Daughters of the Dragon: A Comfort Woman's Story

by William Andrews

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jin-sook step forward with her head lowered. “Honorable sir,” she said in Japanese, “please forgive a girl for being so bold, but there has been a mistake! Our orders said we were to work in the boot factory in Sinuiju.”

  The lieutenant glowered at Jin-sook. “Come here,” he said.

  Keeping her head low, Jin-sook approached the officer. He lifted her chin with the tip of his shinai. “A mistake was made?”

  “Yes, sir,” she answered. “We were to go to the boot fa…”

  With a quick motion, he punched Jin-sook in the stomach with the butt of his shinai. She gasped and fell to her knees. “I heard you the first time, girl. Stand up.”

  Jin-sook, holding her stomach, struggled to her feet. She gasped for air. The lieutenant pointed his shinai at her. “Your disrespect has earned you a beating. But I can’t spoil you now, can I? Not before the officers have you. Go back in line with the others.”

  Back home, I had heard other girls talk about how the Japanese beat Koreans who showed them disrespect, but I didn’t believe them. I thought they were rumors started by the Japanese to make us obey them. But now I was seeing it with my own eyes. It was terrifying and it frightened me how disrespectful I had been to the Japanese. I worried about what else I didn’t know about them.

  Jin-sook, still holding her stomach, stepped back in the line. The lieutenant drew in a long breath through his nose and pointed his chin out. He began inspecting the line of girls. He slapped his shinai against his leg with each step. “I am Lieutenant Tanaka,” he began in a clipped authoritative way. “I’m the kempei in charge of this comfort station. You are our new volunteers. You will only speak to me when I ask you a question. You will only speak Japanese.” He came up to me. I lowered my eyes to the high black boots of the Kempei-tai.

  The kempei lifted my chin with a finger. “You’re a young one. Pretty, too. What’s your name?”

  “Hong, Ja-hee, sir,” I answered.

  The kempei grabbed my chin and pushed his fingers hard into my jaw. He forced me to look at him. “That is a Korean name and you are a Japanese subject,” he said. “You have a Japanese name. What is it?”

  “Namiko Iwata, sir,” I said, quickly.

  “Namiko Iwata. Yes.” He let go of my chin and I lowered my eyes again. The kempei walked on.

  “You will obey my orders without question,” he continued saying to all the girls. “If you do not, you will earn a beating. If you run away, we will catch you, beat you, and then shoot you. Anyway, I assure you, here there is nowhere to run.”

  Jin-sook stepped forward again and dropped to her knees in the yellow dirt. She bowed her head. “Kind sir, please hear a worthless girl,” she cried. “We should not be here! We are not volunteers for your comfort station. Please sir, send us back with the truck.”

  “Private Ishida!” Lieutenant Tanaka barked.

  The young soldier leaning against his rifle snapped to attention. “Yes, sir?”

  “Take these other girls to be examined by the doctor. Then, bring them to the courtyard.” He pointed his shinai at Jin-sook. “I’ll take this one. Surely the officers won’t mind one spoiled girl to show them all discipline.”

  Lieutenant Tanaka grabbed Jin-sook by the hair and pulled her around the other side of the building. She twisted and sobbed. “I’m sorry, sir,” she cried. “I will not say anything more. Please! I’m sorry.”

  Private Ishida ordered the rest of us to leave our packs against the building and follow him. I laid my sack next to Soo-hee’s and followed the girls down a dirt path leaving Jin-sook pleading with the kempei.

  *

  I had never seen a doctor when I was young. Back home, when someone got sick, they called a woman from the valley who, after examining the patient, prescribed special herbs. But I never needed her. So I didn’t know what to do when a nurse took me inside a white room with a bright light as the other girls sat silently in the infirmary’s hallway. The nurse pushed me to stand in front of a fat Japanese doctor who sat on a wood chair next to a cot.

  The nurse left and the doctor said, “Take off your clothes.”

  I wasn’t sure if I had heard him correctly. “Sir?” I said, keeping my eyes low.

  “I said, take off your clothes. Do it now.”

  “You want me to take off my clothes?” I asked.

  The doctor leaned in and slapped me hard across my face. It was the first time anyone had struck me. The shock of it took my breath away. “I’m a doctor. I have to examine you,” he said. “Do as I say now or I’ll send you to Lieutenant Tanaka for a beating.”

