My Grandfather’s Brother Saburo

大叔父 三郎

Masateru Ozaki

A0260112

ANT313

Prof. Murase

Outline

This presentation consists of two main parts.

The First Part

- based on my mother and ancestor’s remains

The Second Part

- based on inquery at Yasukuni

Family Tree 家系図

Maternal

Grate

Uncle

Saburo

三郎

Grandfather

Teisuke 貞介Grandmother

Mother Father

Masateru

Ｇｒａｔｅ Ｇｒａｎｄ Father Taizo 泰蔵

Tatsuji

辰次

Nobuichi

信一

Ａｋｉｋｏ

昭子Seiichiro

清一郎

Great Grand Mother

Aya あや

?If someone asks me about my old family

members who went to war, the thing which comes

up in my mind is a “question mark.”

My Knowledge before research

I only know that three older great uncles went to a war, that the third older brother died in the Sino-Japanese war 支那事変, that there is his gravestone at the temple in my home town.

Since I wanted to know more about him (I focused on him because he was the only person that died in the war) through the visual anthropology course, first I asked my mother, where she preserved ancestor’s remains. Then, she brought a wooden box from a shelf.

This room used to be my grandfather’s.

And my mother brought the box from old house to this house

over twenty-five years ago.

Old House

In the Box

•There are certain documents, artifacts, and images that emerged.

•This box opened up the past.

- what is a “good family”? -

Ｉ asked my mother about my Saburo.

She answered, “If we are a good family these old things should have been preserved in well condition, and there should have been more old things.”

My mother’s words raised a question of what were her concepts of “good family” (いい家族, ii kazoku), family worthy of documentation. However, facts are that my family kept many valuable documents.

In spite of the fact my mother said we are not good family, she preserved the family worthy of documents in a box! Inside of the box, I see his life.

In the box, there are

1. Photographs （写真）

2. Documents （文書類）

3. Artifacts （古器物・人工遺物）

3. Photographs

Two albums and one big-sized picture in the box

Pictures of My Great Uncle Saburo

大叔父 三郎の写真

From the left: Saburo,Tatsuji,

Akiko, Teisuke, baby on the

Saburo’s lap is their nephew.

Saburo is on the right side.

Saburo wearing a

yukata, or a Japanese

kimono for summer

wear, leaning on a

wooden door frame with

his nephew.

Saburo with his

grandmother on the tenth of

October, Showa12(1937).

He departed two months

later.

2. Documents List

1. Letter from China (Shina) from Saburo 戦場からの手紙2. Report on Saburo’s death in battle from a commander 戦死報告書3. Map which describes a situation that Saburo died 戦死場所4. Military Diary 軍事日記5. Message of condolence 弔辞 chouji

1- 4 are Saburo’s. 5 is my grandfather’s.

Enlargement

From Shanxi province, he sent a following letter.

Typed Version of Letter from China (Shina) from Saburo

中国からの三郎さんの手紙

拝啓

戦線にて元旦を迎えました

今朝は八

時起床

八時半より東天を拝し御

皇室の御

繁栄を祝し捧銃(

ささげつつ)

をして祝賀を終

り午後より全員にて会食があり少しの御酒

に缶詰の料理にて祝会を終りました

昨年は

平壌で今年は山西の黄河河畔で迎えた春い

と感慨無量でありまた朝食には形ばかりの

ぞうに正月気分が多少でました

しかし思ひ

は皆様の事ばかり御無事で皆御一緒に愉快

に年越された事と思ひます

昭和十四年本

年は如何なる事になるでせうか戦場に立つ

私

明日の事は不明ですから

しかし元気は

益々旺盛

張切ってゐますから

御安心下さ

い

先日は貞介より手紙を頂きました

信一

も一生懸命にする由(

よし)

、嬉しく思ってゐ

ます

且(

かつ)

私としては皆愉快にやつて呉

れれば安心してゐます

其れだけです

峯生

の手紙も入つてゐました

大変に顔がよい由

教育には充々注意する様に

私も新春を元気

迎え元気でゐますから御安心下さい

では先

づ御一報迄

一月四日

三郎

父上様

Translated into English

Letter from China (Shina) from Saburo

Dear Father,

I saw the new year while in the battle line. Today, I

woke up at eight o’clock. At eight thirty, I worshiped the

east sun, stood at the present arms, celebrated the

prosperity of the emperor, and finished the celebration…

I just hope all my family members are safe and fine.

