Chapter 13 Chapter Four: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

The Yamato nation is not a nation that acts rashly.Once they find a direction, they will go on unswervingly until they become the number one in the world. There are often striking similarities in history, and it seems that there is some kind of power dominating everything in the dark.Without this power, the book might have ended in the last section, because Japan would have had no chance to have anything to do with mystery novels—please note that, as mentioned in the preface, from now on In the beginning, we will use the term "mystery novel". In 1841, American Edgar Allan Poe created mystery novels.In the same year, the legendary experience of a Japanese brought this literary genre across the Pacific to this completely different country.

In the home of a poor fisherman in Nakahama Village, Tosa Domain, Japan, there lived a young man named Nakahama Manjiro (1827-1898).In 1841, he and several companions went fishing, but unfortunately encountered a storm.Several people fled for their lives to a deserted island, persisted here for 143 days, and were finally rescued by an American whaling ship.The captain of the ship was named John. However, a problem arises.At that time, Japan implemented a policy of "closing the country" and there was no way for whaling ships to approach Japan, let alone send these Japanese back home.In desperation, Captain John had to put them in Hawaii first, and then make plans.

Manjiro was very surprised when he arrived in Hawaii.He found that people here actually eat beef or mutton, while in Japan, people have always believed that eating the meat of animals that run on the ground, either the intestines will rot or they will conceive animals' children; The ineffective diseases were easily eradicated by American doctors; what shocked him most was that everyone on this ship was equal, and the captain would not bully the crew, which is unimaginable in Japan, where there is a strict hierarchy . For a long time, the Japanese believed that these "yellow-haired ghosts" from another world were no different from monsters.Now, this concept has begun to shake in Manjiro's mind.

In 1843, Manjiro came to the United States and lived in the home of Captain John.The captain admired this smart and motivated young man very much, went through the admission procedures for him, and began to teach him sailing knowledge.Later, the captain accepted Manjiro as his adopted son, and he officially changed his name to "John Manjiro".Soon, Wanjiro learned English, dabbled in a lot of natural science knowledge, and became the deputy captain.He completed a round-the-world trip that further broadened his horizons. After 12 years away from home, with nostalgia for his homeland and a sense of responsibility, Manjiro overcame many difficulties and returned to Japan.His return caused a sensation, and the Japanese cast strange glances at this compatriot in western clothes.

Despite a lot of resistance, Manjiro passed on the Western civilization he came into contact with to his compatriots.After Japan opened its doors, Manjiro also became a government employee, working on various affairs between Japan and the United States. In his later years, Manjiro stayed away from politics and devoted himself to translation and education. In 1869, he became a professor at Kaisei School, which later became the world-famous University of Tokyo. Manjiro's experience is legendary. He helped Japan open the country and understand and accept Western civilization with a normal attitude.So far, there is no information showing that Manjiro introduced mystery novels to Japan.But there is no doubt that he paved the way for mystery fiction to come to Japan, and created the scientific, democratic soil on which such fiction thrived.

When the reasoning masters Edogawa Ranpo, Yokomizo Masashi, Matsumoto Seicho and Shimada Shoji talked about the history of Japanese mystery novels, they all started with Manjiro without exception.It can be seen how important Wanjiro is to mystery novels. In addition to the experience of John Manjiro, there is another important historical event that also affects all things in Japan, including mystery novels. 150 years ago, Japan was a poor and backward country with constant civil wars.Since the middle of the 17th century, the Tokugawa shogunate has followed the example of China in the Ming Dynasty and has been implementing the policy of "closing the country" for more than two hundred years.Compared with China, which has a vast land, rich resources, long civilization, and self-sufficiency, Japan, an island country, is struggling.

From the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century, British, French, and Russian ships cruised around the Japanese archipelago one after another, tentatively opening the door to Japan.However, the shogunate at that time promulgated the "Order to Expel Foreign Ships" and continued to strengthen the policy of locking the country.The result was just the opposite, which inspired the determination of foreign forces to break the shogunate regime's closed-door policy. At that time, the United States had already opened up ocean routes from San Francisco to Shanghai, China.In order to facilitate the replenishment of ships, the Americans have long coveted the Japanese archipelago, a natural transit point. In 1853, General Perry, commander of the US Eastern Indian Ocean Fleet, led two half-steam and half-sail-driven outer-wheeled warships, two sailboats and 300 marines, carrying large-caliber artillery, set sail from Shanghai, China, and arrived in Japan.The Americans threatened with force, forcibly landed in Kurihama, and went directly to Tokyo (called "Edo" at the time).The whole body of these warships was painted black, and black smoke continued to be emitted from the big chimney. The Japanese called this kind of ship that had never been seen before "black ship".

