群蝶の木
“Gunchō no ki” [Tree of Butterflies]
JAPANESE TEXT:
Medoruma, Shun. “Gunchō no ki” [The Tree of Butterflies]. Gunchō no ki. Tokyo: Asahi shinbunsha, 2001. 169-227.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Medoruma, Shun. “Tree of Butterflies.” Trans. Aimée Mizuno. Islands of Protest: Japanese Literature from Okinawa. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2016. 71-112.
1. Introduction
“Gunchō no ki” was first published in the 2000 summer edition of Shūkan asahi bessatsu shōsetu trippā, a literary magazine. In the following year, the story was republished in Gunchō no ki, a collection that includes four short stories: “Kikyō,” “Hakuri,” “Shomei,” and “Gunchō no ki.”
“Gunchō no ki” tells the story of Yoshiaki, a young man who returns to his hometown and meets an old woman who was a comfort woman during the war. Her name is Gozei, and she has senile dementia. During the Harvest Festival, Yoshiaki is surprised when Gozei suddenly starts staring at him and shouting, “Shōsei! Shōsei!”
After this incident, Yoshiaki begins to think about Gozei and Shōsei, the person Gozei mistook him for. He finds the same name on one of his family mortuary tablets, and begins to wonder about Gozei and Shōsei’s relationship. Yoshiaki tries to talk to Gozei, but her dementia causes her to lose her temper. Instead, Yoshiaki visits Mr. Uchima, an old man who knows about Gozei and Shōsei. However, discovering the truth is not so easy.
2. Character List
Yoshiaki 義明
An Okinawan man in his middle thirties. He returns to his island to attend T’s funeral. When he is watching the village harvest festival parade, Gozei shows up and mistakes him for Shōsei. After this incident, he wants to find out about Gozei and Shōsei’s past.
T
Yoshiaki’s classmate, who may have committed suicide. He was bad at studying and sports. His physical and mental condition deteriorated after he returned from the mainland. From about a month before his death, he stayed at home and often called Kaneshiro.
Kaneshiro 兼城
Yoshiaki’s classmate, who tells him about T’s death and asks him to attend the funeral. Yoshiaki, Kaneshiro, and T were friends when they were students.
Gozei ゴゼイ
An old woman who has senile dementia. She used to be a comfort woman for both the Japanese and American military. She met Shōsei during the Battle of Okinawa and fell in love. After the war, she decides to stay on the island in order to stay chose to her memories of Shōsei. Because of her senile dementia, she mistakes Yoshiaki for Shōsei.
Wakugawa Shōsei 湧川昭正
Gozei’s lover, whose left arm was seriously burned. People thought he was mentally retarded, but Gozei knows he is intelligent and that he burned his left arm to avoid becoming a soldier. He is killed by the Japanese army on suspicion of spying. He is related to Yoshiaki.
Gikei 義敬
Yoshiaki’s father, who went to the beach to gather some coral instead of Shōsei’s bone.
Kimi キミ
Yoshiaki’s mother, who worries about Gozei’s condition.
Uchima 内間
A ninety-year-old man, who knows about Gozei and Shōsei. During the Battle of Okinawa, he was the ward head and a village assemblyman, so he remembers Shōsei and Gozei. However, he does not talk about how he mistreated Gozei after the war.
3. Plot Summary
In the early part of the story, readers are introduced to the Harvest Festival. Yoshiaki, the protagonist, has returned to his homeland to attend his classmate’s funeral, and the festival is being held at about the same time. Yoshiaki received the bad news from Kaneshiro, his old classmate. After the funeral, Yoshiaki goes home, hears the music of the harvest festival parade, and decides he wants to see it. While watching the parade, Yoshiaki meets Kaneshiro. (169-173).