  I didn’t want to get a beating, so I slowly unbuttoned my shirt and pants. I untied my undergarments and let them fall to the floor. I had never been naked in front of a man before. I started to tremble. “Come closer,” the doctor said. I took a step closer. The doctor ran his hands along my torso. He pressed his fingers into my neck, stomach and chest. I flinched with each touch. He made me turn around and he put his cold stethoscope on my back and told me to breathe in slowly. I couldn’t stop trembling.

  The doctor pointed at the cot and told me to lie there on my back. “Pull your knees up and spread your legs open.”

  I couldn’t believe what he was telling me to do. “What are you going to do to me?” I asked.

  “I need to see if you are a virgin. Now stop asking questions and do as you’re told.”

  I still felt the sting from the doctor’s slap and the kempei and his shinai were fresh in my mind. So I closed my eyes and did what the doctor told me to do. My body tensed as the doctor probed me with his fingers. I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand and stifled a sob. After a few long seconds he stopped. “You’re a virgin,” he said. “I would expect it, someone as young as you, but you can never be sure. How long have you been bleeding?”

  “Sir?” I asked.

  “Your monthly bleed, how long has it been?”

  “Five times.”

  “Good. You’re clean. You have good skin and pleasing features. I’m sure Colonel Matsumoto will want you first, someone so young, so pretty. Do what he tells you and you’ll be all right. Now get dressed and go back with the others.”

  I quickly dressed as the doctor washed at a porcelain basin. “Doctor,” I said, “what will the Colonel ask me to do?”

  “Nothing you can’t handle,” he said without looking up.

  “But what if I don’t want to do it?” I asked.

  The doctor turned from the basin. “Don't talk back, girl, and do what he tells you. Now go.” I ran back to the hallway with the other girls and sat on the cold tile floor. I thought about what had happened to Sun-hi in the truck and how the kempei had punched Jin-sook in the stomach. I was terrified that awful things like that would happen to me, too. And I wasn’t as sure as the Doctor was that I would be able to handle it.

  *

  Private Ishida, his rifle in hand, led us back to the barracks. “Listen to me,” he said. “Do not cross the lieutenant or you will pay the price! Only speak Japanese. And don’t disappoint the senior officers, either. Do you understand?”

  “Yes sir,” we replied in unison.

  We came around the barracks to where the truck had dropped us off. Lieutenant Tanaka was waiting for us. Jin-sook was not with him. He ordered us to take our things and follow him. We gathered our sacks and followed him to where he had dragged Jin-sook. We came to a courtyard closed off by three long barracks, each with ten doors, closely spaced. Two wooden steps led to each door. There were no windows in the barracks. The yellow dirt in the courtyard was hard and dry.

  In the center of the courtyard, Jin-sook stood with her wrists and ankles tied to a post. She was naked and she trembled visibly. She breathed in shallow sobs. We all gasped and covered our mouths when we saw her. Sun-hi began to cry quietly.

  Japanese women, some dressed in yukatas, lounged on the steps of the largest barracks. Others leaned against walls. When we came in the courtyard, they f
iled out.

  Lieutenant Tanaka pointed his shinai at the ground twenty feet in front of the post and ordered us to form a line facing Jin-sook. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as I stood at the end of the line next to Soo-hee.

  Lieutenant Tanaka faced us. “You are all fortunate!” he said, strolling down the line. “You will learn what happens to a Korean girl who doesn’t please her kempei. You will watch the lesson without closing your eyes. If you cry, you will earn a beating. If you faint, you will earn a beating. If you vomit or piss yourself or do anything other than watch the lesson, you will earn a beating. Watch now and learn from your kempei.”

  Lieutenant Tanaka approached Jin-sook with his shinai at his side. She sobbed and pleaded with the kempei not to beat her. She said she was sorry and wouldn’t talk back. He didn’t seem to hear her.

  Lieutenant Tanaka stood in front of Jin-sook and slowly raised his shinai. Then he struck her across her thighs with a loud whack. Jin-sook’s body stiffened. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Lieutenant Tanaka brought the shinai down again on the same place and Jin-sook let out a long, jagged scream. She shook violently against the post. Lieutenant Tanaka struck her thighs again. Then again and again and again. Jin-sook screamed and jerked with each blow. She pulled hard against the ropes and they cut her wrists. Angry red welts swelled on her thighs. Urine ran down her legs.

