Sasha today in its history.
Author: Sasha
This article is Sasha's original and will not be reprinted by any media
【Sasha Lecture Hall No. 1478】 (Lecture 722 of the Historical Series)
The sister of the Tomb of the Fireflies was beaten to death by her brother? March 9, 1945 World War II: The U.S. military sent 334 B-29 bombers from the Mariana Islands to bomb Tokyo, killing nearly 100,000 people.
Without talking about the bombing of Tokyo, let's talk about the famous animated movie "Grave of the Fireflies".
This movie is very touching, saying that the male protagonist is a 14-year-old teenager named Qingtai, who has a 4-year-old sister Setsuko.
During the U.S. air raid on Kobe, Kiyota's home was burned down and her mother died after being burned to death. His father was a naval officer, the warship was sunk by the U.S. military, and he was long dead, but the family did not know it.
In desperation, the brothers and sisters could only run to distant relatives and eat idle meals at home.
Fortunately, the two still have rations, and their lives are barely sustainable.
After the distant relatives cheated their brothers and sisters of their money, they took them as a burden, often sneering, trying to drive them away to others.
The stubborn Kiyota couldn't stand the idleness and took his sister to live in a nearby bomb shelter, stealing crops from the fields for a living. As a result, her sister Jiezi starved to death due to malnutrition, and Kiyota was devastated and began to wander around, eventually starving to death in the crowded train station.
The film reflects a lot of the realities of the time.
Kiyota starved to death on September 21, more than a month after Japan's surrender, at a heavily populated train station.
This is not an exaggeration, as supplies were in short supply, rations were intermittent and people often starved to death.
From the end of 1944 to the spring and summer of 1945, the Japanese government rationed only 330 grams of rice (equivalent to 6 taels and 6 yuan in China) to men and women aged 11 to 60 every day, and only 390 grams per day to those engaged in heavy physical labor. This is still a theoretical figure, in fact many areas do not receive it at all, only to issue coarse grains. Since the late Edo period, Japanese people have been accustomed to eating rice and rarely eating coarse grains.
At this time, switching to sweet potatoes, soybeans, potatoes and even pumpkins is very uncomfortable.
Naturally, rice was also available on the black market at that time, but the price was extremely high.
Kiyota gave her mother's precious kimono to a distant widow, who embezzled most of the money and bought a little rice to prevaricate them.
If it had been before the war, this kimono would have bought several tons of rice.
Even coarse grains are not enough to eat. The daily calorie intake of Japanese people from food has dropped to 1680 calories, which is much lower than the average daily food calorie of 2160 calories for Japanese before the war.
In this case, if both parents can sell their property, try to maintain it.
It is difficult for families living in extreme poverty, especially some urban street children without parents.
It is difficult for street children to obtain rations without household registration, so they have to find their own food, and starvation on the streets is also common.
Notice that there are countless people passing by at the station, and no one cares about the lives of these children except the old woman who gave a piece of pastry.
The station employees allowed the children to die slowly within days, completely indifferent. But after they die, employees rummag through them to see if there's anything of value.
And Kiyota and Setsuko were originally the children of a middle-class family, and from the fact that Kiyota could play the piano, he knew that the family conditions were good.
Even after their home was blown up, the mother left behind a jade ring, a $7,000 deposit, and several sets of very valuable kimonos.
At that time, 7,000 yen was equivalent to at least $1,000, and the monthly salary of American soldiers was only fifty or sixty dollars.
It can be said that relying on these belongings, the Qing brothers and sisters should be able to easily persist until Japan surrenders after half a year.
This distant relative, who was not related by blood, a widow, used all means to squeeze the property of her two children.
It didn't take long for 7,000 yen to be gone, and even kimonos and jade rings were replaced with some rice.
After discovering that the brothers and sisters had little property to extract, the distant widow began to treat them badly.
At that time, the government's rations were often not distributed, and distant relatives and widows had to pay for the food, clothing, and housing of the brothers and sisters.
In fact, the Qing brothers and sisters can seek perfection, and if they endure it, it may pass, not to mention that the festival is still small and cannot adapt to the outside life.
Qingtai's brothers and sisters are all rich children, can't stand the anger (in fact, mainly Qingtai can't stand the grievances), hit the widow's plan, and moved out by himself.
Then, the Qing brothers and sisters thus lost their household registration, and there was no government ration.
Take a mere 14-year-old teenager in time of war, where to be able to feed a 4-year-old sister. Setsuko can be said to have been raised to death by her brother Qingtai. The two children, who were not cared for by adults, lived in a dirty air raid shelter, and Jiezi began to show symptoms such as malnutrition and eczema, and became emaciated and fainted many times.
