July 1934—
Mitsubishi advertisement in Kaigun Gurafu, March 1936—
Upon first glance, Western readers may think of a husband indulging his wife in
state-of-the-art appliances, but the truth is this may not be the case. Japan has
long had a system of women managing household finances, and it seems likely
that this practice began in the 1930s, when the financial and industrial
conglomerates known as zaibatsu 財閥 kept the economy relatively healthy
despite the Great Depression ravishing the rest of the world. “Salaryman” サラリ
ーマン (a term that originated in the 1930s) in Japan traditionally turned over
their monthly salary to their wives and in return received pocket money
or okozukai 小遣い to cover their monthly expenses like food, shopping, and
entertainment.

So, in a magazine that we might assume had targeted men, why were items
meant for women being advertised? It is possible that women were buying the
magazine. Given that even European and American women’s reading habits are
not well studied, how much less is known about the reading habits of Japanese
women in the 1930s? Even more illuminating are our own attitudes to early
Japan, where many assume was repressive for Japanese women. By the Shōwa
era, were women as enthusiastic about the military as men? Did they read these
magazine in earnest for their sons or themselves?
Regardless, by 1938, the advertisements directed towards women were moved
from the front to the back, and the clothing they wore (modern, Western, and
freeing) was replaced with traditional kimono. Now a woman, instead of actively
cleaning, sits demurely in front of a Mitsubishi space heater, practicing her
calligraphy.
Mitsubishi advertisement in Kaigun Gurafu, September 1937—
Mitsubishi advertisement in Kaigun Gurafu, January 1938—
Another advertisement shows two women, painted as old-fashioned beauties,
both in kimono, using a Mitsubishi sewing machine to then make even more
kimono. The message is clear: we don’t want your Western ideas (or products)
here.
Mitsubishi advertisement in Kaigun Gurafu, January 1939—
SHARE THIS: Twitter Facebook
For me, to study such a different era than the one I normally focused on gave
me an opportunity to see the artwork and ideology comparison from one era to
a much earlier one. What remained quintessentially Japanese both at war and at
peace? I hope it will encourage other researchers to dive further into this
unknown tract of research, and bring to light more perspective that is not our
own.
About Molly Des Jardin
I'm the Japanese Studies librarian, and liaison for Korean Studies, at the Penn
Libraries.
View all posts by Molly Des Jardin »
← Previous post
RELATED
A “Loochooan” New
Testament
Japanese Naval Cruise
Books and the Renshū
Kantai
Early Taishō Japanese
Juvenile Pocket
Fiction: Tatsukawa
Bunko and its
Imitators
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In "Posts"
In "Posts"
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The conclusions and views presented on posts within“Unique at Penn” reflect those of their writers and do not
represent the official position of the University of Pennsylvania or the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.
Blog at WordPress.com.


https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&amp;context=uniqueatpenn

Blue Skies to Red Seas

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