Alone again, Yoshiaki sees an old woman, Gozei, approaching the parade. She is dirty and smells quite bad. Yoshiaki is surprised she looks different from when he saw her in his childhood. She appears to have senile dementia. When Gozei sees Yoshiaki, she shouts, “Shōsei!” and tries to approach to him. Then she says, “Help me Shōsei. Soldiers are coming to take me away!” Gozei keeps shouting “Shōsei” until the police cars take her away. (173-75).
The point of view shifts to Gozei. She hears someone calling her name, and she pictures a yuna tree’s flowers, which look like yellow butterflies. Someone touches her, and she thinks it is Shōsei. But then she feels him leaving her. Gozei tries to stop him, but she cannot (175-76).
The narration switches back to Yoshiaki. He is praying at his family altar after coming home from the festival. He finds a mortuary tablet on which is written, “Shōsei.” He remembers hearing that Shōsei lost his left arm due to a serious burn and dragged his right feet as he walked. He also heard that Shōsei had been killed by an American soldier when evacuating. When Gozei mistook Yoshiaki for Shōsei, he remembered the name on the mortuary tablet in his family alter (177-79).
Yoshiaki goes to see a play and dance. Many people concentrate on the dance; however, they start stirring when Gozei shows up behind the stage. Suddenly, she shouts, “The army is coming. Run away everyone!” Eventually, the play finishes quietly, but Yoshiaki knows that many people are angry at Gozei for interrupting the festival (179-186).
Yoshiaki eats out with Kaneshiro to talk about T. After that, Yoshiaki worries about Gozei and decides to visit her. Yoshiaki visits Gozei’s small house. At that time, he feels someone hugs behind him and he thinks it is T for a moment. But actually, it is Gozei. Yoshiaki struggles with her for a while and finally escapes (186-193).
The point of view switches to Gozei, who thinks about how Shōsei burned his arm and pretended to be stupid. They used to meet under the yuna tree to enjoy some private time together. After that, she went back to work as a comfort woman for the Japanese army. She hated her job and Japanese soldiers. (193-97). The narrations switches to Yoshiaki, who finds Gozei trying to open his house’s door and calling Shōsei. After that incident, Gozei is taken to the hospital in an ambulance (197-99).
Again, the point of view switches to Gozei, who recalls being asked to be a comfort woman for the American arm—in order to prevent other villager women from being attacked. She was furious because she hated that work. However, she agreed so that she would be allowed to live in the village permanently (199-202).
Yoshiaki visits Gozei in the hospital for old people. After the harvest festival, he remembers his childhood. One day, when he was visiting a friend and got lost. Gozei found him and was taking him home when his family found them together. Yoshiaki’s father was angry at Gozei because he thought she kidnapped Yoshiaki. Gozei kept apologizing to Yoshiaki’s family—even though it wasn’t her fault. Yoshiaki couldn’t say anything and felt sorry for her (202-9).
Yoshiaki visits Mr. Uchima who knew both Gozei and Shōsei when they were young. Yoshiaki learns from his story that Gozei used to be a comfort woman. However, the relationship between Gozei and Shōsei remains unclear (209-217). The point of view switches back to Gozei, who remembers when Shōsei was suspected of being a spy during the Battle of Okinawa. He was mainly suspected of spying because he spoke the Okinawa language. Although Gozei didn’t see Shōsei get killed, she knew that the Japanese army executed him (217-220).
The point of view switches back to Yoshiaki in the present. He visits Gozei at the hospital and calls her name, but she doesn’t react. A few minutes later, he tells Gozei that he is leaving. The narration switches to, Gozei, who thinks that Shōsei is calling her. She looks back on her life and sees butterflies and flies outside the window (220-5).
Yoshiaki looks at a mortuary tablet with the faded name. He asks Gikei why he doesn’t get a new one. Gikei answers that the letters were written by his father, so he wants to keep it. Gikei also mentions that they never recovered Shōsei’s bones, so he and his father gathered coral pieces and put them in the urn instead. Yoshiaki thinks the coral serves that purpose well (225-7).
