"A flock of swirling crows" - A flock of swirling crows

…[Editorial Department] Works that affirm war but also criticize its human aspects include Kunikida Doppo's "Letters from My Beloved Disciple" (1894-95), Tayama Katai's "A Private" (1908), Mori Ogai's "Song Diary" (1907), and records of the Russo-Japanese War written by professional soldiers such as Sakurai Tadayoshi's "Flesh Bullet" and Mizuno Hironori's "This Battle". Clearly anti-war and anti-military works appeared after Kuroshima Denji's "A Swirling Flock of Crows" (1928), which was based on his experience of the Siberian Expedition, and in the early Showa period, works such as Tatsuno Nobuyuki's "Military Disease" (1928), Kuroshima Denji's "Armed City" (1930), and "War Against the War" (1928), edited by the General Union of Left-Wing Writers, were written. Then the all-out war between Japan and China broke out, and Ishikawa Tatsuzo's Living Soldiers (1938) was banned. After that, the wartime writers who were sent to mainland China, known as the "Pen Corps," were only able to write works that fully affirmed the war.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "The Swirling Flock of Crows" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…【編集部】　戦争を肯定しながらも，人間的な批判の目をむけた作品として，明治期には国木田独歩の《愛弟通信》(1894‐95)や，田山花袋の《一兵卒》(1908)，森鷗外の《うた日記》(1907)，ほかに，職業軍人によって書かれた日露戦争の記録として，桜井忠温（ただよし）《肉弾》，水野広徳《此一戦》などがある。明確な反戦･反軍的な作品が現れたのは，シベリア出兵の体験に取材した黒島伝治の《渦巻ける烏の群》(1928)以後で，昭和初期にかけて，立野信之《軍隊病》(1928)，黒島伝治《武装せる市街》(1930)のほか，左翼文芸家総連合編の《戦争ニ対スル戦争》(1928)などが書かれた。やがて日中全面戦争が勃発し，石川達三の《生きてゐる兵隊》(1938)が発禁となって，以後，中国大陸に派遣された〈ペン部隊〉とよばれる従軍作家たちは，戦争を全肯定する立場でしか作品を書けなくなった。…

※「《渦巻ける烏の群》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報