In Jinan, Shandong Province, there is a famous "devil doctor" in ten miles and eight townships.
He was Japanese, but he spoke with a thick Jinan accent.
He joined the Japanese army at the age of 29 and came to China, but only stayed for 6 months, then took advantage of the night to escape from the barracks and become a deserter.
He wanted to abscond all the way to the easternmost sea and find his way home, but he stayed because of a bowl of water and a bowl of rice for the people of Jinan, which was 74 years.
In 2010, the old man died, and before he died, he donated his body to the hospital, leaving behind a last word that I only want to atone for my sins.
This old man who spent his life paying off war crimes was Hiroshi Yamazaki, a famous mountain doctor in Jinan.
01 Be a deserter
Hiroshi Yamazaki was born in 1908 to a commoner family in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. He grew up smart and pure, and when he grew up, he entered medical school and became a doctor.
If there had been no war, he might have lived a peaceful life in that small mountain village full of sunshine and grapes.
However, with the outbreak of the Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937, the Japanese invasion of China escalated in an all-round way, and the cruel war machine of the Japanese Empire began to recruit ordinary soldiers in large quantities.
That year, Yamazaki was 29 years old, and his family also received a recruitment notice.
At that time, his brother had just married, and Yamazaki could not bear to see his brother and his new wife separated, so he took the initiative to take the initiative to go to the battlefield in place of his brother.
He was assigned to the 10th Regiment of the 10th Infantry Division of the Japanese invasion of China as a military doctor.
In Japan, recruits have been indoctrinated with the false idea that they came to China to help China prosper and establish a greater East Asia co-prosperity sphere.
Hiroshi Yamazaki believed.
But when he really stepped onto the Battlefield of China, what he saw was the Japanese army's burns and looting, and the atrocities of no evil, wherever the Japanese army went, all that was left to the Chinese was humiliation and pain, only devastation.
Yamazaki's faith began to collapse, he studied medicine to save people, but what is he doing now? He was using his own hands to help the Japanese army to mutilate Chinese!
Although he didn't shoot Chinese directly, what was the difference between his identity and those brutal soldiers?
He began to waver, to be frightened, to panic, and he wanted to flee.
During the 6 months of following the Japanese army to Shanghai and Tianjin, he endured the torment of his soul every day and night.
Finally, on a dark night, he found an opportunity to escape.
Night became the best cover, and he sneaked out of the camp without the sentries noticing.
His breathing was short, his heart was beating fast, but he didn't dare to stop, and he just ran wildly on the grass with his head stuffed, as if this would leave the terrible and cruel wars behind, and he just wanted to go home.
But he did not know how to go back, in vague memory, only that the easternmost part of China's Shandong Peninsula was very close to Japan, and perhaps there he could find an opportunity to return home.
So Yamazaki Hiroshi made a living begging and made a difficult journey home.
02 I want to stay in Jinan
In the war-torn era, everyone can't take care of themselves, and few people will care about the corners of the wall to ask for food.
Hiroshi Yamazaki was hungry and full, and walked in the general direction with difficulty, because he did not dare to speak, for fear of being recognized as Japanese, he could only use his hand strokes, and even begged for food without much more than the local beggars.
During the day, I want food, and at night I run desperately until I am exhausted.
But Yamazaki's strong desire to return home changed when passing through Jinan.
Here, when he was about to be hungry, the people of Jinan took the initiative to give him a bowl of rice and a bowl of water.
He looked at the food in his hand and had mixed feelings.
He was Japanese, he followed the Japanese army to destroy Chinese's life, rob Chinese of his wealth, he was a criminal!
But Chinese was willing to give him food, and even though he knew he was Japanese, he did not drive him away.
The kindness of the Chinese and the brutality of the Japanese army are in stark contrast, and the desire to go home and the conscience of humanity are repeatedly pulled in Yamazaki's mind.
Yamazaki's idea of returning home was shaken, and he wanted to stay and atone for the crimes committed by the Japanese invasion of China.
In this way, Yamazaki Hiroshi lived in Jinan.
Old photos of Jinan
Because of his special status, he could only pretend to be a Japanese expatriate and find a job as a warehouse manager at the Jinan Railway Bureau under Japanese control.
At that time, most people had a difficult life, and people often went to the warehouse to steal supplies.
Yamazaki Hiroshi felt guilty about Chinese, and when he saw these young people stealing things, he did not drive them away, and also took the initiative to hug them with a bundle of cloth and let them leave quickly, so as not to be caught.
At first, the young man still felt that there was something wrong with this devil's head, whether he had bad intentions, but later several times it was like this, and the young man gradually discovered that this person was different from other Japanese.
Although Yamazaki was careful, his actions to help Chinese were detected, and the Japanese beat him badly to identify the person who stole the things, but Yamazaki bit him to death.
The young men felt that Yamazaki was righteous and took the initiative to become friends with him.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese in China were all repatriated.
Once upon a time, his hometown became within reach, but Hiroshi Yamazaki did not shake his mind, saying:
Chairman Mao said that the Japanese can choose to go home or choose to stay, and I listen to the chairman, and I want to stay.
03 Started a family in Jinan
Hiroshi Yamazaki wrote a letter to his family explaining his situation.
Soon, he received a reply. It turned out that the family thought he had died on the battlefield and even erected a plaque for him.
After receiving a letter from Hiroshi Yamazaki, his family happily removed the tablet, hoping that he would return quickly.
Hiroshi Yamazaki also misses his family, but ultimately chooses to stay.
After the Japanese left, the warehouse was also demolished, and he used the money he saved to open a small clinic, return to his old business, and become a doctor.
