We have not had a deep critical study yet on “
Shina Kakumei Gaishi” (an Unofficial History of the Chinese Revolution) written by KITA Ikki, perhaps because of its difficulty.
One thing which makes this book difficult is that KITA employed complex rhetoric in order to avoid supression. One of the rhetorics he used was the style of ‘Kanso’ _??__??_ which used to be employed by the retainers to remonstrate their lord during feudal ages. This style produces an illusion on the part of the readers which make them believe as if something impossible were possible. Another rhetric is that KITA purposefully says things which contradict themselves.
Secondly, another factor which makes this book difficult is the standpoint of his thinking: his Greater Asianism. KITA's Greater Asianism is the theory of Sino-Japanese community bound together by common fate, with radical anti-Anglo Saxonism, whose characteristic is pro-German and pro-American.
It shows a striking contrast to the so called Greater Asianism which is hostile to both Europe and America. Moreover, KITA advocated his pro-Germanism during World War I, when it was quite impossible to put it into practise.
The third point which makes KITA's thought rather incomprehensible is his Anti-Capitalist Idealism. This is quite unrealistic but it does not seem so unrealistic in the environment of anti-utilitarian idealism which prevails among the Japanese in general. In this concept, the opportunism which supported his thought reflected the thinking of the Japanese people at that time.
All these three points testify to the unreality of an Unofficial History of the Chinese Revolution. KITA intended to corner the Japanese government by making such unreasonable demands which could not be realized in the current international situation. In this sense, it can be said that his Greater Asianism corresponds to the doctrines of ‘Revere the Emperor and expel the barbarians’ which was advocated during the Meiji Restoration.
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