On September 1, 2014, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced the first list of 300 famous anti-Japanese heroes and heroes.
Curiously, there is a Japanese name in it: Hideo Miyagawa.
For the cause of China's national liberation, this Japanese man sacrificed his precious life, and because of his kindness, a veteran soldier of the Chinese Red Army volunteered to guard his tomb for 61 years.
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Turning through the dusty historical data, it will also be found that Hideo Miyagawa was once a Japanese soldier who invaded China, but at the age of 27, he heroically defended himself in order not to be captured by the Japanese invaders, and finally rested on the land of China.
What kind of unknown past is hidden in the fact that a Japanese soldier who invaded China eventually became a heroic martyr of China's anti-Japanese resistance? How do we define this anti-Japanese Japanese?
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A captured Japanese invading soldier
Born in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan in 1918, Hideo Miyagawa dropped out of elementary school to become an apprentice because of his poor family, and joined the Japanese Communist Party at an early age.
In 1939, the Japanese war of aggression against China entered a white-hot stage, and in the frenzied atmosphere of war in Japan, the 21-year-old Miyagawa enlisted in the army and became a member of the 32nd Division of the Japanese Army.
But not long after the battle, in the summer of 1941, Miyagawa's company was ambushed by the Eighth Route Army, and he himself became a prisoner, but also a very recalcitrant prisoner.
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Like many invading soldiers, Miyagawa was brainwashed by imperialism from an early age, and after his capture he was very stubborn, and whenever he heard the Eighth Route Army talk contemptuously about the Japanese emperor, he was very violent and wanted to commit suicide at one point.
However, less than a month after being sent to the "Japanese Anti-War Alliance in China," he completely changed his mind.
The "Anti-War Alliance" was an organization voluntarily formed by a number of Japanese soldiers and prisoners of war specifically to promote the awakening of Japanese soldiers.
It was here that Miyagawa recognized the brutality and injustice of the Japanese invaders, as well as the benevolence and tolerance of the Chinese Eighth Route Army.
Soon, Miyagawa volunteered to join the anti-war alliance and became a staunch anti-war worker.
In fact, there are many Japanese soldiers like him who abandon the dark and turn to the light.
Japanese soldiers who joined the Anti-War Alliance
Like Miyagawa, a prisoner of war named Yamamoto initially refused to be educated and tried to escape, but the Eighth Route Army was always tolerant and asked him to print anti-war leaflets, and as a result, Yamamoto accepted anti-war ideas because he read his own leaflets every day.
There was also a soldier of the Japanese 110th Division named Saito Kunio, who had never been captured, but because he worked in the intelligence room, he came into contact with Mao Zedong's "Theory of Practice", the Anti-War League's "Book to Japanese Soldiers", and the Eighth Route Army's "Guerrilla Warfare Behind Enemy Lines".
As a result, two months later, Saito was "brainwashed" and began to secretly help the Eighth Route Army.
The list of such examples is endless.
Everyone has a conscience, not to mention that Miyagawa came from the bottom, easily understood the policies of the Eighth Route Army and the Chinese Communist Party, and found the path that he really should serve.
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Around May 1942, the remodeled Miyagawa was sent to Ding Ning, the third sub-district of the Jiluyu Military Region, and officially began the work of plotting rebellion against the enemy and the enemy.
The so-called attack on people and hearts, wanting to defeat the Japanese army, this is the most important task of the work behind enemy lines.
Miyagawa's main task was to write propaganda materials against the Japanese army, in order to prevent the sabotage of spies and traitors, during the day he hid in various villages to write, and at night, he and the team went out to label, spread leaflets, and even shout directly outside the Japanese garrison.
At the most dangerous time, Miyagawa also had a direct dialogue with some Japanese police officers to win their surrender.
Because of his sincerity and wit, coupled with the appearance of the Japanese, his propaganda and agitation effect is very remarkable, and he successfully transformed many Japanese soldiers.
At that time, there was a Captain Wu named Sakata in the Japanese garrison at Jinan Wande Station, and after receiving Miyagawa's propaganda materials, he was very moved, not only did not hand them in, but often took the initiative to show them to others.
Therefore, he was imprisoned many times, and after being locked up one year during the Cherry Blossom Festival, he directly took the propaganda materials to find the Enemy Workers Of the Eighth Route Army and surrendered.
And so on.
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A firm believer in the Eighth Route Army
As the work unfolded, Miyagawa gradually became an outstanding talent of the anti-war alliance.
To outsiders, he was thin, weak in temperament, and still a Japanese, as if he was very unreliable, but the old comrades who fought side by side knew that he not only worked well, but also had eight roads in life than the eight roads.
According to the regulations at that time, Miyagawa could receive a subsidy and enjoy higher food treatment, but he always distributed the money to everyone and ran to eat a large pot of rice with the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army.
