Waseda WeeklyWaseda Weekly

Yuan Jia-hsin, Lecturer Waseda University History Museum (fixed term)

On October 1, 1943, Sagawa Kazumoto (then 20 years old) graduated from Waseda Second Senior High School (located around the current Building No. 14 on Waseda Campus) as new students in the School of School of Political Science and Economics. He "jubilantly sat in the center of the front row... I will never forget this" Entrance Ceremony at the Okuma Memorial Auditorium. At the beginning of his newly purchased diary, he wrote, "Today, I may have to trade my pen for a gun and go to the battlefield tomorrow." He could not have predicted that on that very "day," Imperial Ordinance No. 755 was issued, suspending the deferment of conscription for current students. With the Imperial Ordinance, all current students who were 20 years old, except for some students and pupils in the science and engineering department, were subject to conscription and sent to the battlefield. This was what is known as "student mobilization."

Upon learning of his fate in the morning paper the next day, he was shaken but resolved to study hard. For the 60 days until he enlisted in the army on December 1, he attended school whenever possible and listened to lectures in the front row. He was a prolific writer and left behind a 171-page diary that vividly describes the school and its students up until the time of his departure for the front.

"Sagawa Diary" from October 1, 1943 (Waseda University History Museum Collection)

Faculty were worried about what to teach in the two months. There were many sudden cancellations and few attendees. In the first class, they were asked jokingly, "Are you willing to buy a textbook?" In fact, the best-selling item at the bookstore in front of the university was a study guide for the army officer candidate exam. As the war situation worsened, there was a severe shortage of officers and non-commissioned officers, and highly educated student soldiers were expected to become officer candidates.

On October 6th, there was a reading ceremony for the "Imperial Rescript on Supporting Military Personnel," and on the 8th there was a similar lecture and film screening, which led to further cancellations of classes. Also on the 6th, there was a lecture by Ryutaro Nagai, who had once preached about freedom and justice at an oratory event, and the lecture was so popular that it was almost standing room only. However, the content of the lecture was also in defense of war, and young Sagawa felt that "his passionate speech must have reassured many Waseda students, giving them the resolve to go to the battlefield."

Faculty and students gather in front of the "Patience for the Country" monument in front of the Onshi Memorial Hall (currently Building No. 7 Waseda Campus) for the reading ceremony of the Imperial Rescript on Supporting Military Personnel (1941, from Waseda University Photo Database)

Send-off parties were held many times. The diary entries for the Waseda University send-off party on October 15th and the one sponsored by the Ministry of Education on the 21st have already been introduced in "Waseda University 150th Anniversary History, Volume 1" (pp. 1304-1306). Prior to these, on the 13th, there was a send-off party for the Second Senior High School class, where they were able to enter the "empty and splendid" hall of the former Okuma residence. "This may be the last time," he said, and was deeply moved, but the building was later completely burned down in a major air raid, and it was a "last time" that he had not expected. On the 19th, a send-off party for Waseda Alumnus from the junior high school was held at the Takada Bokusha branch (currently a branch of Takada Bokusha, located opposite the Rihga Royal Hotel Tokyo). Under the wartime rationing system, in addition to the 5 yen fee, participants were asked to bring a meal coupon or a cup of rice. There was no alcohol, and "the atmosphere was somber, like a wake," and "everyone was solemn."

After the send-off party, his class attendance worsened further as he returned home for conscription examinations and went on trips to make memories. "Even the best school in Japan, which counts thousands of students, is desolate and the autumn wind is blowing" (November 5th). In the midst of all this, he began to visit the homes of his Faculty, where they talked about academics, school, and the world, and were given poems and songs.

He passed the conscription examination on October 31, and the days after were hectic. He submitted a request for a leave of absence and received a refund for his tuition fees. He organized his desk, took photos with his classmates, made albums, and otherwise "tidied up his affairs." He attended his last class on November 20, and returned to school on the 22nd to receive his student certificate and training certification. He happened to meet a classmate and the topic of "Military Internal Affairs" (a collection of regulations on maintaining order in the barracks, obedience, and the job authority and work procedures of each position) came up, and since he was about to enlist, the book was selling like hotcakes. "The world is truly changing when students start buying up books like this... We still can't see clearly our fate... but I'm not at all shaken by this enlistment," he wrote, returning to the university on the 30th. He paid his respects at Statue of Shigenobu Okuma and the Patriotic Monument, and then went to Gokokuji Temple to visit Okuma's grave. Thus, they were ready to go into battle.

Sagawa Kazumoto then served in the 19th Eastern Army Corps and the Officer Candidate Corps of the Military Academy, before being dispatched to mainland China in January 1945, where he remained until the end of the war. After the war, he returned to School of Political Science and Economics, graduating in 1948.