Kōgun Banzai Sugoroku [Long Live the Japanese Imperial Army Sugoroku]
- Title:
- Kōgun Banzai Sugoroku [Long Live the Japanese Imperial Army Sugoroku]
- Alternate Title:
- [Long Live the Japanese Imperial Army Sugoroku]
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Ichisaburō, Sawai
- Other Creators:
- Seika, Nakamura, game developer
- Date:
- 1940
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2493.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2493_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1940 - 1959
- Subject:
- Other War & Peace
Pictorial
World War II - Measurement:
- 52 x 69 on sheet 54 x 78 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This Japanese game board was published in January 1940 as a supplement to the new year's issue of "Girl's Club," which had an audience of some 500,000 girls in Japanese middle and high schools. "The game's explicit purpose was to positively, playfully connect the girls' devotion at the home front to conditions on the battlefields'' (Frühstück 2017, 65), encouraging and teaching them how to support the nation's effort in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which had begun in 1937. This particular "sugoroku" (like other such materials) was expressly approved by the divisions of the Imperial Army and Navy ministries responsible for producing propaganda. Ibid.
Sugoroku is similar to the American game Chutes and Ladders. Players throw dice to determine how many steps they will advance along the numbered game board, and at some stops the players are instructed to go still further - or to go back. The rules (here printed at the left) are simple, and players can provide their own dice and tokens once they have the board.
In this case, the players begin at the lower left by bowing to the Imperial Palace and then proceed counterclockwise around a series of 23 stops, each illustrated by a vignette of young girls engaged in an activity. Some of the activities involve direct support of the troops, for example, sending care packages, collecting useful scrap materials, watching for spies, promoting war bonds, helping nurses and the wounded. Other pictures encourage virtuous behavior of the young (studying, praying, sewing, harvesting, exercising) or condemn misconduct (laziness, frivolous parading of a kimono). "Text in each picture field notes both how to properly engage in each activity depicted and how such good behavior supports the war effort." Ibid. 68.
At step 23, the girls enthusiastically wave flags for soldiers going off to war, and the players proceed into a geographic landscape intended to represent the Manchurian battlefield. Much military hardware is displayed, but enemy troops are mostly absent. The Japanese troops protect the local populace, who cheer them on. The winner is the first player to reach the "Long Live the Imperial Army Sugoroku goal field" (after step 44), where happy young Chinese wave Japanese flags to welcome the victors. As a result of games like this, the "geographical-imperialist dimension deeply penetrated children's play." Ibid. 70-71.
On the verso (ID #2493.02) is a map of eastern China and Manchuria, along with an inset map of Europe. It has been suggested that this map was intended for adults who were helping children play the game and teaching them about the broader implications of the war. Ibid. 71.
For similar game maps in the collection in Chinese, English, Italian, Japanese, and Yugoslavian, Search > “game board”.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Shōjo Kurabu shinen-gō furoku. [Supplement to the New Year Issue of Girls Club Magazine], January, 1940.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.