"我は何をなすべきか Ware wa nani o nasubeki ka" (What we are supposed to do), 1944 October 15

Date

1944 October 15

Summary

The kamishibai urges Japanese to prepare themselves for an all-front war in Japan’s home ground. Every citizen is part of the home front effort to win the war, whether they are coal miners, factory workers, or farmers. If one person slacks, it would cost the battle. To win the war, the Japanese should stand united, endure the hardship, and magnify the productivity.

Archival processing title

"我は何をなすべきか Ware wa nani o nasubeki ka" (What we are supposed to do)

Creator/Contributor

Producer

Nihon Kyōiku Kamishibai Kyōkai

Artist

Koyano, Hanji, 1907-1992

Author

Nōtomi, Yasuyuki, 1903-

Transcription

Card 20
大本營海軍報道部監修
脚本　納富 康之
繪畫　小谷野 半二
製作　日本敎育紙芝居協會
我は何をなすべきか
大本幕軍報道部長栗原悅藏海軍大佐の睛演に據る

(表紙の說明)
(舞臺の橫に立って、次の說明を云ふ)
この紙芝居は、
大本營海軍報道部長栗原大佐の 御講演に據って 我は何をなすべきかを 明らかにしたものであります。
(幕を開ける)
(はっきり 題名を讀む)
今や 我が國は未曾有の大國難に直面してゐる。敵アメリカは尨大なる機動部隊を以て我が內南洋マーシャル諸島に來襲するや クヱゼリン、ルオット兩島の我が守備部隊は 寡兵を以て壯烈な肉彈突擊を決行し 敵に多大の損害を與へた後 二月六日つひに將兵軍屬四千五百名は 絶海の孤島を血に染めて全員戦死したのである。勢ひに乗じた敵は此處に航空基地を築いて
(ぬきながら)
我が本土を空襲せんと窺ってゐる。

Card 1
時速六百粁以上といはれるB二九で クエゼリン島から我が本土を空襲するには僅かにハ時間。東京 名古屋間の 鐵道の距離に過ぎない。戰場は 五千粁の 海の彼方と思ったら 大間違ひ。我が本土はすでに戰場の中にあるのだ。
(ぬく)

Card 2
(女甲)
『空襲は必ず來るんてすつて……… お宅では 疎開なさいますの。』
(女乙)
『それがねえ……兵隊さんが守ってゐて下さるから大てい大丈夫でせう。』
(女甲)
「でも萬ーといふことがありますわ。百キロの爆彈を落されたら、この隣組ぐらゐ吹き飛ばされてしまふさうですよ。」
(女乙)
『さうなったら女だけでは消火なんか出來ませんわ』
そんな時こそ敵の思想的謀略はみんなの背後から 目に見えない恐しい魔手を延して來るのだ。空襲を受けたり土地を取られた時が 負けたのではない。
もう駄目だと思った時こそ負けたのだ。
(ぬきながら)
さうかと思ふと、

Card 3
(男)
「我が大日本帝國は神國てある。
いざとなれば神風が吹く。 かの元寇の時を見よ」と落着きはらってゐる人もある。まことに神州は絕對に不滅である。
しかしもしその人が戦爭をたやすいものと考へ足が宙に浮いてゐたら
それは 必勝の信念ではなくて 必勝の迷信である。かの元寇の時は武士も百姓も男も女も 一丸となって敵を邀へ擊つたからこそ 尊い神風が吹いたのだ。我は何をなすべきかをはっきりと認識するならば 一つ一つの戰局に徒らに 喜んだり 心配したりすることはない筈だ。
(ぬきながら)
大東亞戰爭は 大和民族と アングロサクソン民族 とが

Card 4
滅びるか榮えるかを決する大戰爭だ。 一步踏みあやまれば再び上ることの出來ない 千仭の谷底に突き落されてしまふのだ。
『もし日本が降參すれば 本土だけは殘しておいてやる。』 などと敵は宣傳してゐるが
そんな甘い手に乘ったら一大事だ。
勝利か!奴隸か!
道はただ一つ。
(ぬきながら)
ダバオに於ける 日本人虐殺の事實を 想ひ起せ!

