SDHF Newsletter No.147 Tongzhou Massacre 8

“Tongzhou Massacre” Series 8
Testimonial record of survivors (4)
4) The Testimony of Ms. SASAKI Ten

November 2, 2016

This is the eighth of a series of articles pertaining to the Tongzhou Massacre, which has been submitted for inclusion in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
Ms. SASAKI Ten, from Ooita Prefecture, married a Chinese named Chen (沈) and moved to China. She lived in Tongzhou at the time of the Incident. On the morning of July 29, being drawn by murmuring (“Something odd is going on in Japanese residential district”), hiding behind the shadow of her husband, she witnessed the crime. Returning to Japan after a divorce, she was fearful of mentioning the Incident to anyone or that she had even lived in Tongzhou
After speaking with a senior monk, Shirabe Kanga, at a Buddhist Temple, she was able to open up and speak about her experience. A chronicle of her statements was published and authored by Shirabe, “The Emperor is Crying” (l997, published by Kyoiku-sha), with nearly 50 pages of commentary.
Compared to other testimonies, Ms. Sasaki’s testimony is that of a witness, watching the atrocities as they occurred, and so, by its nature, very precious source material.
From Ms. Sasaki’s statement:
“From the house a young [Japanese] woman was dragged out. She looked like someone’s young daughter and appeared to be about 15 or 16 with fair skin. It was a [Chinese] student who dragged her out. And he stated found her hiding and dragged her out. The face of the young lady was hard with fear. Her body was violently shaking. The student who dragged her out had a smile on his face, as if he had just pulled out a kitten out from hiding… [annotated 8 lines] The student suddenly threw the girl down to the pavement, then ripped off her undergarments. The young lady screamed ‘Please help me!’ It was at that moment, one Japanese man jumped out. And as if to cover her body he threw himself onto her. He was probably her father. Then a [Chinese] militia man struck the head of this man with the butt of a rifle. A crushing sound was heard. The man’s head split open…”

Gruesome atrocities committed during the Tongzhou Massacre appear to be endless in Ms. Sasaki’s testimony. While horrifying, Ms. Sasaki’s testimony vividly conveys heinous acts of Chinese barbarism.

English translation: URL: https://www.sdh-fact.com/essay-article/854/

PDF：https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Testimony-of-Ms.-Sasaki-Ten.pdf

Questions are welcome.

MOTEKI Hiromichi, Acting Chairman
for KASE Hideaki, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact