Barefoot Gen
Publication history. Cartoonist Keiji Nakazawa created the feature "Ore wa Mita" (translated into English as "I Saw It"), an eyewitness account of the atomic-bomb devastation in Japan, in the monthly manga "Monthly Shōnen Jump" in 1972. In the United States it was published through Educomics in 1982. Nakazawa went on to serialize the longer, autobiographical "Hadashi No Gen" ("Barefoot Gen") beginning in the June 4, 1973 edition of "Weekly Shōnen Jump" manga magazine, It was cancelled after a year and a half, and moved to three other less widely distributed magazines: "Shimin" (Citizen), "Bunka Hyōron" (Cultural Criticism ), and "Kyōiku Hyōron" (Educational Criticism). It was published in book collections in Japan beginning in 1975. Plot. The story begins in Hiroshima during the final months of World War II. Six-year-old Gen Nakaoka and his family live in poverty and struggle to make ends meet. Gen's father Daikichi urges them to "live like wheat," which always grows strong despite being trod on. Daikichi is critical of the war. When he shows up drunk to a mandatory combat drill and talks back to his instructor, the Nakaokas are branded as traitors and become subject to harassment and discrimination  by their neighbors. To restore his family's honor, Gen's older brother Koji joins the Navy against Daikichi's wishes, where he is subjected to a brutal training regimen by his commanding officer, which causes one of Koji's friends to kill himself. On August 6, the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. Gen's father and siblings perish in the fires, but he and his mother escape. The shock causes her to give premature birth; Gen's new sister is named Tomoko. In the days following the attack, Gen and his mother witness the horrors wrought by the  bomb. Hiroshima lies in ruins, and the city is full of people dead and dying from severe burns and radiation sickness. Gen meets a girl named Natsue, whose face has been severely burned. She attempts to commit suicide, but Gen convinces her to continue living. Gen and his mother adopt an orphan named Ryuta, who by sheer coincidence looks identical to Gen's deceased younger brother Shinji. After Gen returns to their burnt-out home and retrieves the remains of his father and siblings, he and his family move in with Kime's friend Kiyo. However, Kiyo's stingy mother -in-law conspires with her spoiled grandchildren to drive the Nakaokas out. Gen looks for work to pay the family's rent. A man hires him to look after his brother Seiji, who has been burnt from head to toe and lives in squalor. Though Seiji is reluctant at first, he warms up to Gen over time: The boy learns Seiji is an artist who has lost the will to live because his burns have left him unable to hold a brush. With Gen's help, Seiji learns to paint with his teeth but, eventually, he dies of his wounds . On August 14, Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender over the radio, ending the war. Following Japan's surrender, American occupation forces arrive to help the nation rebuild. Gen and Ryuta, fearing rumours they've heard about the Americans, arm themselves with a pistol they find in an abandoned weapons cache. They learn the Americans aren't as bad as they'd thought when they're given free candy, but they also witness a group of American soldiers harvesting organs from corpses for medical research. Kiyo's mother-in-law evicts the Nakaokas after Gen gets into a fight with  her grandchildren, and they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. Gen and Ryuta attempt to earn money to feed Tomoko, getting involved with the local Yakuza. After the Yakuza betray them, Ryuta kills one of them with the pistol they found and becomes a fugitive. Later, Gen learns that Tomoko has been kidnapped. He finds her with the help of a classmate, only to learn that she's become ill. Tomoko dies soon after. In December 1947, Gen is reunited with Ryuta, who has become a juvenile delinquent, doing odd jobs for the Yakuza. He meets Katsuko, a girl scarred  by burns from the bomb. As an orphan and a hibakusha, she is subject to discrimination and cannot go to school; Gen lends her his books and teaches her himself. Themes. Major themes throughout the work are power, hegemony, resistance and loyalty. Gen's family suffers as all families do in war. They must conduct themselves as proper members of society, as all Japanese are instructed in paying tribute to the Emperor. But because of a belief that their involvement in the war is due to the greed of the rich ruling class, Gen's father rejects the military  propaganda and the family comes to be treated as traitors. Gen's family struggles with their bond of loyalty to each other and to a government that is willing to send teenagers on suicide missions in battle. This push and pull relationship is seen many times as Gen is ridiculed in school, mimicking his father's views on Japan's role in the war, and then is subsequently punished by his father for spouting things he learned through rote brainwashing in school. Many of these themes are put into a much harsher perspective when portrayed alongside themes of the struggle  between war and peace. , author of believes that the characters Katsuko and Natsue coopt but change the stereotypical "Hiroshima Maiden" story, as typified in "Black Rain", as although courageous, Katsuko and Natsue are severely scarred both physically and