These two photos from 1943 and 1944 capture scenes inside Seoul streetcars during the Japanese colonial period, as passengers bow their heads for the mandatory daily noon Moment of Silence honoring fallen Imperial Japanese soldiers.
The news articles present the scene as an expression of wholehearted Korean devotion to the Imperial war effort: according to the article, passengers reverently prayed for the fallen soldiers, wished for the Imperial forces' continued success, and renewed their determination to “fight until the enemy is destroyed.”
Of course, the photograph itself cannot tell us what these passengers were actually thinking. What it does show is ordinary people participating in one of the public rituals imposed on daily life in wartime Korea. Whatever their private feelings may have been, compliance was expected.
People from Britain and other Commonwealth countries might see a superficial resemblance to the two-minute silence observed on Remembrance Day at 11 a.m. on November 11. The difference is that this wartime ritual was performed every day at noon, rather than once a year.
Another compulsory daily ritual was Kyūjō Yōhai (宮城遥拝), performed at 7 a.m., in which people faced the direction of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and bowed deeply in reverence toward the Emperor. By August 1943, wartime regulations had become so intrusive that vehicles were required to stop on roads and streetcar tracks at 7 a.m. and noon while these rituals were performed.
[Translation]
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) January 15, 1944
Sacred Prayers for the Heroic Spirits
◇ … Quietly bowing their heads and offering reverent moments of silence, the hearts of the twenty-five million Korean compatriots fly in unison to the battlefronts where the guns are thundering. Now, more than ever, the Korean home front burns with hostility toward the United States and Britain and with the fierce resolve to obey the Imperial command and destroy the enemy.
◇ … At this time today, when we are preparing to send our own sons and younger brothers to the very front lines, everyone on the Korean home front, old and young, men and women alike, whenever passing before the Gokoku Shrine, where the heroic spirits who gave their lives for the nation are enshrined, unfailingly offers a silent prayer of gratitude to those spirits resting in peace, while praying for the everlasting fortunes of the Imperial Forces in battle. Even if they are aboard a streetcar or riding in an automobile, they reverently observe a moment of silence and pledge, with a determination like red-hot iron: “Fight until the enemy is destroyed! Fight until the enemy is destroyed!”
◇ … Truly, for the twenty-five million Korean compatriots to offer their unvarnished, fervent prayers for the enemy nations’ surrender is the sacred embodiment of obeying the Imperial command to destroy the enemy. To carry that spirit into our everyday lives, to devote ourselves completely to a wartime way of life and devote ourselves completely to production as though the enemy were right before us - that is the duty of those on the home front.
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) August 25, 1943
A Great Moment of Silence Pledging to Win the War
100 million people march to take up the spirit of the Founding Fathers of Ancient Japan
When the sirens sound at noon, the city and the countryside immediately stop and become quiet. Workers stop working, pedestrians stop walking, trains and cars stop driving, and everyone inside vehicles stand up in silence for this solemn hour. At this moment, they offer infinite gratitude for the blood-soaked toil of the generals who are fighting valiantly to destroy the United States and Britain on the pathetically brutal front lines. They pray in this moment, "May the heroic souls, who have become the demons of national defense, rest in peace forever". They also make a firm pledge of victory to further increase production capacity and fight hard at their workplaces to win this decisive battle. The silent prayer at noon is a building block of wartime life, and people on the home front should not neglect this holy moment, and they should offer a solemn and pious silent prayer that emanates from their patriotic hearts. [Photo: Silent prayer in a train]
[Transcription]
京城日報 1943年8月25日
必勝誓う大いなる沈黙
肇国の精神を承け一億の進軍
正午のサイレンが響き渡ると一瞬にして街も農村も動かず静かに籠る。職場に挺身する者は仕事を止め、道路を歩行する者はピタリと足をとどめ、電車も自動車も運転を停止して車中の者は静かに此の厳粛なる一刻に起立。凄愴苛烈な前線に思いを致し生死を超越して米英撃滅に勇進力闘している将兵の血のにじむ労苦に無限の感謝を捧げ、「護国の鬼と化した英魂よ、永久に安かれ」と祈念するこの一瞬間。さらにさらに生産力増強に職場に敢闘して断じて決戦を勝ち抜かんとする必勝の誓いを固めるのだ。正午の黙祷は決戦生活の建設であり、戦う銃後国民は一人としてもこの聖なる一刻を忽せにすることなく、愛国の熱い赤心からほどばしり出る厳粛敬虔な黙祷を捧ぐべきである。【写真＝電車内の黙祷】
京城日報 1944年1月15日
英霊に聖なる祈り
◇．．．静かに頭を垂れて敬虔な黙祷を捧げる半島二千五百万同胞心は斉しく砲声轟く戦線に馳せる。いまこそ銃後半島は米英撃滅の敵愾心を燃やして奉詔滅敵の気魄は猛る。
◇．．．我が子我が弟を最前線へ送らんとする今日頃のこの銃後半島は老も若きも男も女も護国の英霊神鎮まる護国神社の前を通るときは必ず静かに眠る英霊に感謝の黙祷を捧げるとともに皇軍の武運長久を祈る。例えそれが電車の中でも自動車の中でも敬虔な黙祷を捧げ”撃ちてし止まむ””撃ちてし止まむ”熱鉄の決意を誓うのだ。
◇．．．真に半島二千五百万同胞の赤裸々な敵国降伏の熱祷を捧げることが奉詔滅敵の聖なる姿であり、その精神を我々の日常生活に生かし敵前生産、戦争生活に徹することが銃後の責務である。
Source: Digital Newspaper Archive, National Library of Korea
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