The Swastika in Japan

The Swastika in Japan

We can often see the swastika symbol in Japan. Does this
mean that Japan is fascist and anti-semite? I guess that you understand
that asking the question is answering it. It is true that Japan was an
ally of Hitler during the second world war but it had no connections
with Jewish people whatsoever (except some legends claiming that a tribe
of Israelites ended up in Japan) so they didn’t have any connection
with the anti-semite movement.Japanese incense

The swastica on the street

The symbol of the swastika is a well documented ancient
symbol used around the world. It’s first recorded occurence dates all
the way back the the 6th to 5th millennium BC when it was used in the
“Vinca script” of Neolithic Europe. After that it has been used by
primitive society consitently from China to the Americas passing by
Greece and Africa.

A manhole in Hirosaki, Japan


A swastica adorned Coca-cola pendant
A Coca-Cola advertisement dating 1925

The word swastika come from the Sanskrit and it means “that which is
associated with well-being.” Its meaning is one of luck, well-being. It
has been used consistently around the world, even in the U.S. as a
good-luck charm, especially by early aviators.

Native americans and Chinese also used it to represent the sun.




The Swastika in the East

The crooked cross is a historical sacred symbol in all
to importance in Buddhism during the Mauryan
Empire and in Hinduism with the decline of Buddhism in
India during the Gupta Empire. It followed the silk road with
Buddhism to reach Tibet and China. The symbol was also introduced
to Bali with Hinduism by Hindu kings. The use of the
swastika by the Bon faith of Tibet, as well as later
religions like  Cao Dai of Vietnam and Falun
Gong of China, can also be traced to Buddhist influence.

In Buddhism, it is said that Gautama Buddha (the historical Buddha)
was inscribed with this symbol on the chest by his disciples upon his
death. We often see statues of him with this symbol on the chest or on
the sole of the feet. It represent infinity in tibet and China.

Many Buddhist texts start with this symbol, thus it has started being
used in Japan as a symbol representing temples, especially on maps as
the torii gate represents Shinto shrines.

View Larger Map

If you look at the map of Kyoto above, you’ll notice many instance of the swastika.

swastika on a temple

In Japan, the swastika is called manji 万字, which comes
from China. The first character, man, means 10,000 which is a big enough
number to represent a myriad, or infinity. The second one, ji, is
simply character. thus it is called the infinity character.

It is usually facing counter-clockwise. Meaning that the
arms of the cross are turning in a counter-clockwise pattern. This being
said, it is not uncommon to see it facing the other way and it is
called a mirror-image of the manji.

The signification is the same though and it is still not associated with the Nazis in anyway.




the Nazi symbol associated with hate

So much so that there is another name for the Nazi’s
symbol in Japanese. My Japanese dictionary calls it the Ha-kenkoroitsu
(from the German word Hakenkreuz, crooked cross ) and it describes it at the 45-degree clockwise manji used by the Nazi party.


That symbol is usually surrounded by a circle. In Japan
it is unusual to see the manji at that angle. It is usually flat on one
of its side.


I hope this will help dampening the shock I hear many
foreign visitors expressing when they visit Japan. The manji has been
used for thousands of years as a positive symbol and only in the last 70
years has it been associated with the signification it holds in the
Western world. It is a victim of its usage by the Nazis, really.

Just remember that in Japan, this symbol represents a Buddhist temple when seen on a map.