Photo/Illutration “Tensei Jingo” (Vox Populi, Vox Dei) first appeared in the Osaka edition of The Asahi Shimbun on Jan 5, 1904. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

On Jan. 5, 1904, a column titled “Tensei Jingo” (Vox Populi, Vox Dei) debuted in the Osaka edition of The Asahi Shimbun.

As if the author foresaw signs of a turbulent era ahead--the Russo-Japanese War flared the following month--he referred to the year just started as “the Year of the Dragon that is said to bring stormy clouds and rains.”

Seventeen years later, in 1921, author Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) claimed to have seen the term Tensei Jingo “written in large letters” in the plaster rose and acanthus ornaments above the transom of the stage at a theater in Shanghai.

In his travelogue and collection of essays titled “Shanghai Yuki” (literally, travels in Shanghai), Akutagawa did not elaborate, and no mention was made of whether the expression Tensei Jingo was of Japanese origin and eventually reached China, or was Chinese to begin with.

But I presume Tensei Jingo was something like a catchphrase back then.

Akutagawa went on to note that the play itself was “the farthest thing from Tensei Jingo.” He complained that the accompanying music was so loud, he could not hear a word of what the actors were saying.

Since ancient times, the Chinese have held that “tian” (heaven) has nothing to do with deities, and simply overlaps with the human world.

Generations of emperors were said to have had a heavenly mandate, but that was determined by none other than the voices of the people living in this world.

Hideo Aragaki (1903-1989), who was the Tensei Jingo columnist for 17 years after World War II, maintained that “only the voice of the people is the voice of god.” He likened this column ideally to an “engawa” porch that allowed him to engage in dialogue with his readers and a roadside tree that continues to observe society closely.

As one of the columnists today, I remind myself to bow my head in contrition for the numerous missteps made to date by The Asahi Shimbun since pre-war times, so that this column will never again pander to the powers that be.

I will speak my mind every day, without reservation or concern for what some people might say. I will stand with my readers, sometimes to rage with them and sometimes to weep with them. And I suppose I will also be a fool who get flustered from time to time, like a wooden dummy.

These are some of the thoughts I renew, now that the 60-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac has come and gone twice since this column’s inauguration 120 years ago.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 6

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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