"Barefoot Gen" also appeals in Russian I want you to listen now January 12 17:22
Barefoot Gen is a manga about a young boy who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
So far translated into 24 languages of the world, Gen is roaming the world to end the stupid wars and nuclear weapons.
The first complete translation of the book was actually the Russian edition.
With Russia invading Ukraine and flaunting its nuclear arsenal, the woman who translated the story into Russian once again asks people all over the world to listen to Gen's words.
(Hiroshima Broadcasting Station Reporter Kentaro Ishikawa)
"Barefoot Gen" drawn after losing his father, older sister, younger brother, and younger sister
Keiji Nakazawa, a cartoonist who was exposed to the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima when he was 6 years old.
His work "Barefoot Gen" is based on his own experience of losing his father, older sister, younger brother, and his younger sister who was born on August 6th.
I want people around the world to know about the atomic bomb.
Nankai Asatsuma, 80, from Kanazawa City, took advantage of the Russian she had learned since she was a student, and spent seven years from 1994 translating all 10 volumes of "Barefoot Gen" into Russian.
She got her start when she was involved in translating a reading drama about the atomic bombing.
Nankaie Asatsuma, translator of the Russian version:
“A Russian colleague who was working with me on the translation asked me how the atomic bomb was actually dropped. I think it's so well-known that it's written in , but I'm surprised that the actual situation is not known."
I want people overseas to know about the atomic bomb.
For that reason, he thought it would be best to have him read Barefoot Gen.
When I wrote a letter to Mr. Nakazawa, the author, I got a reply of acceptance.
The Russian version is complete, comments from Ukraine and Russia
He has worked on the translation work with Russian students living in the region, and has also done activities to donate the completed manga to overseas schools and libraries.
Then, we received comments from overseas readers.
Comment from Ukraine
"What we have to do now is to pass on the memory of this tragedy from generation to generation. I was shocked by the paintings and cried while reading the books. In my heart. It leaves a deep scar and is deeply etched in our memory, but it can also create an aversion to war in people's minds."
The people of Russia, a nuclear superpower, seemed to take the damage caused by nuclear weapons as their own through this cartoon.
Comments from Russia
"I read while feeling the suffering of the main characters in the pictures. The events depicted in this book didn't seem so distant in terms of distance and time."
Comments from Russia
"Hiroshima" And the terror of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki became more comprehensible.The civilians represented by Gen and his family suffered the most.Many years after the tragedy, this work conveys to new generations the horrors of that time."
Through the manga I translated, people overseas learned about the tragedy caused by the atomic bombing, and they felt that the same thing should never happen again.
Ms. Asazuma felt that she was sowing the seeds of peace as she reread her impressions.
Even if you sow the seeds of peace... Russia's military invasion
However, Russia, the country where Asatsuma was trying to translate and spread his work, launched a military invasion of Ukraine last February.
Asatsuma has mixed feelings.
Ms. Nankai Asatsuma:
“I was very happy to be able to convey peace in the Russian language that I had studied, but now I am really disappointed that it has been used as a word to cause war. I felt how powerless I was in front of international politics even if I spread Gen."
Mr. Nakazawa who fought in the manga
In 1961, Keiji Nakazawa, the creator of Barefoot Gen, moved to Tokyo with the dream of becoming a manga artist.
After living in Tokyo, he became disgusted with the cold stares of those who discriminated and prejudiced A-bomb survivors, and decided never to talk about the atomic bombing again.
It was the death of his mother, Kimiyo, who supported his life after the atomic bombing, that prompted Nakazawa to create numerous works on themes of war and peace.
Nakazawa once said in an NHK interview:
Mr. Keiji Nakazawa (broadcast in 2005)
"When my mother was cremated after the funeral, there were no bones. I was surprised. I was shocked to find out what it means to have no bones, and that the radiation from the atomic bomb had taken away the bones of my bones. thought"
According to his wife, Misayo, after the funeral, on the train returning from Hiroshima to Tokyo, Nakazawa sat in thought without saying a word.
After being cremated, his mother's remains were so fragile that not even her skull was left.
Until his death in December 2012, he left a number of works on war and the atomic bomb throughout his life.
“Grassroots translation spreads” a message that transcends national borders
Mr. Asatsuma completed the Russian version of the manga, hoping that people would read it, which is filled with Mr. Nakazawa's determination, his anger toward war, and his desire for peace.
As a result, she received many inquiries about translating it into other languages.
Mr. Asatsuma supported the activity by providing blank data for the dialogue part that he had painstakingly produced independently for the Russian version.
Ms. Nankai Asatsuma:
“It wasn’t that I spread the word, but that the translation spread through the grassroots. Everyone understands the meaning of this book, so I think they strongly want to translate it.”
Mr. Nakazawa was very pleased to see Barefoot Gen being translated into foreign languages one after another and spreading throughout the world.
Ms. Nankai Asatsuma
“I heard that whenever a new translation came out, Mr. Nakazawa would put the book on his desk and smile.
Asatsuma and his colleagues established an NPO to promote Barefoot Gen.
I received a letter from Mr. Nakazawa at the time of her first general meeting.
It had been sent from her sickbed about 20 days before she died, written by her wife.
A letter from Mr. Nakazawa
"Gen is walking around the world barefoot. Hundreds of thousands of Gens are walking around the world barefoot and determined to do their best to eliminate stupid wars and nuclear weapons. To all of you, Gen. Please lend me your strength. I'm sure Gen will survive strong.
Gen's unfading words Now is the time for many people in the world
"Barefoot Gen", which has been serialized for 50 years.
It has been translated into 24 languages so far, and has continued to convey the consequences of war and nuclear weapons across national borders.
However, Mr. Nakazawa's wishes have not been fulfilled, and war and nuclear weapons have not disappeared.
Asatsuma says that now is the time for more people to know Gen's powerful words, which have not faded, and Nakazawa's thoughts contained in them.
Ms. Nankai Asatsuma, translator of the Russian version,
“I think it is very important to nip the buds that may lead to war because once the tide of war begins, it cannot be stopped. To know, to feel, and to act.I think that if a lot of people who can act for peace get together, something can be changed.More and more people are thinking about peace by broadening their horizons. It would be nice if they could, and I hope Gen will work for that."
Hiroshima Broadcasting Station Reporter
Kentaro Ishikawa In charge of coverage of the
2018 entry
war and atomic bomb survivors Coverage of the
Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna