Three Portrayals of 'Sacrifice': Representations of the Deaths of the 'shishi', Yokogawa Shozo and Oki Teisuke

摘要

This article examines the lives and deaths of Yokogawa Shozo and Oki Teisuke, two 'shishi' (men of high purpose), captured, court-martialled, and executed by the Russians shortly after the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. While their deaths apparently served little or no purpose, the tale of Yokogawa and Oki was presented to the public in three distinct fashions. The first was to a Western audience in newspaper reports at the time of the war. The second was the manner in which the Russians portrayed them for the home front during the war. Finally, there was the manner in which the pair was presented in a reader for young Japanese boys in the late 1920s. Each portrayal served a distinct purpose that this article will address.