Daughters of the Dragon: A Comfort Woman's Story (5 page)

E
IGHT

F
ear kept me
awake for the rest of the night. By the time the sun rose, I was further away from my home than I had ever been before. Outside was a landscape I had never seen. There were only a few trees among the high rolling hills and brown wheat fields blanketed the flats. It was cold and the air was very dry.

I asked Soo-hee where we were. “I think we’re in China,” she answered.

By midday, we rolled into a town of low stucco buildings with gray-green tiled roofs. Men in strange clothing hauled carts down the narrow dusty streets. The truck stopped at a wooden building at the edge of the village. The driver came to the back of the truck and lowered the gate. I tried to hide behind Soo-hee.

He ordered everyone out and told us to form a line. I climbed out with the other girls and we formed a line facing the building. The driver pulled Sun-hi out by the arm and pushed her into the line. Standing before us was a thin Japanese officer in a gray army uniform and a white
Kempei-tai
armband. He had sharp, black eyes, and a pointed nose. He slapped a
shinai
against his leg. The bamboo blade made a thwacking sound with each strike. Off to the side, a young regular army soldier with a rifle leaned against the narrow building.

“What happened to this one?” the officer said, pointing his
shinai
at Sun-hi.

The driver straightened. “The clumsy girl fell out of the truck when we stopped to piss, Lieutenant.”

“Really? That had better be all that happened to her, corporal.” I wanted to tell the
kempei
what really happened, but I stayed quiet.

“Lieutenant, sir,” the driver said, “I must unload these supplies at once, and take injured soldiers to the hospital in Pushun.” He gave a quick bow and ran back to his truck. The engine started, and the truck rumbled off.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jin-sook step forward with her head lowered. “Honorable sir,” she said in Japanese, “please forgive a girl for being so bold, but there has been a mistake! Our orders said we were to work in the boot factory in Sinuiju.”

The lieutenant glowered at Jin-sook. “Come here,” he said.

Keeping her head low, Jin-sook approached the officer. He lifted her chin with the tip of his
shinai
. “A mistake was made?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered. “We were to go to the boot fa…”

With a quick motion, he punched Jin-sook in the stomach with the butt of his
shinai
. She gasped and fell to her knees. “I heard you the first time, girl. Stand up.”

Jin-sook, holding her stomach, struggled to her feet. She gasped for air. The lieutenant pointed his
shinai
at her. “Your disrespect has earned you a beating. But I can’t spoil you now, can I? Not before the officers have you. Go back in line with the others.”

Back home, I had heard other girls talk about how the Japanese beat Koreans who showed them disrespect, but I didn’t believe them. I thought they were rumors started by the Japanese to make us obey them. But now I was seeing it with my own eyes. It was terrifying and it frightened me how disrespectful I had been to the Japanese. I worried about what else I didn’t know about them.

Jin-sook, still holding her stomach, stepped back in the line. The lieutenant drew in a long breath through his nose and pointed his chin out. He began inspecting the line of girls. He slapped his
shinai
against his leg with each step. “I am Lieutenant Tanaka,” he began in a clipped authoritative way. “I’m the
kempei
in charge of this comfort station. You are our new volunteers. You will only speak to me when I ask you a question. You will only speak Japanese.” He came up to me. I lowered my eyes to the high black boots of the
Kempei-tai
.

The
kempei
lifted my chin with a finger. “You’re a young one. Pretty, too. What’s your name?”

“Hong, Ja-hee, sir,” I answered.

The
kempei
grabbed my chin and pushed his fingers hard into my jaw. He forced me to look at him. “That is a Korean name and you are a Japanese subject,” he said. “You have a Japanese name. What is it?”

“Namiko Iwata, sir,” I said, quickly.

“Namiko Iwata. Yes.” He let go of my chin and I lowered my eyes again. The
kempei
walked on.

“You will obey my orders without question,” he continued saying to all the girls. “If you do not, you will earn a beating. If you run away, we will catch you, beat you, and then shoot you. Anyway, I assure you, here there is nowhere to run.”

Jin-sook stepped forward again and dropped to her knees in the yellow dirt. She bowed her head. “Kind sir, please hear a worthless girl,” she cried. “We should not be here! We are not volunteers for your comfort station. Please sir, send us back with the truck.”

“Private Ishida!” Lieutenant Tanaka barked.

The young soldier leaning against his rifle snapped to attention. “Yes, sir?”

“Take these other girls to be examined by the doctor. Then, bring them to the courtyard.” He pointed his
shinai
at Jin-sook. “I’ll take this one. Surely the officers won’t mind one spoiled girl to show them all discipline.”

Lieutenant Tanaka grabbed Jin-sook by the hair and pulled her around the other side of the building. She twisted and sobbed. “I’m sorry, sir,” she cried. “I will not say anything more. Please! I’m sorry.”

Private Ishida ordered the rest of us to leave our packs against the building and follow him. I laid my sack next to Soo-hee’s and followed the girls down a dirt path leaving Jin-sook pleading with the
kempei
.

*

I had never seen a doctor when I was young. Back home, when someone got sick, they called a woman from the valley who, after examining the patient, prescribed special herbs. But I never needed her. So I didn’t know what to do when a nurse took me inside a white room with a bright light as the other girls sat silently in the infirmary’s hallway. The nurse pushed me to stand in front of a fat Japanese doctor who sat on a wood chair next to a cot.

The nurse left and the doctor said, “Take off your clothes.”

I wasn’t sure if I had heard him correctly. “Sir?” I said, keeping my eyes low.

“I said, take off your clothes. Do it now.”

“You want me to take off my clothes?” I asked.

