Shigeru Mizuki and Iwo Jima: Now we question the burden of life (2/2)

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

水木しげると硫黄島 命の重みをいまに問う(2/2)

2026年8月16日 11:30

NHKスペシャル

(continue)

そこに、もう1つの視点を与えてくれることになったのが、アニメ化にあたって脚本を担当した吉田玲子さんだった。

「戦争ドキュメンタリーを見る敷居を下げたい」という私たちの要望に対し、吉田さんは視聴者が共感できる第3のキャラクターを提案した。

それが、湊（みなと）水兵だ。軍隊の精神に順応しながらも、幼い頃に聞かされた妖怪の姿を島でもつい空想をしてしまう青年である。そんな湊は、2人の中尉のぶつかり合いを目の当たりにして、揺れ動く。

詳しくは番組に譲るが、湊は命令を受けて、結局硫黄島を脱出することになる。それは、当時としては許されない行為であり、島を離れる湊の目から涙がこぼれ落ちる。

吉田さんの脚本は、アニメの監督をつとめた佐藤千春さんの手によって絵コンテとなり、２人の中尉や湊水兵に、新たな形で命が吹き込まれた。

絵の力に圧倒されながら、私たちはこの話が「実話かどうか」に関心を惹かれていた。一方で、こんな声が上がった。 

「湊水兵は、その後の人生をどう生きたんですかね。生還した人たちのその後を取材したい」

こうして出会ったのが、冒頭に紹介した秋草鶴次さんだった。

背負った宿命

秋草さんは戦後、電気設備の管理の仕事をしながら、一男二女を育てた。家族には戦争の話をしなかったが、遺品のノートには、硫黄島での体験が日付単位で詳細に書きつけてあった。

2006年に、NHKの取材をきっかけに体験を公にしてからは、自衛隊員や地元の中高生に証言するようになった。その訳を尋ねられた際に、こう述べている。

「（戦死者が忘れられるのは）耐えられないですよね。生きた時代、過ごした時代は何だったかということになるのだからね。その間はじゃあ『空』だったのか」

硫黄島の戦いは、全くの非対称の戦いであった。兵力はアメリカ軍の6万人に対し、日本軍は2万人あまり。海からは艦砲射撃、空からは爆撃、陸上ではロケット弾、戦車、火炎放射器を浴びせられた。

それでも、アメリカ軍に対して開戦以来最大の損害を与えたのは、総延長18キロメートルに及ぶ地下ごうから、神出鬼没のゲリラ戦を繰り広げたからだ。捕虜になることを禁じられ、「死を急ぐな」と命じられた兵士たちは、命のある限り戦い続けるしかなかった。

その苦しさを、秋草さんはこう証言している。

「（所属していた）通信科は火を点けて総攻撃に出たんですよ。そこに残った炭を食べた。本当に涙が出てくる。そういうのをね、思い出すと涙が出てくる。本当に、食べるものが無い。無いんだから、（口に）入るものが。（中略）でも頑張るんだと。このことを誰が言うんだと、いうことでね。だから、生きなくちゃなんないんだと、そういう気持ちです」

今回見つかったビデオには、遺骨すらのこらなかった戦友たちのことを、涙ながらに子供たちに伝える秋草さんの姿が映っていた。

「次から次へと砲弾が降ってくるので、骨がみんな砂になるんです。人間の骨の形をしていないんです。この人たちの骨は日本へ永遠に帰れないんです。（中略）風化させないために語り継ぐんです。これが、生かされている自分の使命であり、宿命だと思っています」

戦友に伝えた言葉

硫黄島での体験を伝える秋草さんが、もう1つ続けていたことがある。亡くなった戦友の故郷を訪ねての慰霊だ。息子の茂之さんは、父が遺した御朱印帳を広げながら「本当に全国に行っているね」と、戦友への思いの深さに改めて驚いていた。

秋草さんは毎年、靖国神社にも通っていたが、茂之さんは何度か同行し、九段の社を一緒にくぐった。手を合わせる父が、必ず口にしていた言葉があった。

“秋草さんの息子 茂之さん

「この当時は（戦後）60年だから、『60年間、戦争をしなかったぞ』 って、報告を含めてお参りをしていた。口癖だから」”

戦争をしないことー。

それが、秋草さんにとって、戦友に対する最大の供養だったのだ。

ロケの終わり、茂之さんは家から10分ほどの神社に、取材班を案内した。ここに、父が通っていた地元の戦没者の慰霊碑があるという。茂之さんは、父の思いを受け継ぎ、月に一度は訪れている。

父を思い、こみ上げてくるものがあったのか、手を合わせる茂之さんの肩は、小刻みに震えていた。茂之さんの傍では、鶴次さんのひ孫にあたる那緒ちゃんがその小さな手を合わせていた。

玉砕の島で秋草さんが保った命は、その思いとともに、今につながれている。

Translation

Shigeru Mizuki and Iwo Jima: Now we question the burden of life (2/2)

August 16, 2026, 11:30 AM

NHK Special

(continue)

It is Reiko Yoshida (吉田玲子), who writes the script for the anime adaptation, provides another perspective.

