1931 Masayuki Mukden Incident Propaganda Map of China, Manchuria, and Korea

This is a rare late 1931 first edition Japanese propaganda map of China, Korea, and Manchuria that employs 'manga' or cartoon imagery to advocate for Imperialistic Japanese policy in China. Although intentionally not drawn to scale, the map covers from Vietnam to Korea and from Mongolia to Hainan. Korea, at this time part of the Imperial Japan is disproportionately large, embracing a territory nearly half the size of China. Likewise, Manchuria, in the process of being seized by Japan as this map was issued, is itself nearly the size of China. Both underscore Japanese power and are designed to diminish China.

The Mukden Incident

This map follows closely on the Mukden Incident (Manchurian Incident), a September 18, 1931 staged incident staged by the Japanese military as pretext to invade Manchuria. Near Mukden, now Shenyang, a Japanese military officer detonated a small quantity of dynamite on a Japanese owned railroad. While the railroad was intentionally undamaged, Japanese authorities claimed that the detonation was a Chinese nationalist terrorist attack on Japanese industry. They responded with a full invasion of Manchuria and the founding of the puppet state of Manchukuo.

Validating Japanese Aggression

This map and others like it emerged in the 1920s and 1930s to proselytize and propagandize Japanese military aggression in China to the Japanese populace. The map at once highlights anti-Japanese movements in China, such as the May Fourth Movement, and at the same time, exaggerates Japanese military might in China. China itself took a consolatory role towards Japan, but anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan, fueled by propaganda like this, led the Japanese populace to believe that China needed to be invaded in order to protect Japanese diaspora. The map is accordingly rich with supposed anti-Japanese atrocities, among them the Nakamura Incident, the Mandarin Incident, the Jinan Tragedy, and the Wanbaoshan Incident. Such actions ultimately led to the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945) and World War II (1939 - 1945).

Publication History and Census

There appear to be two editions, both published in 1931. The map is attributed to Kaaki Wakayama (若山可明編案) and Masayuki Kibe (木部正行画). The present first edition lacks attribution and a date, but this was added to the second edition. The present example is the first edition and features inset city plans in the lower right. A second edition replaces this with a red banner bearing propaganda slogans. While the second edition appears on the market from time to time, the first edition, as here, is exceedingly rare.