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History
Behind Grave of the Fireflies
Grave
of the Fireflies, or Hotaru no Haka, is a powerful
and emotional anime based on the experiences of author Nosaka
Akiyuki during the World War II firebombing raids that ravaged
most of the cities of Japan. Although there is very little
of the actual war shown and no mention of the American forces
in the film itself, the war is an important facet of the story.
Please be quiet for today's lecture, class, as we take a look
at a part of history that is the backdrop of Grave
of the Fireflies: the firebombing of Japan in 1945.
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Fleeing
the firebombs
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By 1945, air raids had
already begun over the cities of Japan, but precision bombing
was not accomplishing its goals. Targets such as military factories
and installations were often missed completely, and the Japanese
will to fight was as strong as ever. General Curtis LeMay of
the U.S. Air Force had the answer. To shorten the war and ultimately
save lives, General LeMay proposed a new use of the B-29 bomber
planes for low-level incendiary attacks on Japanese cities.
Many industries were
supported by or carried out of the home, so residential areas
became the target along with the factories. The planes would
fly lower, not carry guns or ammunition, and not fly in formation.
Firebombing is designed to create a firestorm, using incendiary
bombs to start a massive fire as the high winds carry the
flames across the city. The fires would burn intensely and
most were inextinguishable.
The first four targets
of Japan were selected as Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe. On
the night of March 9th, 1945, the first large-scale firebombing
mission over Tokyo began. Already a repeated air raid target,
residents of Tokyo had grown accustomed to the wail of the
air raid siren and wore protective clothing of long-sleeved
shirts, pants, and protective hoods seen often in Grave
of the Fireflies. But there was no way to be prepared
for a raid of this magnitude. The bombs fell like rain from
the sky.
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Bombs
fall over Kobe
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The intense heat and walls
of flame made firefighting impossible. Over 100,000 people were
killed in the first raid on Tokyo, and a million made homeless.
With a loss of fourteen B-29s from the three hundred that left
for Tokyo, the ineffectual Japanese defenses, and the destruction
level of the city, the raid was considered a great success.
The raids on Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe proceeded as planned.
Kobe is where Seita
and Setsuko of Grave
of the Fireflies lived with their mother as the film
begins; author Nosaka Akiyuki had spent his early years in
the city. The sixth largest city in Japan and the largest
port, Kobe was also the largest source of shipbuilding and
shipyards for the war effort. According to US military reports,
only ten percent of the city's buildings were made of concrete,
steel or brick, and there was no large source of water for
any firefighting efforts, making the city a perfect target.
The first firebombing raid on Kobe was devastating. An estimated
eight thousand people died on March 17th, 1945, and more than
650,000 lost their homes.
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Animated
B-29 Superfortress
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As the year went on, the
firebombing raids increased in number, hitting the cities of
Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe several more times, along with
other smaller cities home to factories and industries. One of
those subsequent raids on Kobe is the starting point for Grave
of the Fireflies. Seita and Setsuko flee from the bombs
dropped by the B-29s overhead and bear witness to the destruction
caused by the firebombs.
Takahata
Isao, director of Grave
of the Fireflies, is himself a survivor of the firebombing
in Okayama and tried to capture the experience. Nosaka, upon
viewing the film, felt that Takahata
succeeded.
"It was really
amazing how many of the scenes of the novel set in wartime
Kobe were represented with simple lines that even I had long
forgotten," Nosaka once said in an interview. "All
of the pieces of my memory connected with the movie."
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Resulting
destruction and horror
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The firebombing and air
raids continued until August 1945, when it was clear the Japanese
will had not been lessened enough to force a surrender. On August
6th, 1945, a single B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima,
and still surrender was refused. After the second bomb
was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9th, Emperor Hirohito insisted
on the surrender of Japan. 112,000 people died in the atomic
bombings.
It is an often overlooked
fact that more people died in the firebombing raids than the
devastation of the atomic bombs, with estimates of over 300,000
people losing their lives and millions more injured and homeless.
These raids are considered to be the most important factor
in destroying Japanese morale, leading up to the end of the
war and ultimately saving lives by preventing a full-blown
invasion of the country.
Bibliography and
Recommended Reading
Edoin, Hoito. "The
Night Tokyo Burned." New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987.
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