Barefoot Gen

Barefoot Gen (はだしのゲン, Hadashi no Gen) is a Japanese manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a Hiroshima survivor, the series begins in 1945 in and around Hiroshima, Japan, where the six-year-old boy Gen Nakaoka lives with his family. After Hiroshima is destroyed by atomic bombing, Gen and other survivors are left to deal with the aftermath. It ran in several magazines, including Weekly Shōnen Jump, from 1973 to 1985. It was subsequently adapted into three live action film adaptations directed by Tengo Yamada, which were released between 1976 and 1980. Madhouse released two anime films, one in 1983 and one in 1986. In 2007, a live action television drama series adaptation aired in Japan on Fuji TV over two nights, August 10 and 11.

Publication history

Cartoonist Keiji Nakazawa created the feature "Ore wa Mita", an eyewitness account of the atomic-bomb devastation in Japan, in the monthly manga Monthly Shōnen Jump in 1972. (Translated into English as "I Saw It", it ran in the United States in Educomics' Food First Comics in 1982.)^[1] Nakazawa went on to serialize the longer, autobiographical Hadashi No Gen (Barefoot Gen)^[1] beginning in the June 4, 1973 edition of Weekly Shōnen Jump manga magazine,^[2] It was cancelled after a year and a half, and moved to three other less widely distributed magazines: Shimin (Citizen), Bunka Hyōron (Cultural Criticism), and Kyōiku Hyōron (Educational Criticism). It was published in book collections in Japan beginning in 1975.

Plot

The story begins in Hiroshima during the final months of World War II. Six-year-old Gen Nakaoka and his family live in poverty and struggle to make ends meet. Gen's father Daikichi urges them to "live like wheat," which always grows strong despite being trod on. Daikichi is critical of the war. When he shows up drunk to a mandatory combat drill and backtalks to his instructor, the Nakaokas are branded as traitors and subject to harassment and discrimination by their neighbors. To restore his family's honour, Gen's older bother Koji joins the Navy against Daikichi's wishes, where he is subjected to a brutal training regimen by his commanding officer. On August 6, the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. Gen's father and siblings perish in the fires, but he and his mother escape. The shock causes her to give premature birth; Gen's new sister is named Tomoko.

In the days following the attack, Gen and his mother witness the horrors wrought by the bomb. Hiroshima lies in ruins, and the city is full of people dead and dying from severe burns and radiation sickness. Gen meets a girl named Natsue, whose face has been severely burned. She attempts to commit suicide, but Gen convinces her to continue living. Gen and his mother adopt an orphan named Ryuta, who by sheer coincidence looks identical to Gen's deceased younger brother Shinji. After Gen returns to their burnt-out home and retrieves the remains of his father and siblings, he and his family go to live with Kime's friend Kiyo. However, Kiyo's crotchety mother-in-law conspires with her grandchildren to drive the Nakaokas out.

Gen looks for work to pay the family's rent. A man hires him to look after his brother Seiji, who has been burnt from head to toe and lives in squalor. Though Seiji is reluctant at first, he warms up to Gen over time: The boy learns Seiji is an artist who has lost the will to live because his burns have left him unable to hold a brush. With Gen's help, Seiji learns to paint with his teeth but, eventually, he dies of his wounds. On August 14, Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender over the radio, ending the war.

Following Japan's unconditional surrender, American occupation forces arrive to help the nation rebuild. Gen and Ryuta, fearing rumours they've heard about the Americans, arm themselves with a pistol they find in an abandoned weapons cache. They learn the Americans aren't as bad as they'd thought when they're given free candy, but they also witness a group of American soldiers harvesting organs from corpses for medical research. Kiyo's mother-in-law evicts the Nakaokas after Gen gets into a fight with her grandchildren, and they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. Gen and Ryuta attempt to earn money to feed Tomoko, getting involved with the local Yakuza. After the Yakuza betray them, Ryuta kills one of them with the pistol they found and becomes a fugitive. Later, Gen learns that Tomoko has been kidnapped. He finds her with the help of a classmate, only to learn that she's become ill. Tomoko dies soon after.

In December 1947, Gen is reunited with Ryuta, who has become a juvenile delinquent, doing odd jobs for the Yakuza. He meets Katsuko, a girl scarred by burns from the bomb. As an orphan and a hibakusha, she is subject to discrimination and cannot go to school; Gen lends her his books and teaches her himself.

Themes

Major themes throughout the work are power, hegemony, resistance and loyalty.

Gen's family suffers as all families do in war. They must conduct themselves as proper members of society, as all Japanese are instructed in paying tribute to the Emperor. But because of a belief that their involvement in the war is due to the greed of the rich ruling class, Gen's father rejects the military propaganda and the family comes to be treated as traitors. Gen's family struggles with their bond of loyalty to each other and to a government that is willing to send teenagers on suicide missions in battle. This push and pull relationship is seen many times as Gen is ridiculed in school, mimicking his father's views on Japan's role in the war, and then is subsequently punished by his father for spouting things he learned through rote brainwashing in school.

Many of these themes are put into a much harsher perspective when portrayed alongside themes of the struggle between war and peace.

