The Burmese Harp - Image Shiritori Started (#151)

(#150) Independence Day → "Bi" → The Burmese Harp―――――(5,162 characters)

Mizushima, I hear you're quitting your ascetic training.

The reason for quitting is unclear (・_・)

One theory is that the independent film he wanted to shoot was a zombie movie called "Monk of the Dead", but in reality, he couldn't stand that it was the dreary "Wipe My Round Head, My Dear", which depicts the daily life of ascetic monks, the hobby of the head priest... though I don't know for sure (￣∀￣)

In any case, when you spend a long time in ascetic life, the first thing you rush to when you enter a convenience store isn't food or drink, but the adult book corner
, isn't it (・_・)... well, how very raw... ^m^

"The Burmese Harp".
It is a famous novel by Michio Takeyama that needs no explanation.
To summarize it briefly, it is a somewhat sad story about a Japanese soldier set in Burma—present-day Myanmar—during World War II. ← A bit too brief (・_・)

It has been adapted into a film twice, in 1956 and 1985, and the original novel has been translated into multiple languages, not just Japanese. In particular, the translation by American Japanese literature scholar Howard Hibbett(*1) has sold enough to warrant multiple reprints.

Despite "The Burmese Harp" being so highly acclaimed as a masterpiece, I am ashamed to say I have never read it until now (^^ゞ💦

As a literary ignoramus, my first encounter with "The Burmese Harp" was when I was in the upper grades of elementary school, probably 5th or 6th grade. It was my first time experiencing "The Burmese Harp" when I watched it as a stage play at the civic hall for an extracurricular social studies or Japanese class.

Honestly, I don't remember much about the content of the play.
I've forgotten what the situation was, but I do remember there was a performance that kept the children from getting bored, where the actors suddenly appeared from the entrance on the side where the students were watching and ran toward the stage.
But other than that, only a very rough outline of the story remains in my head (^^ゞ

I do remember the sad farewell scene from the last scene, starting with
"Mizushima, let's go back to Japan together!"
, but other than that, the only thing I remember is a half-baked joke from a parrot that was taught that line, saying
"Let's go back to Japan, I'm hungry"
(The audience did laugh out loud at that, at least 🤣 (￣∀￣)💧)

To begin with, the introductory part where Japanese soldiers during World War II were captured locally after the end of the war is barely within the range of my memory, but I can't imagine the circumstances of how Mizushima, a private first class, ended up becoming a local monk from that state.

So, I used Wikipedia, the encyclopedia for the lazy, and "Honcierge", a convenient site with the tagline "a service where books and people meet," to cram "The Burmese Harp" into my head in a crash-course style.

First, about the protagonist, Private First Class Mizushima.
Since it's called "The Burmese Harp," it's not hard to imagine he's a master of the harp, but this guy's other specialty is disguising himself as a local Burmese person^m^
He played the role of disguising himself as a Burmese person to get close to enemy lines and conveying the situation and information to his allies through the sound of his harp—

—Wait, wait, wait✋.
I can barely understand getting close to enemy territory disguised as a local (though usually you'd be challenged, since it's wartime), but if a completely ordinary Burmese person who is everywhere suddenly starts plucking a harp for no reason, wouldn't that be incredibly suspicious? (・_・)?

Well, let's leave that aside (though it's not okay).
So, oh I see, if he has those kinds of spy-like skills, then becoming a monk is just cosplay... or rather, a disguise♪... or so I thought, but that was my jumping to conclusions (^^ゞ

Or rather, the circumstances of how Mizushima became a monk went quite a bit beyond what I had imagined...

Mizushima and his unit had surrendered and become prisoners of war after learning of Japan's defeat, but there were still stubborn, unreasonable troops who continued to resist, and Mizushima was sent to persuade those remaining Japanese soldiers.
Well, since Mizushima possessed disguise skills, was a scout by trade, and was also a player of the harp that could soothe the soul, he could be considered the right person for the job in that sense.

However, the friendly unit Mizushima went to persuade did not accept the humiliation of surrender and chose the path of honorable death (>_<).

