A soldier who died while looking up at the white rice - a soldier's reminiscences (Russo-Japanese War, 1897-38)

A soldier who died while looking up at the white rice - a soldier's reminiscences (Russo-Japanese War, 1897-38)

During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), soldiers in the army were supplied with polished white rice as their staple food. With the advancement of rice-polishing technology, pure white rice was regarded as a hygienic and luxurious meal, and was welcomed by many soldiers. However, an unexpected situation soon arose. Many soldiers became ill, and many fell seriously ill.

In response, one army, under the guidance of a military doctor who practiced modern nutritional management, promoted a dietary reform that included barley rice and other ingredients, which greatly reduced the damage. On the other hand, in another army, the highest-ranking military doctor at the time supported a different theory of cause and denied that nutrition was a problem, so barley rice was not introduced.

As a result, some point out that more men died of disease than were killed in battle. For example, it is estimated that about 27,000 soldiers lost their lives to disease during the war, which was more than half of the total number of deaths in battle (about 47,000). Some soldiers were said to have said, "If I had died from bullets, I would have been happy, but to die from rice is frustrating.

We army soldiers were provided with rice that was glistening white. It was the whitest rice I had ever seen, and at first I was really happy. We had grown up in a farming family, and white rice was something we rarely ate, even on festival days. I never thought I would be able to eat a full belly of white rice on the battlefield.

But as the months passed, something began to go wrong. Everyone seemed to lose strength, as if there was a shadow over them. Even though they were eating, they lost their energy day by day. My friends called it a "strange disease," and at first we even laughed about it, but the laughter soon disappeared.

I heard that the navy soldiers over there escaped this disease by eating rice mixed with wheat. I heard that the military doctor had instructed them to do so. The military doctor who examined us abhorred barley rice, insisting that it was contagious. We had no way of knowing why it was different or why it remained the same. We just ate the white rice and were slowly being eaten away by an invisible force.

If we were going to die from being shot in battle, we thought, so be it. But who could have imagined that while eating the rice, my life would be slowly eroded away? The blood drained from our friend's face, and before we knew it, he was bedridden and quietly drawing his last breath. All we could do was watch.

If only barley rice had been distributed at that time. If only one thing had been different. I can't help but think about that, but in the end I don't know what the right thing to do would have been. Only the glare of that white rice and the unfathomable darkness that followed it are still clearly in my mind.