Yumeji Takehisa: Depicting the Great Kanto Earthquake 5
~The Great Kanto Earthquake depicted by Yumeji Takehisa 5~
"Tokyo Disaster Picture Letter" 4, published in the Miyako Shimbun on September 17, 1923
Yumeji's reportage: If you look at the tobacco girl's life, you can see that human greed knows no bounds. In the midst of the chaos, some of the merchants selling the remaining cigarettes sold them for less than the regular price, while others took advantage of the fire and sold them for 20 to 30 percent more than the regular price. Those who sold at a high price were trying to get as much cash as possible, while those who sold at a low price had to convert even a mere 10 sen into cash to buy food.On the morning of the 3rd, I saw a girl sitting on the ground at the edge of Shinobazu Pond, holding a box of Asahi magazines that was probably less than 20 in size, selling tobacco. I wondered how she would survive after she traded her tobacco for bread.
When I think of this girl who has lost everything to sell, especially a girl who was born beautiful, and who will likely sell everything she owns, I cannot help but feel gloomy. It is difficult to say in a few words whether such a girl will be happy or unhappy, but I wonder who taught her to sell. Decadence is more frightening than the extreme egoism that will come after the Age of Terror.・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
Earning money was not life.
Long ago, when money was not a condition of survival,
What was this world like?
No more poverty, no more selling, no more hunger, no more hard labor.
There is no worry about tomorrow, no debt, and no illness.
If there is a world without sadness or fear...
If now is the time of fear,
Next comes extreme egoism.
What kind of picture will the next ruin be?
It takes real courage to even think about it.
However, Yumeji
Maybe he saw the picture in his mind.
That's what I think.
It's in this painting of your daughter.
Yumeji's gentle gaze
Because the prayer feels stronger.
No one will be sold
You don't have to live to get it
A prayer for peace.
-Kyoko