Card 5
日本軍來るの報が傳はるや アメリカの守備兵は いきなり 監禁されてゐた 日本人を引きずり出し
機關銃の雨を浴びせた。
そしてバタバタと倒れる日本人を
突く、蹴る、毆る、慘虐の限りを盡したのだ。
我々は今 この野獸アメリカと 戰っているのだ。
彼等は『日本人を殺せ!』と叫んでゐる。
三千年の 光輝ある歷史を持った 我が國を
どうして野獸アメリカの泥靴に汚させてよいものか。
(ぬきながら)
今こそ 大東亞十億の民が ガッチリ腕を組んで

Card 6
憎むべき敵米英を地球の外に 蹴飛ばしてしまはない限り 日本の否大東亞共榮圈の 自存自榮は果し得ないのだ。 大東亞戰爭は畏れ多くも 宜戰の大詔に お諭しあそばされるやうに
「帝國ハ今ヤ自存自衞ノ爲蹶然起ツテ 一切ノ障礙ヲ破碎スルノ外ナキ」
「洵ニ已ムヲ得ザル」戰爭であると同時に 大東亞十億の民を 米英の侵略の魔手から解放する 正義の爲の聖戰なのだ。
(ぬきながら)
ではこの大東亞戰爭は今までの戰爭と
どう違ふであらうか。

Card 7
日本も敵も互に科學陣を總動員して 新兵器の考案に心血を注いでゐる。
第一次世界大戰の勝利が
英國の 戰車の發明に依ることが大であり
日露戰役の大勝利が
我が下瀨火藥の發明に俟つ所が多かった事を
考へただけでも
新兵器の發明がいかに戰爭の勝敗に重要であるかが分る筈だ。
(ぬきながら)
大科學戰となればなるほど

Card 8
鐵量の消耗は飛躍的に增加する。第一次世界大戰でフランス砲兵が
一日に潑射した砲彈は
普佛戰爭の百ハ十倍にも上ってゐる。
然るにアメリカは
その二千倍の五千噸といふ尨大な
砲彈や爆彈を
我がマーシャル諸島に射ち込んで來たのだ。鐵量には鐵量を以て當らねばならぬ。
(ぬきながら)
日本は緖戰において 早くも南方の

Card 9
重要資源のある地域を占頒したからよかったが もしこの地或がいつまでも敵の手にあったら
今頃はどうなってゐるだらう。考へても恐しいことだ。日本には石油が無い。鐵もボーキサイトもゴムも錫も無かったのだ。
しかしもう大丈夫だ。
南方地域の開發さへ順調に進んだならば 日本の經濟力は無限に伸びて行く 戰爭に勝ちさへすれば 鐵も石炭も砂糖も米も 無盡藏に手に入るのだ。
(ぬきながら)
だが南方と我が本土との間には 廣大な海が横たはってゐる。

Card 10
ドカン!
ダダ、、、、、!
敵機は我が輸送船團を見るや
鷲の樣に襲ひかかって來る。
その危險の中を突き切って 南方から重要資源を運び、國內で 飛行機や 砲彈を 製造してから 又前線へ輸送しなければならないのだ。
船だ!船だ!
まことに船こそ日本の運命を 背負ふものであると 云ふことが出來る。
(ぬきながら)
しかしいくら重要資源を輸送して來ても

Card 11
產業戰士が足りなくては 戰爭には勝てない。大東亞戰爭は日本の產業戰士とアメリカの産業戰士との戰ひだとも云へる。
敵アメリカは尨大な生産力を恃んで 月產一萬臺と 豪語してゐる。女子の六割までがハンマーを握り 旋盤を動かしてゐるのだ。 どうして 日本の女子がそれに負けてなるものか。
(ぬきながら)
しかし 世間では 飛行機工場で 働く者たりが飛行機を製產してゐる樣に誤解してゐる者が少くない。

Card 12
石炭を掘る鶴嘴戰士も 實は飛行機を造ってゐるのだ。 それは飛行機製産に必要な アルミニューム一噸を作る爲には 石炭四噸が必要だからだ。
その鶴嘴戰士が食べる 米や野菜を作る 農民も その米や野菜を輸送する機關士や海員も やはり同じ事だ。
總べての日本人が祖國の爲に あらん限りの力を盡して働く時 生產力は十二分に
いや十五にも 二十にも 發揮されるのだ。
(ぬきながら)
今こそ國を擧げての總力戰だ。

