Another part of a propaganda interview of Korean comfort women who returned from a whirlwind 1943 Japan tour visiting wounded Imperial Japanese soldiers, and one of the comfort women retired to “live life without shame as a sister and mother of splendid soldiers of the Korean peninsula”
(Translation)
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) August 14, 1943
A chorus of sincerity in response to gratitude
Receiving encouragement from the heroes in white
Performing arts comfort team
Roundtable discussion and report following their return
Keijo Nippo reporter: It seems that you went to Tokyo after that. What was your impression of wartime Tokyo?
Gil Song-ja (길송자/吉松子): I was amazed at how well Tokyo regulated its city illumination. On the night we arrived, being country bumpkins, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, and it was so dark that we wouldn’t have known if our noses were being pinched. The seriousness of the air-raid drills touched our hearts so much that it made us ashamed of what we were doing. All the girls wore Monpe work pants, which were very different from those worn in Korea and more suitable for practical use. We really felt that we needed to wear them too. They were not the thin, flimsy Monpe work pants that we wear here in Korea, but they were made of simple cut fabric, and we really felt that our work pants had to be like that.
Park Sun-sil (박순실/朴淳實): We were overcome by the greatness of Japan proper and the mental strength of the people of Japan proper, as we were directly confronted by the natural scenery as well as by the men and women who lived there, who were far better people than we were. In Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyushu, we were treated like true sisters. Even the upper-class ladies were full of kindness through their humble words and mannerisms. We felt a beauty that we could never see on the Korean peninsula, and we learned about the strength of the children who grew up there. On the one hand, they are kind, but on the other hand, they are also very strong. We were deeply moved by the training activities of the women’s associations and secondary school students, and we were deeply convinced that Japan had to be a strong country if they could do this so well. We strongly felt that Korean women should definitely learn from them.
Keijo Nippo reporter: You must have been deeply moved when you went to many hospitals for comfort visits.
Kim Wol (김월/金月): At every hospital, we would go around to greet seriously injured patients before the performances start. When we finished our greetings at the First Army Hospital, a soldier came to us and encouraged us saying, “I hear that conscription has finally been established on the Korean peninsula. Congratulations! We are relieved to hear that. Please do your best. We’re counting on you, we’re counting on you…” At that time, we became firmly determined to completely live out our lives strongly as military women.
Kim Jeon-wang (김전왕/金田旺): I believe it was at the Second Army Hospital that the Yomiuri newspaper photography team visited us. As usual, we were visiting patients in the hospital wards, and when we saw one of the patients smiling at us despite the pain of his serious injuries, we were all moved to tears and encouraged by his smile. A patient who could not get up said, “I’m fine, I’m fine,” as he turned his head and waved his hand still lying on his back. We met Mr. Ōyama, who was a Korean volunteer soldier, and we were all sincerely happy to see that he was in such good spirits, not at all different from the soldiers of Japan proper. When we greeted Mr. Ōyama saying, “we will serve our nation rising up 25 million strong in the Korean peninsula”, Mr. Ōyama’s voice and body trembled as he responded with just one phrase, “I’m counting on you”.
Yoo San-hong (유산홍/劉山紅): I think that happened at a hospital in Hiroshima. I remember a soldier wearing white who surprised me by suddenly calling out to me, “Sister….” He said to me with the same friendliness that one would show to one’s siblings, “Even after you return to Korea, please do your utmost best for the nation. If I go back to the war zone, I will surely tell stories about your heartfelt comfort to my war comrades,” whereupon I bowed my head.
Kim Geum-hong (김금홍/金錦紅): At the Red Cross Hospital in Tokyo, there was an isolation room where patients were not allowed to receive comfort during normal hours. The regulations did not allow it, but we were hoping that we could do it here as well for these patients. We asked them if we could give these people comfort visits. When we went to the hospital rooms, we found that all the windows in the hallways had been opened, and there were people lying on bed chairs and in wicker chairs looking out of the windows, and many nurses were lined up behind them.
It was a hot day in the courtyard, but we were about to leave after singing the Arirang chorus and the Patriotic March with all our hearts when we suddenly saw a brave warrior who could not even come to the window sill, borrowing a mirror from a nurse in the room and looking at our reflection. When we saw this, we were deeply moved. We had already said our goodbyes, but we felt that we could not leave just yet, so we asked the branch manager, “Excuse me, but please let us sing one more time”, and then we sincerely sang the poem “Outside the city of Jinzhou”.
