Re: Letters exchanged with my mother -3 (by Honobono)

Letters exchanged with my mother No. 3
Post cards to the Ochiai family

I was guided by my boss that if I had nothing particular in my daily lives in my Army Cadet School days, I should write to my parents only "I'm fine." I actually did something like that.
I introduce you 3 post cards from the end of July to the end of the war as follows, never changing their contents.
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July 30,1945

I'm well.
All of my comrades safely came back to the school.
I hope you are all well.
Sincerely,
Hideo

(We had to write a diary before bedtime every day at the Army Cadet School, by grinding Chinese ink and using it. I had a bad writing in my diary in the beginning. However, I came to lose a feeling of resistance against writing in a diary by using a brush and Chinese ink.)

















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August 4, 1945

Dear my father and mother,

(Please tell me about contents and matters of communication
between the family.)

I feel like summer has come recently. I guess you are all well.
I'm also fine and have an enjoyable life, but to tell the truth, I'm so sorry that I haven't recovered from diarrhea yet and the other day I got injured in my left knee by a nail carelessly. So I've stayed in my room, stopping training and taking a rest for 2 days. But my knee has already been cured completely. And my stomach is also getting better and better.

It's time for us to harvest pumpkins in the fields of the school. According to usual harvest, we'll be able to take about 7 ton this year. We were very surprised to see that the students of the third year took a very big pumpkin (about 10 kg, 3kan) the other day. I guess you harvest as big pumpkins as in the school.

Though I took a physical examination today, unfortunately I lost 1.4 kg weight and was really disappointed to know that my weight was less than when I joined the school. -----I will improve my body, train it a lot and have a very good record this fall! Well, I hope you are all well.

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August 14,1945

Dear my father and mother,

I didn't write a letter to you for some time. Recently I have heard autumn insects chirping. I've been fine since I recovered from diarrhea.

In fact, we were forced to stop our favorite swimming and training in the mountain because of daily air raids.
On 13th, with our heavy baggages on the back, we moved into a safer place in a very clean mountain and river. We felt very pleasant that we sat down there and had rice we cooked by ourselves. The cooking was also very tasty. We are going to live in this place similar to Shugakuin for some time.

The Soviet Union also began to battle with Japan and we're in a severe condition. But our spirits are as energetic as we stick the sky. Well, I hope you are all well.

(In the evening of August 14th I wrote to my family in the Kinsen elementary school where we moved, but the next day (on August 15th) in the early morning we were forced to come back to our school at Chiyodadai in Nagano-cho and at noon we listened to the Emperor's message that the war was over, on the radio. As I was discharged from the military service, I could not post but brought it to home. )

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A letter from my mother

To Hideo Ochiai
The 6th training group, the 49th graduate Osaka
Army Cadet School 　　　 　　　　　
Chiyodadai, Nagano-cho, Minami Kawachi-gun, Osaka-fu

August 9, 1945
Dear Hideo,

Hideo, thank you for your post card as usual.
I've heard that you're fine, but you haven't recovered from diarrhea yet and I'm worried about you a little.
You are not healthy in summer every year, so it takes a long time to recover. You should be very careful of food and have less than usual, even though you're hungry, until you recover from it completely. You should bite rice in a dormitory more than twice than usual and stop eating a kind of fruit for some time.

And you should get medicine from the medical department of the school without hesitation until you get well. It's better that you will get well quickly even if you are forced to stop training and take a rest. Please take care of yourself because your stomach is very sensitive from summer to fall stomach. Don't think your body is yours only, but think it's the Emperor's and take care well.

I've heard you were injured of a nail. Never be careless. Soldiers shouldn't be careless even for a moment. I (your mother ) pray to God in order to ask for your daily health and I strongly wish you should become a brilliant officer. I've heard you have a marine training, but I wonder whether bathing is good or not for diarrhea. See a doctor and don't decide it only by yourself.

Anyway, recently the enemy is making air raids very often. So don't be injured carelessly.

I gave back your report card to your school soon after I received it. The condition of your previous health is Kou (excellent) and your personality is also very good because you are serious and cheerful. Your subjects aren't so good in this term because you joined the school from the first year. It's a shame that you couldn't get so good records as in your elementary and junior high school days.

But your record is not so bad, so-so. I hope you study harder. I believe you get better records in the next term. Math was the worst as I imagined, so ask someone about what you can't understand completely and don't leave that alone. You can't defeat the students who joined the school from the second year, but I'm sure that if you study very hard, you will catch up with them. Show your competitive spirit and do your best.

It's time for harvesting pumpkins in our fields.
The other day I got 1 kan(about 4 kg) one there for the first time. This year I'll get about 30 ones. We raised a very good tomb for your elder brother. This year we have the first memorial Bon (a Buddhist rite) for him, so we offered pumpkins and corns in our fields produced by us on the cemetery.

Etsuko's (your younger sister ) school also has air raids many times, so the school is closed for some time and some students get together at my home like a 'temple school', study together and their teachers sometimes visit them.
Children from Osaka moved into the second floor of the Hasegawa family and rent the rooms, so we have a quiet atmosphere at home again.

Don't worry about your father because he's fine and produces arms hard.
I'm sorry that you lost weight, but you shouldn't be disappointed with that and should recover from diarrhea as soon as possible because if you completely recover from it, you'll be able to regain weight. Keep your body warm and be careful not to catch a cold while sleeping in bed.

Well, I'm looking forward to hearing from you you're all right next time.

from your mother

(All of No. 1, 2 and 3 letters from my mother are mostly written by old and unusual characters (style) different from common ones. So I translated the old style into the current one in order to be able to read them easily, but I never changed the contents in her original letters.
Sixty years later when I read all of her letters over and over again, I recall those days and am so much touched by them that I can't describe my feelings with words.)