FRAGRANT ORCHID
THE STORY OF MY EARLY LIFE
Y A M A G U C H I Y O S H I KO
A N D F U J I W A R A S A K U Y A
Translated, with an Introduction,
by C H I A - N I N G C H A N G
University of Hawai‘i Press
Honolulu
2015
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Table of Contents
1. My Fushun Years
2. My Fengtian Years
3. My Beijing Years
4. The Tianjin Encounters
5. The Birth of Li Xianglan
6. My Xinjing Years
7. The Days of “The Suzhou Serenade”
8. The Nichigeki Incident
9. The Spring of My Youth
10. The Two Yoshikos
11. Two Phantom Films: Yellow River and My Nightingale
12. Glory to Eternity
13. Rhapsody of “The Evening Primrose”
14. Shanghai, 1945
15. Farewell, Li Xianglan
Addendum: The Post–Li Xianglan Years
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Notes on Translation
In the introductory essay and the main body of the
translation, Chinese and Japanese names and titles are translated into English
and followed by their romanization in parentheses. References to Yamaguchi
Yoshiko are complicated by different
readings of her Chinese stage name: Li Xianglan in Mandarin
and Ri Kōran in
Japanese. Additionally, Yamaguchi the autobiographer
occasionally adopts a detached narrative perspective, referring to herself in
the third person by her Chinese stage name. For the sake of clarity and
consistency, I have used her Japanese
birth name, Yamaguchi Yoshiko, in my essay, except in
situations that clearly call
for “Li Xianglan,” as when her name is referred to in China,
in a Chinese context,
or by a Chinese person. In the main body of the translation,
I have refrained from
using the Japanese reading “Ri Kōran” in order to avoid
undue confusion in the
minds of some readers.
I have included brief explanatory notes from the original
text in my translation whenever I find their inclusions to be helpful to
readers. In other instances,
they appear as part of my own annotations to the text. In
many instances, I have
rearranged the original paragraph layout to enhance the
narrative movement in
the English translation.
I have provided notes on historical and literary figures,
artists, place names,
and other items when additional information offers helpful
contextual or linguistic
clarification. I have generally refrained from providing
notes on items mentioned
only once or in passing, and when further elaboration at the
point of insertion
contributes little to the account at hand. Thus, there are
no notes on such wellknown figures as Abe Kōbō, Tanaka Kinuyo, Song Qingling,
or Li Lihua, but
additional information is given on Ruan Ling’yu, Umehara
Ryūzaburō, Tamura
Taijirō, Amakasu Masahiko’s role in the alleged killing of
Ōsugi Sakae and Itō
Noe in 1923, and the controversies surrounding the death of
Kawashima Yoshiko
in 1948. There are instances where annotations are provided
on certain figures,
place names, and events mentioned only fleetingly—Qi Baishi,
the Suzhou temple
Hanshansi, the 1944 film Chunjiang Yihen, Mei Lanfang’s
postwar performance
in Shanghai, Niwa Fumio, Ishii Baku, and Hijikata Yoshi, for
example—when
additional information helps, I hope, to underscore the
dramatic import embedded
in the original text.
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About Professor Chia-ning Chang, the Translator
Chia- ning Chang is Professor of Japanese in the Department
of East Asian
Languages and Cultures at the University of California,
Davis, where he served
as Chair of the department (2004–2009) and Director of East
Asian Studies (2006–
2012). He is currently serving a three-year term as Director
of the University of
California’s system-wide Education Abroad Program in China
(2012–2015), headquartered in Shanghai’s Fudan University.
Chia-ning Chang was educated at the University of Hong Kong
and at various institutions in Japan before earning his Ph.D. from Stanford
University in
1985. He was Senior Fulbright Scholar for Research at Waseda
University in Japan
(1997–1998) and the recipient of a Japan Foundation
fellowship and a Japanese
Ministry of Education scholarship. Among his major works are
Social Vision and
Literary Imagination: Critics and Writers of Meiji Social
Literature, now being
translated into Chinese; a translation of Katō Shūichi’s A
Sheep’s Song: A Writer’s
Reminiscences of Japan and the World, with annotations and
an introduction;
and a contracted translation of Kamei Katsuichirō’s My
Spiritual Wanderings,
with notes, chronology, and an essay. He is currently
finishing a new translation
and research project on “Life of a Japanese Filmmaker:
Yamamoto Satsuo and
His Time.” He has also published widely in Japan on subjects
ranging from SinoJapanese translations of Henry Wheaton’s Elements of
International Law, the
writings of Lao She, Ishikawa Takuboku, Katō Shūichi, the
poetics of the autobiography, the modern Meiji social novel, and Meiji social
realism.