4. Point of View
The story is narrated in third person, but the point of view shifts between Yoshiaki and Gozei. Most of the story is told from Yoshiaki’s point of view. In these sections, Yoshiaki often tries to find out about Gozei, but since he doesn’t know much about her, little information is provided. In these sections, Shōsei is practically invisible. However, Yoshiaki is a sensible young man, so his point of view is relatively easy to understand.
The scenes told from Gozei’s point of view, on the other hand, reveal her confused mind due to senile dementia. When reading the sections told from Gozei’s point of view, readers may have a difficult time orienting themselves in terms of time, as Gozei’s mind jumps back and forth between the past and present. Yoshiaki usually remains focused on the present, and his descriptions are relatively objective, while Gozei focuses on the past and has extremely subjective reactions. The one exception is that Gozei’s memories of the Battle of Okinawa are relatively clear.
In addition, the point of view in the Gozei sections is very close to the character, and reveals her thoughts and feelings, so the narration almost feels like first person. Readers can sympathize with how Gozei felt when she was younger, and understand her emotions. However, readers should remember that Yoshiaki and other people do not have access to this information. In other words, readers know Gozei’s history, but Yoshiaki must struggle to find the truth. In this way, Medoruma challenges readers to think about and struggle to learn the untold history of people in weak positions.
5. Symbolism
The yuna tree and flowers
Yuna [Hibiscus tiliaceus] is a tree that has yellow flowers. It is a coastal plant and can be found in the subtropical zones of Japan, such as on Amami island and in Okinawa. In “Gunchō no ki,” the tree and its flowers often appear in the sections narrated from Gozei’s point of view. Mainly, Yuna tree appears with a peaceful description. The first description of Yuna trees is like this: “Gozei heard someone calling her. She could smell the river slightly. Moonlight was shining through the clouds, and she could see the yuna tree with its flowers like yellow butterflies. She felt comfortable and sensed that Shōsei was nearby” (175-76). In this way, the tree and its flowers often appear with Gozei.
Clearly, the yuna tree is linked to Gozei’s emotions and memories. In fact, the yuna tree can be seen as a symbol of Gozei herself, and throughout the story the description of the tree mirrors Gozei’s feelings. For example, when she was a comfort woman for the American soldiers, she hated everything and extremely depressed. In that scene, the yuna trees are described as swarms of yellow butterflies that are about to wither away before they fly away. Similarly, Gozei feels lonely and depressed. In addition, she begins to think that Shōsei is really dead. (199-202).
On the other hand, the yuna tree also symbolizes Gozei’s brief moments of happiness. When Gozei was with Shōsei, she lived near the river where there were many yuna trees. The moment she spent with Shōsei under the yuna tree was the happiest time of her life. From Yoshiaki’s point of view, however, the yuna tree is just a normal tree. Therefore, in sections that are told from his point of the view, the tree is described as just part of the landscape (190). In other words, the tree does not provide the emotional associations that it provides for Gozei. This difference also serves to show that Yoshiaki does not at all understand Gozei’s internal world.
Butterflies
Butterflies connote transience and fragility, which are are also characteristics of Gozei’s and Shōsei’s life. Both of them lead unhappy lives, and both of them had to endure much humiliation and suffering. In addition, since Gozei has senile dementia, her mind and actions are flighty and unpredictable—just like a butterfly.
In many religions and cultures, butterflies have symbolic meanings. In Christianity, butterflies symbolize resurrection. In Greece, they symbolize immortality or the soul. In Japan, butterflies are believed to be messengers of the gods and are believed to be strongly related to human life and death. Importantly, butterflies has three stages: larvae, chrysalises, and butterflies. Perhaps these three stages of development can be seen in Gozei’s life, too.
