Analyzing the âPhotographic Evidenceâ of the Nanking Massacre

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Photo 140—one of Murase’s—shows the Zhongshan Gate seen from the outside.So does Photo K, which a correspondent of the Tokyo Nichinichi Newspaper took onDecember 16, 1937. As for Photo L, it was a photo of the same gate filmed from theinside on December 17—the date of the victory parade. A close look at the passages ofthe gate on these photographs reveals that the debris seen at these gate passages on Photo Khad been removed considerably on Photo 140. On Photo L—the last taken of thethree—one can see one of the passages (indicated as “a”) completely open, and two othersPhoto K Photo 140Photo LPhoto 140: Watashi no jūgun Chūgoku sensen, p. 43.Photo K: The Zhongshan Gate seen from the outside of the city walls. Photographed onDecember 16, 1937. Tokyo Nichinichi Newspaper.Photo L: The Zhongshan Gate seen from the inside of the city walls. Photographed onDecember 17, 1937. Tokyo Nichinichi Newspaper.221
half open. Since Murase most likely took his photograph on December 16 or 17, he couldhave entered the city through the passage “a.”If his unit had to stay outside the city walls under an order, it was most likelybecause of a practical reason. Since two other passages of the gate were still blocked bydebris, its removal required the use of vehicles. Thus, Murase’s unit was outside the citywalls probably because it was assigned to transport that debris out from the city gatepassages. Another possible reason was that the Japanese army command allowed onlythose units assigned with specific missions to enter the city and prohibited the entry ofothers. This restriction, partly for the security of the civilians, also required each unit tobe quartered only at a designated location.Although Murase noted a rumor of the massacre perpetrated by the Japanesetroops, he did not record when and from whom he heard it. Nor did he verify that rumor.In reality, he certainly saw dead bodies but did not witness the actual scene of the killing.Commenting on Photos 138 and 139, which he himself took, Murase said,When the restriction on my unit’s movement was finally lifted, I went to theXiakuan wharf to receive some cargos. There, I saw the river shore filledwith corpses. Buried partially in the mud of the shore, they covered aboutten meters from the shore. I wondered if that was the very spot where themassacre as rumored had taken place. There were practically no uniformedmen, and most of them were plain-clothed civilians that seemingly includedsome women and children.His wordings like “I wondered . . .” and “seemingly included some women andchildren” suggest that he presented only his speculations. The readers, however, may welljudge these scenes depicted on the photographs as an aftermath of the massacre.Whether or not those bodies shown on the photos belonged to the victims of thealleged massacre is, however, an open question. One may even question whether or notthere was really a massacre in the Xiakuan area.Contingents of the Japanese army and navy made their final approach to Xiakuanon December 13. According to an account which Hashimoto Mochiyuki of the Japanesenavy contributed to the Kaikō [ex-Japanese army officers’ association] magazine, “SomeChinese soldiers held on to their rifles or machine-guns, but none of them were wearinguniforms” in the Xiakuan area. The Japanese troops encountered those plain-clothedChinese soldiers who were about to begin their attempt to swim across the Yangzi River.Referring to these Chinese soldiers, Sekiguchi Kōzō of the Japanese navy said in hisrecollection published on the same magazine, “None of them displayed a white flag orraised their hands to surrender to us.” As long as the opponent indicated no sign ofsurrendering, the Japanese forces had to continue their military actions. In response, theChinese military men either counterattacked by firing their weapons, or tried to escape onboard some floating objects like rafts or by swimming.Kajiya Takeo, who was a sergeant of the Nanking second anchorage unit,described the aftermath of this battle in his field diary. In his diary entry of December 22,222
Page 1 and 2:
Analyzing the “Photographic Evide
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List of AbbreviationsCCPGMDICNSZIMT
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heard about the Rape of Nanking. I
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Discovery of a “top secret” GMD
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only in the Chinese edition of Timp
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Photos C and D, which appeared in t
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Nanking massacre was published with
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Chapter 1: Realities of the Battle
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August 12, the Chinese army’s for
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Crisscrossed runningcanals.” Mans
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“Death-defying aerial photograph
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Sunday, November 28: Wang Gupan, ch
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Zhonghua Gate. Viewphotographed fro
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Escape of garrison commander TangTh
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Soldiers shouting “banzai” on t
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soldiers from civilians. Again, thi
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For example, combatants who are cap
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Graph: Nihon no senreki [Mainichi G
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An important fact is that the Japan
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the city.Given the non-occurrence o
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Victory ceremony in front of the GM
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Nanking Citizens Relinquishes Anti-
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I heard a hymn accompanied by an or
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Children riding mules in front ofNa
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with Chinese staff members of the s
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One week after the fall of Nanking.