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Chronology
The chronology of Yamaguchi Yoshiko’s life is taken, with
revisions, from sources
including “Ri Kōran/Yamaguchi Yoshiko ryakunenpu,” in Ri
Kōran o ikite: Watashi
no rirekisho (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha, 2007), pp.
2–21; “Ri Kōran [Yamaguchi Yoshiko] ryakunenpu,” in Ri Kōran: Futatsu no sokoku
ni yureta seishun,
Mainichi gurafu bessatsu, ed. Tanaka Kaoru, Shimizu Kiyoshi
et al. (Tokyo:
Mainichi Shimbunsha, June 1991), pp. 169–173, and Li
Xianglan (Yamaguchi Yoshiko)
Special (1992) for the 16th Hong Kong International Film
Festival, pp. 31–32.
1920:
Yamaguchi Yoshiko is born in Beiyantai in the suburbs of
Fengtian (present-day
Shenyang in Liaoning Province), the oldest child of
Yamaguchi Fumio and Ai. Soon
after her birth, the family moved to Fushun and lived on
Higashi rokujō-dori. A
student of Chinese, Yamaguchi Fumio had come to China in
1906 in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War. Ai was a graduate of Japan
Women’s University.
1923: Age 3
Yamaguchi Fumio began teaching Chinese language to employees
of the South
Manchurian Railway Company (Minami Manshū Tetsudō
Kabushikigaisha, or
Mantetsu).
1924: Age 4
Began studying elementary Mandarin with her father.
1926: Age 6
Entered Yong’an Elementary School and began learning to play
the violin, piano,
and koto. Did well in music and Chinese but not in
mathematics and sports.
1929: Age 9
As a fourth-grader, passed National Certification of Chinese
Language (Chūgokugo kokka kentei), 4th Class, while studying Chinese with adult
students in her
father’s Mantetsu’s class.
ix
x
Chronology
1931: Age 11
As a sixth-grader, passed National Certification of Chinese
Language, 3rd Class.
Befriended Liuba Monosova Gurinets.
1932: Age 12
Entered Fushun Girls’ School in April. On the night of
September 15–16, witnessed the attack on the Fushun coal mines by Chinese
resistance forces. As a
result of suspicions of Yamaguchi Fumio’s collaboration with
the attackers, the
family moved to Fengtian.
1933: Age 13
Passed National Certification of Chinese Language, 2nd
Class. Given the name
“Li Xianglan” after becoming the adopted daughter of General
Li Jichun, then
President of Shenyang Bank in Fengtian. Began learning
classical songs from
Madame Podlesov. Performed her first recital at the Yamato
Hotel. Scouted by
the Fengtian Radio Broadcasting Company to perform “New
Manchurian Songs.”
Befriended Awaya Noriko. Liuba Gurinets and her family
disappeared after their
home had been ransacked by Japanese military police.
1934: Age 14
Began studying in Beijing in May. Became the adopted
daughter of Pan Yugui
and received the Chinese name “Pan Shuhua.” Began studying
at Yijiao Girls’
School. The resistance movement in Beijing accentuated her
anguish over being a
Japanese girl living in China.
1936: Age 16
Continued studying at Yijiao amidst rising anti-Japanese
sentiments among students and citizens. Attended an anti-Japanese student
gathering and stated her
position to appear on top of Beijing’s city wall in the
event of a Japanese attack of
the city.
1937: Age 17
Became acquainted with Army Major Yamaga Tōru in Beijing and
Kawashima
Yoshiko in Tianjin.
1938: Age 18
Graduated from Yijiao Girls’ School. Scouted by the
Manchurian Film Association (Man’ei) as an actress and debuted in the fi lm
Honeymoon Express.
1939: Age 19
Visited Japan for the first time as one of Man’ei’s
representatives to the Manchurian Exposition. First encountered Japanese racial
prejudices while landing in
Shimonoseki. Starred with Hasegawa Kazuo in the hit movie
Song of the White
Chronology
xi
Orchid after making three other fi lms for Man’ei and a
joint production between
Man’ei and Tōhō. Met the fi lm critic Iwasaki Akira. Amakasu
Masahiko became
Director of Man’ei.