Shōsei’s mortuary tablet
Mortuary tablets are used for ancestor worship and are normally put in a family altar. In eastern Asian countries they are quite common. In this story, Shōsei’s mortuary tablet appears just twice, but the meaning changes, so the symbol helps to reveal Yoshiaki’s change of attitude towards his relative. The mortuary tablet first appears after Yoshiaki returns from the festival parade and prays at his family altar. He notices that the name on one mortuary tablet, is faded. He asked his father about Shōsei, but no one knows about him. The symbolic suggestion is that Shōsei’s memory has faded—just like his name on the tablet (177-79).
The mortuary tablet appears again in the final scene. This time, Yoshiaki asks his father to rewrite the faded name. This reflects Yoshiaki’s new desire to strengthen Shōsei’s memory. Yoshiaki’s father refuses the request, however, stating that the name was written by Yoshiaki’s grandfather (226).This description emphasizes that even though few people remember Shōsei, there are still strong ties to the past. In addition, the mortuary tablet provides Yoshiaki with the opportunity to find out more about his ancestor. In other words, the tablet serves as a connection to the past.
6. Historical Background
Comfort women
According to the website, “Onna tachi no sensō to heiwa shiryōkan” [Women’s War and Peace Memorial Museum], comfort women were prostitutes for the Japanese army. Korean, Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese comfort women were taken to Okinawa and forced to work as prostitutes. Some of the women participated of the own volition, but many of them were tricked into the work by being told that they would be fed or given jobs as housekeepers. At the time, many people were poor, so women were often tricked by such offers.
There are two main reasons why the Japanese army needed comfort women: first, to protect female citizens from attack; and second, to protect classified information. The army usually picked women who were poor and uneducated, so that they could be easily exploited. After the war, some comfort women ended up working as prostitutes for American soldiers—since they had no other means of making a living.
Comfort women’s stories are not so well known, perhaps because the women were from the lower classes. After the war, they had few opportunities to talk about what happened during war. In addition, the Japanese government and other powerful people were eager to suppress the truth about comfort women, undoubtedly to avoid the embarrassment of having been involved in the shameful practice.
Incidents and crimes of American soldiers
Sexual violence by U.S. soldiers has been a problem in Okinawa since the war. According to Miyagi Harumi, writing in ‟Okinawa kara no hōkoku,” since Okinawa’s reversion to Japan, over 5,000 crimes by American soldier have been reported. This includes 562 violent crimes, including rape. Miyagi points out that there are even more victims who do not go to the police.
Because of extraterritorial rights given to Americans through SOFA, the Japanese police are limited in their ability to control such crime. In “Okinawa sengo zeronen,” Medoruma argues that even though Okinawa is being exploited by the US, the Japanese government is uncooperative in helping Okinawa solve the American base problem. For this reason, the war is still not over for Okinawa.
Unnamed people of Heiwa no Ishiji
Medoruma’s most important message is that more people need to know the history of the weaker members of society. In “Okinawa sengo zeronen,” Medoruma discusses the “Heiwa no Ishiji” [Cornerstone of Peace], which was built in 1995. According to the Okinawa prefecture official website, the memorial lists the names of all of victims of the Battle of Okinawaa. Over 240,000 names, including those of foreigners, are inscribed on the memorial’s stones. However, Medoruma points out that the names of some people have not been listed. For example, the names of many Korean victims of the war are still unknown, so they coul not be listed. According to the Okinawa prefecture website, 365 Korean names are listed, but all of these are male names. This means that the Korean comfort women who died in Okinawa during the war are not included. In “Gunchō no ki,” a Korean comfort woman named Pee appears. She cannot speak Japanese, so no one knows her real name.