The whole of Japan was terrified, because this warship was 24 times larger than the largest and most advanced ship in Japan at the time.All resistance was in vain. Emperor Komei, who was far away in Kyoto, had to accept the American Presidential Credentials transferred by General Perry, and opened the country that had been closed for more than two hundred years.In the next year, Perry arrived in Japan again with 7 warships and more than 1,000 soldiers. With a tougher attitude, he forced the elders of the Japanese shogunate regime to sign a series of unequal treaties with the United States, such as the "U.S.-Japan Treaty of Goodwill", thus forcing Japan to Completely ended the closed-door policy.

The impact of the "Black Ship Incident" on Japan cannot be ignored.Not long after that, in 1868, the "Meiji Restoration" broke out in the "insulted" Japan, and the shogunate regime was overthrown. Japan embarked on the Western route of enriching the country and strengthening the army, and quickly became a world power. It is worth noting that Japan no longer regards the "black ship incident" as a "national humiliation".On the contrary, every year in Japan, the "Kurofune Matsuri" is held to commemorate this event, because the Japanese believe that it is this event that has alerted themselves and made Japan the strong and open country it is today.Since then, Japan began to absorb Western civilization to the maximum extent, and mystery novels entered Japan after the "Black Ship Incident" and "Meiji Restoration".

Before the Meiji Restoration, most of the popular novels in Japan were genre novels depicting the old times. Most of these novels were based on real people and real events in the Edo period; Practical books, introducing the political, economic and legal systems of the West. In 1881, the Ministry of Justice of Japan published the record of the American court trial "Record of Misjudgment of Confession Evidence" for the reference of judicial personnel.And in 1886, the economist Kanda Kohei translated the full version of "Yang Yaer's Strange Talk", the author is the Dutch Crispin Meyer.This book introduces the Dutch judiciary and trial system through a crime case.Because the whole book is told in the form of a novel, in the eyes of the Japanese at that time, this book should be the first mystery novel translated into Japan.

