Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

Photo 108Photo 108: “[C]hildren blinded by warfare begging on the streets of Zhen Jiang, thestrategic front door to Nanking.” RON-YY, p. 19. “They might be war-affected orphans.”Ichioku-nin no Shōwa-shi, vol. 2. This image, however, made its media debut inMainichi-ban shina-jihen gahō, no. 49, 21 December 1938, p. 13, with a caption,“Kadozuke [outdoor music performance] of Chinese children (at Foshan in southernChina).”According to RON-YY’s caption, the children shown in Photo 108 were“[C]hildren blinded by warfare begging on the streets of Zhen Jiang, the strategic front doorto Nanking.” Ichioku-nin no Shōwa-shi, vol. 2, also contains this image with a captionreading, “They might be war-affected orphans.” The readers of these two sources maywell pity these innocent children and vent their anger at the Japanese army. Again, acompletely different explanation accompanied the original photo, which was printed inMainichi-ban Shina-jihen gahō, dated December 21, 1938. Its caption says, “Kadozuke ofChinese children (at Foshan in southern China).”Kadozuke—Menfu in Chinese—means musical performance at the housefront-gate for the purpose of making money, or those who conduct such performance.Children who intended to become skilled kadozuke player started undergoing rigorouspractice of singing or musical instrument playing at a young age. A similar tradition alsoexisted in Japan. This segment, photographed by a Japanese correspondent, thus shows179