Card 13
前線の將兵は刀を持つ腕、
銃後は身體だ。
いかに劍道の達人宮本武藏でも
身體が一緖に動かりば 敵をたほすことは出來ない
「一機でも多くの飛行機を!」 「一發でも多くの彈丸を!」 と腕から要求される樣な身體では 到底總力戰に勝つことは出來ない。
(ぬ く)

Card 14
かうした總力戰に 戰後には値が上らうと 石炭を掘らないでゐる資本家が 一人でもあったら 日本はどうなるだらう。
闇で流した方が 儲かると、供出を怠る農民が 一人でもあったら……
一ケ月の生活費さへ得たら後は休んでもいいと 怠りてゐる產業戰士が
一人でもあったら
日本はどうなるだらう。この瞬間にも前線では
(はやくぬく)

Card 15
天皇陛下萬歲! を唱へて死んで行く兵隊がゐるのだ。
(間)
前線では立派に死ねる日本人が どうして銃後で死身で働りないのだ。
(ぬ く)

Card 16
よいしょ! よいしょ! みんなが心を一つに聲を揃へ 力を協ぜて綱を引くのだ。
休んだり綱を逆に引く者が、一人でも有ったら 日本の負けた。
よいしょ！よいしょ！
もう一息だ。
みんなの額から汗が流れる。
だが中々引けないぞ。
引けない筈だ。
(はやくぬく)

Card 17
敵だって一生懸命がんばってゐるのだ。 一人だって休んでゐる奴なんか居ないぞ。 みんな死にもの狂ひになってゐる。
もう一息だ。
こっちが苦しい時は 戰爭は五分々々だ。
糞! 負けるものか。
最後の一瞬まで がんばった方が 勝つのだ。
(はやくぬく)

Card 18
繰返して云ふ。
自分の家にもう火がついてゐるのだ。消防夫が消してくれるだらうと のん氣に 腕組みして 眺めてゐられるか。 今すぐ消さなかったら日本はこの大火事に燒きつくされてしまふのだ。
そんな事になったら先祖に對し 又子孫に對して 何の面目があらう。
(ぬきながら)
今の日本は
旣に 總員戰鬪配置についた 戰艦だ。

Card 19
戰爭だ!戰爭だ！ 戰爭以外には 一切を棄てよ。 いかなる困苦缺乏にも耐え 一死奉公の覺悟と必勝の信念を以て
全國民協力一致して全力を發揮する時、 戰艦日本はその强烈な威力によって 敵艦隊を擊滅することが出來るのだ。
突擊喇叭は旣に喨々と鳴り響いてゐる。 明日ではない。今すぐに!
さあみんなでがんばらう！ (終)

Translation of transcription

Card 20
Supervised by the Press Dept., Japanese Imperial Navy, Imperial Headquarters
Script: Yasuyuki Nōtomi; Illustration: Hanji Koyano; Production: Nihon Kyōiku Kamishibai Kyōkai (The Association of Japanese Educational Kamishibai)
What We are Supposed to Do

Following a lecture by the General Manager of the Press, the Imperial Headquarters, Navy colonel Eizō Kurihara

(Explanations of the cover)
(Explain the following, standing next to the stage).

NARRATOR
This kamishibai follows a lecture by the General Manager of the Press, the Imperial Headquarters, Navy Colonel Eizō Kurihara, and explains what we are supposed to do.

(Open the curtain)
(Enunciate the title)

NARRATOR (continued)
Our country is facing unprecedented difficulties. Our enemy America’s tremendous task force attacked us on the Marshall Islands in the South Sea. Our defense unit in Kwajalein and the Roi Islands fought a fierce battle of human bullets and caused significant damage to the enemies. However, all 4,500 officers and men died in the campaign, dyeing the lonely island in the distant seas with their blood.
Taking advantage of the momentum, the enemies built an airbase there.

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
They are aiming to air raid our mainland.

Card 1
NARRATOR (continued)
The B29 can air raid our mainland in eight hours from Kwajalein at a speed supposedly exceeding 600km/h. The time it takes is equal to a train ride between Tokyo and Nagoya.
Don’t be fooled, thinking that the battlefield is 5,000 km away beyond the seas. Our mainland is within the battlefield.
(Pull the slide.)

Card 2
WOMAN 1
I hear the air raids are sure to come. Are you going to evacuate from town?

WOMAN 2
Well you know… we’ll be fine as long as our soldiers protect us.

