Kawashima Yoshiko
Encyclopedia
was a Manchu
princess brought up in Japan
, who served as a spy
in the service of the Japanese Kwantung Army and Manchukuo
. Originally named Aisin Gioro
Xianyu (愛新覺羅·顯玗) with the courtesy name Dongzhen (東珍, literally meaning "Eastern Jewel"), her Chinese name was Jin Bihui . She is sometimes known in fiction by the pseudonym
as the "Eastern Mata Hari
”. She was executed as a traitor
by the Kuomintang
after the Second Sino-Japanese War
.
as the 14th daughter to Shanqi, the 10th son of Prince Su (肅親王) of the Manchu imperial family. She was adopted at the age of eight by her father's friend, Naniwa Kawashima
, a Japanese espionage agent
and mercenary
adventurer after the Xinhai Revolution
, who had previously served as director of the Beijing Police Academy under Qing governmental sponsorship. Though Kawashima Naniwa has frequently been portrayed as an imperialist, during the early portion of his tenure as head of the Beijing Police Academy he is influenced more so by a desire to aid Qing efforts at reform than an interest in furthering Japanese imperialism. Aisin Gioro Xianyu was renamed Kawashima Yoshiko, and was raised and educated in Matsumoto, Nagano
, Japan.
General Jengjuurjab, leader of the Mongolian-Manchurian Independence Movement based in Ryojun
. The marriage ended in divorce after only two years, and Kawashima moved to the foreign concession in Shanghai
. While in Shanghai, she met Japanese military attaché
and intelligence officer Ryukichi Tanaka
, who utilized her contacts with the Manchu
and Mongol nobility to expand his network. She was living together with Tanaka in Shanghai at the time of the Shanghai Incident of 1932.
After Tanaka was recalled to Japan, Kawashima continued to serve as a spy for Major-General Kenji Doihara
. She undertook undercover mission in Manchuria
, 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 this passion for dressing up as a male. Possibly she did this to impress the men, or so that she could more easily fit into the tightly-knit guerrilla groups without attracting too much attention".
Kawashima was well-acquainted with former Qing Emperor Pu Yi who regarded her as a member of Royal Family and made her welcome in his household during his stay in Tianjin
. It was through this close liaison that Kawashima was able to persuade Pu Yi to return to the Manchu homeland as head of the newly Japanese-created state of Manchukuo
.
After the installation of Pu Yi as Emperor of Manchukuo, Kawashima continued to play various roles and, for a time, was mistress of Major General Hayao Tada
, who was chief military advisor for Pu Yi. She formed an independent counter insurgency
cavalry
force in 1932 made up of 3,000-5,000 former bandits to hunt down anti-Japanese guerilla bands during the Pacification of Manchukuo
, and was hailed in the Japanese newspapers
as the Joan of Arc
of Manchukuo. In 1933, she offered the unit to the Japanese Kwantung Army for Operation 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 society, 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 in the pulp fiction
press. However, her very popularity created issues with the Kwantung Army, as 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 the Second Sino-Japanese War
, and she gradually faded from public sight.
After the end of the war, on 11 November 1945, a news agency reported that "a long sought-for beauty in male costume was arrested in Peking by the Chinese counter-intelligence officers." In 1948, Kawashima was tried as a traitor (Hanjian
) by the Nationalist Government under her Chinese name (Jin Bihui). She was executed by a shot into the back of her head.
, where she appeared as "Eastern Jewel", played by Maggie Han
.
Anita Mui
played Kawashima Yoshiko in a 1990 Hong Kong
-produced film, The Last Princess of Manchuria.
She is a prominent character in the 2007 drama Ri Kouran, which tells the story of the life of Yoshiko Yamaguchi, also known as Li Xianglan (李香蘭). She was portrayed by Japanese idol Rei Kikukawa
.
An eight-year-old Kawashima Yoshiko makes a cameo appearance in the PlayStation 2
game Shadow Hearts: Covenant, as Yoshiko Kawashima. A character in the previous game was also named Yoshiko Kawashima, though she was another person altogether and, in the second game, was portrayed as the namesake for the historical figure.
The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel, by Maureen Lindley, is a 2008 novel about the life of Yoshiko Kawashima (a.k.a. “Eastern Jewel”).
Meisa Kuroki
portrays Kawashima in the 2008 Japanese drama "Dansō no Reijin ~Kawashima Yoshiko no Shōgai~".
More scholarly and peer-reviewed research exists on Kawashima Yoshiko in English in Dan Shao's "Princess, Traitor, Soldier, Spy: Aisin Gioro Xianyu and the Dilemma of Manchu Idnentity" in Mariko Asano Tamanoi, ed. 'Crossed Histories: Manchuria in the Age of Empire. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005.
