Yoshiko Kawashima

For the Hong Kong film based on her life, seeKawashima Yoshiko (film).

Yoshiko Kawashima
Yoshiko Kawashima inManchukuo armyuniform
Native name	Xuyên đảo phương tử
Birth name	Aisin Gioro Xianyu ( Ái Tân Giác La · hiện vu )
Other name(s)	Dongzhen ( đông trân ) Jin Bihui ( kim bích huy ) Eastern Jewel
Nickname(s)	Joan of Arc of Manchukuo
Born	(1907-05-24)24 May 1907 Beijing,Qing Empire
Died	25 March 1948(1948-03-25)(aged 40) Beijing,Republic of China
Buried	Shōrinji,Matsumoto,Nagano Prefecture,Japan
Allegiance	Manchukuo Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Kwantung Army
Battles/wars	Pacification of Manchukuo
Spouse(s)	Ganjuurjab ​ ​ (m.1927;div.1930)​
Relations	Shanqi(father) Lady Zhanggiya (mother) Naniwa Kawashima(adoptive father)
Other work	Spy

Aisin Gioro Xianyu
Kawashima in a recording studio, 1933
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	Kim bích huy
Simplified Chinese	Kim bích huy
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jīn Bìhuī Wade–Giles Chin1Pi4-hui1
Birth name
Traditional Chinese	Ái Tân Giác La · hiện vu
Simplified Chinese	Ái Tân Giác La · hiện vu
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Àixīnjuéluó Xiǎnyú Wade–Giles Ai4-hsin1-chüeh2-lo2Hsien3-yü2
Courtesy name
Traditional Chinese	Đông trân
Simplified Chinese	Đông trân
Literal meaning	Eastern Jewel
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dōngzhēn Wade–Giles Tung1-chen1
Japanese name
Kanji	Xuyên đảo phương tử
Hiragana	かわしま よしこ
Katakana	カワシマ ヨシコ
Transcriptions Romanization Kawashima Yoshiko

Yoshiko Kawashima(Xuyên đảo phương tử,Kawashima Yoshiko,24 May 1907 – 25 March 1948),bornAisin Gioro Xianyu,was aQing dynastyprincess of theAisin-Gioroclan. She was raised in Japan and served as a spy for the JapaneseKwantung ArmyandManchukuoduring theSecond Sino-Japanese War.She is sometimes known in fiction under the pseudonym "EasternMata Hari".After the war, She was captured, tried, and executed as atraitorby theNationalist governmentof theRepublic of China.She was also a notable descendant ofHooge,eldest son ofHong Taiji.

Names

She was born in theAisin-Gioroclan, the imperial clan of theManchu-ledQing dynasty.Her birth name wasAisin Gioro Xianyuand hercourtesy namewasDongzhen(literally "eastern jewel" ). Her Sinicised name wasJin Bihui.She is best known by her Japanese name,Kawashima Yoshiko( xuyên đảo phương tử ), which is read asChuāndǎo Fāngzǐin Chinese. In 1925, Yoshiko took the male nameRyōsuke.

Family background and early life

Shanqi(1866–1922), Kawashima's biological father

Kawashima's mother Lady Janggiya, the 4th consort of Prince Suzhong

She was born Aisin Gioro Xianyu inBeijingin 1907 as the 14th daughter ofShanqi(1866–1922), aManchuprince of theAisin Gioroclan, the imperial clan of China'sQing dynasty.Her mother was Lady Janggiya (Trương giai thị), Shanqi's fourth concubine. Shanqi was a descendant ofHooge,the eldest son ofHong Taiji(the second ruler of the Qing dynasty). Shanqi was also the tenth heir to thePrince Su peerage,one of the 12"iron-cap" princely peeragesof the Qing dynasty.

After theXinhai Revolutionoverthrew the Qing dynasty in 1912, Xianyu was given up for adoption in 1915 at the age of eight to her father's friend,Naniwa Kawashima,a Japanese espionage agent and mercenary adventurer. Her adoptive father changed her name to "Yoshiko Kawashima" and took her back toTokyo,Japan,to be raised and educated in the Kawashima family house. As a teenage girl, Kawashima was sent to school in Tokyo for an education that included judo and fencing.

In 1922, around the time her adoptive family moved toMatsumoto,Kawashima's biological father, Shanqi, died. As Kawashima's mother had no official identity as Shanqi's concubine, she followed Manchu tradition and died by suicide to join Shanqi in death. When she was seventeen, Kawashima’s adoptive father raped her and later continued to abuse her.

