Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

surfaced for the first time in 1938 and have since been acclaimed as evidence of the atrocitiesin Nanking truly capture scenes of Japanese brutality? Do they deserve categorization assolid evidence of the incident known as the Nanking massacre? These questions promptedme and other members of the research group to start investigating each one of thesephotographs.iSuzuki Akira, Nankin daigyakusatsu no maboroshi [The Illusion of the Great Nanking Massacre] (Tokyo, AsukaShinsha, 1999), p. 292. Kitamura Minoru, Nankin jiken no tankyū [Investigation of the Nanking Incident](Tokyo: Bungeishunjū, 2001), p. 31.iiKitamura, Nankin jiken no tankyū, p. 43. Higashinakano Osamichi, ed., Nankin ‘gyakusatsu’ kenkyū nosaizensen [The Front Line of Research of the Nanking “Massacre” ] 2003 (Tokyo: Tendensha, 2003), p. 268.iiiHigashinakano, ed., Nankin ‘gyakusatsu’ kenkyū no saizensen, p. 260.iv Ibid., p. 296. Matsumura Toshio, ‘Nankin gyakusatsu’ e no daigimon [A Serious Doubt on the NankingMassacre] (Tokyo: Tendensha, 1998), p. 40.v Higashinakano, ed., Nankin ‘gyakusatsu’ kenkyū no saizensen, p. 280.viIbid. Tomizawa Shigenobu, Nankin jiken no kakushin [Core of the Nanking Incident] (Tokyo: Tendensha,2003). Idem, Nankin anzenchitai no kiroku: kan’yaku to kenkyū [Document of the Nanking Safety Zone: ItsFull Translation and Investigation] (Tokyo: Tendensha, 2004).viiHigashinakano Osamichi, “Nanking ‘Daigyakusatsu’ o kutsugaesu ketteiteki shōko o hakkutsu shita” [Iunearthed a piece of decisive proof that disproves the Rape of Nanking], Seiron, April 2003.viiiMao Zedong never mentioned a “massacre” either following the Japanese capture of Nanking or after the war.Oddly, it is only recently that the Chinese Communists have used “Nanking” as a propaganda tool. (Mao: TheUnknown Story by Chang and Halliday, 2006).12