Hey, Mizushima, couldn't you have done something with your specialty, the harp? (・_・)💧

For example, let's see... how about a song like this?

(4 minutes 27 seconds)

Naoko Kawai's "Kenka wo Yamete" (Stop the Fighting).

〽 Stop the fighting~ stop the two of them~♪

...No good? (・_・)?

Then, a calmer ballad might soothe their hearts... If I'm going to do it, a song with more of a message would be better...

MICHAEL JACKSON's "HEAL THE WORLD"!

(6 minutes 22 seconds)

How about it? War is empty, isn't it? Right? So, come on, just surrender quietly and—

Eh? Ah... enemy language huh... My apologies (・_・)

Oh, this is bad.
They're getting really annoyed. Well, I guess that makes sense.
No matter how wonderful and soothing a ballad it is, it's in the language of the Americans...
Honestly, they probably don't understand the meaning at all (though it's a good song even if you don't understand the meaning...)

It would be faster to calm them down mentally before trying to soothe them. Alright. I'll deploy
Off Course's "Sayonara" (Goodbye).

(5 minutes 01 second)

🎵 It's... oooover now...see, so let's surrender♪

🎵 We are free...Yes! The war is over! Eh? You mean we'll be free like this? ...Well, you'll probably be detained from here on, so it's not exactly total freedom...

🎵 Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, Ah~

...Oh, the atmosphere is getting seriously bad... (・_・)
I mean, come to think of it, "Sayonara" is quite the forbidden word...
Ah, they're lighting the dynamite (*´Д｀)
It's "that kind of it's over" (T＿T)

Boom💥

—And so, Mizushima, having failed to persuade them and caught up in their honorable death, fell off a cliff and, although he somehow survived, was left seriously injured.

Fortunately, Mizushima is helped by passing natives and is treated to feasts every day (*´∇｀*)♪

Mizushima was happy, thinking he was lucky, but in fact, these natives who saved his life were actuallycannibals.
The feast they were serving him had the gruesome purpose of fattening him up to offer him as a human sacrifice to the spirit Nat they worship ( ﾟДﾟ)!

((((；ﾟДﾟ)))) Shuddering in fear

Mizushima is stunned when he learns the truth, but sadly, he still gets hungry.
He eats what is served to him. That is the sad |destiny| of being human.
……Or so I assume (￣∀￣)

Eventually, the moon became full, the meat became full, and the day of the festival to offer the |human sacrifice| to the spirit Nat arrived.

It was a desperate situation, but as is the privilege of a protagonist, a convenient plot device was triggered, and a sudden strong wind blew 💨
The natives, fearing the wrath of the spirit, were terrified.

In this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Mizushima instinctively picked up his harp and started plucking some decent-sounding tune ♪
Then, the wind gradually stopped (convenient plot device again), and Mizushima's position shifted from a sacrifice to be offered to the spirit to a sage who could appease the spirit's anger ☆(o^-')b♪

The villagers gifted Mizushima with monk's robes and a bracelet that only high-ranking monks are said to possess, and sent him off from the village in a grand manner.

Why the people in a village of cannibals had monk's robes and gorgeous bracelets is not exactly clear (￣∀￣)

—And so, after quite a grand adventure, Mizushima became a Burmese monk (at least in appearance).

Now that he was finally free, why didn't Mizushima just go back to his comrades? (゜o゜)?

However, a situation that made that impossible tormented Mizushima.
Indeed, Mizushima had initially headed toward his comrades with excitement, but on the way, he witnessed countless corpses of Japanese soldiers (*´Д｀).

In fact, in the historical Burma Campaign, many soldiers died in March 1944 due to the reckless "Imphal Campaign," which is sometimes called the "worst operation in history."
The bodies left to rot on the roadside decomposed quickly in the hot and humid environment, and the area was even called the "Road of White Bones."

Having seen something like this, how could he just pretend not to know and head home? Since he was already dressed as a monk, Mizushima decided to stay in Burma to bury and hold memorial services for the heroic spirits who became victims of the tragic war.