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
princess brought up in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, who served as a spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
in the service of the Japanese Kwantung Army and Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
. Originally named Aisin Gioro
Aisin Gioro
Aisin Gioro was the family name of the Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty. The House of Aisin Gioro ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a republican government in its place. The word aisin means gold in the Manchu language, and "gioro" is the name of the place in...
Xianyu (愛新覺羅·顯玗) with the courtesy name Dongzhen (東珍, literally meaning "Eastern Jewel"), her Chinese name was Jin Bihui . She is sometimes known in fiction by the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
as the "Eastern Mata Hari
Mata Hari
Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "M'greet" Zelle , a Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, and accused spy who was executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.-Early life:Margaretha Geertruida Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, Friesland,...
”. She was executed as a traitor
Hanjian
In Chinese culture, a Hanjian is a derogatory and pejorative term for a race traitor to the Han Chinese nation or state, and to a lesser extent, Han ethnicity. The word Hanjian is distinct from the general word for traitor, which could be used for any race or country...
by the Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
after the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
.
Early life
Aisin Gioro Xianyu was born in BeijingBeijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
as the 14th daughter to Shanqi, the 10th son of Prince Su (肅親王) of the Manchu imperial family. She was adopted at the age of eight by her father's friend, Naniwa Kawashima
Naniwa Kawashima
Naniwa Kawashima , a member of the Japanese spy network in Manchuria and close friend of to Shanqi, the 10th of hereditary Prince Su of the Manchu imperial family, who had inherited the allegiance of the tribes of Inner Mongolia...
, a Japanese espionage agent
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
and mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
adventurer after the Xinhai Revolution
Xinhai Revolution
The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, also known as Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing , and established the Republic of China...
, who had previously served as director of the Beijing Police Academy under Qing governmental sponsorship. Though Kawashima Naniwa has frequently been portrayed as an imperialist, during the early portion of his tenure as head of the Beijing Police Academy he is influenced more so by a desire to aid Qing efforts at reform than an interest in furthering Japanese imperialism. Aisin Gioro Xianyu was renamed Kawashima Yoshiko, and was raised and educated in Matsumoto, Nagano
Matsumoto, Nagano
is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Matsumoto is designated as a Special City.-Outline:The new city of Matsumoto is the city comprising the mergers of the old city of Matsumoto and four villages. Matsumoto officially absorbed those villages without creating a new municipal...
, Japan.
Espionage career
In 1927, Kawashima married Ganjuurjab, the son of Inner Mongolian ArmyInner Mongolian Army
The Inner Mongolian Army was first formed by Prince Demchugdongrub with his personal bodyguard of 900 men in 1929.Although only armed with rifles and a couple of field guns from the Mukden arsenal, a gift of the Young Marshal in 1929. His force became very efficient with the assistance of...
General Jengjuurjab, leader of the Mongolian-Manchurian Independence Movement based in Ryojun
Lüshunkou
Lüshunkou is a district in the municipality of Dalian, Liaoning province, China. Also called Lüshun City or Lüshun Port, it was formerly known as both Port Arthur and Ryojun....
. The marriage ended in divorce after only two years, and Kawashima moved to the foreign concession in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. While in Shanghai, she met Japanese military attaché
Military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission . This post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer who retains the commission while serving in an embassy...
and intelligence officer Ryukichi Tanaka
Ryukichi Tanaka
-External links:*- Notes :...
, who utilized her contacts with the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
and Mongol nobility to expand his network. She was living together with Tanaka in Shanghai at the time of the Shanghai Incident of 1932.
After Tanaka was recalled to Japan, Kawashima continued to serve as a spy for Major-General Kenji Doihara
Kenji Doihara
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. He was instrumental in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria for which he earned fame taking the nickname 'Lawrence of Manchuria', a reference to the Lawrence of Arabia....
. She undertook undercover mission in Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, 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 this passion for dressing up as a male. Possibly she did this to impress the men, or so that she could more easily fit into the tightly-knit guerrilla groups without attracting too much attention".
Kawashima was well-acquainted with former Qing Emperor Pu Yi who regarded her as a member of Royal Family and made her welcome in his household during his stay in Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
. It was through this close liaison that Kawashima was able to persuade Pu Yi to return to the Manchu homeland as head of the newly Japanese-created state of Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
.
After the installation of Pu Yi as Emperor of Manchukuo, Kawashima continued to play various roles and, for a time, was mistress of Major General Hayao Tada
Hayao Tada
-External links:* - Notes :...
