Mihoko: 83 Years Ago,Uncle Nie Rongzhen Saved Me in a Basket

On the occasion of the 50thanniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan,an old friend from Miyakonojō,Miyazaki Prefecture,Japan,wrote a letter to Chongqing,where its Chinese sister city Jiangjin District is located:

“Sincere congratulations on the 50thanniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China.It was nearly 83 years ago that Marshal Nie Rongzhen of the E ighth Route Army of C hina saved my life on the battlefield.I appreciate the care extended by Chongqing as always,despite how dras tically the world i s changing right now.I wish the two cities and both countries prosperity and the peoples happiness!”

The letter was written by Kakoi Mihoko.What is the story behind her and Marshal Nie Rongzhen?

Back in August 1940,the Hundred Regiments Offensive was launched in the war-ridden Taihang Area.When the Eighth Route Army soldiers cleaned the battlefield following a fierce campaign,they found little Mihoko and her baby sister wailing inside a collapsed house.Upon an inquiry from the soldiers on how to treat the two girls,Marshal Nie made an instruction immediately: bring them to the command post.

The two girls were escorted to the front-line command post,where Nie Rongzhen was stationed,by specially-assigned soldiers in a basket.It was confirmed that the sisters were orphans.Mihoko was only five or six years old at the time,and her sister Rumiko,who had suffered grievous injuries,was much younger.Lying in a basket,Mihoko with some minor injuries appeared a little flustered,when she suddenly saw Nie come in.

Nie looked at her and smiled.He took some pears from his pockets and peeled them for Mihoko,and used hand gestures to ask for her name and age.Mihoko gradually let down her guard and felt at ease with this kind uncle.She could feel that Nie was a good person even though she couldn't understand what he was saying.

值此中日邦交正?；?0周年之際，日本宮崎縣都城市的一位故人，向中國(guó)友好城市江津區(qū)所在的重慶市發(fā)來(lái)一封信：

“衷心祝賀日中邦交正常化迎來(lái)50周年……中國(guó)八路軍聶榮臻將軍在戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上救我性命，已是近83年前的事了……縱然當(dāng)今世界變化激烈，感謝貴方一如既往給予我關(guān)愛(ài)。祝愿兩市、兩國(guó)蓬勃發(fā)展，人民幸福！”

The Letter from Kakoi Mihoko栫美穗子的信。

寫(xiě)這封信的人名叫栫美穗子，她與聶榮臻元帥之間發(fā)生過(guò)什么故事呢？

In the following days together,little Mihoko followed Nie around almost every day.She regarded Nie as her father,and Nie also treated her as his daughter.

Considering the danger at the front-line command post,Nie finally decided to send the two girls away and made the arrangement personally.He prepared some pears in the basket so that the two girls wouldn’t cry for food on the way.Sad to see them go,Nie,hugged them gently and patted their little heads for best wishes when the two were leaving.

Time flies.After several decades apart,Nie,who was already a Marshall General of the Republic of China,still held the two girls dear in his heart.One day in 1980,when he was interviewed by a reporter of the PLA Daily,the reporter showed three photos and Nie sighed: “The war is cruel,but the children are innocent.I wonder how the two girls are doing and where are they now?”

On May 28thof the same year,an articletitled Little Japanese Girl,Where Are You?published inPLA Daily,covering the story of how Nie Rongzhen saved these two Japanese girls.Then,the article was shared by the Japanese newspaperYomiuri Shinbun.Soon,the story of the Chinese marshal’s humanitarian rescue of Japanese war orphans became a sensation in Japan.

With the support of the friendly Japanese people,Mihoko was found in Kyushu in less than a week.It turned out that after being sent to the Japanese garrison in Shijiazhuang,the sisters were transferred to Shimen Hospital,where unfortunately the younger sister Rumiko died of illness.Then Mihoko was brought back to Japan by her uncle in October 1940.

At that time,Mihoko was already married with children.When she was interviewed,she could not hide her excitement.She wrote a letter to Marshal Nie and expressed hopes to visit Beijing to show her gratitude in person for saving her life back then.

After receiving Mihoko’s letter,Nie carefully read all the contents and the attached photos.He was very happy and said,“I read Mihoko’s letter,and her recent and childhood photos,which very much resemble the baby Mihoko.I finally find her after 40 years.It is so rare and precious.I am really happy.And I wish Mihoko and her families great happiness.”

時(shí)間回到1940年8月。戰(zhàn)火紛飛的太行地區(qū)打響了百團(tuán)大戰(zhàn)，經(jīng)過(guò)一番激戰(zhàn)，八路軍戰(zhàn)士打掃戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)時(shí)，在一處坍塌的民房里發(fā)現(xiàn)了正在哭泣的美穗子和她的妹妹。戰(zhàn)士請(qǐng)示上級(jí)如何處理，司令員聶榮臻當(dāng)即指示：把她們送到指揮部來(lái)。

就這樣，兩個(gè)孩子由專(zhuān)人用籮筐挑著送到了聶榮臻所在的前線指揮部。經(jīng)查實(shí)，姐妹倆是孤兒。當(dāng)時(shí)，美穗子大約五六歲，重傷的妹妹瑠美子更幼小。受了些輕傷的美穗子躺在籮筐里，忽然看見(jiàn)聶榮臻進(jìn)來(lái)，她看起來(lái)有些慌張。

Nie Rongzhen and the Little Mihoko聶榮臻與年幼的美穗子。

聶榮臻看著她和藹地笑了，一邊從衣兜里掏出一個(gè)梨給她吃，一邊用手勢(shì)比劃著問(wèn)她叫什么名字、多大年紀(jì)。這樣暖心的舉動(dòng)，讓美穗子漸漸地不再恐懼，對(duì)眼前這個(gè)伯伯印象很好。她雖然聽(tīng)不懂聶榮臻說(shuō)的話，但是能夠感受到他是個(gè)好人。

In July 1980,at the invitation of the China-Japan Friendship Association,Mihoko visited Beijing with her three daughters and met her life-saver again.Mihoko couldn’t help but kept sobbing,holding Marshal Nie’s hand tightly.She bowed deeply and touched his hand with her forehead to express her utmost respect.Much to Nie’s consolation,Mihoko called Nie “Dad”.

