Hosei University and student labor mobilization : Focusing on the university preparatory course at the Kawasaki Kizuki Campus

Student labor mobilization has hardly been mentioned in the conventional “history of Hosei University.” This does not mean that there was no labor mobilization among Hosei University students— in fact, there were students who went to Hokkaido to boost food production, some who were sent to munitions factories and sustained injuries while working, and others who were mobilized elsewhere and died in air raids there. When, where, and for how long were these students mobilized; what kind of work did they engage in; and how did the university authorities respond? In this paper, I attempt to determine the actual circumstances of student labor mobilization at Hosei University using recent survey results. I referenced university periodicals and utilized the diary of Kensaku Imoto, who served as the wartime head of the preparatory course, and interviews of graduates conducted in recent years. Thus, the research focus is on labor mobilization under the preparatory course. Labor mobilization at Hosei University began as a collective labor service formally implemented as a national mobilization during the Sino-Japanese War. Even before the government issued orders, under the preparatory course, this service was integrated into classes, and preparatory course students were dispatched to munitions factories—the university’s location in the Keihin industrial area, called “Kawasaki,” made this possible. In the 1943, student labor mobilization was changed from “training labor” to “substantial labor,” and in 1944, labor mobilization began in earnest. There were hardly any classes conducted, and faculty was busy negotiating with factories and patrolling, with students sent straight to factories. Though individual experiences differed, students mobilized due to labor shortages constantly faced danger at sites requiring skillful techniques. There were repeated accidents and problems during work, and when materials could not be delivered as the war situation worsened, companies’ factory operations got stuck; thus, there was a pronounced mismatch between companies and student labor mobilization. Due to the limited reference materials, the focus of this paper was restricted to labor mobilization centering on the preparatory course. Further research is needed on the other students such as undergraduate and specialized students and those who were injured or who died at the sites they were mobilized to.