1940: Age 20
Starred with Hasegawa Kazuo in China Nights and Pledge in
the Desert, which,
along with Song of the White Orchid, comprise the
“continental trilogy.” “When
Will You Return?” Zhou Xuan’s 1937 hit number in China, with
Watanabe Hamako and Yamaguchi as Japanese vocalists in 1939, was banned in
Japan for its
allegedly injurious effects on public morals. Became
acquainted with Japanese
novelists Niwa Fumio, Kume Masao, and Tamura Taijirō.
1941: Age 21
Performed at Tokyo’s Nichigeki as a “Singing Ambassadress
for JapaneseManchurian Friendship” and scored extraordinary success. Befriended
Kodama
Eisui, a Tōhō employee serving as her security guard. Miyako
Shimbun pronounced that Yamaguchi was Japanese, but the story did not attract
much attention
in the Japanese national media. Began dating Matsuoka
Ken’ichirō, the oldest son
of Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yōsuke. Costarred in Suzhou
Nights, a ShōchikuŌfuna Production, with Sano Shūji.
1942: Age 22
Went on a two-month location shooting for the
semi-documentary fi lm Yellow
River. Starred in Winter Jasmine.
1943: Age 23
Starred in My Nightingale while under surveillance by
Japanese and Soviet intelligence agents during its shooting. Costarred in Glory
to Eternity and gained
wide popularity in China as the singer of the fi lm’s theme
songs, and the “Candy
Peddling Song” in par ticular.
1944: Age 24
Discontinued her association with Man’ei, moved to Shanghai,
and participated
in Kawakita Nagamasa’s fi lm-making initiatives.
1945: Age 25
In May, performed in the Rhapsody of the Evening Primrose
Concert in Shanghai’s
Grand Theater and was reunited with Liuba at the end of the
show after a separation of eleven years. Began taking music lessons with Madame
Bella Mazel. After
Japan’s surrender, relocated to Hongkou while under
investigation and awaiting
trial as a traitor to China. Amakasu Masahiko committed
suicide in Xinjiang in
August.
xii
Chronology
1946: Age 26
In mid-February, was pronounced innocent at a military court
by proving her
Japa nese nationality and was ordered repatriation to Japan.
Subsequent attempt
to board a repatriation ship in late February was aborted;
then final approval was
granted in March. Landed in Hakata on April 1 with Kawakita
Nagamasa and
found accommodation at the latter’s Kamakura residence.
Performances at the
Imperial Theater in early October were greeted with little
critical enthusiasm.
1947: Age 27
In June, played Katyusha Maslova in Tolstoy’s Resurrection
under the direction
of Hijikata Yoshi in her first Shingeki performance. Joined
Takizawa Osamu and
Uno Jūkichi’s Popu lar Art Troupe.
1948: Age 28
Played the role of O-shiho in the Popular Art Troupe’s
performance of Shimazaki
Tōson’s The Broken Commandment. Starred in The Shining Day
of My Life with
Mori Masayuki, Takizawa Osamu, and Uno Jūkichi. The Yamaguchi
family was
repatriated to Japan from China. Kawashima Yoshiko was
reportedly executed at
the grounds of the Beijing First Prison.
1950: Age 30
Yamaga Tōru committed suicide in January. Escape at Dawn was
released with
Yamaguchi and Ikebe Ryō in the leading roles. Shot the film
Scandal with costar
Mifune Toshirō. Performed in recitals in Hawaii and Los
Angeles. Contracted
to star in the Hollywood production of Japanese War Bride
and scheduled to
perform in the Broadway musical Marco Polo. Became acquainted
with the New
York sculptor Isamu Noguchi and befriended Charlie Chaplin.
1951: Age 31
Announced marriage to Noguchi in New York and the couple
moved to Ōfuna
in Kamakura, where they lived in a rustic tea house built by
ceramicist Kitaōji
Rosanjin.
1952: Age 32
Entered into a three-year contract with Tōhō. Costarred with
Mifune Toshirō in
Foghorn and Sword for Hire. Also costarred with Hasegawa
Kazuo in The Ship of
Tumultuous Fortune and with Mikuni Rentarō in The Woman of
Shanghai.
1953: Age 33
Failed to obtain a visa to the United States to accompany
her husband. Visited
Berlin, Paris, and India.
Chronology
xiii
1954: Age 34
Starred in a number of films produced in Hong Kong by Shaw
Brothers. Received
visa to the United States after having been blacklisted as a
Communist sympathizer.
1955: Age 35
Starred in the Twentieth Century Fox film House of Bamboo
with Robert Stack.
Lived a separate life from Noguchi. Starred in The Plum in
the Golden Vase, a Shaw
Brothers’ production.