His clothes were always covered with patches, and he sewed them himself to mend themselves. Living in the house of his fellow villagers, he always took the initiative to help the landlord clean up, and never took a needle and a thread from the villagers.
Once, a Japanese anti-war activist named Hashimoto flirted with the landlord's daughter, and the always gentle Miyagawa was so angry that he criticized him in front of everyone.
The Eighth Route Army has "three major disciplines and eight points of attention", and for Miyagawa this is not only a rule, but also a kind of faith, and he admires the patriotism and incorruptibility of the Eighth Route Army of the Communist Party.
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Because of the outstanding character. In 1943, Hideo Miyagawa was sent by the "Anti-War Alliance" from Yan'an to Changqing County, Shandong Province, and became a major member of the "Jinpu Railway to japanese army task force".
At that time, Changqing was an important transportation fortress of the Japanese army, and there were often Exchanges and temporary garrisons between the Japanese army and the Japanese puppet army, and the work of the Japanese task force was to put up slogans and shouts, and to publicize the Communist Party's policies and anti-war ideas to these troops, thus breaking their fighting spirit and winning their surrender.
As the saying goes, knowing oneself and knowing one's enemy is a hundred battles, as a former Japanese soldier, Miyagawa is very familiar with the psychology of his compatriots, so he has a good set of work.
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In response to the phenomenon of commanders and veterans in the Japanese army bullying new recruits, he printed propaganda slogans such as "No slaps to soldiers" and "Soldiers are not cattle and horses" in the conspicuous positions of the leaflets, thus shaking the obedience of soldiers to the army.
When he encountered important festivals such as the Cherry Blossom Festival and May Day in Japan, he would also print on some propaganda materials such as "The old and young at home are looking forward to your return" and "Please take care of your body" to further shake the military hearts of Japanese soldiers.
These festivals were originally the most homesick days for Japanese soldiers, and Miyagawa picked this time to send leaflets and condolences, which can be said to be like adding fuel to the fire, so that homesickness and war weariness spread rapidly in the Japanese army.
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In 1944, as the war situation against China became increasingly unfavorable, the war-weariness within the Japanese army became more and more intense, coupled with a series of anti-war work methods of the Communist Party's task force against Japan, the Japanese army became more and more unstable.
At that time, the task force often sent condolence bags to the Japanese army, and according to the regulations, the soldiers had to hand them in immediately after picking them up, but most of the soldiers secretly kept the condolence bags.
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Seeing the carefully prepared food and gifts in the condolence bags, and looking at the increasing shortage of supplies for their own troops, the morale of the Japanese army was greatly damaged.
Many people were more war-weary, anti-war, and even separated from the army to join the anti-war alliance.
Although a lot of supplies were discarded, Miyagawa's clever plan really played a huge blow like a weapon.
At the same time, the task force's political offensive also caused irritation and panic among the Japanese army.
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As the central figure of the task force, Miyagawa was listed as the number one terrorist by the Japanese army and arrested from 1943 with a high-priced reward.
Later, the Japanese army once reached a high price of an airplane, which showed that the Japanese army hated him, which also showed the dangerous situation he was in, but Miyagawa always insisted on fighting on the front line.
In 1943, the persecution of anti-war workers by the Japanese army became increasingly cruel.
Because the task force was hidden in many villages, flexible and mobile, and could be moved at any time, the Japanese army was never able to succeed.
However, by the second half of 1943, the Japanese army saw that the reward was not successful, and there was a conspiracy to infiltrate the team with secret agents.
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An internationalist warrior who was martyred
At that time, Jinan had a famous secret service of eight major mansions, one of which was the Luoyang Mansion, which undertook this sabotage task.
They sent a spy named Watanabe, who disguised himself as a member of the Anti-War Alliance and the Japanese Communist Party, and sent a letter to Wang Jiyuan, a member of the peripheral organization brigade working in Japan.
In the letter, Watanabe spoke of internationalism and Marxism-Leninism and denounced the war of aggression of Japanese imperialism.
Finally, the letter proposed to engage in trade with the Eighth Route Army and provide the Eighth Route Army with much-needed medicines and salt.
At that time, due to the blockade of the Japanese army, the medicine and salt within the Eighth Route Army were very short, and many people were confused by Watanabe's words, so Wang Jiyuan believed it and immediately handed the letter to the Japanese task force.
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Vice Captain Lilov and Hideo Miyagawa and others studied the letter in detail, but Miyagawa was quick to point out that there might be something wrong with the letter.
From the letter, Watanabe was a Chinese speaker who could speak Chinese, and was very capable of ensuring that military supplies would be obtained under the tight control of the Japanese army.