Afterwards, everyone outside also sang the “Baektu Mountain Song” and various other songs before we returned home. We were truly moved by the words of the head nurse who later told the branch manager, “The soldiers are all grateful to you for singing with such sincerity. As we stood by and watched, we could understand why everyone sang so willingly even after the farewell greetings had already been made. I believe that ties between Japan proper and Korea will be strengthened when hard and fast principles are set aside, and our hearts are in contact with one other”.
[Photo: The patriotic march sung by the comfort team at the Kokura Army Hospital, censored by the Shimonoseki Fortress Command Headquarters].
Source: https://www.archive.org/details/kjnp-1943-08-14
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) August 18, 1943
Here are the patriotic Kisaeng
Beautiful stories about the changes in the members of the performing arts comfort team
Dispatch from Keijo Nippo head office
Impressed by the fighting spirit in Japan proper
At the time, the head office of Keijo Nippo organized a “performing arts comfort team” composed of Korean kisaeng. The group visited army and navy hospitals in various parts of the country, offering heartfelt comfort to the brave warriors in white. One of the members, Ms. Yoshiko Kaneshiro (22), also named Ms. Kim Gang-seok (김강석/金剛石), a kisaeng of the Sanwa Kenban Agency at 107 Hunjeong-dong (훈정동/薫井洞), Jongno-gu, was deeply moved by the divine appearance of the fighting women of Japan proper who were working hard towards finishing the Holy War. She said, “I cannot stand still. I will become a serious woman on the war front and work hard for the sake of the nation”. On August 17th, she reported to the Jongno Police Station and surrendered her four-and-a-half-year life as a ‘red light’ worker.
She submitted a notice of abandonment of the kisaeng trade, saying “Starting today, I will lead a serious life”. At the same time, she deposited 100 yen in gold to the head office as consolation money for the Imperial military in commemoration of her giving up the kisaeng trade. She renewed her firm resolve to be an Imperial woman. Ms. Kaneshiro spoke of her joy at the beginning of her new life as follows [Photo: Ms. Kaneshiro].
“I have recently visited the wounded and sick soldiers of the Imperial Military in Japan proper through the arrangement of your company. I was shown the true image of the fighting Imperial Nation, and taught the attitude of an Imperial woman. As a Korean woman, I was able to learn a great deal. In this critical time when we have to eat or be eaten, I continued the trip saddened that we had to live smiling under the ‘red light’ as kisaeng putting on a face that would have been more appropriate for more normal times, not able to do a thing to help our nation. After returning home to Korea safely, I reconsidered my life and decided to part with my life as a kisaeng and become a respectable family woman, so that I could send out more robust and loyal soldiers of His Majesty from the Korean peninsula, and I have done the necessary paperwork today. From now on, I will keep this inspiration in mind with the determination to live my life without shame as a sister and mother of splendid soldiers of the Korean peninsula. This is a small amount of money, but it is a part of the cost of canceling the reception that was to have been held to commemorate my abandonment of the kisaeng trade, which had been made possible by the generosity of our guests. Please use this money for the sake of the wounded soldiers who were infinitely pleased with our humble Korean performances.”
Source: https://www.archive.org/details/kjnp-1943-08-18
(End Translation)
Notes:
The above articles are about a “performing arts comfort team” of 14 Korean comfort women, or kisaeng, who went to Japan in July and August 1943 to sing, dance, and “comfort” wounded Imperial Japanese soldiers in Japan.
Kisaeng were Korean female entertainers who sang, danced, played musical instruments and wrote poems to entertain upper-class men. In earlier times, their work did not necessarily always involve sexual service, but during Japanese colonial rule of Korea, they were more closely associated with sex work. By the 1940s, the vast majority were involved in prostitution.
I previously posted three other posts on this blog about this comfort team under these titles:
The August 14th article precedes the August 15th article which I translated earlier under the second previous post. The August 14th article seems like it continues from a previous article, which I have not been able to find so far.