Even so, the day before his comrades were to leave Burma for repatriation, Mizushima appeared before them. Although blocked by the fence of the detention camp, their feelings were one and the same 👆

His comrades sang the song from the memories of when Mizushima used to play the harp to encourage them,
"Izumi Ward, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture."
……Oops, my mistake, that was "|Home! Sweet Home|"――

――Boring! 💢
Your |joke| is boring! 💢

(0 minutes 15 seconds)

Setting aside the fact that the last joke of the day was a total dud (don't dwell on it, don't dwell on it), perhaps moved by his comrades singing the nostalgic song '
Home, Sweet Home,' Mizushima also begins to play his harp in accompaniment to their singing.

It really is Mizushima!!
Convinced by the harp accompaniment, his comrades call out one after another,
"Mizushima! Let's go back to Japan together!"
They speak to him, but Mizushima sadly shakes his head and, instead of answering, begins to play 'Aogeba Toutoshi' (Looking Up to the Noble).

〽 Now the time has come to part, farewell—

Having finished playing his silent answer, Mizushima turns on his heel and leaves into the forest.

…Hmm…(・_・)
The digest version of 'The Burmese Harp' above is just a half-baked attempt by a fool who hasn't really read the original work and has filled in the information with half-imagination. I'm sure if I read the original, I'd be told, 'Your interpretation is boring!'... probably... (￣～￣)

By the way, when I checked Amazon via that Honcierge site, the novel 'The Burmese Harp' is,

1 yen used (・_・)💦

(Well, shipping costs are extra, though)

…I should properly buy and read it… (#^.^#) ← Though I should really read it before writing about it.

Finally, as for the process from when Mizushima leaves them until they meet again after he becomes a monk, we learn about it through the parakeet he sent and the sealed letter the parakeet was holding, but…

Are you trying to make me say that thing👇 again, which I already poked fun at in my own article, Michio Takeyama!?

The carrier pigeon, which the Japanese military also once used as a means of communication.
It is certainly a convenient means of communication. However, they only return to their own nests using their excellent homing instinct, and no matter how much you train them, delivering a letter to an arbitrary location you specify is an impossible request 🫲

Much less, can a mere parakeet do an ultra-C that a trained carrier pigeon cannot!? 💢

And while I'm at it—the parakeet speaks up right beside the soldiers who are choked with tears after learning of Mizushima's resolve from the sealed letter the parakeet was holding—

"Ah, I really cannot return."

The soldiers are moved to even more tears by the parakeet's words speaking for Mizushima, but let's ask the parakeet itself about its state of mind here.

"No, no, how many times do you think I had to repeat that sentimental long line to learn it? (・_・) I'm not some genius child actor! ✋ Don't misunderstand!

💢(￣∀￣)💢"

…Well, maybe there's a possibility it was a highly skilled parakeet on the level of a genius child actor, so it might be slightly more feasible than flying straight from Mizushima to his comrades♪(￣∀￣)♪

Today's closing song was supposed to be 'Miho Ozeki' with 'Mekong Melancholy'—but unfortunately, perhaps the song is too obscure, as no one has uploaded it (^^ゞ
So, this is a pattern where I'll upload it to YouTube myself from tomorrow onwards (since it's impossible in the next 20 or 30 minutes, anyway ✋).

(Added on October 3, 2024)

(4 minutes 01 seconds)

In the end, what I planned to add "after tomorrow" took a full two years (lol).
Besides, I got lazy about uploading to YouTube, so I took the route of converting my own audio source to MP3 and posting it as audio on note ^m^

Oops, it's already this late tonight. I keep one cockatiel, but I haven't taught it anything, so it doesn't talk at all (￣∀￣)💦
Even when I get close, it just urges me on, saying, "Hey, scratch the back of my head!" ^m^
(If I don't scratch it well, it snaps and bites my finger 💦)

With that said,
I hope tomorrow will also be a day where as many people as possible can enjoy freedom to the extent that it does not violate public welfare, without being unfairly coerced by the state or any power ✨

■ Bonus

This is the car before this image word chain train (151st car). If anyone was curious about the title "Independence Day" and the joke image on the bottom right, wondering what it was, please take a look when you have some time.