Long the Imperial Way by Hanama Tasaki

Author:Hanama Tasaki [Tasaki, Hanama]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Germany, European General, Military, United States
ISBN: 9781839742484
Google: Ah0gtAEACAAJ
Publisher: BURTYRKI Books
Published: 2020-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13 — Punishment — Chōbatsu

In the meantime, the Warrant Officer had lined up the First-Year-Soldiers in double file in the yard in front of the building where the company was billeted. It was he who had sent Private First Class Yamanaka and the Regulars to inquire after Miki when the count had shown a soldier missing. When the commotion had started in Squad Three, his sharp intuition had informed him right away what was taking place, and he had decided against going to interfere, since it would have become a messy affair if he went. It was never a wise policy to antagonize the Reserves and the height of folly, he knew, to bother them on a night like this.

He turned his attention sharply to the First-Year-Soldiers assembled before him and called in a voice which sounded like the crack of a whip in the night, “Attention!” He did not seem to notice that the men had already been rigidly at attention for some time since the count-off, and he followed with the usual “Eyes center!” but did not add the ordinary “Rest!”

The yard was lighted dimly by the faint rays filtering out from the rooms of the buildings bordering it, but the Warrant Officer could still notice in the dimness that all eyes were riveted toward him and that not a single figure moved. A weak ray of light from a window in the building behind the First-Year-Soldiers fell squarely on the stern countenance of the Warrant Officer and showed it up unnaturally in the darkness. Its eyelids were puffed and complexion flushed and shiny, and his eyes were bloodshot. They were unmistakable signs of intoxication and seemed exaggeratedly artificial and completely out of place on the athletic-looking face of the Warrant Officer. The First-Year-Soldiers felt dismay growing in their hearts when they noticed the large crowd of Regulars standing fawningly around him. Many of the Regulars were drunk, too, and it was plain that they had been drinking together with the Warrant Officer and had been instrumental in arousing the latter to call an assembly of the First-Year-Soldiers.

“Do you know why the Imperial Army is the Imperial Army?” began the Warrant Officer in his well-trained sonorous voice. He was glaring up and down the line. Then he pointed to a soldier directly in front of him and ordered, “That soldier over there!”

The soldier pointed out was Takeo. He was so surprised by the suddenness of the distinction that, although he was able to mumble, “Yes, sir,” he was at a loss to continue, and he felt his throat tightening helplessly. Kan, who was standing beside Takeo, came to his comrade’s rescue by raising his hand and shouting, “Yes, sir!” He immediately added in that completely impersonal, singsong voice which they used in answering their superiors, “Because the Imperial Army worships the Emperor as its Commander and, down to the lowliest soldier, makes it its absolute duty to perform patriotism to the Emperor.” It was a trite phrase

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