  My own thighs jerked with each strike of the shinai, as if Lieutenant Tanaka was beating me. I wanted desperately to close my eyes and put my hands over my ears to make the beating stop. But I was shocked at what I was seeing and so horrified, that I could not do either. Bile rose from my stomach and I was afraid I would vomit. I wanted to cry but I pushed it down inside my stomach as Soo-hee had told me to.

  Then, Lieutenant Tanaka struck Jin-sook on her shins. With this blow, Jin-sook’s body stiffened again, her mouth opened wide and she took in a short gulp of air. Lieutenant Tanaka hit her in the same place and Jin-sook let out a long, mournful shriek. Mucus ran from her nose, her hair was wild and tangled. Lieutenant Tanaka struck her shins over and over, each blow causing Jin-sook to scream horribly. Finally, Jin-sook slumped unconscious against the post, her black hair falling like a veil over her face. Lieutenant Tanaka lowered his shinai and faced us.

  I couldn’t breathe and the courtyard was spinning. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sun-hi faint. Lieutenant Tanaka pointed his shinai at her. “That girl has earned a beating,” he said. “Private, make a note. We will do it tomorrow.”

  Lieutenant Tanaka walked down the line of girls. “I have given you a valuable lesson. What do you say to your kempei for this lesson?”

  No one answered.

  “I asked a question!” Lieutenant Tanaka barked, slapping his shinai against his boot. “Someone answer, or you will all earn a beating.”

  No one said anything and I was afraid I was going to faint like Sun-hi did. Finally, Soo-hee took a step forward and bowed low. “Kempei, sir,” she said in broken Japanese, “thank you for this lesson.”

  Lieutenant Tanaka looked down his pointed nose at Soo-hee. “What is your name, girl?”

  “Okimi Iwata, sir,” Soo-hee said with another low bow.

  “You’re welcome, Okimi Iwata. Go back in line.” Soo-hee stepped back.

  “Now,” Lieutenant Tanaka said, “all of you, wash and change into yukatas. The geishas will assign you to rooms. The senior officers return from maneuvers tonight.”

  As Lieutenant Tanaka headed out of the courtyard, he said over his shoulder, “Be ready for them.”

  N INE

  After lieutenant tanaka left the courtyard, I gripped Soo-hee’s hand hard. I asked her what was happening to us.

  “Quiet!” Private Ishida barked, untying Jin-sook from the post. “Don’t talk! If Lieutenant Tanaka hears you, you will get a beating!” I lowered my head.

  “Seiko! Maori!” the private shouted. “Get the others and come help with the new girls.” The Japanese women reappeared from behind their barracks.

  Sun-hi, lying on the ground, moaned and grabbed at Soo-hee’s leg. Soo-hee helped her to her feet. When Sun-hi saw Jin-sook slumped at the post, she began to sob uncontrollably. “No!” Soo-hee said in a sharp whisper. “Do not cry.” The tall girl drew in an uncertain breath and fell quiet.

  Private Ishida ordered Maori to get water for Jin-sook. “She needs to go to the infirmary,” he said. He kneeled next to the unconscious girl and untied from the post. He told the other geishas to show us our rooms and where to wash. “They need yukatas for the officers tonight,” he said.

  A Japanese woman in a dark blue yukata grabbed me by the arm. “I am Seiko,” she said. “Come with me.” She was at least seven years older than Soo-hee. She had shoulder-length hair, long eyelashes, and a petite nose. She walked with short, deliberate steps. She led me to a narrow door at the end of one of the barracks. “Listen to me. This is where you work. From one o’clock to five, it’s the enlisted men. They get ten minutes each. From five to seven, you have the non-commissioned officers. They get a half hour. At eight, you will go to one of the senior officers’ quarters and stay as long as he wants you. Today you’re lucky—you only have the senior officers. The troops return from maneuvers tomorrow. Then you will put in a full day’s work.”

