“Sir, please enter the command tower and command.”
“No, I’m standing here.”
“Once the shelling started, it was very dangerous here. Please enter the Command Tower by any means.”
“I’m an old man. I’m not leaving this position today. You are all young people, and it will be more important than me to dedicate yourself to the country in the future. Go in.”
The above is a scene of the 19th-century Japan Admiral Heihachiro Togo commanding a combined fleet and defeating the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Battle of the Sea of Japan. NHK remade the famous Japan writer Ryotaro Sima ‘s famous book “Saka no Ue no Kumo” into a series of the same name, and the last episode of the drama depicts this fierce naval battle.
In the play, Commander Togo refuses to enter the command tower, and stands at the front of the Mikasa ship. When I saw this scene, I really thought: the general is like this. Because the general was on the front line of command, the staff below Vice Admiral Akiyama Shinyuki at that time were all on the front line. The command class put life and death out of the way, and naturally the soldiers used their lives.
Togo raised his right hand and drew a circle to the left to direct the entire Japan fleet to make a big bend in front of the Russian fleet, which is a famous “T-shaped tactic” in the history of warfare. The one who thought of this strategy was the actor of “Saka no Ue no Kumo” – Akiyama Shinyuki.
Adaptation of Ryotaro Sima’s famous book “Saka no Ue no Kumo” is Ryotaro Sima’s masterpiece, but throughout his life, he did not agree to make it into a TV series. Because, first, there is a fear that writings will be used to glorify the war; Second, there is also concern about fueling the historical views of the extreme right in Japan. Personally, I believe that the main axis of Ryotaro Sima should be to carry forward the positive nature of the Meiji period. Rather than advocating militarism, Sima wanted to exaggerate the process of Japan’s rise from a small country to a great power, inevitably describing the “Sino-Japanese War” and the “Russo-Japanese War.” In order to avoid spilling salt on the historical wounds of the neighboring countries, Sima did not agree to remake it into a historical drama, and I think his intentions were good.
Although NHK has obtained the consent of his widow to start filming this drama, they are quite serious about presenting a view of history. For example, although there are many scenes of war in the play, it does not make people infected with bloodlust and hatred. For the fierce national sentiment in Japan at that time, the play also downplayed it. In the naval battle of the Sea of Japan, the director tried to show the tragedy of the war, although the victor was Japan, when the Russian army surrendered, the entire combined fleet was silent. The tragedy of the war contrasts with the fragility of life, and the screenwriter deliberately highlights the atmosphere of “the victor has nothing”. Akiyama Shinyuki, the main staff officer of the naval war, even said that he wanted to become a monk, vaguely expressing his anti-war thoughts.
For the treatment of this subject, I think Sima was very wise at that time. He is good at writing character stories, and through the characters to see through the spirit of the times. His three male protagonists, Akiyama Yoshiko, Akiyama Shinyuki, and Masaoka Shiki, are all representative figures of the Meiji period, and they shine like clouds above the hillside. People are like mountaineers, concentrating on following the direction of the clouds and climbing up the rugged and difficult hillside road.
Optimism in the Meiji period Masayuki Akiyama (Masahiro Motoki) grows up all the way with the help of his older brother Yoshiko Akiyama. He first studied at the preparatory school of the University of Tokyo, and later became an excellent naval officer. The elder brother Akiyama Yoshiko (played by Abe Kan) led the Japan cavalry to establish meritorious deeds in Manchuria. Masaoka Shiki (played by Teruyuki Kagawa) was determined to create and innovate haiku, tanka, new style poems and prose, and although he died young, he left behind a large number of works and a spirit of perseverance. If you look closely at the first one or two episodes, the childhood, personality and experience of the three male protagonists are all interpreted quite movingly, and they have a strong “Meiji spirit”.
What is the spirit of the Meiji period? The play repeatedly emphasizes this main theme, that is, the unprecedented happiness optimism. The figures were staring ahead with confidence.
