During the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1965 to 1975, more than 1 million Vietnamese people died, and it is said that about half of them were children.

The picture book Kaasan wa Orusu (Mother is not at Home) was published in 1972, during the Vietnam War, when the U.S. military was repeatedly and indiscriminately bombing throughout Vietnam.

The story, written by Vietnamese author Nguyen Thi, focuses on the lives of five sisters and brothers, who live resolutely while awaiting their mother, who goes to the battlefield every day to defend their homeland.

Chihiro said, “Even the children on the battlefield, when I look at photos of Vietnam, I can’t begin to describe how adorable they are.” Believing that “all children are the future,” she vividly depicted these adorable children, living their lives guilelessly and to the fullest while hoping for a better tomorrow amid the worsening war situation.

In January 1973, while working on her next picture book, Senka no naka no Kodomotachi (Children in the Flames of War), Chihiro published the following poem in a local newspaper distributed by Kyodo News.

Always I see in my mind
Children whose mother
Goes out to the battlefield

Even if their mother
Comes home today
Nobody knows whether
She will return tomorrow
And even if she does come home tomorrow

Nobody is sure that bombs
Will not rain down upon the faces of the children
Before she returns

Who sends bombers to Vietnam
The country south of Japan?

Mothers of Japan
Gentle-hearted mothers of the world
Please protect these children
While their mother is away

The Mother Holding Her Little Sons, from Kaasan wa Orusu (Mother is not Home), 1972