Takayuki Kawaguchi (川口 隆行, Kawaguchi Takayuki), author of "Barefoot Gen and ‘A bomb literature’ re-recollecting the nuclear experience," (「はだしのゲン」と「原爆文学」 ――原爆体験の再記憶化をめぐって, “Hadashi no Gen” to “Genbaku Bungaku”—Genbaku Taiken no Saikiokuka o Megutte) believes that the characters Katsuko and Natsue coopt but change the stereotypical "Hiroshima Maiden" story, as typified in Black Rain, as although courageous, Katsuko and Natsue are severely scarred both physically and mentally.^[3]

Translations

A volunteer pacifist organization, Project Gen, formed in Tokyo in 1976 to produce English translations.^[4] Leonard Rifas' EduComics (together with World Color Press) published it that same year as Gen of Hiroshima, the "first full-length translation of a manga from Japanese into English to be published in the West."^[4][5] It was unpopular, however, and the series was cancelled after two volumes.^[6]

The group Rondo Gen published an Esperanto translation as Nudpieda Gen (Barefoot Gen) in 1982. The chief translator was Izumi Yukio.

The German Rowohlt Verlag published only the first volume in 1982 under their mass-market label rororo. Carlsen Comics tried it again in 2004 but cancelled the publication after four volumes. Both publishers took the name "Barfuß durch Hiroshima" (Barefoot through Hiroshima).

The first volume was published in Norwegian in 1986 by GEVION norsk forlag A/S. The Norwegian title is "Gen, Gutten fra Hiroshima" (Gen, the Boy from Hiroshima). A similar edition in Swedish ("Gen – Pojken från Hiroshima'" was published in 1985 by Alvglans förlag, which may have been the earliest published manga in Swedish.^[7]

The first volume was published in Finnish in 1985 by Jalava, becoming the first Japanese comic to be published in Finland, but publishing was likewise abandoned. The Finnish title is "Hiroshiman poika" (The Son of Hiroshima), and Finnish translation was done by Kaija-Leena Ogihara. In 2006 Jalava republished the first volume (with its original translation) and continued with publication of second volume.

New Society Publishers produced a second English-language run of the series in graphic novel format (as Barefoot Gen: The Cartoon Story of Hiroshima) starting in 1988.^[4]

New English edition

A new English translation has been released by Last Gasp (starting in 2004) with an introduction by Art Spiegelman, who has compared the work to his own work, Maus (which is about the experiences of Spiegelman's father during the Holocaust in Europe).

• Barefoot Gen #1: A Cartoon Story Of Hiroshima (ISBN 0867196025)
• Barefoot Gen #2: The Day After (ISBN 086719619X)
• Barefoot Gen #3: Life After The Bomb (ISBN 0867195940)
• Barefoot Gen #4: Out Of The Ashes (ISBN 0867195959)
• Barefoot Gen #5: The Never-Ending War (17 April 2008, ISBN 0-86719-596-7)
• Barefoot Gen #6: Writing the Truth (17 April 2008, ISBN 0-86719-597-5)
• Barefoot Gen #7: Bones into Dust (5 Mar 2009, ISBN 0-86719-598-3)
• Barefoot Gen #8: Merchants of Death (9 April 2009, ISBN 0-86719-599-1)
• Barefoot Gen #9: Breaking Through Borders (10 Feb 2010, ISBN 0-86719-600-9)
• Barefoot Gen #10: Never Give Up (10 Feb 2010, ISBN 0-86719-601-7)

Nakazawa planned to present a set of the series to US President Barack Obama to caution against nuclear proliferation.^[8]

Media

Films

Live-action

In 1976, 1977 and 1980, Tengo Yamada directed three live-action version films.

• Barefoot Gen Part 1 (1976)
• Barefoot Gen: Explosion of Tears (1977)
• Barefoot Gen: Part 3 Battle of Hiroshima (1980)

Animated films

Two animated films were based on the manga, in 1983 and 1986, both directed by Mori Masaki for a production company that Nakazawa founded.

• Barefoot Gen (1983)
• Barefoot Gen 2 (1986)

Barefoot Gen 2 is set three years after the bomb fell. It focuses on the continuing survival of Gen and orphans in Hiroshima.

Often action, dialogue and the images are almost expressionistic to add to the impact of the film. The falling of the bomb is shown first from the American point of view which is very orderly and impassive. Then, when the bomb explodes, the view is from the Japanese showing powerful images of people being graphically vaporized, buildings exploding and multi-color explosions.

Initially released individually on dub-only VHS tape by Streamline Pictures, and then dub-only DVD by Image Entertainment, Geneon eventually sold bilingual versions of the film on DVD as a set.

TV drama

A two episode TV drama was produced by Fuji Television in 2007 and was aired over two days.

• Barefoot Gen (2007)

Books

10 books have been published about Barefoot Gen.

Operas and musicals

Some operas and musicals of Barefoot Gen have been on show.

Feature film

• A Hollywood producer is interested in a studio version of the manga.^[9]

Reception

The manga has sold over 6.5 million copies.^[10]

The Barefoot Gen anime made TIME magazine's list of top 5 anime DVDs.^[11]

Controversy

In 2013, Barefoot Gen was removed from libraries of elementary schools and junior high schools^[12] of Matsue city in Japan,^[13] after a complaint was made that Barefoot Gen "describes atrocities by Japanese troops that did not take place".^[14]

See also

• Honkawa Elementary School Peace Museum
• White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007)
• Grave of the Fireflies

References

External links

• Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen) at the Internet Movie Database
• "はだしのゲン (Hadashi no Gen)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Archived from the original on 18 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-19. 
• Group of Volunteers Translating and Publishing a Comic "Barefoot Gen"