On 22 November 1925, Yoshiko said that she had "...decided to cease being a woman forever." Earlier that day she had dressed in akimonowith a traditional female hair style and took a photo amongblooming cosmosto commemorate "my farewell to life as a woman." That evening, Yoshiko went to a barbershop and had her hair cut into acrew cut,from then on dressing in men's clothes. A photo of the transformation appeared five days later inthe Asahi Shimbununder the headline: "Kawashima Yoshiko's Beautiful Black Hair Completely Cut Off - Because of Unfounded 'Rumors,' Makes Firm Decision to Become a Man - Touching Secret Tale of Her Shooting Herself", alluding to a prior episode in which she had shot herself in the chest with a pistol given to her byIwata Ainosuke.

She explained in another article two days after the first that "I was born with what the doctors call a tendency toward the third sex, and so I cannot pursue an ordinary woman's goals in life... Since I was young I've been dying to do the things that boys do. My impossible dream is to work hard like a man for China, for Asia."

Earlier in her life, it had been remarked upon that she had "boyish habits" despite her feminine beauty. She would use only the male style of Japanese grammar, even though that contributed to her not being re-admitted to her school after her biological father's death.

Espionage career

In November 1927 at age 20, her brother and adoptive father arranged for her marriage inPort Arthur(also known asRyojun) to Ganjuurjab, the son ofInner Mongolian ArmygeneralBabojab,who once led theMongolian-Manchurian Independence Movementthere in 1911. The marriage ended in divorce after only three years. She leftMongolia,and she first traveled to teeming coastal towns of China and lived a bohemian lifestyle for some years in Tokyo with a series of rich lovers, both men and women.Kawashima moved to theforeign concessioninShanghai.While in Shanghai, she met Japanesemilitary attachéand intelligence officerRyukichi Tanaka,who utilised her contacts with the Manchu and Mongol nobility to expand her network. She was living with Tanaka in Shanghai at the time of theShanghai Incidentof 1932.

After Tanaka was recalled to Japan, Kawashima continued to serve as a spy for the generalKenji Doihara.She undertook undercover missions inManchuria,often in disguise, and was considered "strikingly attractive, with a dominating personality, almost a film-drama figure, half tom-boy and half heroine, and with a passion for dressing up as a male. She possibly did this in order to impress the men, or she may have done it in order to more easily fit into the tightly-knit guerrilla groups without attracting too much attention".

Kawashima was well-acquainted withPuyi,the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, who regarded her as a member of the imperial family and welcomed her into his household during her stay inTianjin.It was through this close liaison that Kawashima was able to persuade Puyi to become a figurehead ruler forManchukuo,a puppet state created by the Japanese in Manchuria. However, Kawashima privately criticised Puyi for being too amenable to Japanese influence.

After Puyi became Emperor of Manchukuo, Kawashima continued to play various roles and, for a time, was a lover ofHayao Tada,the chief military advisor to Puyi. She formed an independentcounterinsurgencycavalry force in 1932 made up of 3,000-5,000 former bandits to hunt down anti-Japanese guerrilla bands during thePacification of Manchukuo,and was hailed in theJapanese newspapersas theJoan of Arcof Manchukuo.In 1933, she offered the unit to the JapaneseKwantung ArmyforOperation Nekka,but it was refused. The unit continued to exist under her command until sometime in the late 1930s.

Kawashima became a well-known and popular figure in Manchukuo, making appearances on radio broadcasts and even issuing a record of her songs. Numerous fictional and semi-fictional stories of her exploits were published in newspapers and also aspulp fiction.However, her very popularity created issues with the Kwantung Army because her utility as an intelligence asset was long gone, and her value as a propaganda symbol was compromised by her increasingly critical tone against the Japanese military's exploitative policies in Manchukuo as a base of operations against China in theSecond Sino-Japanese War,and she gradually faded from public sight.

Capture, trial and execution

After the end of the war, on 11 November 1945, a news agencyreported that "a long sought-for beauty in male costume was arrested in Beijing by counter-intelligence officers".She was held at Hebei Model Prison.

The Supreme Court ofHebeioriginally addressed Kawashima as "Chuandao Fangzi" (the Chinese pronunciation of her Japanese name'skanji). When her trial began a month later, Kawashima identified herself by her Chinese name, "Jin Bihui", which eventually became the name court officials used. However, in accordance with her lawyers' strategy to deflect her charge of treason, she gradually began to emphasise a Japanese orManchu banneridentity. The court rejected the defence's bid to have her tried as a war criminal rather than as a domestic traitor, based on a combination ofjus sanguinisand Kawashima's failure to formally renounce her citizenship through China's Department of Civil Affairs.

