‘We’re going to Washington!’ – a 1944 statue of an Imperial Japanese Army soldier ‘glaring with glistening eyes at the U.S. burning with an attacking, fighting spirit’ saying, ‘I will stand firm with my heroes and march on the U.S. mainland!’
(Translation)
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) March 17, 1944
Wartime Art Exhibition
“We’re Going to Washington!”
Information Section Chief Prize
By Junsaku Hosokawa
Mr. Hosokawa graduated from the Department of Sculpture of Tokyo University of Arts in 1939, and he was drafted into the military immediately after graduation. He returned to Korea from the Manchurian-Soviet border in 1942 due to a war illness. Last year, at the third Korean exhibition, he released an artwork entitled “Silence”. This year, in the “We’re Going to Washington!” artwork, which was honored with the Information Section Chief Prize at this exhibition, a brave warrior on the front line in the south firmly clutches his sword, which crushes evil and spreads truth. He is carrying the remains of his deceased comrade-in-arms on his chest, and he glares with glistening eyes at the U.S. burning with an attacking, fighting spirit saying, “I will stand firm with my heroes and march on the U.S. mainland!” The overall strength and vigor of the statue is reminiscent of an Imperial general fighting valiantly in front of our eyes, his entire body valiantly displaying this fighting spirit.
We spoke with the artist, Junsaku Hosokawa, at his home in 46 Beondaebang, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, about his enthusiasm for this work.
“I returned from the battlefield two years ago, but many of my comrades-in-arms fought hard and gave their lives amid the smoke of the battlefield, and some of them have also died glorious deaths. I created this work dedicating it to these heroic souls and comrades-in-arms. It took me one month to complete the work. The military uniforms are those worn in the battlefields in the south.”
Source: https://www.archive.org/details/kjnp-1944-03-17
(Transcription)
京城日報 1944年3月17日
決戦美術紙上展
”ワシントンへ行くぞ”
情報課長賞
細川順作 作
細川氏は昭和十四年、東京美術彫刻科卒業直ちに応召となり、昭和十七年戦病のため満蘇国境より帰還した勇士で、昨年鮮展第三部に『静』を出品して特選。本展で見事情報課長賞の栄誉をかち得た『ワシントンへ行くぞ』は南方最前線の勇士が破邪顕正の剣をしっかと握りしめ、亡き戦友の遺骨を胸にして”我断じて英雄と共に米国本土に膺懲の歩武を進めん”の烈々たる撃敵の闘魂に燃えて米国を爛々の眼で睥睨しているもので、全体に漲る雄勁さはまざまざと勇戦力闘する皇軍将兵を眼前に彷彿させるものがあり、全身これ闘魂の逞しい姿である。
京城永登浦区番大方町住宅四六の自宅で作者細川順作氏に作品の熱意をきく。
私は一昨年戦場から帰還しましたが、幾多の戦友はまた硝煙に身を挺して奮戦し、また散華した戦友もいる。これらの英魂また戦友に捧げる気持ちで作品にしました。完成は一ヶ月間です。軍服は南方での服装にしました。