The August 18th article is notable, in that it reveals a slight hint that at least one of the comfort woman was less than happy and even shameful about her line of work, as she announces her intention to retire to “live life without shame as a sister and mother of splendid soldiers of the Korean peninsula”. The propaganda articles reveal a tension between the impulse to portray the comfort women’s service as patriotic and honorable, and the contradictory impulse to portray the comfort women’s work as shameful. The same contradictory impulses can still be seen among Japanese historical revisionists today who deny that comfort women were coerced and even applaud them for their ‘service’, but at the same time deny their suffering and flippantly dismiss them as willing prostitutes. The 1943 editorial (see above link number 3) attempts to reconcile these contradictory impulses by arguing that the comfort women’s service was a sort of initiation rite to turn these comfort women into true Imperial Japanese women, and suggests that this ‘initiation rite’ could be used more widely to assimilate more Korean women into Imperial Japan.
The First Army Hospital refers to what is now the National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) in Tokyo.
The Second Army Hospital, where the comfort team met Mr. Ōyama the Korean volunteer soldier, was in Hiroshima, and it was wiped out in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Today, there is a memorial to the former hospital at the landmark: 広島第二陸軍病院跡 (Google map link).
The poem “Outside the city of Jinzhou (金州城外)” (YouTube video of poem recitation: https://youtu.be/3_R2VkZhke0) is about the Battle of Nanshan which was fought between Japanese and Russian soldiers on the southern tip of Liaoning peninsula in 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War.
Baektu Mountain Song (白頭山節) (YouTube video of song: https://youtu.be/-p3H32BXcq4) refers to a Japanese folk song about Baektu Mountain which may be an adaptation of a Korean folk song.
Kenban Agency (券番) refers to a management agency which manages the kisaeng and their performance fees. The Kenban agency for Kim Gang-seok was located at 107 Hunjeong-dong and is shown on this map of Seoul from 1933:
Today, the agency is gone, and the former location is now a part of Jongmyo Plaza Park.
(Transcriptions)
京城日報 1943年8月14日
感謝に応え真心の合唱
白衣の勇士から逆に激励受く
芸能慰問隊
帰還報告座談会
本社側：それから東京に廻られたようでしたが、戦時下に於ける東京をどんな風にお感じになりましたか。