Charged with treason as ahan gianon 20 October 1947, she was executed by a bullet shot into the back of her head on 25 March 1948,and her body was later put on public display.

Her body was collected by a Japanese monk to becremated.Her remains were sent back to her adoptive family and later buried at Shōrinji temple inMatsumoto,Nagano Prefecture,Japan.

Gallery

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  Yoshiko in Kimono with her signature to her friends
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  Yoshiko in Kimono with her signature to her friends
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  Yoshiko in Kimono with her signature to her friends
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  Yoshiko Kawashima in her high school days
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  Yoshiko Kawashima with her brothers and foster-fatherNaniwa Kawashima
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  Yoshiko Kawashima
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  Renko Kawashima,Naniwa Kawashima,Yoshiko Kawashima, and Chizuko (Yoshiko's secretary) in Matsumoto.
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  Yoshiko Kawashima's marriage withGanjuurjabin 1927
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  Kawashima Yoshiko visiting the home ofTōyama Mitsuru.
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  Kawashima Yoshiko adolescent
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  Kawashima in Manchurian military uniform
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  Autographed Photo of Kawashima Yoshiko
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  Kawashima (left) withNaniwa Kawashima(centre) andRyukichi Tanaka(right), 1933
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  Kawashima Yoshiko
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  Photo of executed Yoshiko Kawashima in 1948

In popular culture

• In the Chinese language, Kawashima's name (both Chuandao Fangzi and Jin Bihui) are synonymous with the idea of a "female spy" or ahan gian.

Films

• InBernardo Bertolucci's 1987 filmThe Last Emperor,Kawashima appeared as "Eastern Jewel", played byMaggie Han.
• Miyuki Takakura portrayed Kawashima in the 1957 Japanese filmSen'un Ajia no Joō.
• Anita Muiportrayed Kawashima in the 1990 Hong Kong filmKawashima Yoshiko.
• Wong Wan-sze portrayed Kawashima in 1991 Hong Kong filmGod of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai.
• Kawashima was portrayed byRei Kikukawain the 2007 Japanese dramaRi Kouran,which tells the story of the life ofYoshiko Yamaguchi.
• Meisa Kurokiportrayed Kawashima in the 2008 Japanese dramaDansō no Reijin: Kawashima Yoshiko no Shōgai.
• Kawashima was portrayed byShu Qiin the 2010 Hong Kong filmLegend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen.

Books

The private papers of Eastern Jewelby Maureen Lindley. Based on the real-life story of Yoshiko Kawashima, Chinese princess turned ruthless Japanese spy, with fictional embellishments.

Two books titledThe Beauty in Men's Clothinghave been published about Yoshiko, the first a partly-fictionalized novel by Muramatsu Shōfū published in 1933, the second by Shōfū's grandson Tomomi in 2002 about the composition of the former.

Video games

• Kawashima appears as a lieutenant colonel of the Japanese army in the 2004JRPGgameShadow Hearts: Covenant.
• Kawashima appears as an army general for Manchukuo, and doubles as a spy agent/operative in the expansion "La Résistance" for both Japan and Manchukuo in the 2016World War IIgrand strategygameHearts of Iron IV,byParadox Interactive.

References

Crowdy, Terry, The Enemy Within (Oxford: Osprey, 2006), Chapter 10

Bibliography

• Birnbaum, Phyllis (14 April 2015).Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy: The Story of Kawashima Yoshiko, the Cross-Dressing Spy Who Commanded Her Own Army.Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture.Columbia University Press.ISBN9780231152181.
• Deacon, Richard (1986).A History of the Japanese Secret Service.Berkley Publishing Company.ISBN0-425-07458-7.
• Jowett, Philip (2005).Rays of the Rising Sun, Volume 1: Japan's Asian Allies 1931-45, China and Manchukuo.Helion and Company Ltd.ISBN1-874622-21-3.
• Grant DePauw, Linda(2000).Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present.University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN0-8061-3288-4.
• Lee, Lillian (1992).The Last Princess of Manchuria.William Morrow & Co.ISBN0-688-10834-2.
• Woods, Willa Lou (1937).Princess Jin, the Joan of Arc of the Orient.World Publishing Company.OCLC942732.
• Yamamuro, Shinichi (2005).Manchuria Under Japanese Domination.University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN0-8122-3912-1.
• Lindley, Maureen (2008).The private papers of Eastern Jewel.London: Bloomsbury.ISBN978-0-7475-9116-0.

External links

• (in Chinese)Nam trang nữ điệp xuyên đảo phương tử

Media related toKawashima Yoshikoat Wikimedia Commons