著者

小川 正廣 OGAWA Masahiro

出版者

名古屋大学文学部

雑誌

名古屋大学文学部研究論集. 文学 (ISSN:04694716)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.59, pp.1-33, 2013-03-31

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In 1956 more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers who had been detained for six years in the Fushun and Taiyuan War Criminals Management Centres of the People's Republic of China were released without any punishment after their painful confessions of all the sinful acts committed in China during the Second World War and their heartfelt apologies to the Chinese. This unusual event has been called the Miracle in Fushun. The present paper discusses the process of how these typical Japanese Devils (Riben guizi in Chinese) were mentally rehabilitated and morally reformed to be ordinary human beings, by closely comparing their case with that of another most devilish character who appears in Virgil's Aeneid and is also spiritually regenerated after the death of his son: Mezentius, the Etruscan cruel tyrant and terrible warrior. In conclusion it will be pointed out that, although the Japanese war criminals were legally forgiven by the Chinese government and Mezentills, having no more intention than opportunity of seeking forgiveness, punishes himself by facing death resolutely, the difference does not affect the sincerity of the ex-Japanese soldiers' repentance, especially because they have been feeling and even trying hard to show publicly, since the unexpected merciful judgement of the Chinese, all the deeper remorse for their past crimes and the stronger desire for lifelong atonement to the victims who were sacrificed by them to the Japanese invasion of China and their own brutality.