After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

somewhere
he got hold of a considerable amount of cash that was needed to establish 
the commune. They used the money to buy farm machinery and building materials, 
and to set up a reserve fund. They repaired the old houses by themselves and built 
facilities that would enable their thirty members to live. This was in 1974. They called 
their new commune “Sakigake,” or “Forerunner.” 
Sakigake? The name sounded familiar to Tengo, but he couldn’t remember where 
he might have heard it before. When his attempt to trace the memory back ended in 
failure, he felt unusually frustrated. 

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116
The Professor continued, “Fukada was resigned to the likelihood that the operation 
of the commune would be tough for the first several years until they became 
accustomed to the area, but things went more smoothly than he had expected. They 
were blessed with good weather and helpful neighbors. People readily took to Fukada 
as leader, given his sincere personality, and they admired the hardworking young 
members they saw sweating in the fields. The locals offered useful advice. In this 
way, the members were able to absorb practical knowledge about farming techniques 
and learn how to live off the land. 
“While they continued to practice what they had learned in Takashima, Sakigake 
also came up with several of their own innovations. For example, they switched to 
organic farming, eschewing chemical pesticides and growing their vegetables entirely 
with organic fertilizers. They also started a mail-order food service pitched directly to 
affluent urbanites. That way they could charge more per unit. They were the first of 
the so-called ecological farmers, and they knew how to make the most of it. Having 
been raised in the city, the commune’s members knew that city people would be glad 
to pay high prices for fresh, tasty vegetables free of pollutants. They created their own 
distribution system by contracting with delivery companies and simplifying their 
routes. They were also the first to make a virtue of the fact that they were selling ‘un-
uniform vegetables with the soil still clinging to them.’ ” 
The professor went on. “I visited Fukada on his farm any number of times. He seemed 
invigorated by his new surroundings and the chance to try new possibilities there. It 
was probably the most peaceful, hope-filled time of his life, and his family also 
appeared to have adapted well to this new way of living. 
“More and more people would hear about Sakigake farm and show up there 
wanting to become members. The name had gradually become more widely known 
through the mail order business, and the mass media had reported on it as an example 
of a successful commune. More than a few people were eager to escape from the real 
world’s mad pursuit of money and its flood of information, instead earning their 
living by the sweat of their brow. Sakigake appealed to them. When these people 
showed up, Sakigake would interview and investigate them, and give the promising 
ones membership. They couldn’t admit everyone who came. They had to preserve the 
members’ high quality and ethics. They were looking for people with strong farming 
skills and healthy physiques who could tolerate hard physical labor. They also 
welcomed women in hopes of keeping something close to a fifty-fifty male-female 
ratio. Increasing the numbers would mean enlarging the scale of the farm, but there 
were plenty of extra fields and houses nearby, so that was no problem. Young 
bachelors made up the core of the farm’s membership at first, but the number of 
people joining with families gradually increased. Among the newcomers were well-
educated professionals—doctors, engineers, teachers, accountants, and the like. Such 
people were heartily welcomed by the community since their professional skills could 
be put to good use.” 
Tengo asked, “Did the commune adopt Takashima’s type of primitive communist 
system?” 

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117
The Professor shook his head. “No, Fukada avoided the communal ownership of 
property. Politically, he was a radical, but he was also a coolheaded realist. What he 
was aiming for was a more flexible community, not a society like an ant colony. His 
approach was to divide the whole into a number of units, each leading its own flexible 
communal life. They recognized private property and apportioned out compensation 
to some extent. If you weren’t satisfied with your unit, you could switch to another 
one, and you were free to leave Sakigake itself anytime you liked. There was full 
access to the outside world, too, and there was virtually no ideological inculcation or 
brainwashing. He had learned when they were in Takashima that a natural, open 
system would increase productivity.” 
Under Fukada’s leadership, the operation of Sakigake farm remained on track, but 
eventually the commune split into two distinct factions. Such a split was inevitable as 
long as they kept Fukada’s flexible unit system. On one side was a militant faction, a 
revolutionary group based on the Red Guard unit that Fukada had originally 
organized. For them, the farming commune was strictly preparatory for the 
revolution. Farming was just a cover for them until the time came for them to take up 
arms. That was their unshakable stance. 
On the other side was the moderate faction. As the majority, they shared the 
militant faction’s opposition to capitalism, but they kept some distance from politics, 
instead preferring the creation of a self-sufficient communal life in nature. Insofar as 
farming was concerned, each faction shared the same goals, but whenever it became 
necessary to make decisions regarding operational policy of the commune as a whole, 
their opinions split. Often they could find no room for rapprochement, and this would 
give rise to violent arguments. The breakup of the commune was just a matter of time. 
Maintaining a neutral stance became increasingly difficult with each passing day. 
Eventually, Fukada found himself trapped between the two factions. He was generally 
aware that 1970s Japan was not the place or time for mounting a revolution. What he 
had always had in mind was the potential of a revolution—revolution as a metaphor 
or hypothesis. He believed that exercising that kind of antiestablishment, subversive 
will was indispensable for a healthy society. But his students wanted a real revolution 
with real bloodshed. Of course Fukada bore some responsibility for this. He was the 
one who had planted such baseless myths in their heads. But he never told them that 
his “revolution” had quotation marks around it. 
And so the two factions of the Sakigake commune parted ways. The moderate 
faction continued to call itself “Sakigake” and remained in the original village, while 
the militant faction moved to a different, abandoned village a few miles away and 
made it the base of their revolutionary movement. The Fukada family remained in 
Sakigake with all the other families. The split was a friendly one. It appears that 
Fukada obtained the funds for the new commune from his usual unspecified source. 
Even after their separation, the two farms maintained a cooperative relationship. They 
traded necessary materials and, for economic reasons, used the same distribution 
routes for their products. The two small communities had to help each other if they 
were to survive. 

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118
One thing did change, however, shortly after the split: the effective cessation of 
visits between the old Sakigake members and the new commune. Only Fukada 
himself continued to correspond with his former radical students. Fukada felt a strong 
sense of responsibility for them, as the one who had originally organized and led them 
into the mountains of Yamanashi. In addition, the new commune needed the secret 
funds that Fukada controlled. 
“Fukada was probably in a kind of schizoid state by then,” the Professor said. “He no 
longer believed with his whole heart in the possibility or the romance of the 
revolution. Neither, however, could he completely disavow it. To do so would mean 
disavowing his life and confessing his mistakes for all to see. This was something he 
could not do. He had too much pride, and he worried about the confusion that would 
surely arise among his students as a result. At that stage, he still wielded a certain 
degree of control over them. 
“This is how he found himself living a life that had him running back and forth 
between Sakigake and the new commune. He took upon himself the simultaneous 
duties of leader of one and adviser to the other. So a person who no longer truly 
believed in the revolution continued to preach revolutionary theory. The members of 
the new commune carried on with their farm work while they submitted to the harsh 
discipline of military training and ideological indoctrination. And politically, in 
contrast to Fukada, they became increasingly radicalized. They adopted a policy of 
obsessive secrecy, and they no longer allowed outsiders to enter. Aware of their calls 
for armed revolution, the security police identified them as a group that needed to be 
watched and placed them under surveillance, though not at a high level of alert.” 
The Professor stared at his knees again, and then looked up. 
“Sakigake split in two in 1976,” he went on. “Eri escaped from Sakigake and came 
to live with us the following year. Around that time the new commune began calling 
itself ‘Akebono.’ ” 
Tengo looked up and narrowed his eyes. “Wait a minute,” he said.