, who was chief military advisor for Pu Yi. She formed an independent counter insurgency
Counter insurgency
A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency involves actions taken by the recognized government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it...
cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
force in 1932 made up of 3,000-5,000 former bandits to hunt down anti-Japanese guerilla bands during the Pacification of Manchukuo
Pacification of Manchukuo
The Pacification of Manchukuo, was a campaign to pacify the resistance to the newly established puppet state of Manchukuo between the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies of Manchuria and later the Communist Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and the Imperial Japanese Army and the forces of the...
, and was hailed in the Japanese newspapers
Domei Tsushin
was the official news agency of the Empire of Japan.-History and development:Dōmei was the end result of years of efforts by Japanese journalists and business leaders to create a national news agency in Japan that could compete with Reuters and other internationally-recognized news agencies on a...
as the Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
of Manchukuo. In 1933, she offered the unit to the Japanese Kwantung Army for Operation 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 society, making appearances on radio broadcasts, and even issuing a record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
of her songs. Numerous fictional and semi-fictional stories of her exploits were published in newspapers and also in the pulp fiction
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
press. However, her very popularity created issues with the Kwantung Army, as her utility as an intelligence asset was long gone, and her value as a propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
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 the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
, and she gradually faded from public sight.
After the end of the war, on 11 November 1945, a news agency reported that "a long sought-for beauty in male costume was arrested in Peking by the Chinese counter-intelligence officers." In 1948, Kawashima was tried as a traitor (Hanjian
Hanjian
In Chinese culture, a Hanjian is a derogatory and pejorative term for a race traitor to the Han Chinese nation or state, and to a lesser extent, Han ethnicity. The word Hanjian is distinct from the general word for traitor, which could be used for any race or country...
) by the Nationalist Government under her Chinese name (Jin Bihui). She was executed by a shot into the back of her head.
In popular culture
Kawashima has been depicted in numerous movies from 1932 until the present day by many actresses. She was also featured in the movie The Last EmperorThe Last Emperor
The Last Emperor is a 1987 biopic about the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, whose autobiography was the basis for the screenplay written by Mark Peploe and Bernardo Bertolucci. Independently produced by Jeremy Thomas, it was directed by Bertolucci and released in 1987 by Columbia Pictures...
, where she appeared as "Eastern Jewel", played by Maggie Han
Maggie Han
Maggie Han is an American actress who has appeared in numerous films and television productions. Her career began with modeling jobs in the United States and France, and progressed to acting in a broad range of roles. Among other roles, Han played Yoshiko Kawashima in the movie The Last Emperor...
.
Anita Mui
Anita Mui
Anita Mui Yim-fong was a popular Hong Kong singer and actress. During her prime years she made major contributions to the cantopop music scene, while receiving numerous awards and honours. She remained an idol throughout most of her career, and was generally regarded as a cantopop diva...
played Kawashima Yoshiko in a 1990 Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
-produced film, The Last Princess of Manchuria.
She is a prominent character in the 2007 drama Ri Kouran, which tells the story of the life of Yoshiko Yamaguchi, also known as Li Xianglan (李香蘭). She was portrayed by Japanese idol Rei Kikukawa
Rei Kikukawa
is a Japanese actress, model and television presenter. Kikukawa was born in Urawa , in Saitama Prefecture. She is a graduate of the University of Tokyo where she majored in architecture. She was scouted by an agent while shopping, and eventually came to be represented by Oscar Promotions...
.
An eight-year-old Kawashima Yoshiko makes a cameo appearance in the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
game Shadow Hearts: Covenant, as Yoshiko Kawashima. A character in the previous game was also named Yoshiko Kawashima, though she was another person altogether and, in the second game, was portrayed as the namesake for the historical figure.
The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel, by Maureen Lindley, is a 2008 novel about the life of Yoshiko Kawashima (a.k.a. “Eastern Jewel”).
Meisa Kuroki
Meisa Kuroki
, better known by her stage name , is a Japanese actress, model and singer born in Nago, Okinawa, Japan. She is represented by the agency Sweet Power and is signed to Sony Music Japan. She made her acting debut in 2004. She has modeled for the popular Japanese fashion magazine JJ, among others, and...
portrays Kawashima in the 2008 Japanese drama "Dansō no Reijin ~Kawashima Yoshiko no Shōgai~".
More scholarly and peer-reviewed research exists on Kawashima Yoshiko in English in Dan Shao's "Princess, Traitor, Soldier, Spy: Aisin Gioro Xianyu and the Dilemma of Manchu Idnentity" in Mariko Asano Tamanoi, ed. 'Crossed Histories: Manchuria in the Age of Empire. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005.
External links
男裝女諜川島芳子- Discussion forum postings (Warning: contains graphic photos of excuted corpses)
- Execution of Kawashima Yoshiko (Warning: Webpage advertisements contain spyware/malware.)