In response to our request to "lower the barrier in watching war documentaries," Ms. Yoshida proposes a third character that viewers could empathize with.

That character is Sailor Minato (湊). While adapting to the military's spirit, he was a young man who, even on the island, couldn't help but fantasize about the yokai (妖怪) (supernatural beings) he heard about as a child. Minato was swayed when he witnessed a clash between two lieutenants.

While the details are left to the program, Minato received orders and ultimately escaped from Iwo Jima. This was an unforgivable act at the time, and tears streamed down from Minato's face as he left the island.

Yoshida's (吉田) script is transformed into storyboards by animation director Chiharu Sato (佐藤千春), new life is breath into the two lieutenants and Sailor Minato.

While overwhelmed by the power of the animation, we are intrigued by the question of whether this story was "true or not." Meanwhile, this question arises:

"What did Sailor Minato do with his life afterward? I want to interview those who survived."

This is how we meet Tsuruji Akikusa, introduced at the beginning.

A borne destiny

After the war, Akikusa raised one son and two daughters while taking up an electrical equipment management post. He never spoke of the war to his family, but his notebook, among his belongings, contained detailed, date-by-date accounts of his experiences on Iwo Jima.

In 2006, after an NHK interview prompted him to make his experiences public, he began testifying to Self-Defense Forces personnel and local junior and senior high school students. When asked for the reason, he said the following:

"It's unbearable to think that those who died in battle will be forgotten. It would mean that the era they lived in, the era they experienced, was meaningless. Was that time just 'emptiness'?"

The Battle of Iwo Jima was a completely asymmetrical battle. The American forces numbered 60,000, while the Japanese had just over 20,000. They were subjected to naval bombardment from the sea, bombing from the air, and rockets, tanks, and flamethrowers on land.

Nevertheless, the greatest losses inflicted on the American forces since the start of the war came from the elusive guerrilla warfare waged from underground bunkers stretching 18 kilometers in total. Forbidden from surrendering and ordered "do not rush to your death," the soldiers had no choice but to continue fighting as long as they lived.

Akikusa testified to that suffering as follows:

"The communications unit (to which I belonged) set fire and launched a full-scale attack. We ate the charcoal that was left behind. It really brings tears to my eyes. When I remember things like that, tears well up. There really was nothing to eat. There was nothing to put into our mouths. (omitted) But we had to persevere. Who would tell that? So, yeah. Therefore, I say I have to stay alive, that's the feeling.”

The video recently discovered showed Mr. Akikusa, with tears in his eyes, telling children about his comrades, comrades who didn't even leave behind their remains.

"As shells rained down one after another, all the bones turned to sand. They no longer resembled human bones. These people's bones would never return to Japan. (omitted) We must pass on these stories so that they are not forgotten. I believe this is my mission and destiny, that I am still alive."

Words conveyed to his comrades

Mr. Akikusa, who recounted his experiences on Iwo Jima, was continuing to doing one more thing: visiting the hometowns of his fallen comrades to pay his respects. As his son, Shigeyuki, opened the stamp book that his father had left behind, exclaimed, "He really went all over the country!" He was once again amazed by the depth of his father's feelings for his comrades.

Every year, Mr. Akikusa visited Yasukuni Shrine, and Shigeyuki accompanied him several times, passing through the torii gate at Kudan together. There was a phrase his father always uttered as he prayed.

"Shigeyuki, Akikusa's son:

"At that time, it had been 60 years since the end of the war, so we would visit the shrine to report, 'We haven't fought a war for 60 years.' It was just a habit of ours."

Never wage war again—

For Akikusa, that was the greatest way to honor his fallen comrades.

After the filming, Shigeyuki led the crew to a shrine about 10 minutes from his house. There, he said, was a memorial for local war dead that his father used to frequent. Shigeyuki, carrying on his father's legacy, visited once a month.

Perhaps overwhelmed by the thought of his father, Shigeyuki's shoulders trembled slightly as he clasped his hands together. Beside him, Nao-chan, Tsuruji's great-grandchild, clasped the small hands together.

The life that Akikusa-san managed to keep on the island where Japanese forces had honorable death, along with her feelings, continues to this day.

              So, more than 80 years after the war, as traditional program production centered on interviews with war survivors becomes difficult, to focus on the appeal of animation become a new way of conveying the story. While searching for source material, Mizuki’s "The White Flag" gets the attention of NHK’s film director Yu Miyajima. He works on a dialogue drama in which two lieutenants debated about life and death. This work also highlights how Akikusa has testified to the public on the suffering of Japanese soldiers in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Note:

1. A stamp book (御朱印帳) contains the seal stamp (御朱印 goshuin) given to worshippers and visitors visiting shrines and temples.