WOMAN 1
But just in case. Our neighborhood group will be blown away if the enemies drop a 100-kg bomb.

WOMAN 2
Women alone cannot put out the fire if that happens.

NARRATOR
Enemies are extending their evil arms right behind us with an ideological plot. We don’t lose the war when the enemies attack us from the air or take away our land. When we give up, that’s when we will lose.

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
On the other hand,

Card 3
MAN
The Great Empire of Japan is a land of the gods. When we need it, a divine wind will blow. Remember the time of the Mongol invasions,

NARRATOR (continued)
Some people say calmly. Indeed, our divine land is immortal. However, taking the war lightly is a superstition of victory, instead of a conviction of victory. The divine wind blew during the Mongol invasions because every Japanese citizen, whether they were samurai, peasants, men, or women, united and attacked the enemies. As long as we clearly recognize what we are supposed to do, we will not be flustered by every piece of battle news.

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
The Greater East Asian War is a decisive battle to determine who will be destroyed and who will prosper; the Yamato race or the Anglo-Saxons.

Card 4
NARRATOR (continued)
If we make a small mistake, we will be pushed down into the bottom of a deep valley and won’t be able to climb out of it. Don’t be fooled by enemy propaganda that says, “If Japan surrenders now, we will leave the mainland alone.”

Victory! Or slavery!

There is only one way.

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
Don’t forget the Japanese massacre in Davao.

Card 5
NARRATOR (continued)
American guards pulled out the incarcerated Japanese and showered them with machine gun fire as soon as the news of the Japanese army’s arrival spread. They cruelly stabbed, kicked, and punched them as they fell. We are now fighting with American beasts.
They are shouting, “Kill the Japs!”
How could we let them walk all over our glorious country of three thousand years with their muddy shoes?

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
Now we, one billion Greater East Asian citizens, should unite,

Card 6
NARRATOR (continued)
Survival and prosperity in not only Japan but also the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere is not possible unless we kick out the hateful American and British enemies from the earth. We are awed to hear the imperial rescript about the war. We have been told the Empire has no choice but to rise and destroy all hindrances toward survival and self-defense. The battle is necessary and significantly challenging. Simultaneously, the Greater East Asian War is a holy war of justice to liberate one billion Greater East Asian citizens from the evil invasive American and British hands.

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
How does the Greater East Asian War differ from those in the past?

Card 7
NARRATOR (continued)
Both Japan and the enemies mobilized their scientists and put their hearts and blood into devising new weapons. The British victory in WWI owes a lot to their invention of tanks. Japanese success in the Russo-Japanese War significantly depended on our invention of Shimose gunpowder. When we realize this, we should understand how important the inventions of new weapons are to our fate in the war.

(As you pull the slide)

As the campaign increasingly becomes a scientific war,

Card 8
NARRATOR (continued)
Steel consumption grows dramatically. The bullets that French artilleries shot during WWI outnumbered by one hundred eighty times those during the Prussian War. But Americans shot five tons of bullets and bombs at us on the Marshall Islands—two thousand times more. To this volume of steel we must respond with steel.

(As you pull the slide)

The good news is that Japan occupied the Southern territories, which have essential resources, in the early campaigns.

Card 9
NARRATOR (continued)
What would we do if these areas were in the enemies’ hands? It’s a dreadful thought. Japan does not produce oil. We don’t have steel, bauxite, rubber, or tin. However, we are alright now. If we develop the southern region as planned, Japanese economic power will grow limitlessly. If we win the war, we’ll have access to an inexhaustible amount of steel, coal, sugar, and rice.

(As you pull the slide)


NARRATOR (continued)
A vast sea lies between the southern region and our mainland.

Card 10
NARRATOR (continued)
A bang!
Dot, dot, dot!
As soon as enemy planes see our transport convoy, they attack them like eagles.
We have to bulldoze through this danger and carry essential resources from the South to produce planes and bullets in Japan and transport them to the front line.
Ships! Ships!
We can proudly say that our ships carry Japan’s destiny.

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
However, no matter how much essential resources we transport,

Card 11
NARRATOR (continued)
We cannot win the war if we fall short of industrial warriors. We can say that the Greater East Asian War is a battle between Japanese and American industrial warriors.
Enemy Americans boasted enormous production capacities of ten thousand planes a month. Even sixty percent of American women pick up hammers and move engine lathes. How could Japanese women fall behind?

