武田麟太郎とサヌシ・パネ : 「東洋」文化の幻想

Rintaro Takeda a Japanese writer who had been assigned and ordered by the Japanese army as a member of the propaganda unit in Java. The previous study on Rintaro Takeda and his interaction with Indonesian writers focuses on his relationship with Armijn Pane. Armijn Pane is a famous Indonesia writer who had been known as a founder of new Indonesian literary movement, “Pujangga Baroe”. In Takeda’s essay of “Jawa Sarasa” (1944), Armijn Pane was introduced by Takeda as the brother of the great poet Sanusi Pane. Sanusi Pane had the reputation of being the Indonesian writer who most actively collaborated with the Japanese military during the Second World War. The present study aims to reveal the relationship between Takeda and Sanusi Pane with respect to their ideas on Asian culture. Pane was the chief editor of the literature magazine Keboedajaan Timoer (“Oriental Culture”) and head of the Central Cultural Office (Keimin Bunka Shidosho) during the Japanese occupation. In Pane’s earlier works during the Dutch colonial period, he included aspects of his own experience in India, and the writings were strongly influenced by the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. According to Pane, India was a representation of ancient Javanese culture (Hindu-Buddhist culture) and became an inspiration for his concept of ideal culture.

From an analysis of Sanusi Pane’s works, such as Kertadjaja and Sandyakalaning Majapahit, it is clear that his depiction of glorious Javanese empires of the past contains his ideas of nationalism and notions about the superiority of old Javanese culture. Sanusi’s idea were similar to those of Kokuzo Okakura, who inspired most of the Japanese propagandists in Indonesia, including Rintaro Takeda.