But because he was Japanese, very few people came to see him at first, and some people called him "Devil Doctor" behind his back.
Although Yamazaki was disappointed but not angry, he just silently treated every patient with his heart. Some poor people can't afford to pay for medical treatment, he doesn't charge money, and even walks the streets and alleys every Saturday to see people for free.
Once, a family's child had a high fever and his body temperature did not go away for a long time, but the family was poor and could not afford to take medicine, so Yamazaki Hiroshi went directly to the door, checked the child, prepared the medicine, put it on the table and left.
After the child took the medicine, the illness quickly improved, and afterwards, the family took the initiative to come to the door to thank Hiroshi Yamazaki for his medical skills and medical ethics.
After that, slowly, the neighbors began to trust him, and more and more people came to see him.
His medical skills were good, and the fees were fair, and people stopped calling him Doctor Devil and began to call him Doctor Shan.
After the founding of new China, Yamazaki's clinic was incorporated into the public household, and he also ate a stable public meal without worrying about his livelihood.
The job stabilized, and the neighbors began to worry about Hiroshi Yamazaki's lifelong affairs.
Yamazaki's friend introduced him to a woman who had fled from Tangshan, a widow with a daughter.
In this way, Hiroshi Yamazaki had his own family. His daughter was originally surnamed with her mother, but later her daughter always cried to him, saying that the children in the school were all surnamed with their father, and she also had to follow her father's surname.
So Yamazaki had to change his daughter's surname to his own surname and take the name Yamagami.
The reason why Hiroshi Yamazaki did not use the Japanese surname "Yamazaki", but only used a "mountain" character, first, because his daughter is a Chinese, and secondly, because the local people call him Yamadafu.
Hiroshi Yamazaki originally had many opportunities to transfer to a better hospital, but he always said,
I don't want a good place to see a doctor, and children in rural areas need doctors even more.
I wanted to be a common man and treat the people and the poor. ”
One of Yamazaki's favorite phrases is, "Serve the people."
This is what he heard when he was listening to the radio, and he always said: Listen to Chairman Mao and serve the people.
He also wrote the sentence down and pasted it on his desk in his office.
He was atonement in his own way, and every time the hospital raised its salary and promoted his title, he would always take the initiative to find the dean and ask him to give up the opportunity to others.
For a long time, Yamazaki's monthly salary was 83.6 yuan at the beginning.
Over the past few decades, Yamazaki's Chinese has become very mature, the haze of war has gradually dissipated, the relationship between China and Japan has begun to thaw, and many Japanese people stranded in China have the opportunity to go home to see their relatives.
Yamazaki looked to the east, thinking of the warm sunshine of his hometown and the grapes on the mountain, and he couldn't help but feel homesick.
In 1976, Yamazaki took a six-month vacation and embarked on the road home for the first time.
When the teenager left home, Yamazaki was still a 29-year-old youth, and when he saw his relatives again, he was already an old man who was nearly old.
This time back home, Yamazaki's family hoped that he would stay, and his brother also found him a job in the hospital with an annual salary of 300,000 yuan.
But Yamazaki still refused, in his heart, Jinan has become his second hometown, not to mention, he has decided to spend his life to Chinese atonement.
Not long after staying in Japan, Yamazaki returned to Jinan.
This time, he brought back to his home a 14-inch color TV that others did not want, but donated tens of thousands of technical materials to the Jinan Library.
Not only that, he is also committed to the friendly development of Sino-Japanese relations, and strives to make jinan and Okayama two cities a sister city.
To this end, he repeatedly traveled between the two cities, and wrote a letter to yasuhiro Nakasone, the Japanese prime minister at the time, and received an echo of the words "the road has no door".
Yamazaki doesn't like to talk or talk about his past, so after more than 30 years of marriage, his wife and daughter never knew he was a member of the Japanese army.
It wasn't until Hiroshi Yamazaki's deeds were reported by the news media that Yamagami's mother and daughter learned that her husband and father were actually Japanese military doctors.
04 Conclusion
Hiroshi Yamazaki has lived in China for many years and has always lived a very simple life, always wanting to donate a little money in his hand, as if this would alleviate a little sin.
In 2003, Hiroshi Yamazaki, who was 93 years old, was hospitalized due to illness, and this time, Yamazaki had the idea of donating his body.
He didn't think about atonement for Chinese until he died.
However, at that time, there was no precedent for foreigners to donate their bodies, and although the Jinan Red Cross Society attached importance to it, it never gave Yamazaki a positive reply.
It was not until New Year's Day 2007 that the Red Cross agreed to Hiroshi Yamazaki's application.
The moment he received the reply, Hiroshi Yamazaki happily said like a child:
"I am most proud [of being approved] by the Red Cross Society of China, and I am (also) a member of the Red Cross Society of China."
In December 2010, Yamazaki Hiroshi died of illness, and according to his last wishes, his body was taken in by the Red Cross Society of Shandong Province.
This Japanese "deserter" gave himself completely to China and completed the road of atonement for the rest of his life.
It is worth mentioning that Yamazaki almost did not say the word "atonement" to anyone before his death, or after Yamazaki's death, his daughter found a sentence written by her father in the newspaper when she was sorting out the relics:
"My Last Atonement"
The payment will be made on July 13, 2010.
A month after Yamazaki's death, Jinan awarded him an honor: "2010 Moved Jinan Person of the Year"
War is ruthless, when an avalanche comes, no snowflake is innocent, Yamazaki Hiroshi unfortunately participated in it, became a snowflake, he had to use the price of a lifetime to atone for China's sins, with all his strength, to apologize to this suffering land.