7. Criticism
Davinder L. Bhowmik points out that Medoruma’s story shows that Okinawa society discriminated against comfort women. Moreover, powerful people who were most responsible for that discrimination have hidden the truth of what they did. In “Gunchō no ki,” Mr. Uchima admits to Yoshiaki that he intentionally hid the truth about Gozei. In one of the sections narrated from Gozei’s point of view, a character similar to Mr. Uchima appears and coerces Gozei into being a prostitute for the U.S. soldiers in order to protect the other village women. The man knew that Gozei could not refuse the offer because if she did, she would be forced to leave the village (200). In spite of this, Mr. Uchima did not do anything to help Gozei—even when she grew old and senile. Surely, he should have supported her in some way. From Gozei’s point of view, she reluctantly agreed to the proposal in order to stay close to her memories. In other words, Mr. Uchima exploited Gozei, and therefore wants to hide that truth.
Bhowmik also points out that the villagers did not see Gozei as a victim. Certainly, Gozei suffered as a comfort woman and was extremely underpaid. But people seemed to ignore the facts and blame the victims. To make matters worse, no matter how much the comfort women sacrificed, people continued to discriminate against them. As a result, people who viewed the comfort women in that way still exist today, and this distorts the truth because the comfort women have not been able to tell their stories. In Medoruma’s story, the unnamed Korean comfort woman is in an even lower position than Gozei and is only allowed to serve enlisted men. Gozei and she were good friend, but Gozei does not know where the woman is anymore.
8. Themes
Comfort women
“Gunchō no ki” shows us how comfort women suffered not only during the war but also for a long time afterwords. Moreover, it teaches us that these women’s stories have practically been eliminated from history. In the story, two comfort women appear: Gozei and an unnamed Korean woman. Their social status is much lower than other citizens—even though they have been victimized and have suffered even more than others.
Gozei was a comfort woman for both the Japanese and American armies. She was an orphan, and when she grew up, she was forced to be a prostitute. After the war, Shimabukuro and Uchima asked he to be a comfort woman for the Americans in order to protect the other village women from being raped. They figured that this would not hurt her so much because she had already served as a comfort woman for the Japanese army. But, actually, Gozei was furious because she was forced to be a victim.
The other village women did not do anything for Gozei. Powerful people, such as Shimabukuro and Uchima, exploited women like Gozei who didn’t have families or a place to go. Shōsei, another person who is looked down upon, is the only person who regards Gozei as a human being.
After Gozei grew older and quit her job, she survived by collecting cans to earn a little money. However, the villagers continued to kept their distance from her. Some of them continued to discriminate against her. To summarize, Gozei suffered as a victim for her entire life, and was forced to live apart from others until she died.
The unnamed Korean woman is younger than Gozei and of lower status. As a Korean, she was limited to serving enlisted soldiers. During WW II, Okinawan people were considered lower than mainland Japanese, but Koreans were considered even lower.
Discrimination towards Korean people
In “Gunchō no ki,” Gozei is friends with a Korean comfort woman called Pee. Even though they are both comfort women, their social status is different. The villagers discriminated against Gozei, but foreign comfort women, the situation was even worse. In “Okinawa sen, Chōsen jin gunfu to jugun ianfu” [The Battle of Okinawa, Korean Military Porters, and Comfort Women], Gima Hiroshi comments on an article written by a Korean woman about five years ago. The woman wrote that Koreans consider Okinawans fellow sufferers, who were oppressed by the Japanese. However, she points out that some Okinawans discriminated against Korean and looked down on them.
Gima insists that Okinawan people were victims of the Battle of Okinawa, but that they also share the responsiblility for Japanese atrocities in Asian. He emphasizes that Okinawans need to be more aware of what happened to Korean military porters and comfort women. Gima explains that the U.S. military did not force Korean women to return to their homeland and that many former Korean comfort women ended up working as prostitutes for American soldiers—just like Gozei. He explains that the women did not receive any protection or compensation from either the Japanese or the U.S. governments.
Difficulties of oral historical transmission
Conveying the truth about a war is difficult. One of the biggest problems is that many stories are never told and other stories are distorted. This is especially true of the stories of those of lower social status. There are two main reasons why war survivors do not always tell their stories: First, some of them want to forget their terrible memories and therefore refuse to talk about them. The other reason is that some stories are simply never recorded.
