- Author
- Swan, W.M., Lietutenant Commander, RAN
- Subjects
- Naval Intelligence
- Tags
- None noted.
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- September 1974 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
1. We must bring the benefits of our divine Emperor’s rule and our own superior way of life to all the other peoples of the world. It is the will of the gods. It will take a long time and be a hard struggle, for our enemies will resist with all their might. So we must start now and exert every effort to prepare ourselves for battle.
2. First, we must make ourselves strong, rich and powerful. But while doing this we must also be finding out all we can about our enemies.
And later he said: ‘First we must control those enemies nearest us. China is decadent and weak, and will cause no trouble. But Russia is another matter. She recognises the decadence and weakness of China and intends to expand her influence over that foolish country. It is Russia whom we must first subdue, and to do this it is now that we must begin to discover her weaknesses.’
‘Now’ was 1893.
So the secret societies and other bodies in Japan poured their dedicated agents into the Asian mainland, into Korea, Manchuria, China Proper, Sinkiang, Russian Central Asia, Siberia, Tibet, Burma and India, and even into European Russia. Emerging the victor in a 9-months war with China in 1894-95, Japan concentrated her full effort on Russia, and that great sprawling mass became heavily infiltrated with her agents, from Vladivostock to Odessa, and up to St. Petersburg. And these agents in the field were bound by tight security.
Listen to an admission oath to the Black Ocean Society in 1894: ‘I swear by the Sun- Goddess, by our divine Emperor, who is the High Priest of the grand shrine of Ise, by my ancestors, by Mt. Fujiyama the sacred, by all the rivers and seas, by all the storms and floods, that I here and now dedicate myself to the service of the Emperor and my country, without seeking personal reward except the merit I shall lay up for me in heaven. And I solemnly swear that I will never divulge to any living soul, except those in authority over me (whom I will obey though they order me to kill myself), anything that the Society may teach or show me, or anything which I shall learn or discover in any place where I may be sent or find myself. If I break this oath, may my ancestors disown me and may I pass eternity in Hell’.
You will note in Toyama’s words, and in this oath of his Society, the strong influence of State Shintoism.