But if you think about it, how could he be so easy to figure out in this situation, this is probably a scam.
Miyagawa analyzed that Watanabe was likely to be a high-ranking agent who wanted to do business through the joints in order to understand the activities of the Japanese task force and achieve the purpose of eliminating the task force in one fell swoop.
Finally, after study, the task force decided not to connect with Watanabe and eventually avoided this potential danger.
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Afterwards, Watanabe became angry and captured his teammate Wang Jiyuan and tortured him, but Wang Jiyuan refused to divulge the secrets of the organization until his death, and eventually died under Watanabe's gun.
Another obscure hero.
After the conspiracy to infiltrate the task force with secret agents collapsed, in the summer of 1944, the Japanese army organized a special task force team to ambush at the junction where the task force came and went at night.
Fortunately, the operation was discovered by the local people, and several farmers informed the team in time, and Miyagawa once again escaped the difficulties.
However, the destruction of the Japanese army gradually escalated with repeated defeats.
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In the summer of 1945, Miyagawa's team moved to The Guanjiazhuang in Bando for repairs.
At that time, the Japanese army was sweeping the anti-Japanese base area of Dafeng Mountain in the distance, so everyone thought that there was no danger in the Wande area, who knew that this was the Sound of the Japanese Army attacking the east and the west.
On the night of June 9, the Japanese army drew more than 1,500 gendarmes from Jinan, Tai'an and other places, got off the bus directly from Wande and quickly surrounded Wande and the surrounding villages within 30 miles.
That night, when the village chief of Guanjiazhuang discovered that the Japanese army was besieging Zhuangzi, he immediately notified the task force to let them quickly move.
The task force immediately hid the important documents on the spot and began a hasty retreat, but due to the disparity between the enemy, they eventually failed to retreat and had to retreat to the village to wait for the opportunity to break through.
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With the help of captain LiLov and a lady named Fan, Miyagawa hid in a wheat straw stack, while the rest of the team was scattered elsewhere.
Unexpectedly, the search of the Japanese devils was very strict, and as soon as they entered the village and saw the firewood stack, they put on bayonets, either stabbing or picking. As the footsteps got closer and closer, Hideo Miyagawa knew clearly that sooner or later he would be discovered.
He knew that the most important target of the Japanese army was him, and in order to protect the other members, he jumped out with the determination to die.
He knocked out two Japanese soldiers with the guns in his hand, and then a large number of Japanese troops rushed to capture him alive.
At this moment, Miyagawa had no chance of escaping, but he did not want to be captured by his own compatriots, so he left the last bullet to himself.
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In June 1945, just two months before Japan's unconditional surrender, the final victory was just around the corner, but Miyagawa fell in the darkest hour before dawn, at the age of 27.
After his suicide, the Japanese army found that he was Miyagawa, who offered a high price, so they hurriedly collected the army, brought his body back to the Vande stronghold, and buried it hastily.
The hero was heroic and heroic, which made the comrades around him feel extremely sad.
In any case, they also wanted Miyagawa's body to be buried, so one night a few days later, taking advantage of the heavy rain, the comrades of the enemy workers' team risked their lives to break through the enemy's blockade line and retrieve his body.
Eventually, Miyagawa was buried near the village of Sunjiatu, the base area.
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On the eve of the Qingming Festival in 1980, his cemetery was moved to the Shilinshan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery, and a martyrs' tombstone was erected.
In order to thank Miyagawa for his kindness, in the following half a century, his comrade-in-arms Lilov guarded the tomb for him for decades, and countless worships were made every year.
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After the work was transferred to another place, LiLov gave the task of sweeping the grave to the eldest son, and later the eldest son was older, so he gave this task to the eldest grandson's family.
He said that Miyagawa was not only his benefactor alone, but also a benefactor of all of China.
But in fact, Miyagawa was only atonement for the sins of his own people and martyrdom for the justice in his heart.
Just resting in a foreign land, perhaps the hero will have regrets in his heart.
When fighting alongside LiLov, Miyagawa had expressed his longing for his hometown, so after his sacrifice, Li Luochuan and his descendants ran around for more than ten years, and finally found his hometown and family in Japan.
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In 2009, Sun Yanming, a descendant of LiLov, came to Japan and sprinkled a bunch of tomb soil from Hideo Miyagawa under Mount Fuji.
When the soul returns home, when the cherry blossoms bloom next year, he should smile under the flowers.
How we should define Hideo Miyagawa is actually quite simple.
He was a captured Japanese army invading China, a Eighth Route Army with firm faith, an international communist fighter who was martyred with his life, and a comrade we were loyal to.
In that magnificent era, there were thousands of comrades like him, perhaps of different skin colors or different nationalities, but they all fought for common beliefs and ideals.
One word of comrade is enough to cross everything.