In December 1887, when Sherlock Holmes appeared on the stage, a major event also happened in the Japanese reasoning literary world.The famous media "Yomiuri Shimbun" published Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" translated by "Master of Takenosha".The opening chapter of this speculative literary history finally landed in Japan after 46 years.Later, the most important forerunner of Japanese mystery novels, Heiyan Leixiang, stepped onto the stage of history. Heiyan Leixiang (1862-1920) was born in Aki County, Kochi Prefecture, and her real name was "Black Rock Saturday".In 1882, he served as the editor-in-chief of the "Confederate Improvement News", and in 1886 he transferred to the "Illumination News". Kuroiwa Reika had a strong interest in mystery novels during his studies, and he predicted that such novels would have a vast world in Japan.Therefore, after working, Kuroiyan Leixiang spared no effort to introduce excellent western mystery novels to Japan. In 1888, Heiyan Leixiang rewrote the mystery novel "The Beauty in Court" by British writer Hugh Conway.He refurbished this work according to Japanese habits, and changed all the names of people and places in it to Japanese.The novel is popular with readers.Inspired by Heiyan Leixiang, he successively rewrote more than 30 western reasoning works in the next six years.Influenced by Kuroiwa Reika, more and more Japanese are devoting themselves to the field of translation and creation of mystery novels. In June 1888, the writer Sudo Nansui published the first truly original Japanese mystery novel "Murderer".Regardless of the plot or the mystery, this work is hardly satisfactory, and it is not even considered a standard work.However, its significance cannot be erased. In 1889, Heiyanleixiang also published his first original work "Wu Mi".This work has all the elements that a mystery novel should have, and it is a well-deserved masterpiece of that era.This is also a milestone work in the history of Japanese mystery novels. In 1894, in the magazine "Japanese", a translated western detective story appeared, which was translated as "Beggar Doraku".Later information showed that this was the first Sherlock Holmes story to be translated into Japanese, and the original text was the familiar "The Man with Crooked Lips". In 1900, a novel titled "New Doctor of Yin Yang" met readers in the magazine "Literary Club", and the translator signed it as "Yuan Baoyi'an".This is the earliest Japanese translation of the first book in the Sherlock Holmes series. Subsequently, more excellent "Golden Age" works came to Japan.The "Arson Robin Series" by the Frenchman Maurice LeBlanc, the "Thinking Machine Series" by the American Jack Futuier, the British G. K．Chesterton's "Father Brown Series" all entered Japan at this time.Combined with the means of information dissemination at the time, it is not difficult to find that this speed is very amazing-Sherlock Holmes appeared in England in December 1887 and came to Japan in 1894, which shows how keen the Japanese are on detective novels. After the Meiji era, Japan entered the Taisho period (1912-1926), and mystery novels were further developed.Great writers such as Tanizaki Junichiro, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, and Sato Haruo who emerged in this period have a wider range of materials than before, and some works have a strong meaning of reasoning. Akutagawa Ryunosuke published in 1915 is the best representative. Drama writer Okamoto Kido (1872-1939) began to write and imitate Sherlock Holmes stories in 1917, and created the "Half Seven Catching Tent Series".There are a total of 68 works in this series. They are based on Edo before the Meiji Restoration, and are period mystery novels that emphasize both reasoning and customs. "Catch" is an element unique to Japan, similar to what the Chinese call "catch fast"; the book that records the work and reports of the catch for the relevant agencies to browse is the "account".Okamoto Kido is the initiator of the "Catching Things" novels. Many Japanese reasoning masters (such as Yokomizo Masashi, etc.) have created a large number of "Catching Things" novels. After the Meiji Restoration, some writers, editors, and critics established the earliest literary society in Japan, the Inkyusha.The society resents the intrusion of mystery fiction.They have adopted an unimaginable way, trying to dispel the wave of speculative fiction.This approach is "fighting poison with fire". The writers in Yanyou Society used pen names to create a large number of cheap and low-quality mystery novels, compiled them into a series of books, and put them on the market in an attempt to "frighten" readers who like such works.From January 1895 to February 1896, a total of 26 books were published in this series called "Detective Fiction".This humble series became the first series of mystery novels in Japan.To Yanyou Society's surprise, the trend of reasoning has not been repelled, but has become more and more prosperous with the publication of this series of books.By 1916, for the first time, a large number of Western works were published in a relatively professional and systematic series.In less than 10 years, Japan has published a total of 16 series of books, accumulatively more than 150 varieties. Regarding the rapid rise of mystery novels in Japan, if you think about it carefully, it is not difficult to understand at all.In addition to some objective reasons (these reasons will be mentioned when we talk about original Chinese mystery novels at the end), there is an era reason that cannot be ignored. After opening the country, Japan experienced the sweetness of "total westernization".Relying on its rapidly rising economic, technological and military strength, this country has successively defeated Russia (the Russo-Japanese War) and China (the Sino-Japanese War), and has become the only world power in the Pacific region capable of confronting the United States. Against such a background, the government encourages the people to get in touch with Western culture to the greatest extent, trying to make the national power further along with the deepening of Westernization.The advantages of mystery novels are undoubtedly huge: on the one hand, it belongs to popular literature, and the threshold is very low, which is easy to be accepted by the public; The results can be said to serve multiple purposes, so why not do it. Therefore, the prosperity of mystery novels in Japan is an inevitable choice of history, and of course no literary society can stop it. However, it is undeniable that Japanese reasoning culture at this stage is still in its infancy—it is mainly based on translation and rewriting of Western detective novels; the original level is very limited.Therefore, many commentators refer to this period (1889 to 1922 to be precise) as the "dawn period" of Japanese reasoning literature. Now, Japan needs a genius, a pioneer, a spiritual leader and a mainstay.This person should stand up, pierce the last layer of window paper, and lead Japanese reasoning literature to a new stage. This person will be the absolute protagonist of the next section.