Black Dragon Society
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The Black Dragon Society (Kyūjitai; 黑龍會; Shinjitai: 黒竜会 kokuryūkai?) was a prominent paramilitary, ultra-nationalist right-wing group in Japan.
It was founded in 1901 by Uchida Ryohei, and was descended from the Genyosha. (Uchida was a follower of Genyosha founder Mitsuru Toyama.) Its name is derived from the Amur River, called Heilongjiang or "Black Dragon River" in Chinese (黑龍江?), read as Kokuryū-kō in Japanese. Its public goal was to support efforts to drive Russia out of east Asia, south of the Amur River.
The Kokuryukai initially made strenuous efforts to distance itself from the criminal elements of its predecessor, the Genyosha. As a result, its membership included Cabinet Ministers and high-ranking military officers as well as professional secret agents. However, as time passed, it found that use of criminal activities to be a convenient 'means to an end' for many of its operations.
The Society published a journal, and operated an espionage training school, from which it dispatched agents to gather intelligence on Russian activities in Russia, Manchuria, Korea and China. It also pressured Japanese politicians to adopt a strong foreign policy. The Kokuryukai also supported Pan-Asianism, and lent financial support to revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen, and Emilio Aguinaldo.
During the Russo-Japanese War, annexation of Korea and Siberian Intervention, the Imperial Japanese Army made use of the Kokuryukai network for espionage, sabotage and assassination. They organized Manchurian guerrillas against the Russians from the Chinese warlords and bandit chieftains in the region, the most important being Marshal Chang Tso-lin. The Black Dragons waged a very successful psychological warfare campaign in conjunction with the Japanese military, spreading disinformation and propaganda throughout the region. They also acted as interpreters for the Japanese army.
The Black Dragons assisted the legendary Japanese spy, Colonel Motojiro Akashi. Akashi, who was not directly a member of the Black Dragons, ran successful operations in China, Manchuria, Siberia and established contacts throughout the Muslim world. These contacts in Central Asia were maintained through World War II. The Black Dragons also formed close contact and even alliances with Buddhist sects throughout Asia.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Kokuryukai evolved into more of a mainstream political organization, and publicly attacked liberal and leftist thought. Although it never had more than several dozen members at any one time during this period, the close ties of its membership to leading members of the government, military and powerful business leaders gave it a power and influence far greater than most other ultranationalist groups.
Initially directed only against Russia, in the 1930s, the Kokuryukai expanded its activities around the world, and stationed agents in such diverse places as Ethiopia, Turkey, Morocco, throughout southeast Asia and South America, as well as Europe and the United States.
The Kokuryukai was sensationalized by the yellow press and by American wartime propaganda, largely due to its villainous name of “Black Dragon Society”. Lurid novels and short stories connected it will all manner of nefarious criminal activity, and local government authorities in the United States found it convenient to use its supposed existence as an underground “fifth column” among Americans of Japanese descent as one of the excuses for the Japanese-American Internment during World War II.
The Kokurukai was officially disbanded by order of the American Occupation authorities in 1946.
[edit] See also
[edit] External references
- The Encyclopedia of Espionage by Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen (ISBN 0-517-20269-7)
- Deacon, Richard: A History of the Japanese Secret Service, Berkley Publishing Company, New York, 1983, ISBN 0-425-07458-7