1956: Age 36
In February, announced her divorce from Noguchi. Starred in
Madame White
Snake under the direction of Toyoda Shirō and in the
Broadway musical Shangri-La.
Became acquainted with Ōtaka Hiroshi, a Japanese diplomat,
and her future husband. After Ōtaka was transferred to Myanmar, Yamaguchi
decided to give up
her career on the silver screen.
1957: Age 37
Starred in Mysterious Beauty, a Shaw Brothers fi lm.
1958: Age 38
A Night of Romantic Love, a Shaw Brothers fi lm, was
released. Made her last
fi lm, Tokyo Holidays. Married Ōtaka Hiroshi in April and
accompanied him to
Myanmar.
1959: Age 39
Returned to Japan and made occasional appearances on
television and on radio.
1965: Age 45
Accompanied her husband to his new post in Geneva.
1968: Age 48
Returned to Japan from Geneva, and served from time to time
as a TV cohost for
Nihon TV and TBS.
1969: Age 49
Beginning in April, served as a TV cohost in the Fuji
Television program “You at
Three o’Clock” until March 1974.
1970: Age 50
Reported from Vietnam and Cambodia in August.
1971: Age 51
Reported from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel. Her
increasing interest in the Palestinians was demonstrated by her interviews of
Leila Khaled, then
xiv
Chronology
a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) and Yasser
Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO), and her visit
to Palestinian refugee camps.
1972: Age 52
On September 29, wept upon watching live on TV the signing
of the Joint
Sino-Japanese Communiqué by Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei,
Premier Zhou
Enlai, Foreign Minister Ōhira Masayoshi, and Minister for
Foreign Affairs Ji
Pengfei.
1973: Age 53
Successfully interviewed Shigenobu Fusako, a leader of the
Japanese Red Army
in August. Received a prize for individual excellence at the
Television Awards
ceremony for the year.
1974: Age 54
In July, successfully elected to the Diet’s Upper House and
became a member of
the Tanaka Kakuei faction and of the Foreign Affairs
Committee.
1975: Age 55
In July, visited Beijing as a member of the Liberal
Democratic Party’s North Korean
delegation.
1977: Age 57
Served as Vice Minister of Political Affairs at the Agency
for the Environment.
1978: Age 58
Visited China on environmental issues. Revisited Man’ei’s
old headquarters (then
the Changchun Studio) and her old friends.
1979: Age 59
Visited North Korea as a member of the Liberal Democratic
Party’s North Korean
delegation. Her husband Ōtaka Hiroshi became Japa nese
Ambassador to the
Republic of Fiji.
1980: Age 60
Re-elected for another term as an Upper House Diet member.
Became a member
of the Diet’s Japanese-Palestinian Friendship Alliance.
1985: Age 65
Served as Head of the Japanese-Algerian Association, Head of
the JapaneseMyanmar Association, Vice Chair of the Foreign Affairs
Investigative Unit of the
Liberal Democratic Party, Chair of the Okinawa
Revitalization Committee, and
Chair of the Special Committee for the Aged Population.
Chronology
xv
1986: Age 66
Re-elected for a third term to the Diet’s Upper House. Ōtaka
Hiroshi became
Japanese Ambassador to Myanmar.
1987: Age 67
In July, published her autobiography Ri Kōran: Watashi no
hansei (coauthored
with Fujiwara Sakuya).
1988: Age 68
In February, for the first time in forty years, met Pujie,
brother of the former
Emperor of Manchuria, Puyi. Isamu Noguchi died in New York
at the age of
eighty-four.
1989: Age 69
On December 1st and 2nd, Fuji Television televised the
five-hour program
“Goodbye Ri Kōran” (Sayonara Ri Kōran), with Sawaguchi
Yasuko in the leading role.
1990: Age 70
As Executive Director of the Diet’s Alliance against
Apartheid, invited Nelson
Mandela to visit Japan. With the Prime Minister, made
proposals for addressing
environmental issues.
1991: Age 71
Accepted an invitation to visit China. The theater troupe
Four Seasons (Shiki)
began putting on the show Ri Kōran: A Musical under the
direction of Asari Keita
with the debuting actress Nomura Ryōko in the leading role.
The show continued
intermittently in various locations in Japan until 2006 and
was performed in
China and Singapore in 1992 and 1997, respectively. Joined
the Liberal Democratic Party’s Investigative Team for the Middle East.