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Peddlers wishing to trade withJapan
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My mission was to visit the office
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Chapter: The First “Photographic
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Analyses of Group A photographs1. S
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Contemporary Japanese publications,
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Of course, the image of a lone infa
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Photos D and E are in a booklet ent
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(c) Bombing of the USS PanayRBS lis
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Photos C and D: The Panay sinking i
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about-to-take-place beheading was a
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(a) Four military personnel at the
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of a living person posing for the c
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Apart from this speculation, anothe
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8. Apparently, no one in uniform ha
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the quote above makes it clear that
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Photo A: A clip of Photo 13 as prin
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Photo 15: “Shatou.” The first a
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Formation of thegroundPhoto C: “P
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Four identical individuals are show
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As for Chiang Kai-shek and his GMD,
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3. Still Images of Dead BodiesIf th
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Timperly may well have selected thi
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According to the RBS’s caption,
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Photos 26-28:RBS was the first sour
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One can easily point out difference
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Shanghai. Several photos I saw when
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In 1998, however, Hata Ikuhiko unea
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Photo E: Asahi Graph, 10 November 1
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Photo I: The original of Photo 36 w
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Photo J: This is the original of Ph
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however, stated that the girl in th
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Group B photographs: Photographs th
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WMRB introduces Photo 45-51 as scen
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Photo 48Photo 49117
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According to the caption of Photo 5
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Agnes Smedley describes how the Com
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Photo 58Photo 59Photo 60123
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The RBS caption of Photo 62 says,
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Conclusion: Composite, Play-up, Rep
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The following sources made referenc
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Horizontal and vertical ratio of th
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Photo 133
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have not been seen by anyone else u
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137
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The same background as the “origi
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Photo G Photo F Photo CPhoto C: RON
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“Courtesy of Marion Fitch”RON-Y
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some 50 photographs which he had ta
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Fitch Photos -(21)Photo 93 Photo 91
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Photo B Photo A Photo 84Photos 84 a
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Photo 88Photo 88: An identical phot
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and 90, one may assume that the pho
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Forty-five years later, however, Na
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Japanese side. But [the unearthed m
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(2) Alleged murder of childrenAmong
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It is Carl Mydans, an American in C
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inspired anti-Japanese sentiment am
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Another notable fact is that a sold
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military have appeared in several N
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Photo 102Photo 102: One of the phot
Page 173 and 174: Photo PPhoto OPhoto O: Watashi no j
Page 175 and 176: In one case a [Communist] Party mem
Page 177 and 178: In view of such a Chinese tradition
Page 179 and 180: army’s conduct after its entry in
Page 181 and 182: Photo 108Photo 108: “[C]hildren b
Page 183 and 184: Photo UPhoto U: Type-94 light armor
Page 185 and 186: Army rose near Zhonghua Gate.” Ju
Page 187 and 188: (11) Images of Shanghai re-captione
Page 189 and 190: Chapter 4: Misleading use of the Ph
Page 191 and 192: * Magee photo (1)Magee’s film (MF
Page 193 and 194: * Magee photo (3)MF: Group of women
Page 195 and 196: This photograph has been cited as e
Page 197 and 198: (d) Ulterior motive behind the incl
Page 199 and 200: discrepancy between the realities i
Page 201 and 202: Photo 126Photo 126: RON-YY, which f
Page 203 and 204: Images Photographed by the Westerne
Page 205 and 206: As for Photo 130, RON-YY said, “O
Page 207 and 208: Photo A Photo 131Photo 131: Second
Page 209 and 210: and she found the following passage
Page 211 and 212: Images Photographed by the Japanese
Page 213 and 214: Photo 134Photo 134: Zusetsu Shōwa
Page 215 and 216: Photo FPhoto DPhoto EPhotos D and E
Page 217 and 218: much larger number POWs obeyed a sm
Page 219 and 220: Photo IPhoto 136Photo I: Fukyoka sh
Page 221 and 222: As for Nihon no shinryaku: Chūgoku
Page 223: Shanxi Province, and Nomonhan durin
Page 227 and 228: Map 2Map 2: “Assault on Nanking.
Page 229 and 230: Photo N: A photograph among the rec
Page 231 and 232: emoved them away from the shore to
Page 233 and 234: find an old man lying on the ground
Page 235 and 236: spring or summer time—as illustra
Page 237 and 238: correspondents who assisted in the
Page 239: e-captioned pieces. This publicatio
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Analyzing the âPhotographic Evidenceâ of the Nanking Massacre

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Analyzing the âPhotographic Evidenceâ of the Nanking Massacre