  Seiko continued. “You wash in the latrine next to the infirmary. Get a yukata in the room by the latrine. You must wear it when you work. We prepare food in the kitchen next to the geisha’s barracks. You will be assigned cleaning, cooking and laundry duty tomorrow.”

  “And one more thing,” Seiko said, poking me in my chest with her finger. “Always remember you are a Korean. Do as we say or you will get a beating just like your friend over there. Now put your things in your room and follow me to the latrine.”

  I went inside the room. It was dark and small and stunk like a toilet. Strips of sunlight showed through gaps between the boards in the floors and walls. The door hung loosely on leather hinges. Covering the floor was a small, thin mat. There was a chamber pot in one corner and in the other, a stool.

  I placed my sack on the mat. I turned to Seiko. “What kind of work do we do here?”

  Seiko scoffed at me. “You are a stupid Korean. You’re an ianfu—a comfort woman. You are here to service the soldiers.”

  Ianfu. I had heard the word once before, years earlier when I overheard Mother and Father talking in hushed tones about what had happened to an older girl who lived near us. I wondered what it meant so I asked Soo-hee. She told me to forget I heard the word, but I never did.

  Now I was beginning to understand and my stomach turned into a knot. I had never been with a man before. I had never even imagined what it would be like. I thought about what had happened to Sun-hi in the truck only hours earlier. I could still hear her cries and see how she rolled up into a tight ball when the driver threw her back in the truck after he had used her. She hadn’t been the same since. And I knew I would not be the same, either.

  I looked beyond the barracks over the brown wheat fields. The distance between the hills was much greater than in the hills outside of Sinuiju. I remembered Lieutenant Tanaka’s words; there is nowhere to run. I glanced at the post in the middle of the courtyard and a shiver of pain went through my legs.

  I looked back at Seiko who glared at me. “Thank you, ma’am,” I said with a respectful bow.

  *

  An hour later, I had washed and even though I wasn’t hungry, I had eaten a small bowl of broth with a few mushy azuki beans. Seiko had given me a green yukata with small, white and pink flowers. She gave me white tabi socks and zori sandals. The yukata was too large for my slender frame and I tripped on the hem while walking back to the courtyard. Lounging on their steps, the Japanese women laughed at me without covering their mouths.

  “Look at that poor little chicken,” one of them said. “She will squawk when the officers pluck her.”

  The women laughed again, except for Seiko who stared at me and said, “
Yes. And the officers will be here soon.”

  When I entered the courtyard, the other Korean girls were standing awkwardly in front of their barracks. They were all wearing yukatas and there was terror in their eyes.

  Soo-hee, wearing a yellow yukata, was on a step at the end of the barracks. I ran to her. I told her I was scared.

  “We all are,” Soo-hee said. She scanned the other girls and told me to follow her.

  As the Japanese women and Private Ishida looked on, Soo-hee gathered the girls around her. Then she said in a low voice, “We’re in a terrible place. We have to do what they say, or we will die. But we have each other and we must stay strong.”

  “But I do not know what to do!” a younger girl cried.

  Soo-hee nodded. “What’s your name?”

  “Midori Sato,” she answered.

  “No, no. What’s your Korean name?”

  “Mee-su,” the girl said.

  “I don’t know what to do either, Mee-su,” Soo-hee said. “The doctor said we would be all right if we do what they say. I think we should.”

  “But I don’t know how,” Mee-su said.

  Soo-hee put a hand on Mee-su’s shoulder. “You have to try. Remember what I said. Be strong.” Mee-su choked back a sob and Soo-hee looked at each of the girls in the eye. “We must be strong. We must help each other.”

  We all nodded. Mee-su wiped her eyes and no longer cried. The girls went back to their steps. Sun-hi still trembled.

  Soo-hee led me back to my step. She tugged at my sleeve and told me to come closer. “Take this,” she whispered. She lifted a fold of her yukata. In her hand was the comb with the two-headed dragon. “Ummah said that it will protect us.”

  “But Onni, Ummah gave it to you.”

  “You were born in the year of the dragon,” Soo-hee said. “This comb with the dragon is a sign for you. Take it little sister.”

  I wrapped my hand around the comb. It was the first time I had ever held it. It was heavy and cool in my hand, and felt like something important. But after what had happen to Jin-sook, I doubted if a comb could help me.