Re: Letters exchanged with my mother -2 (by Honobono)

Letters exchanged with my mother No.2

(Texts of post cards and letters are original, but of course all of them are written in the vertical direction, which is of a usual Japanese style those days.)
------------------------------------------------

Post cards to the Ochiai family
(On that day I wrote 2 pieces of post cards succeedingly. In this connection a post card cost 5 sen those days. )

June 2, 1945
Dear my father and mother,

I hope you are all well.
Please don't worry about me because I've been fine and had an enjoyable life for 2 months since joining the Army Cadet School. I believe that defense against air raids not only in Kyoto but also in your family becomes complete though recently enemy planes attack Japan very often. All of our students are working for defense against air raids even at the school and we're sending our winter night trousers to the safer country side.

Crops which we are cultivating in the fields of the school are really growing up. We can expect big harvest this autumn. I've heard you are going to harvest barley soon. How much barley can you get in your fields?

I'm so sorry I refused to see you on 27th(on the last holiday). Instead of that I climbed up Mt. Nijyousan with my comrades and refreshed myself very much. From the top of the mountain I couldn't view Kyoto, but was able to see the Osaka Bay a little faraway.

We're now talking with our friends about coming back home, but I hear about our school principals plan that only the students of the first year might come back home. But please don't look forward to seeing me because it depends on a war situation. We don't know whether the progress of a war is good or not.

Yesterday 200 or 300 enemy planes (B 29) stroke our area. Is Kyoto all right? We clearly saw 6 ones to be shot down, with our own eyes.

Today we took a physical exam, and got vaccinated against smallpox and had a very big injection against typhus. I gained 1.2kg weight, my breast became 2.9cm bigger and I became taller than a previous physical exam constantly. A rainy season has finally come. My father and mother, please take care.

Sincerely,
Hideo

From Hideo Ochiai
The third room, the 6th training group, the 49th graduate
Osaka Army Cadet School
-----------------------------------------------------

A letter from my mother
(a lot of sentences including a postscript are fully written in 2 pieces of rough and cheaper paper. The envelope is made by hand. A stamp cost 10 sen at that time.)

June 12, 1945
Dear Hideo Ochiai,
The third room, the 6th training group, the 49th graduate,
Osaka Army Cadet School, Nagano-cho, Minami Kawachi-gun, Osaka-fu

I feel summer has suddenly come.
Your father visited you on 10th. I'm so glad to hear from him that you are getting better and better than before. I'd like to visit you once, too, but I couldn't see you on that day because I wasn't able to have my transportation ticket available unluckily.

I'm really pleased that you can understand math much better than before. Anyway, ask your senior students as I usually tell you because the spirit of study about everything is important for you. I hope you have a good result !

It seems that your school is really eager to produce crops. I also produce crops very hard because everybody is self sufficient. I will have harvest barley in a few days. By the way, I wonder how much barley I can get. I'll make parched barley flour.

In the near future I'm going to plant potatoes outside. Though I remember you got soil of the fields turned over very deeply last year, I (your mother) will do this year.

I looked at the photo sent from you very fondly, but I recognized only Mr. Kageyama among your other friends who stayed in an inn with you at that time. All of them in it looked proud and they will become brave special attack corps in future. I think they are really reliable.
Take care of yourself after injection and don't overwork.

By the way, recently enemy planes attack Japan very often. Pay attention to them. Don't worry about me (your mother) because I won't be killed by them easily. The Japanese mainland has now actually become a battle field.
Lets show our Japanese pride to the enemy!

Your aunt's children (The Shinohara family) are going to come to our home for some time.
I've heard from your aunt( Mrs. Hirano) that she is recently missing her hometown because she moved into the very lonely mountains.
Tell Kousuke Shimizu in your letter that he must take an exam of the Army Cadet School this year because he is now in the first year of a junior high school.
Ken, our neighbour, recently is working at the Shugakuin School.

Well, I'll write to you in my next letter.
Take care and discipline yourself!

from your mother,
Kayoko

P.S. It has been drizzling since yesterday. I feel it is the middle of a rainy season.
If it were fine today, we would have helped a farmer for his harvest barley.