For Japanese Good Samaritan Sister Theresia Hiranabe, the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II is a timely opportunity to share her “dreadful experience of war” and how it led her to the Good Samaritan Sisters.
BY Theresia Hiranabe SGS
The seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II is a good reason to tell my dreadful experience of war – and in the end – how it led me to the Good Samaritan Sisters.
On December 8, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. This brought Japan into World War II. At that time I was eight years old and living in Manchuria. My family had moved to Manchuria from Tokyo in 1938 when I was six. There, we lived in Botanko, very close to the Russian border, and my father worked for the army.
As the war progressed, we began to hear about the bombing of Tokyo, Osaka and other industrial cities in Japan. We also heard how people were suffering from shortages of food and other necessities of life. In Manchuria, however, we were a long way from the battles and did not suffer like that.
But on August 8, 1945, life changed dramatically for my family. At 5:00am I was woken by a terrible noise. People were shouting that Russia had declared war on Japan in Manchuria. That same day, in the afternoon, Russian B-29s crossed the border and began dropping bombs. That evening, Russian tanks invaded Manchuria and a fierce battle was fought; the Japanese forces were defeated.
Earlier in the day the evacuation of civilians had begun. As we were waiting for cars to take us to the train station, the bombers came over Botanko. At that moment we became refugees: my mother, my younger brother and me. My elder brother, who had just turned 18, had been called up for military duty along with all male students. It would be some years before we would meet him again. There was no time to say goodbye to friends or teachers; I have never met any of them since.
When we got to the station there were thousands of terrified people crowding the platform and struggling to board the waiting train. We thought ourselves lucky to get onto the train, even though it was a roofless goods wagon. The train was packed but did not leave until the next morning. Just before our wagon left my father found us to say goodbye. He promised to come to us as soon as he could.
It was August, mid-summer and very hot as we made our journey. Every day there were sudden showers. In our open wagon we got very wet, but dried out quickly in the hot sun. It took two weeks to reach Shinkyo (now Chosum), the capital city of Manchuria. The train was slow and stopped often. At these stops we were able to buy food from Chinese farmers. Since ours was the first train to leave Botanko we were spared the bombing by Russian planes. Later trains were bombed, killing many women and children.
When we arrived in Shinkyo on the morning of August 15, 1945, we were told over a loud-speaker that at noon there was to be an important announcement. I felt uneasy and fearful that something might happen to us and it came over like a shadow on my heart. Then at noon, we heard the voice of the Emperor announcing that Japan had accepted the Potsdam Declaration and that the war had ended. Everyone knelt down on the ground and wept. We all asked ourselves, “what shall we do?” I still remember this terrible despair.
We did not stay in Shinkyo. The train moved on that afternoon and, a week later, we arrived in Hoten. Everywhere we looked we saw Russian soldiers. We were so frightened. I still feel that fear when I think about it. Even now when I hear the sound of a big truck, I’m reminded of that fear.
After we had been in Hoten awhile, we women and girls were each handed a pistol in case of an attack by Russian soldiers. That made us even more frightened, but fortunately we did not have to use it.
The situation was very uncertain. Russian soldiers were everywhere but they did not have total control of the city. The Japanese army did what they could for us. At first we were given shelter in an army building. I remember feeling safe on the ninth floor. But every day the number of refugees increased, and two weeks later, we were all moved into a school. There were thousands of us.
Although Hoten was a Japanese city, it was not safe for us. The Chinese, who had been invaded by the Japanese forces, took their revenge by looting and burning Japanese houses.
Winter comes early in Manchuria. November 1945 was a freezing winter, with temperatures ranging from -10 to -30 degrees. Every day groups of settlers – women, children and old men – arrived from the north, having walked through the snow. They had lost everything as a result of the Russian invasion and Chinese rioting. Many died of hunger; babies died on their mother’s backs. One mother asked a man to bury her beside the mountain path. Then she killed her small child who was dying after which she herself died.
Towards the end of the year my father came to find us. He found us a place in a Chinese hotel. He also got work with a Chinese employer and we began to have hope of getting back to Japan. But in early 1946, my father caught a cold, or so we thought. Sick with typhus, he died on January 12. My mother, who had nursed him, also caught typhus and died a few weeks later on March 4. My ten-year-old brother and I (now 13) were orphans.