At this time, Qing tai should send Jiezi to the home of his distant relatives, no matter how big the face is, it is not as important as his life.
If Qing Tai sent Jiezi over, it would be impossible for distant relatives to fear the pressure of public opinion in the neighborhood, and perhaps her sister would still have a way to live.
A farmer who knew the inside story also advised him to take his sister back.
However, the stubborn Qingta insisted that he raise his sister, causing the latter to die.
Once, after returning to the bomb shelter, he found that Setsuko was unconscious, lying down eating stones and marbles, so he quickly cut the fresh watermelon he bought and opened it in Setsuko's hand. Setsuko said weakly, "Brother thank you", and Kiyota turned back to put things away, but she didn't expect that it was the last glance at Setsuko.
Smart people will find that there is something illogical about Grave of the Fireflies.
For example, Qingtai's stubbornness is not reasonable, and his brother will not let his younger sister starve to death for the sake of face.
This is because the novel was originally based on the true memories of the author and former Member of the Japanese House of Councillors Akiru Noizaka.
However, Akiru Nosaka made a fiction in the key plot.
Setsuko did exist and died tragically during the war, but Akiru Nosaka was not this Kiyota, but a little demon.
Akiru Nosaka was born into a broken family, his father was an engineer, and he had a strong position in the local area.
The couple had a bad relationship and soon divorced, and he was raised by his mother.
After the divorce, the mother died not long after, but the cold-blooded father did not want to adopt the child, so he handed it over to a couple in Kobe City for adoption.
By 1945, Akira Nosaka was 14 years old, and there was a sister who was about 2 years old and was also an adopted child. At this time, the US military bombed Kobe, the adoptive father was killed, and the adoptive mother was seriously ill and hospitalized after being stimulated.
In desperation, Nosaka Akiru could only take his sister with the fleeing crowd and take refuge in the countryside of Fukui Prefecture.
Unfortunately, Akiru Nosaka did not take care of his sister as much as possible, just like Kiyota, but instead beat and scolded her very cruelly.
The younger sister is young, cannot walk long distances, and often needs to be carried or carried, and is used as a burden by Akiru Nosaka.
Her sister also had to eat, and Akira Nosaka carried very little food, not even enough to maintain a person.
Looking at this unrelated dry sister, he evilly thought more than once that "it is best if she dies".
Sister Kan had been fleeing with Akiru Nosaka for more than a week before she died.
Although Akira Nosaka did not say it explicitly, he generally believed that he would not give any food to his sister in order to survive for his own life.
When his sister cried out of hunger, he punched her in the head and beat her.
Gan Sister is a child of about 2 years old, close to a baby, and her vitality is very fragile.
Only a week before and after, Gan's sister was tortured to death by him.
If you put it in today's world, Nosaka Akiru will go to jail even if he is an adult, and he will be scolded by society.
But it was a time of war, and there were so many of these things that no one pursued.
After the war, Akiru Nosaka began to live with a relative in Osaka.
This person was of poor quality, and at the age of 17, he stole the valuables of a relative's family and was sent to a juvenile correctional institution. At that time, his biological father was already the deputy governor (vice governor) of Niigata Prefecture, and considering that this would not be a good influence, he took Akiru Nosaka home to live.
Akira Nosaka did not feel anything wrong with torturing his sister to death, let alone shame.
As he grew older and his social status changed, he began to feel remorseful.
At the age of 34, Akiru Nosaka gave birth to his daughter. Looking at the child's innocent face, Akira Nosaka remembered like an electric shock the tragic situation of his sister when she was dying.
At that time, gan's sister was already thin and weak, with only a handful of bones left, crying and begging her brother to give him food, in exchange for a merciless scolding.
Akiru Nosaka still glorifies himself to the outside world, saying that "as the only survivor, I feel guilty about my sister's death." When I was looking around for food, I used to fill my stomach first and then feed my sister. Her cause of death was undoubtedly starvation. And it was this tragic fact that kept me from reassuring me for years, prompting me to write about this experience in the hope that the demons would no longer torment him. ”
How his sister died, he knew best in his heart.
However, Akiru Nosaka later had some humanity, and this grief lasted until his death at the age of 85.
Naturally, there is not much point in blaming Akira Nosaka too much for his cold-bloodedness and ruthlessness.
War is so brutal that people can't even put their lives at risk, often embodying the worst aspects of human nature.
Akira Nosaka is not a good person, and it is not surprising that he has done this.
Poor girl who was only 2 years old!
However, Japan launched its own war to invade other countries and eventually suffered its own consequences. How many innocent children died in the country he invaded?
Playing with fire and self-immolation, harming yourself, who is to blame?
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