Saburo

Only a half year later, after he sent this

letter, he died.

I have wondered how and where he died.

Luckily, there are source documents in the box.

2. Report on Saburo’s death in battle

from a commander

extract

（戦死報告書より）

午前一時三十分右側高地より飛来せる敵

弾は憎くも上等兵の左前頭部を盲貫し其

場に倒れたり然るに責任観念旺盛なる上

等兵は重傷なるにもかかわらず銃をしつか

り拝持したるまま・・・「後は頼んだ」・・・

「午前六時微かながらも力強く

「天皇陛下萬歳」を唱しつつ従容として死に

就けり

（藤室部隊北川隊長

陸軍歩兵中尉

北川

弘㊞）

Translated into English

I could not help but having a little doubt of this statement, because I think human mentality is not so strong. Maybe here lies some social meaning, such as for a bereaved family, this may be one way of respecting and encouraging them.

Extract

At one thirty in the morning, from the left hand side of hill, he was

shot. The hateful bullet hit the front of his head on the left side, and

he fell over on that spot. Even though he got a fatal wound, with his

full of sense of responsibility, he held his gun tightly, and said to his

fellow solders, “please take care of the rest.”

At six in the morning, while saying slightly but strongly, “The

Emperor, Banzai!”, he calmly died.

Commander Hiroshi Kitagawa

Where he died?According to the report,

It was at Sekiha 石玻, Kijyo prefecture 翼城, 山西省.

Sekiha 石玻

中国の地図

Shanxi-

province

山西省

さんせいしょう

So, Let’s find. At first, on the internet.

In this general area , I was able to

find though I could not find the

exact area.

Lastly, let’s see artifacts.

3. Artifact

SteamerWhose?

My Grandfather

Why he kept this?

?

Brush case

Whose?

My Grandfather

Why he kept this?

?

3. MAP The place Saburo died, as the

commander depicted

Summary

My Maternal Great Uncle Saburo 大叔父 三郎

Born in 1918 （大正06年4月26日） Third elder brother

甲種合格 He passed an exam to become a solder with the grade A 甲.

In 1938, went to Pyongyang 平壌 (Heijo) in Korea

He entered the No. 77 infantry regiment

一等兵 (one level above二等兵 called private,) In 1939, moved to Shanxi, China

昭和 年 陸軍歩兵隊一等兵藤室部隊 在明隊（北川隊）

Died at 1939（昭和14年） in Shanxi, China Posthumous, he became上等兵 My mother never knew him

If he was alive, now he was eighty nine 生きていれば８９歳

The box story ends, the government

compensated one more thing…

Upon his death, government compensated

a big gravestone

Important points

1. Saburo died in the earlier period of the Sino-Japanese war.

2. Extent of compensation

During 1939 they had the means of compensation,

As the war progressed, they did not. This is very important point, historically.

1. 三郎さんのお墓Saburo’s Tomb in Toyohashi,

Aichi Prefecture

It is hard to read with old

style of language, and the

moss. It shows us how the

times has passed. The under

third generations may have

some problems to understand

the history of Saburo.

So far I showed you memorials of Saburo and the government treated him.

But I could not know his youth.

But nobody really remembers or can tell, I do not have access to it.

There is a generation gap.

My mother did not know, either.

In my family, what are matters of interests, of concern and of conversation?

What is a knowledge which can be passed on?

Please open the file named 祖先調べcomplete.wmv from sound file

Film

Conversation:

Boundary of interest

(M) Tomoko Ozaki

(F) Yoshiaki Ozaki

(Q) Masateru Ozaki

About the film,

The fact that TV is on, of course, there are different practices

in different families. She might not have given me high-

moral seriousness. It is just an interesting way of dealing

with these topics.

This is the way my family speaks about these matters.