The doctor leaned in and slapped me hard across my face. It was the first time anyone had struck me. The shock of it took my breath away. “I’m a doctor. I have to examine you,” he said. “Do as I say now or I’ll send you to Lieutenant Tanaka for a beating.”

I didn’t want to get a beating, so I slowly unbuttoned my shirt and pants. I untied my undergarments and let them fall to the floor. I had never been naked in front of a man before. I started to tremble. “Come closer,” the doctor said. I took a step closer. The doctor ran his hands along my torso. He pressed his fingers into my neck, stomach and chest. I flinched with each touch. He made me turn around and he put his cold stethoscope on my back and told me to breathe in slowly. I couldn’t stop trembling.

The doctor pointed at the cot and told me to lie there on my back. “Pull your knees up and spread your legs open.”

I couldn’t believe what he was telling me to do. “What are you going to do to me?” I asked.

“I need to see if you are a virgin. Now stop asking questions and do as you’re told.”

I still felt the sting from the doctor’s slap and the
kempei
and his
shinai
were fresh in my mind. So I closed my eyes and did what the doctor told me to do. My body tensed as the doctor probed me with his fingers. I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand and stifled a sob. After a few long seconds he stopped. “You’re a virgin,” he said. “I would expect it, someone as young as you, but you can never be sure. How long have you been bleeding?”

“Sir?” I asked.

“Your monthly bleed, how long has it been?”

“Five times.”

“Good. You’re clean. You have good skin and pleasing features. I’m sure Colonel Matsumoto will want you first, someone so young, so pretty. Do what he tells you and you’ll be all right. Now get dressed and go back with the others.”

I quickly dressed as the doctor washed at a porcelain basin. “Doctor,” I said, “what will the Colonel ask me to do?”

“Nothing you can’t handle,” he said without looking up.

“But what if I don’t want to do it?” I asked.

The doctor turned from the basin. “Don't talk back, girl, and do what he tells you. Now go.” I ran back to the hallway with the other girls and sat on the cold tile floor. I thought about what had happened to Sun-hi in the truck and how the
kempei
had punched Jin-sook in the stomach. I was terrified that awful things like that would happen to me, too. And I wasn’t as sure as the Doctor was that I would be able to handle it.

*

Private Ishida, his rifle in hand, led us back to the barracks. “Listen to me,” he said. “Do not cross the lieutenant or you will pay the price! Only speak Japanese. And don’t disappoint the senior officers, either. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” we replied in unison.

We came around the barracks to where the truck had dropped us off. Lieutenant Tanaka was waiting for us. Jin-sook was not with him. He ordered us to take our things and follow him. We gathered our sacks and followed him to where he had dragged Jin-sook. We came to a courtyard closed off by three long barracks, each with ten doors, closely spaced. Two wooden steps led to each door. There were no windows in the barracks. The yellow dirt in the courtyard was hard and dry.

In the center of the courtyard, Jin-sook stood with her wrists and ankles tied to a post. She was naked and she trembled visibly. She breathed in shallow sobs. We all gasped and covered our mouths when we saw her. Sun-hi began to cry quietly.

Japanese women, some dressed in
yukata
s, lounged on the steps of the largest barracks. Others leaned against walls. When we came in the courtyard, they filed out.

Lieutenant Tanaka pointed his
shinai
at the ground twenty feet in front of the post and ordered us to form a line facing Jin-sook. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as I stood at the end of the line next to Soo-hee.

Lieutenant Tanaka faced us. “You are all fortunate!” he said, strolling down the line. “You will learn what happens to a Korean girl who doesn’t please her
kempei
. You will watch the lesson without closing your eyes. If you cry, you will earn a beating. If you faint, you will earn a beating. If you vomit or piss yourself or do anything other than watch the lesson, you will earn a beating. Watch now and learn from your
kempei
.”

Lieutenant Tanaka approached Jin-sook with his
shinai
at his side. She sobbed and pleaded with the
kempei
not to beat her. She said she was sorry and wouldn’t talk back. He didn’t seem to hear her.

Lieutenant Tanaka stood in front of Jin-sook and slowly raised his
shinai
. Then he struck her across her thighs with a loud whack. Jin-sook’s body stiffened. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Lieutenant Tanaka brought the
shinai
down again on the same place and Jin-sook let out a long, jagged scream. She shook violently against the post. Lieutenant Tanaka struck her thighs again. Then again and again and again. Jin-sook screamed and jerked with each blow. She pulled hard against the ropes and they cut her wrists. Angry red welts swelled on her thighs. Urine ran down her legs.

My own thighs jerked with each strike of the
shinai
, as if Lieutenant Tanaka was beating me. I wanted desperately to close my eyes and put my hands over my ears to make the beating stop. But I was shocked at what I was seeing and so horrified, that I could not do either. Bile rose from my stomach and I was afraid I would vomit. I wanted to cry but I pushed it down inside my stomach as Soo-hee had told me to.

Then, Lieutenant Tanaka struck Jin-sook on her shins. With this blow, Jin-sook’s body stiffened again, her mouth opened wide and she took in a short gulp of air. Lieutenant Tanaka hit her in the same place and Jin-sook let out a long, mournful shriek. Mucus ran from her nose, her hair was wild and tangled. Lieutenant Tanaka struck her shins over and over, each blow causing Jin-sook to scream horribly. Finally, Jin-sook slumped unconscious against the post, her black hair falling like a veil over her face. Lieutenant Tanaka lowered his
shinai
and faced us.

I couldn’t breathe and the courtyard was spinning. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sun-hi faint. Lieutenant Tanaka pointed his
shinai
at her. “That girl has earned a beating,” he said. “Private, make a note. We will do it tomorrow.”