mentally. Translations. A volunteer pacifist organization, Project Gen, formed in Tokyo in 1976 to produce English translations. Leonard Rifas' EduComics (together with World Color Press) published it that same year as "Gen of Hiroshima", the "first full-length translation of a manga from Japanese into English to be published in the West." It was unpopular, and the series was cancelled after two  volumes. The group Rondo Gen published an Esperanto translation as "Nudpieda Gen" ("Barefoot Gen") in 1982. The chief translator was Izumi Yukio. The German Rowohlt Verlag published only the first volume in 1982 under their mass-market label "rororo". Carlsen Comics tried it again in 2004 but cancelled the publication after four volumes. Both publishers took the name "Barfuß durch Hiroshima" ("Barefoot through Hiroshima"). The first volume was published in Norwegian in 1986 by GEVION norsk forlag A/S. The Norwegian title is "Gen, Gutten fra Hiroshima" ("Gen, the Boy from Hiroshima"). A similar edition in Swedish ("Gen – Pojken från  Hiroshima") was published in 1985 by Alvglans förlag, which may have been the earliest published manga in Swedish. The first volume was published in Finnish in 1985 by Jalava, becoming the first Japanese comic to be published in Finland, but publishing was likewise abandoned. The Finnish title is "Hiroshiman poika" (The Son of Hiroshima), and Finnish translation was done by Kaija-Leena Ogihara. In 2006 Jalava republished the first volume (with its original translation) and continued with publication of second volume. All 10 volumes were published in Poland by Waneko in 2004–2011 under the title "Hiroszima 1945: Bosonogi Gen". An  Arabic translation was published in Egypt by Maher El-Sherbini, a professor in the department of Japanese Language and Japanese literature at Cairo University, he began the project in 1992 when he was an exchange student at the Hiroshima University Graduate School of Letters, where he had completed his master’s and doctorate’s degrees. The first volume was released in January 2015 and since then all 10 Volumes have been translated. New Society Publishers produced a second English-language run of the series in graphic novel format (as "Barefoot Gen: The Cartoon Story of Hiroshima") starting in 1988. New  English edition. A new English translation has been released by Last Gasp (starting in 2004) with an introduction by Art Spiegelman, who has compared the work to his own work, "Maus" (which is about the experiences of Spiegelman's father during the Holocaust in Europe). Nakazawa planned to present a set of the series to US President Barack Obama to caution against nuclear proliferation. Media. Films. Live-action. In 1976, 1977 and 1980, Tengo Yamada directed three live-action version films. Animated films. Two animated films were based on the manga, in 1983 and 1986, both directed by Mori Masaki  for a production company that Nakazawa founded. "Barefoot Gen 2" is set three years after the bomb fell. It focuses on the continuing survival of Gen and orphans in Hiroshima. Initially released individually on dub-only VHS tape by Streamline Pictures, and then dub-only DVD by Image Entertainment, Geneon eventually sold bilingual versions of the film on DVD as a set. On September 18, 2017, Discotek Media announced via Facebook that both films would be coming to blu ray with both the Japanese and English languages available in it. The single disc set was released on December 26 of  that year. TV drama. A two episode TV drama was produced by Fuji Television in 2007 and was aired over two days. Books. 10 books have been published about "Barefoot Gen". Theatre Productions. There have been a number of stage play adaptations of "Barefoot Gen" produced in Japan. In July 1996 the first stage adaptation in English was premiered at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, UK. The production was a collaboration between the Crucible Theatre and Theatre Zenshinza, Tokyo, Japan. In 1994 British theatre director Bryn Jones travelled to Japan to request Mr. Nakazawa's permission to adapt the first volume  as a play. Permission was granted and Jones returned to Sheffield to prepare the production; research, design and dramatisation with the Crucible company, Tatsuo Suzuki and Fusako Kurahara. Mr. Nakazawa subsequently travelled to the UK to attend final rehearsals and gave post show talks after the opening performances. The final manuscript was adapted and dramatised by Tatsuo Suzuki and Bryn Jones and translated by Fusako Kurahara. The production received a Japan Festival Award 1997 "for outstanding achievements in furthering the understanding of Japanese culture in the United Kingdom." Operas and musicals. Some operas and musicals of "Barefoot Gen" have been  on show. Reception. The manga has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Controversy. In December 2012, access to "Barefoot Gen" became restricted in elementary schools and junior high schools of Matsue city in Japan, after a claim was made that "Barefoot Gen" "describes atrocities by Japanese troops that did not take place". This was reviewed after 44 of 49 school principals polled in the city wanted the restriction removed - the curb was later lifted in August 2013. Nakazawa’s widow, Misayo, had expressed shock that children’s access to the work was being curbed. “"War is brutal. It expresses  that in pictures, and I want people to keep reading it.”"