The generation that lived through the war, they just do not

dwell on the war: they prefer to look at the present. It is

interesting sociologically, anthropologically.

Mother’s Boundary of Interest

Focus of interest

are

static preservation the things in the box

and

Her father

and

Visit grave

•Story of father’s brother

•Story of ancestors

The circle represents the focus

boundary of her interest: outside

the circle shows other parts of the

family that she did not have

interest in.

Conclusion

My grandfather and my mother preserved the things in the box.

My mother introduced the box to me and told her memory.

In the late 1930s and in the very beginning of 1940s, the government can afford to compensate. After the war became strained, it was very bleak for families, they had almost nothing. Nothing to compensate the bereaved families, except a bereaved pension, but no papers, or ashes.

By knowing my mother’s boundary of interest I can admit what I cannot know from my mother, and I can raise questions to other my relatives or investigate by myself.

This leads to further research at Yasukuni.

Ｓｅｃｏｎｄ Ｐａｒｔ

In the one of two albums, I found a following picture. This

is of my grandfather, Saburo’s younger brother, went to the

Yasukuni shrine. I thought Yasukuni might have some clue.

Goals to visit Yasukuni

To confirm Saburo is enshrined in Yasukuni

To know more about Saburo’s troop

To know more about social conditions around the

year he died

First Step Saishin Tyousa 祭神調査

Arriving at Yasukuni, I did not know where I should go to ask. So, at first, I just entered 遊就館. At a reception, there was a woman sitting, and I asked her “I would like to know about my relatives who died in a war.”

She answered, “Then, go to 参集殿, or an administrative place, and say to a person in charge, you would like to apply for 祭神調査 saishin tyousa,” or investigation of a festival god.

In Yasukuni, Japanese people died in the war are enshrined as a god, 神さま.

Then, I knew where I should go.

In the administrative

office, I got a paper,

and filled it out.

And only ten minutes

later, a following sheet

came out.

This paper confirms that

Saburo was truly enshrined

here. At last, I became able to

be conscious that Saburo’s

spirit was here.

When I left the shrine, I

begged to him at a front shrine

拝殿, praising his sacrifice to his family and the nation

future.

I am here, because he is

here, I thought.

Next--- how did I get to know a library?

I asked a person in charge at the administrative

office, “Is there a library or something that I can

know more about him, how his troop was

mobilized, institutionalized, and so on.”

“Yes, you can use Yasukuni Kaiko Bunko.”

So, I went to that place.

Here is a picture of the library

-Translation –

Yasukuni Kaiko Bunko

On the seventh of October in

Heisei 11nen (1999), this library

opened. In this library, about one

hundred thousand books of source

documents are stored for the study

of the current situation of a god

who died in the war, or the study

of modern Japanese history. We

are welcoming people who study

track of a god or modern history.

Issues of Yasukuni Shrine has been debated these days, but I used Yasukuni as a

institution which provides many information as you can see from this portion of

the brochure.

This is the inside entrance to the

library. Here, I met a wonderful

man, who was offering me a lot

of precious information and help.

Mr. Daito 大東

Position: a part-time employee 嘱託syokutaku

Place of birth : Hiroshima prefecture

Career: He worked in the self-defense

forces for forty years.

I could not ask why he was here after his

retirement, because I thought asking

questions of private information was too

early yet.

And also, he was “the”

expert of collecting date

in a minute!!

I

Starting Conversation in the library with

Mr. Daito

I introduced myself to Mr. Daito.

I showed the response of Saishin application.

I asked him a several questions: such as,

What is No. 77 infantry regiment?

How did it fight?

What is its position in the army?

Why could the government treat Saburo with a report and the grave?

What do you think of the remains that my family preserved?

He showed me following things.

1. Three Books 文献

2. One source documents 資料

3. Four kinds of Map マップ

1-1

Title:

Imperial Japanese Army and Navy

– uniforms and equipment －大日本帝国陸海軍 軍装と装備

用途：You can see what types of

uniforms and equipment solders

use, and how they changed as the

time passed by.

Date of publication: ?

1-2

Title : 帝国陸軍編成総覧General overview of the

organization of Imperial

Army

Use:

To take a general survey

how the Imperial army

organized.

