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Restricted Bridge in Tokyo
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Shiun (Kondo) Restricted Bridge in Tokyo c. 1923 Color woodblock print 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches Japan 1995.15p |
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Like those targeted by the authorities in the weeks following the quake, the viewer attempts to cross Shiun’s bridge but the guards block the viewer’s ascent into the space of this image. With fires and smoke in the background, the viewer is left to question which is more menacing: the natural disaster of the earthquake and its fiery aftermath or the human dangers of Martial Law.
In the United States in 2009, we cannot help but look at this Taisho Era print and wonder about the similarities and differences with more recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2004 or the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008. How does social class impact disaster relief and the discourse of healing and renewal evoked by national authorities? Following the recent Chinese earthquake, for example, authorities commended quick disaster relief efforts; however, “orphaned” parents were not allowed to publicly question why their children’s schools had crushed their most precious family members while office buildings were left standing. MK Chavez and Jennifer Martin address these powerful questions in their essay, “The Image, Testimonial and Social Class: Representations of the Human Reaction to Disaster.”
Annotated Bibliography
Denawa, Mai. “Behind the Accounts of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.” Brown University Library Center for Digital Initiatives. http://dl.lib.brown.edu/ kanto/denewa.html (accessed February 4, 2009).
An extremely useful source that provides two examples of documentation used in recording testimony of the 1923 Japanese earthquake: the Taisho shinsai giseki (Taisho era Collection of Heartwarming Stories) published by the Tokyo Municipal government, and The Osamu Hiroi interviews, which were not edited or controlled by any government agencies. This article also includes a section on the Korean Massacre.
Macartney, Jane. “Why did so many Chinese schools collapse during the earthquake?” In Times Online UK. May 17, 2008. [Date Accessed: 5/23/2009] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article3949891.ece
This article outlines the problem of school collapse during the recent 7.9-magnitude quake in China. A second yahoo article, no longer available on line recently reported the repression of these parents’ public outcry on the one-year anniversary of this tragedy.
MK Chavez and Jennifer Martin, “The Image, Testimonial and Social Class: Representations of the Human Reaction to Disaster.” In Reverberations: Japanese Prints of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake from the Mills College Collection. Edited by MK Chavez, Alicia Gallo, and Deborah L. Stein. Oakland: Mills College Art Museum, 2009.
This essay uses eyewitness testimonial to reveal the widely varied responses to the 1923 Kanto earthquake. The essay contrasts the aesthetic reaction of foreigners, the terrors of the Korean massacre, and the rhetoric of the state in response to the imposition of martial law.
Ryang, Sonia. “The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Massacre of Koreans in 1923: Notes on Japan's modern national Sovereignty.” Anthropological Quarterly 76, no. 4 (2003): 731-48. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.www.mills.edu:2048/ hww/results/getResults.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.21 (accessed February 25, 2009).
This journal article looks at the massacre of Koreans that occurred in Japan closely following the earthquake. The primary focus of this article is to explore, and in some cases, dispel theories of why the mass killings of Koreans took place. Eyewitness accounts, details of government involvement, and an exploration of general power dynamics in Japan, both pre- and post-1923 earthquake, makes this a useful resource.
(accessed February 25, 2009).DLS & MKC