吉松子：何と申しても灯火管制の行き届いているのには驚きました。着いた夜など田舎者の私共は勝手が知れませず鼻をつままれても分からぬ位でした。それから防空訓練の真剣さには胸をうたれる思いで私共のやっていましたことが今更恥ずかしいのです。女子はみんなモンペで、このモンペが半島のそれとはおよそ違った実用向きのものなんです。あれでなければいけないなとつくづく感じました。こっちで使うペラペラした薄いモンペ等ではなく、質素な切地で作ったものをはいていましたが、実際あれでなくてはならないと思いました。
朴淳實：自然の風物からも、そこに住まう男からも女からも、私共とは桁はずれに良く出来た人達をじかに見せつけられて内地の偉大さ、内地人の精神力に打ち負かされました。東京でも大阪でも九州でも全く真の姉妹のように扱って戴きました。上流婦人でも謙遜な言葉や物腰から親切心が溢れていて、半島では到底見ることの出来ない美しさを感じ此処に育つ児等の強さを知ることが出来ました。優しい反面にまだ非常に強くもあり、婦人団体や中等学生の錬成の様子を見まして、あれだけやれば日本は強い筈だと深く胸を打たれました。半島女性も是非学ばなければならぬとつくづく考えました。
本社側：沢山の病院を慰問して随分胸をうたれたこともおありでしょう。
金月：どこの病院でも慰問演芸開演前に重傷患者のために挨拶に廻るのです。第一陸軍病院で挨拶を終ると一人の兵隊さんが訪ねて下さいまして、『半島にも愈々徴兵制が布かれたそうですね。お目出度う。自分達もそれで安心した。しっかりやって下さい。頼みます、頼みます．．．』と逆に激励されました。この時には全く軍国の女性として強く生き抜かねば相済まないと堅く決意しました。
金田旺：読売の写真班が来られたのは確か第二陸軍病院だったでしょうね。例によって病棟に患者さんをお見舞いしたら重傷の痛みをこらえて苦しい中からニッコリ笑って応えて下さったのには一同感極まって泣き、逆に激励されました。起てない人が『元気だ、元気だ』と云って仰向いた儘手を振って見せました。此処で半島志願兵出身の大山さんに会いましたが、内地の兵士とちっとも変わりなく、元気な御様子に一同心から嬉しく『半島二千五百万民は総起ちとなって御国の為に奉公致します』と挨拶すれば大山さんは只一言『頼みます』と声も体もふるわせていられました。
劉山紅：あれは広島の病院でしたかしら。白衣の兵隊さんから『姉さん．．．』と突然呼び懸けられたのには面喰いました。『朝鮮に帰られても御国の為にウンと頑張って下さいよ。皆さんの真心籠る慰問の話は自分が再び戦地へ行ったら必ず戦友へ語って聞かせますよ』と兄妹同様の親しさで呼び懸けて下さるのです。私は頭が下りました。
金錦紅：東京の赤十字病院では平素慰問を受けられない隔離病室がありました。規則では許されないが、ここでもやって貰えたらというお話です。私共はこういう人達にこそ慰問をさせて戴きたいとお願いしました。病室へ行って見ますと廊下の窓の戸を全部外して寝椅子に横っている人、籐椅子によっている人達が窓から顔を出して居られ、その後の方には沢山の看護婦さんが並んで居られました。
この中庭で私共は暑い日でしたが並んでアリランの合唱と愛国行進曲を心から歌って帰ろうとしますと、ふと私共の眼に映ったのは窓辺にも出て来られない勇士の方が部屋の中で看護婦さんから鏡を借りまして、私達の姿を写しているのです。私達はこれを見るとハット胸を打たれたのです。もうお別れの挨拶の済んだ後でしたが、どうしてもこの儘帰れないという気持ちになりまして、支社長さんに『すみませんが是非もう一度だけ歌わして下さい』といって『金州城外』の詩吟を真心こめて吟詠しました。
それから外の皆さんも白頭山節やその外色々歌って帰りましたが、後で支社長さんに『ほんとに真心から歌って戴いた事を兵隊さんは皆感謝しています。私共も傍らで見ていまして、もう挨拶が済んだ後にも拘わらず皆さんが進んで歌って呉れた心持がよく分かります。むずかしい理屈よりお互いの心と心の触れ合う時に内地と朝鮮とが固く結ばれるのだと思います』と婦長さんが申されたそうですが、私達はあの時ほんとうに心に打たれるものがあったのです。
【写真＝小倉陸軍病院における慰問隊の愛国行進曲合唱＝下関要塞司令部検閲済み】
京城日報 1943年8月18日
ここに愛国妓生あり
芸能慰問隊員の転向美談
本社派遣
戦う内地に感激
さきに本社では半島妓生からなる”芸能慰問隊”を組織。内地各地の陸海軍病院に白衣の勇士を心から慰問。予想以上の好評を博してこのほど帰鮮したが、隊員のうち三和券番妓生鐘路区薫井町一〇七金剛石こと金城淑子（二二）さんは内地慰問中、戦う内地婦人達の聖戦完遂に向かって逞しく働いている聖なる姿に痛く心を打たれ、”わたしもじっとしてはおられない。真面目な銃後の女性となって御国のため一生懸命働きます”と過去四年有半の紅灯生活をかなぐり捨てて、十七日鐘路署に出頭。
”きょうからわたしも真面目な生活を営みます”と芸妓廃業届を提出する一方、妓生廃業を記念して金百円を本社へ皇軍慰問金として寄託。皇国女性の固き覚悟を新たにした。金城さんは新しい生活の門出の喜びを次のように語る【写真＝金城さん】
『私はこのたび貴社の御計りで内地の皇軍傷病兵の慰問を行いました。私は戦う皇国の真姿を見せていただき、そして皇国婦女の態度を教えられ、半島女性としてこのうえもない勉強をさせていただきました。喰うか喰われるかといわれるこの重大な時局に私達は何一つ御国のため役立つこともなく、却って非時局的な面で妓生なるが故に紅灯の下に笑いながら暮さねばならないことを一人悲しみながら旅を続けたのでございます。無事に帰鮮致しまして、自分の生活を考えなおし、私共の半島から、より逞しい、より忠良な陛下の兵隊を送り出すため妓生生活と別れて立派な家族婦人に帰ることを決心し、今日その手続きをとりました。今後はこのたび感激を肝に銘じて天晴れ半島出身兵士の姉としてまた母として恥ずかしくない生活を営む覚悟でございます。誠にこれは些少ですが、妓生廃業に際しまして皆さんからの因襲で行われていました廃業披露宴会を取り止めた費用の一部でございます。私共は拙い半島演芸を限りなく御喜び下さった傷痍軍人のために御処理願います』
