Hiroshima (2 page)

Beginning in the mid-1980s, I translated the monuments of Hiroshima literature, the literature of the atomic bombing: Hara Tamiki's
Summer Flowers
,
O
¯
ta Y
o
¯
ko's
City of Corpses
, T
o
¯
ge Sankichi's
Poems of the Atomic Bomb
, which were all part of
Hiroshima: Three Witnessees
, and Kurihara Sadako's
Black Eggs
. (In press now is my translation of the autobiography of
O
¯
ishi Matashichi, who was on board the Japanese fishing vessel
Lucky Dragon #5
when it was contaminated by radiation from the U.S. hydrogen bomb test at Bikini in 1954.
[10]
) In various ways these works affected my teaching, as did the superb film by John Junkerman and John W. Dower about the artists Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi,
Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima
(1986). So also two short films:
The Air War against Japan, 1944–1945
, chapter 23 of
The Air Force Story
, a massive official film history of the air campaigns of World War II (1946), and
Hiroshima Nagasaki August, 1945
, a compilation of footage taken by Japanese photographer Iwasaki Akira and then kept out of circulation until 1970. (U.S. Occupation censors were responsible for the blackout until 1952; thereafter it was largely a matter of chance.) These two films are short enough that I could show both of them in a fifty-minute class and still have time for discussion. The sound track of the former features triumphant trumpets as the atomic cloud rises over Hiroshima, its inhabitants, of course, unseen. The atonal, otherworldly soundtrack of the latter underscores close-ups of unspeakable human suffering on the ground. The contrast always left my students stunned and questioning.

That contrast still survives today. American textbook treatments of Hiroshima since World War II, the fiasco at the Smithsonian in 1995, when political pressure prevented even the most careful questioning of the Hiroshima decision, the decision of the Obama administration in spring 2010 against adopting a “no first use” policy: these are all different facets of the same phenomenon—denial. Even sixty-five years after Hiroshima, we refuse to face the reality of nuclear war. Just this spring we learned of an American serviceman who claimed, falsely, to have been in the B-29 that photographed the bombing of Hiroshima.
[11]
Why make such a claim except to bask in the glory of a “successful” mission? Yet Nakazawa and many other bomb victims who really were there concealed their past, hoping to avoid the supposed shame. Why not admit to having been in Hiroshima on August 6 unless there is a social price to be paid?
[12]
A man on the sidelines fakes involvement in order to share supposed glory; many directly involved pretend not to be involved in order to avoid supposed shame. We have all lived in nuclear denial.
[13]

In his note to the 2004 English translation of the manga, Nakazawa writes: “Human beings are foolish. Thanks to bigotry, religious fanaticism, and the greed of those who traffic in war, the Earth is never at peace, and the specter of nuclear war is never far away. I hope that Gen's story conveys to its readers the preciousness of peace and the courage we need to live strongly, yet peacefully. In
Barefoot Gen
, wheat appears as a symbol of that strength and courage. Wheat pushes its shoots up through the winter frost, only to be trampled again and again. But the trampled wheat sends strong roots into the earth and grows straight and tall. And one day, that wheat bears fruit.”

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to Nakazawa Keiji for permission to translate this book into English and for permission to reproduce illustrations from the book and from
Barefoot Gen
. Asai Motofumi, director of the Hiroshima Peace Institute, served as contact person with Nakazawa. I thank him for his very important help. I am most grateful to Colin Turner of Last Gasp for permission to reproduce excerpts from Last Gasp's fine
Barefoot Gen
, 10 volumes (San Francisco: Last Gasp, 2004–2009).

Kyoko Iriye Selden, herself a translator of Hiroshima literature, helped me enormously by comparing the translation very carefully with the original and suggesting many corrections and improvements; I am greatly in her debt. Mark Selden read the manuscript with care. This is the fourth time Susan McEachern of Rowman & Littlefield has acquired a manuscript of mine, and each time it has been a pleasure to work with her. Janice Braunstein served ably as production editor. Don Sluter drew the maps and provided last-minute emergency assistance. Tyran Grillo scanned and reversed the illustrations.

You all know the graphic work,
Barefoot Gen
, don't you? It's in libraries and on school bookshelves. You may even have a copy at home.

Barefoot Gen
is read not only by Japanese, but also by people around the world. It's been translated into English, French, German, Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, and there are plans for translations into Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. So
Barefoot Gen
is literally the Gen who raced around the world.

I haven't told you yet, but I'm the author of
Barefoot Gen
.

Barefoot Gen
depicts a boy (Gen), who on August 6, 1945 witnesses a this-worldly hell when the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, overcomes the ravages of war, and goes on living life at full speed.

I get letters from lots of people. And when I give speeches—for example, in schools—I'm often asked, “Is Gen's story true?” “Who served as the model for Gen?” Well, who do you think?

Hiroshima's atomic bomb dome stands at right about the center of Hiroshima. Just less than a mile from that dome, there's a place called Funairi Hommachi.
[14]
That's where I was born and brought up. Ours was a family of seven. A baby due in August (August 1945!) was in my mother's womb, so perhaps you can say we were a family of eight.

August 6, 1945. I was a first grader. That morning I was at the wall that enclosed the school, talking with the mother of a classmate who had stopped me when the atomic bomb fell. She died instantly. I was pinned beneath the wall and survived miraculously.

Of my family, Dad, older sister Eiko, and younger brother Susumu died that day. Of my other two brothers, the oldest—K
o
¯
ji—had gone to Kure as a student-soldier, and the next brother—Akira—had been evacuated with his class to the countryside and was unharmed.

Mom, too, survived, but from then on, her health was fragile from the aftereffects of the bomb. The baby was born into that horror right after the bombing and died soon after birth of malnutrition.

I lost Dad, Eiko, Susumu, and the baby in the atomic bombing and went to live with relatives, where I was treated as an “outsider.”

It's true. It's the same life as in
Barefoot Gen.
I'm the model for Gen.
Barefoot Gen
is based on fact. That's why I've given this book the title,
The
Autobiography of Barefoot Gen.