Newsletter No. 866
Special Edition
January 1, 2008

 

PHOTO OF PAN-ISLAM IN TOKYO

Today we received an unusual communication from Michael Laffan (Shingetsu Member No. 19) of Princeton University. He has forwarded to us a rare photograph of a pan-Islamic conference held in Tokyo on September 2, 1934. According to Laffan, the photo itself was found in the family papers of Rashid Rida in Cairo, and was scanned with the family's permission by Amr Ryad, now at Leiden University.

For those of you who are non-specialists, the photo is offered just for your interest in seeing a bit of history that is long-forgotten by most. For those of you who know something about this period in history, Laffan and Ryad are trying to identify as many of the faces as they can in this photo. We welcome your input.

So far, only Abdurresid Ibrahim and Ahmad Surkati have been positively identified.

COMMENTARY

1) From Sheldon Garon of Princeton University on January 1, 2008:

That's a remarkable photo.

I can only positively identify one of the Japanese. Fifth from left in first row of adults is the elder statesman of the Japanese radical Right, Toyama Mitsuru. I think Okawa Shumei, the Islamic scholar is 4th from the right, with a coat on his arm and a hat in his hand.

The Army people look familiar, especially the one in the second adult row with the big mustache, but I can't identify them.

The question is, who are all the Western men and women? The children, especially the girls, seem dressed like Germans?

2) From Joseph Tomei of Kumamoto Gakuen University on January 1, 2008:

I believe that the person behind and to the right of Toyama Mitsuru in the army general's uniform is Hayashi Senjuro, who was prime minister in 1937. Hayashi was a member (as Minister of the Army) of the Okada Cabinet which was in power at the time.

3) From Akio Kawato, former Japanese Ambassador to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, on January 1, 2008:

This is a very interesting photo. This Congress might be related to Japanese military's effort to destabilize the situation in the Soviet Union (General Iwane Matsui and others were involved in such a move). Experts will be able to place the faces of the uniformed people.

4) From Selcuk Esenbel of Bogazici University on January 3, 2008:

Thanks to Michael Laffan, we have found another most interesting photo of the pre-war Kaikyo Seisaku (Islam Policy) network in Japan. Those interested in a more official version of this meeting can consult the private photo from the family of Ibrahim which is published in my "Japan's Global Claim" article in the American Historical Review (Vol. 109, No. 4, October 2004).

I think that comparing that photo with this one, and the official photo of the guests at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Mosque in 1938, will help us identify figures in this network.

My initial impression: On the left the turbaned figure looking quite Central Asian in appearance is Kurban Ali, the original imam and leader of the diaspora Tatar community in Tokyo. Next to him and behind the Japanese figures are mostly the Tatar diaspora figures of Tokyo. The kids in the front are from the Tokyo Kaikyo Gakko (Tokyo Mohammedan School in English) next to the Tokyo Mosque in Yoyogi Uehara. (By the way, the building itself still stands and is in the possession of the Turkish embassy and desperately needs a new role, as I keep reminding the officials). The gentleman a couple of figures next to Kurban Ali looks awfully like the Yemeni Crown Prince Husayin, who visited Tokyo in 1938 to propagate the pro-Japanese line of the Kaikyo Seisaku policy. That Hayashi Senjuro is in the picture makes sense. He was the official head of Dai Nippon Kaikyo Kyokai (Greater Japan Muslim League) that was set up in 1938 with Ibrahim as the Muslim representative.

Are we really sure this photo is from such an early period as 1934? It surprises me for I somehow felt it would be from 1938 or thereabouts. One cannot tell. The spot also looks like the garden of the school. Maybe on the occasion of this meeting a visit to the school was arranged? As for the names of the Tatar diaspora figures, I will try to get them. I vaguely recognize Dr. Altinbay, who unfortunately died quite recently.

Those who know the faces of Admiral Ogasawara Chosei, and Vice Chief of Staff General Ichikawa should study this photo, as they always figured in these kinds of occasions too.

By the way, as I noted, these Western-looking men and women are actually Tatars (later called Tatar-Turks) from Kazan and Baskurdistan. In 1922 they escaped to Manchuria first (most were pro-White Russian forces), and after 1927 moved to Tokyo. Russian Muslim people from Kazan did then, and still do, look like what we think is "Western" -- meaning white-skinned and usually blonde-haired and blue-eyed. This is quite common in that part of Russia and historic Tataristan, the homeland of the Golden Horde Khanate of the Tatars which Ivan the Terrible conquered back in the 16th century.

(As an aside, I might mention that Roy James, for those of you old enough to remember the 1950s and 1960s in Japan, was a famous DJ who was in actuality named Ramadan, and was the son of the muezzin, the person who makes the call to prayer, in Tokyo Mosque. He looked the type: Blonde, blue-eyed, and later made it in the Japanese music world as the "American" Roy James. I cannot imagine that he would have been that popular had he kept the exotic name of Ramadan and promoted his Tatar origins. Roy James was also good friends with Mishima Yukio and his wife.)

Anyway, the whole Tatar community was under the "protection" of Toyama Mitsuru's late Kokuryukai (Amur River / Black Dragon Society) for whom they were "cornered birds that flies into one's bosom." For this, see Komura Fujio, Nihon Isuramu-shi, pp. 59-60. Tatar women remembered how they cooked fine Russian-style pastries, etc., for parties in the Toyama residence on special occasions. For a fine series of articles on the Tatar diaspora, see the Kamoza Iwao articles in the Bulletin of the Faculty of Letters, Hosei University, 1982.

Oh, and as for why they are "dressed like Germans," this is because the Tatar diaspora set up a school faithfully following the Cedidist (New Order) modern schools for Muslims that were being established by them in late Romanov Russia following Western -- mostly German -- pedagogy. This involved modern education of a Western, but also Muslim, orientation for the young -- an innovation that neither Lenin nor the present-day so-called Islamists and their experts could ever really understand.

5) From A. Merthan Dundar of Ankara University on January 9, 2008:

I would like to make a (little) comment about the the photo which you sent before. It was taken on the 7th of June 1934 in the garden of the "Mahalle-i Islamiye Building" (Masjid and School Building). On that day there was a celebration meeting about the printing of Kur'an-i Kerim in Japan. I will try to write the "who's who" part later.

6) From A. Merthan Dundar of Ankara University on January 10, 2008:

I will try to give some more information about the photo.

As we know the printing date of the Kur'an-i Kerim in Japan was 30 April 1934. But the celebration was held on 7 June 1934. Some of those who participated in the ceremony were:

Army

General Takada
General (Baron) Kikuchi
General Ono (?)
General Kichi
General Mayor Togo

Religious Figures

Kanzaki Isaku, former Minister of Law
Ogawa, Assistant Deputy Minister
Kojima
Toyama Mitsuru, etc.

From Manchukuo

Po (Pu) Kwan Ali (Brother of Pu'i)
His wife Aishe (Ayse)

Turko-Tatar Residents of Tokyo

Ahmed Muhnesip
Zakir Shakiri
Ahmet Vahap
Ummu Gulsum Absitay Kurbangali
Saime Kasim(miye)
Saniye Tutash
Yangurazy
Halide Tutash
Vahabbiye
Kerim Zahidullah (a young man)

From Harbin City

Ziya Efendi Bagatiyi(e)

Also there were some from Korea, Hailar, Dairen, Shanghai, Pagranichui, Mukden, Tenzin, Kyushu, Hokkaido, Sahalin, as well as some other miscellaneous Chinese Muslims.