1992: Age 72
Withdrew from political activities. Ri Kōran: A Musical was
performed in China
in Beijing, Changchun, Shenyang, and Dalian. Revisited
Beijing after an interval
of fift y-eight years since her days at a girls’ school in
1934.
1998: Age 78
Reunited with Liuba in Yekaterinburg, Russia, after an
interval of fi ft y-three
years.
1999: Age 79
Liuba died at age seventy-nine.
xvi
Chronology
2001: Age 81
Ōtaka Hiroshi died at age seventy-three.
2014: Age 94
Died of heart failure at her Tokyo residence on September 7.
A private funeral
service was held among close family members.
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FILMOGRAPHY
1938
Honeymoon Express (Miyue kuaiche; Japa nese rendering,
Mitsugetsu
kaisha; Man’ei)
1939
Spring Dream of Great Fortune (Fugui chunmeng; Japa nese
rendering,
Fūki shunmu; Man’ei)
Retribution of the Vengeful Spirit (Yuanhun fuchou; Japanese
rendering,
Enkon fukkyū; Man’ei)
Travels to the East (Dong’youji; Japa nese rendering,
Tōyūki; Man’ei/
Tōhō)
Blood of Arms and Heart of Wisdom (Tiexie huixin; Japanese
title, Utsukushiki gisei; Man’ei)
Song of the White Orchid (Byakuran no uta, Tōhō)
1940
China Nights (Shina no yoru, Tōhō)
The Monkey’s Journey to the West (Songokū, Tōhō)
Pledge in the Desert (Nessa no chikai, Tōhō)
1941
You and I (Kimi to boku, Press Division, Korean Army)
Suzhou Nights (Soshū no yoru, Shōchiku Ōfuna)
1942
Winter Jasmine (Geishunka, Shōchiku Kyoto and Man’ei)
Yellow River (Huang’he; Japanese rendering, Kōga; Man’ei)
1943
Sayun’s Bell (Sayon no kane, Shōchiku, Man’ei, and the
Governor’s Office
of Taiwan)
Chorus of Prayer (Chikai no gasshō, Tōhō and Man’ei)
The Fighting Street (Tatakai no machi, Shōchiku Ōfuna)
My Nightingale (Watashi no uguisu, Man’ei)
Glory to Eternity (Wanshi liufeng; Japa nese rendering,
Bansei ryūhō;
Zhonghua Dianying, Zhonglian, and Man’ei)
1944
Field Army Orchestra (Yasen gungakutai, Shōchiku Kyoto)
343
344
Filmography
1948
Lucky Chair (Kōun no isu, Nichi’ei)
The Shining Day of My Life (Waga shōgai no kagayakeru hi,
Shōchiku
Ōfuna)
The Passionate Mermaid (Jōnetsu no ningyo, Dai’ei Tokyo)
1949
The Shooting Star (Nagareboshi, Shin-Tōhō)
The Human Condition (Ningen moyō, Shin-Tōhō)
Homecoming (Kikoku, Shin-Tōhō)
1950
Escape at Dawn (Akatsuki no dassō, Shin-Tōhō)
First Love Hullabaloos (Hatsukoi mondō, Shōchiku Ōfuna)
Womanly Craze (Onna no ryūkō, Shōchiku Ōfuna)
Scandal (Shūbun Sukyandaru, Shōchiku Ōfuna)
1951
Japanese War Bride (Japanese title, Higashi wa higashi;
Twentieth Century Fox)
1952
Foghorn (Muteki, Tōhō)
Sword for Hire (Sengoku burai, Tōhō)
The Woman from Shanghai (Shanhai no onna, Tōhō)
The Ship of Tumultuous Fortune (Fūun senryōsen, Tōhō)
1953
Last Embrace (Hōyō, Tōhō)
1954
Heavenly Bliss (Tianshang renjian, Shaw Brothers)
The Saturday Angel (Doyōbi no tenshi, Tōhō)
1955
House of Bamboo (Japa nese title, Tokyo ankokugai; Twentieth
Century Fox)
The Plum in the Golden Vase (Jin Ping Mei, Shaw Brothers)
1956
Madame White Snake (Byakufujin no yōren, Tōhō and Shaw
Brothers)
1957
Mysterious Beauty (Shenmi meiren, Shaw Brothers)
A Night of Romantic Love (Yiye fengliu, Shaw Brothers)
1958
The Angkor Wat Story: Beautiful Melancholy (Ankōru Watto
monogatari:
Utsukushiki aishū, Tōhō)
Tokyo Holidays (Tokyo no kyūjitsu, Tōhō)
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