Before my mother’s death, the Chinese man my father worked for helped my mother with the cremation of my father’s body. I wanted to put his ashes somewhere holy so I went very secretly to the temple and when I thought no one was watching, I dug a little hole and left them there.
There were many orphaned children like us. We were not left without help. Much of it came from a Zen Buddhist temple where people made sure we had food and shelter, and arrangements were made to get us to Japan. We went on the first ship to sail to Japan after the war. It took a week.
We were looked after by the Japanese Welfare Authority. Most of the children were taken by their relations. Two months later my elder brother returned to our home town in Hokkaido. When he heard about our parents’ death and that my young brother and I had returned to Japan, he came to Hakata to take us to Hokkaido. This elder brother died two years later.
While waiting for our relations to take us we went to school. One of the teachers there was a Catholic lady, Setsuko, who cared for us as well as taught us. She had been baptised by Father Flynn, an Australian priest in Hakata. He was one of the Australian priests who responded to the appeal of Bishop Yamaguchi of Nagasaki to help rebuild his diocese after the devastation of the 1945 atomic bomb.
Father Flynn introduced Setsuko to the Good Samaritan Sisters who had also responded to Bishop Yamaguchi’s appeal. Setsuko worked with the Sisters in Nagasaki and later in Sasebo at their newly established kindergarten.
I had been in Hokkaido for five years and was wondering what to do with my life. Setsuko invited me to Nagasaki and it was there that I met the Sisters. I still remember the strong impression they made on me. I was not Catholic, but felt something happened to me.
I began learning about the Christian life. Two years later I went to Sasebo and worked with the Sisters. On Christmas Day 1952 I was baptised in front of the Sisters. I had a wish to join them. It kept growing, but many obstacles were in my way: my poor health, due to lack of nourishment because there was no good food in Japan; I had no money because I didn’t have parents; and my education had stopped because of the war.
When I visited the Sisters again, they were busy with preparations for the opening of Seiwa High School and I was asked to help. I had no special reason to refuse, so accepted.
After working with the Sisters for a year, I began my education at Sasebo which was followed by five years’ study at university. After my graduation I worked as a teacher at Sasebo and became a Good Samaritan aspirant. Three years later, in 1964, I became a Good Samaritan postulant. This was the beginning of my life as a Good Samaritan Sister