Marshal Nie,who was over 80 years old,gently patted Mihoko’s head and said,“China and Japan are neighbors linked by a narrow strip of waters,and there is no reason for unfriendly sentiments.The development of friendship between the two peoples is of great significance,and only with closer people-to-people exchanges can the bond and friendship between them be strengthened.We Chinese and Japanese must carry forward this friendship from generation to generation.”

After 40 years apart,Mihoko visited Beijing to extend sincere gratitude to Marshal Nie Rongzhen.闊別40年，美穗子赴北京面謝聶榮臻元帥。

相處的日子里，天真的美穗子幾乎每天都跟在聶榮臻的后面，像他的小尾巴。她把聶榮臻當(dāng)做了自己的父親，聶榮臻也把她當(dāng)做女兒一樣。

考慮到前線指揮部比較危險(xiǎn)，聶榮臻最終決定將兩姐妹送走，并親自安排送孤事宜。為了防止孩子在路上饑餓啼哭，他還特地準(zhǔn)備了一些梨放在籮筐里。孩子要走了，他依依不舍地抱起她們，摸摸小腦袋，以示祝福。

時(shí)光匆匆，分別數(shù)十年，已是共和國(guó)元帥的聶榮臻還掛念著美穗子姐妹。1980年的一天，他在接受《解放軍報(bào)》記者采訪時(shí)，看到記者拿出的三張照片，感慨地說(shuō):“戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)是殘酷的，孩子是無(wú)辜的，不知這兩個(gè)孩子到底怎么樣了，她們現(xiàn)在在哪里？”

同年5月28日，《解放軍報(bào)》刊發(fā)了標(biāo)題為《日本小姑娘你在哪里？》的通訊，講述了聶榮臻救助兩個(gè)日本小女孩的故事。日本《讀賣(mài)新聞》全文轉(zhuǎn)載了這篇文章。很快，中國(guó)元帥在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)期間人道主義救助日本孤兒的故事轟動(dòng)了日本。

在日本友好人士的大力幫助下，不到一個(gè)星期，身在日本九州的美穗子被找到了。原來(lái)，美穗子姐妹被送回石家莊的日軍駐地后，又被轉(zhuǎn)送到石門(mén)醫(yī)院。在那里，妹妹瑠美子因傷病不幸去世。美穗子于1940年10月被伯父帶回日本。

找到美穗子時(shí)她已經(jīng)結(jié)婚生子，她在接受記者采訪時(shí)難掩激動(dòng)的心情，給聶榮臻元帥寫(xiě)了一封信，希望能有機(jī)會(huì)到北京，當(dāng)面感謝他當(dāng)年的救命之恩。

聶榮臻在收到信件后，仔細(xì)看了內(nèi)容和所附的照片。他高興地說(shuō)：“看了美穗子熱情洋溢的來(lái)信，看了她的近影和童年時(shí)的照片，很像她小時(shí)候的樣子。闊別了40年，終于找到了，這很難得，我很高興，我祝美穗子全家幸福。”

1980年7月，應(yīng)中日友好協(xié)會(huì)邀請(qǐng)，美穗子帶著3個(gè)女兒來(lái)到北京，再次見(jiàn)到了自己的救命恩人。霎時(shí)間，美穗子泣不成聲，緊緊地握著聶榮臻元帥的手，深深地鞠躬，額頭輕觸他的手來(lái)表達(dá)自己最大的敬意。美穗子改口，管聶榮臻叫“爸爸”，讓聶榮臻感到十分寬慰。

After that reunion,Mihoko became an active participant in events promoting China-Japan friendship and exchanges to express her heartfelt appreciation.She was honored by the Headquarters of the Japan-China Friendship Association and was elected as a director of the Miyakonojō Municipal Japan-China Friendship Association.In the following 25 years,Mihoko visited China five times as a special ambassador for the China-Japan friendship.In 1999,Mihoko’s city of residence,Miyakonojō of Miyazaki Prefecture and Marshal Nie’s hometown Jiangjin(now Jiangjin District) of Chongqing became sister cities.Mihoko has surely made great contributions to the people-to-people friendship between China and Japan.

Photo/Chongqing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries

Editor/Liu Dingrui

年屆八旬的聶榮臻元帥輕撫著美穗子的頭，感慨地說(shuō)，“中日兩國(guó)是一衣帶水的鄰國(guó)，沒(méi)有理由不友好。發(fā)展中日人民友誼是十分有意義的事情，只有加強(qiáng)中日兩國(guó)人民之間的往來(lái)，才能加深兩國(guó)人民的感情和友誼。我們兩國(guó)人民要世世代代友好下去。”

此后，美穗子懷著報(bào)恩之心，積極參與中日友好交流活動(dòng)。她受到日本日中友好協(xié)會(huì)全國(guó)本部的表彰，還曾當(dāng)選都城市日中友好協(xié)會(huì)理事。之后的25年間，美穗子作為中日友好的特殊使者，先后5次來(lái)訪中國(guó)，并于1999年促成其定居地日本宮崎縣都城市與聶榮臻元帥家鄉(xiāng)重慶江津市（現(xiàn)江津區(qū)）結(jié)為友好城市，為中日兩國(guó)民間友好作出自己的貢獻(xiàn)。