In “Gunchō no ki,” Yoshiaki tries to find out about Gozei and Shōsei. Through his search, Medoruma shows how difficult it can be to learn the truth. To begin with, Gozei has senile dementia—like many older war survivors—so Yoshiaki cannot simply ask her about her past. Even if he understands what she says, he knows that her disease causes her to inadvertently distort the truth. In addition, Yoshiaki’s family does not know about Shōsei, so Yoshiaki needs to go out and search for information himself.
On the other hand, the information Yoshiaki receives from Mr. Uchima is incomplete: he never mentions the fact that he forced Gozei to work as a prostitute for the U.S. military. Of course, he hides this truth because it will make him look bad, but if Yoshiaki unquestionably believes Mr. Uchima. he will never know the truth. In this way, Medoruma suggests that people, especially the young, need to actively investigate in order to discover the truth. Not only do they need to seek out and question their elders, but they also need to listen to stories and assess all information with a critical attitude. Such an attitude is necessary in order to gain a more accurate understanding of the past.
9. Discussion Questions
1. Why does Yoshiaki begin to think about Gozei and Shōsei?
2. What does the yuna tree and its flowers symbolize?
3. Why does Medoruma keep switching between Yoshiaki’s and Gozei’s point of view?
4. Why did Gozei decide to remain in the village?
5. Does Mr. Uchima lie intentionally? If so, why does he hide the truth?
6. Do you think Yoshiaki will eventually learn the truth about Gozei? Why? Or why not?
7. What aspects of the comfort women’s history are often forgotten?
8. Why doesn’t Yoshiaki’s father, Gikei, want to redraw the mortuary tablet’s letters?
9. What does the story suggest about how the memory of the Battle of Okinawa should be passed on to younger generations?
10. Work Cited
Bhowmik, Davinder. “Fractious Memories in Medoruma Shun’s Tales of War.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Vol. 10, Issue 38, No. 3. 17 Sept. 2012. 23 December 2014.
< http://www.japanfocus.org/-Davinder-Bhowmik/3830>.
Gima, Hiroshi. “Okinawa sen, chōsenjin gunfu to jugun ianfu” [The Battle of Okinawa, Korean military porters and comfort women]. Chōsejin gunfu to ianfu tachi no Okinawasen. Osaka: Seifudō Shoten, 1995. 32-3.
Medoruma, Shun. “Gunchō no ki”. Gunchō no ki. Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 2001. 169-227.
---. “Heiwa dōri to nazukerareta machi wo aruite.” Heiwa dōri to nazukerareta machi wo aruite. Tokyo: Kage Shobō, 2003. 89-161.
---. Okinawa sengo zeronen. [Zero years after the Battle of Okinawa] NHK. Tokyo. July 2005. 64-70.
Miyagi, Harumi. Okinawa kara no houkoku. [Reports from Okinawa]. Beigun kichi no genjou to beihei ni yoru reipu jiken.[The actual situation of American bases and rape incidents of American soldiers]. 2008. 23 December 2014.
Okinawa prefecture official website, “Heiwa no ishiji” [Cornerstones of Peace].
Onnna tachino sensō to heiwa shiryoukan. [Women’s War and Peace Memorial Museum]. “Ianfu mondai ni tsuite shirō”[Let’s Know about the Comfort Women Problem]. Tokyo: 23 December 2014. <http://wam-peace.org/ianfu-mondai/>
Shinjo, Ikuo. “Tourai suru Okinawa”. Moto “Juugun ianfu” mondai to sengo Okinawa bungaku. Tokyo: Inpakuto Syuppansha, 2007. 156-176.
Wikipedia Editors. “Wikipedia: Medoruma Shun.” Wikipedia. 23 December 2014.
Original report by Natsuki Hirayama. Edited and revised by Kasumi Sminkey.