Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

Images Photographed by the Japanese (3): Photographs of Matsuo KunizōMatsuo Kunizō was a war correspondent cameraman of the Osaka MainichiNewspaper. One photograph with a hand-written signature reading “Photographed byMatsuo” appeared on Fukyoka shashin: siriizu 20-seiki no kiroku [Photographs notpermitted: Records of the 20 th century series].The phrase “photographs not permitted” may give the readers an impression thatthe Japanese military authorities prohibited their publication to cover up the maliciousconducts of its own armed forces. But the real reason why the authorities disallowed theirpublication was their concern that the viewers might misconstrue the scenes depicted thereif they were not provided with sufficient explanations. This underlying principle isuniversal internationally.Photo I was stamped with a mark of the Osaka Mainichi Newspaper with adate—December 16—and another mark, “not permitted.” A hand-written letters on it read,“Aftermath of severe battle in front of the South Gate. Photographed by Matsuo.” Sincethe photograph shows only dead bodies, those who see this without any explanation mayimagine something more atrocious.The “South Gate” was identical with the Zhonghua Gate, where, as previouslynoted, a severe military engagement caused a number of combat casualties both on theChinese and Japanese sides. Although the victorious force usually recovers its own dead,the losing side generally retreats by leaving behind their own casualties. Thus, as Matsuohandwrote on the photograph, this depicts an “aftermath of severe battle.”Nevertheless, RON-YY captioned this image as “A massacre site photographed bya Japanese journalist outside of the South Gate.” RON-YY’s editors seemingly pouncedon the stamp mark of “not permitted,” and arbitrarily used it as an atrocity photo.215