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
However, more than a few people mistakenly think that only plane factory workers produce planes.

Card 12
NARRATOR (continued)
Coal miners, or pickaxe warriors, also produce airplanes. To produce the one ton of aluminum required for airplane production, they need to mine four tons of coal.
Likewise, farmers who cultivate rice and vegetables for the pickaxe warriors to eat, and locomotive conductors and sailors who transport the rice and vegetables ultimately produce airplanes.
When every Japanese citizen works with their full power for the nation, we can increase our production capabilities by 120%, 150%, or even 200%.

(As you pull the slide)

NARRATOR (continued)
We should rise to fight a total war.

Card 13
NARRATOR (continued)
Soldiers at the front line are like arms that hold swords, and the home front workers are like the bodies.
Even Musashi Miyamoto, a kendo master, would not defeat the enemies if he could not coordinate the arms and body.
“One more plane!” “One bullet more!”
If the arms demand from the body like this, they would have no way to win the total war.

(Pull the slide.)

Card 14
NARRATOR (continued)
What would happen to Japan if we had one capitalist who would not mine coal for the total war because they expect the prices to increase after the war?
What would happen to Japan if a farmer fails to deliver rice [to the government] because he thinks he will make more money in the black market?
What would happen to Japan if an industrial warrior takes holidays after earning one month’s living expenses?
At this moment on the front lines,

(Pull the slide quickly).

Card 15
NARRATOR (continued)
Soldiers die shouting, "Long live the emperor!"

(A pause)
Why wouldn't the Japanese, who could die honorably on the front lines, grind their bodies to dust on the home front?

(Pull the slide).

Card 16
NARRATOR (continued)
Oof! Oof! We become united and cooperate to pull the rope together.
Japan will lose if we have a single person who pulls the rope in the opposite direction.

Oof! Oof!
We are almost there.
Sweat falls from everybody’s forehead.
However, we have a hard time pulling the rope.
No wonder.

(Pull the slide quickly.)

Card 17
NARRATOR (continued)
The enemies are also working hard. Not a soul is taking a rest. Everybody is working desperately.
We are almost there.
When we are suffering, the battle is even.
Dammit! We won’t be defeated.
Whoever tries until the last moment will win.

(Pull the slide quickly.)

Card 18
NARRATOR (continued)
I repeat.
Our house has already caught fire. How could we leisurely watch it with our arms crossed?
If we don’t put out the fire immediately, Japan will be burnt to ashes.
How could we keep our honor for our ancestors and offspring?

(As you pull the slide)

Japan is already a battleship ready to deploy all its citizens.

Card 19
NARRATOR (continued)
War! War!
Abandon all but the war.
The battleship Japan could destroy the enemy fleet with an intense force if we endure the hardship, become determined to sacrifice our life, be convinced of victory, and show our full and united power.

A marching trumpet is reverberating. Not tomorrow, now is the time!
Let’s work hard together!

(The end).

Scope and contents

Nōtomi Yasuyuki 納富 康之 (author); Koyano Hanji 小谷野 半二 (artist); Nihon Kyōiku Kamishibai Kyōkai 日本敎育紙芝居協會 (producer); Nihon Kyōiku Gageki Kabushiki Kaisha 日本教育画劇株式会社 (publisher). 大本營海軍報道部監修 Supervised by the Press Dept., Japanese Imperial Navy, Imperial Headquarters.

Language

Japanese

Script

Japanese (alias for Han + Hiragana + Katakana)

Genre/form

Drama

Collection information

Collection title

Kamishibai collection

Collection ID

2018C32.12417284

Collection abstract

Japanese illustrated paper play sheets, intended primarily for children and women at the homefront and dealing with World War II propaganda themes.

Rights

No known restrictions.

Holding repository

Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Preferred citation

"我は何をなすべきか Ware wa nani o nasubeki ka" (What we are supposed to do), 1944 October 15, Kamishibai collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, https://n2t.net/ark:/54723/h3fp4v

Identifiers

Record ID

2018C32.00019

Permalink

https://n2t.net/ark:/54723/h3fp4v

RefID

ba37d660653cda2613d8964b204cb51e

EZID

ark:/54723/h3fp4v

Digitization information

Imaging system

iXG 100MP, Phase One

Capture date

2020-11-11T15:59:54-08:00