Whenever people sympathise with me for what I suffered in China, I answer in my mind: Japan did serious wrongs as a colonial ruler. When Japan invaded China and Korea, millions of people suffered terrible pain.
I offer my sufferings in China, the death of my parents – the loss of everything, as compensation for what Japan did. It is my small sacrifice.
“戦争の悲惨なわたしの体験”：日本人の視点
日本人の善きサマリア人修道会会員シスターテレジア平鍋は第二次世界大戦の終結７０周年にあたり“戦争の恐ろしい体験”と善きサマリア人修道会のシスター方との出会いについて分かち合いたいと思います
テレジア平鍋sgs 著
１９４１年１２月８日は日本がパールハーバーを出撃しました。これは日本が第二次世界大した。戦を起こしました。その時 わしは８歳で元満州に１938ﾈﾝに東京から家族で牡丹江に移住していました。ここはロシアの国境の近くで、父は軍人でした。東京、大阪や重工業地帯にアメリカの空爆のニュースが満洲に伝えられ始めました。人々は食糧や生活用品などの不足で苦しんでいましたが満洲は戦争の影響はありませんでした。
しかし１９４５年８月９日の早朝ロシアが満洲の国境をこえて侵攻し日本と戦争が始まり午後はＢ２９の飛行機が牡丹江を空爆し始めました。そして日本軍は２週間後満州から敗退し始めました。
当日人々の避難も始まり。私たち家族も軍部からの車を待って夕方牡丹江の駅につきました。市内はロシアの空爆で方々で燃えていました。その時から私たちも難民になりました。
戦況は緊迫していたので、兄も１８歳で現地召集されました。私は当日避難したので、先生や友人たちに別れもできず７０年後の今も再会もできず、消息も分かりません。牡丹江駅には数千人の人々は突然の恐ろしい事態におののき駅に集まり大混乱になっていました。私たちは運よく日本軍の手配で列車に乗れたのですが無蓋車でした。翌朝まで列車は発車しなかったので発車直前混雑の中父は私たちを見つけてくれて再会を約束して別れました。
満州の８月は真夏で猛暑の中旅を続け、毎日夕立があり夕立でずぶぬれになり暑いのですぐ乾く有様でした。２週間後満州の首都新京（現長春）につきました。列車はとても遅くたびたび停車し、その都度食糧を中国人の農家から買いました。私たちは牡丹江から一番最初の列車に乗ったのでロシアの飛行機の襲撃を受けませんでしたがあとに続いた列車の多くの人々は空爆をうけて死んでいきました。 １９４５年８月１５日朝新京についた時、駅の人から正午に重大な放送があると伝えられ、私たちは何ごとが起こるかと非常
に恐れました。その放送は天皇の声で戦争の終結でした。人々は涙を流しながら聞きお互いにこれからどうすればよいか途方に暮れていました。
私たちは新京に降りないで１週間後奉天（現しん陽）につきました。ここは満州国第２の都市で市内にはロシア兵大勢いて恐ろしい思いをしました。今も１０代だった私は夜間大型トラックのエンジンの音をきくと当時の恐ろしい体験を思いだします。
２週間軍の施設のビルの９階に住んでいた時日本の兵士からロシア兵の侵入の時に備えて女性に護身のためにひとりずつピストルを渡されたが使用しませんでした。
戦後の治安は悪く中国人は暴動をおこしていました。それから６家族ともに市内の学校に移動したのです。そこには数百人の避難民がいました。戦後の大都会は日本人にとって安全ではありませんでした。それは中国人が歴史的に日本人から侵略され植民地支配されていたことで報復し日本人の家を焼き払い略奪したのです。
満州の冬は厳寒で９月でマイナス１０度からマイナス３０度になりますが１１月ごろから満州の北部から大勢の人々が避難してきました。ロシアの侵攻のため突然空爆されたり、中国人の暴動と略奪で命がけで逃げてきたのです。多くの人々が雪の中で餓死したり、殺されしました。またある母親は死にかけた幼児を殺し自分も死にました。
１９４５年１２月父はわたしたちを探しあて、中国人のホテルに住むことになり、父も中国人と仕事をはじめ、日本に帰る準備をしていましたが、１月はじめ当時流行していた発疹チブスの高熱で１月１２日死去し、その後母も発疹チブスで３月４日に死にました。１０歳の弟と１４歳のわたしが残されました。
母の生前母は父の友人の中国人と父の遺体を火葬場に運んでくれました。その後同じように母もお寺の庭に埋めました。そこは聖なるところで人目につかないと思いました。
両親の友人の紹介で京都の一灯園の分院に世話になり、そこには３０人の孤児がいました。それからお寺のみなさんと一緒に大連の近くの港から１週間かけて船は九州の博多につきました。孤児たちだけ３００人が乗船していました。厚生省の援助で子供たちは親戚に迎られて故郷に帰りました。２月後私と弟は満州で別れた兄が北海道の旭川の親戚のところに帰国しており、迎えにきてくれました。この兄も２年後病死しました。
旭川に５年いて将来のことを考えていたので、長崎の修道院を訪問して２週間滞在させてもらいました。私はカトリックではありませんでしたが、シスターたちの生活が強く印象的でした。その後２年間教会に通い要理を勉強して２年後再びシスターを訪問し聖和女子学院の開校で多忙なシスター方をお手伝いすることになり、1952年洗礼をうけ修道生活への召命を望んでいました。しかし私の生活は多くの不理な点、たとえば両親がなく、経済的援助もなく、教育もうけていませんでした。
１年間シスター方を手伝ってから佐世保の聖和女子学院に入り教育をうけ、続けて５年間大学で勉強しました。卒業後は
佐世保で先生になり、１９６４年善きサマリア人修道会の志願者になりシスターとして生活が始まりました。
人々が私の中国での悲しい経験に同情されると、私は心で答えます：中国での悲惨な体験、両親の死別、すべてを失ったことなどは日本の歴史的行為にたいする私の小さい犠牲として捧げています。
＊善きサマリア人修道会会員シスター平鍋の経歴は日本の高校の先生の、成人の信仰養成,司牧の奉仕です。現在は引退生活ですが、奈良に住み成人の信仰養成と要理と聖書クラスをしています。