1-3

Title:

Japanese infantry regiment

日本陸軍歩兵連隊

Use:

This book introduces each

infantry regiment’s war record.

I found Saburo’s regiment as you

can see in the next slide.

1-3

Inside the book

We found the infantry No. 77 regiment.

Mr. Daito said, “This book can offer only short information. So let me see another reference.”

Then he went to find a following source document.

he looked up the file of a

general survey of army troops.

( I did not record an exact name,

nor did I take a picture.) As you

can see from No. 15, from this

book, he can find books of

reference 関係図書. We can see also the

regiment’s upper level unit on

No.2, the place the regiment

organized on No.5, the period

of the organization on No.6, the

final location on No. 7, which

place the regiment went on

No.13.

2-1 source document

Saburo was in Pyongyang, 平壌 Heijo.

From the record related to No. 77 regiment, Mr.

Daito taught me “ it was organized in Pyongyang

( He called it 平壌 Heijo ) in Korea Peninsula. I think he was in Heijo.”

His statement reminds me “ the report on

Saburo’s death in battle from a commander”

introduced in the first part.

On that second page,

“On the third of December, Syowa 12 (1938)

he departed in order to join the Korea Heijo

Army No. 77 Regiment.

On the tenth, he joined No. 3 company of the

regiment.”

I have read through (not read over) this

page a few times, but I could not

imagine Saburo really went to Korea,

because it was just written as “he

departed” and not written to where.

Although it is written as “the Korea

Heijo Army No. 77 Regiment”, but I

thought the army could train soldiers

somewhere in Japan with that name. My

biased view did not make me believe

that fact. But thanks to Mr. Daito, I

became able to accept it.

The Army Chart

１Ａ第一軍司令部

６D １４Ｄ ２０Ｄ

77 infantry

A=Army 陸軍司令部

D=Division 師団

I=Infantry 歩兵隊（小・中隊）

Let’s see four maps from the whole to a

closer look.

I have been looking for the place named Sekiha

石玻 during my study in the first part.

Mr. Daito wholeheartedly helped me to find the

exact place for a bereaved family.

According to Mr. Daito,

Saburo might have left a port

in Nagoya, and went to Heijo.

After that, he moved to

Shanxi province on a train.

3-1

From this map with written periods

of operation, I found Saburo died in

the “very beginning” of that

operation.

3-2

The second map shows the

whole operations of Japanese

troops in China.

Mr. Daito taught me, Saburo died

in Shinto operation 晋東作戦.

In this map, either, we could not find Sekiha 石玻. Mr. Daito drew a circle line for me so that I can know around where Saburo died. Mr. Daito, again, went to find another possible map.

3-3

In the final map, we could not also find the word of 石玻. But instead of that, I was able to better guess where he died.

He died between to Kijou 翼城, since in the map the company left Kijou on seventh of August. Saburo died one month before. We can know he died in the very beginning of the Shinto operation which started in July, 1939.

3-4

From these maps,

I could not find the exact place, but I knew more

accurately the place that Saburo died, compared

to the previous study.

I asked Mr. Daito “Am I able to visit the mountain

of 石玻?”. He said, “Yeah, you would be able to find with further research on the twentieth

division, or by asking the locals.”

In the end of inquiry, I asked him to read

the report and the Saburo’s letter.

He had no problem of reading old style of Japanese.

With his help, I was able to understand everything,

every single word.

Every unknown things about Saburo seemed to

become cleared as dark color clouds disappeared in

the sky.

Final Comment of Mr. Daito

on the report and Saburo’s letter

「一級品です。」

It’s First-Class.

Through the visit to Yasukuni and the library,

I feel a stronger connection to Saburo and

can picture him in my mind.

My reflection while leaving the library

Conclusion

Good family---

I assume what my mother meant by “Good Family” is---a family that passes their history to younger generations with the things and stories of the past.

But there is a boundary of information and interest you can know from your family. Yet, we can go over the boundary, because we can go to ask somebody else that knows.

Then, the final answer for my research on “what is a good family?” is though my mother may think that we are not a good family,

- we really are - .