Teaching Mikadoism : The Attack on Japanese Language Schools in Hawaii, California, and Washington, 1919–1927

Hawaii sugar plantation managers endorsed Japanese language schools but, after witnessing the assertive role of Japanese in the 1920 labor strike, they joined public school educators and the Office of Naval Intelligence in labeling them anti-American and urged their suppression. Thus the "Japanese language school problem" became a means of controlling Hawaii's largest ethnic group. The debate quickly surfaced in California and Washington, where powerful activists sought to curb Japanese immigration and economic advancement. Language schools were accused of indoctrinating Mikadoism to Japanese American children as part of Japan's plan to colonize the United States. Previously unexamined archival documents and oral history interviews highlight Japanese immigrants' resistance and their efforts to foster traditional Japanese values in their American children. They also reveal complex fissures of class and religion within the Japanese communities themselves. The author's comparative analysis of the Japanese communities in Hawaii, California, and Washington presents a clear picture of what historian Yuji Ichioka called the "distinctive histories" as well as the shared experiences of Japanese Americans.

A popular teaching that combined elements of Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, folk beliefs, and Catholicism, Tonghak (Eastern Learning) is best known for its involvement in a rebellion that touched off the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and accelerated Japanese involvement in Korea. Through a careful reading of sources - including religious works and biographies many of which are translated and annotated here into English for the first time - Salvation through Dissent traces Tonghak's rise amidst the debates over orthodoxy and heterodoxy in Chosxc5x8fn Korea (1392-1910) and its impact on religious and political identity from 1860 to 1906. It argues that the teachings of founder Ch’oe Cheu (1824-1864) attracted a large following among rural Koreans by offering them spiritual and material promises to relieve conditions such as poverty and disease and provided consolation in a tense geo-political climate. Following Ch’oe Cheu’s martyrdom, his successors reshaped Tonghak doctrine and practice not only to ensure the survival of the religious community, but also address shifting socio-political needs. Their call for religious and social reforms led to an uprising in 1894 and subsequent military intervention by China and Japan.

The work locates the origins of Korea's twentieth-century religious nationalist movement in the aftermath of the 1894 rebellion, the resurgence of Japanese power after the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), and the re-creation of Tonghak as Ch’xc5x8fngogyo (the Religion of the Heavenly Way) in 1905. As a study of religion and politics, the book adds a new layer of understanding to Korea's changing interactions with the world and the world’s involvement with Korea. In addition to students and scholars of Korea’s early modern period, it will appeal to those interested in global politics, Chinese and Japanese studies, world religion, international relations, and peasant history.

Teaching Mikadoism is a dynamic and nuanced look at the Japanese language school controversy that originated in the Territory of Hawai'i in 1919. At the time, ninety-eight percent of Hawai'i's Japanese American children attended Japanese language schools. Hawai'i sugar plantation managers endorsed Japanese language schools but, after witnessing the assertive role of Japanese in the 1920 labor strike, they joined public school educators and the Office of Naval Intelligence in labeling them anti-American and urged their suppression. Thus the "Japanese language school problem" became a means of controlling Hawai'i's largest ethnic group. The debate quickly surfaced in California and Washington, where powerful activists sought to curb Japanese immigration and economic advancement. Language schools were accused of indoctrinating Mikadoism to Japanese American children as part of Japan's plan to colonize the United States. Previously unexamined archival documents and oral history interviews highlight Japanese immigrants' resistance and their efforts to foster traditional Japanese values in their American children. A comparative analysis of the Japanese communities in Hawai'i, California, and Washington shows the history of the Japanese language school is central to the Japanese American struggle to secure fundamental rights in the United States. Contents Notes on Terminology Preface Acknowledgments CHAPTER 1. Immigration, Education, and Diplomacy Japan, the United States, and the Origins of the Language School Controversy CHAPTER 2. Mandating Americanization Japanese Language Schools and the Federal Survey of Education in Hawaii CHAPTER 3. Closing a Loophole California Exclusionists’ Attack on Japanese Language Schools CHAPTER 4. A Transplanted Attack Japanese Language Schools in Washington State CHAPTER 5. Conclusion Appendix. 1921 California State Examination for Japanese Language School Teachers Notes Bibliography Index