Director Tetsuko Kuroyanagi Talks about Chihiro Iwasaki [5’03”]

Sad Encounter with Chihiro Iwasaki
I was in utter shock when I saw an article about the death of Chihiro Iwasaki. I rarely shed tears for people I do not know in person, but I couldn’t help crying, and my tears dropped on the newspaper as the reality of her death sunk in. She was only 55 years old. I had always thought that I would be able to meet her one day. It was a moment of terrible grief and sadness. For the first time in my life, I felt deep sorrow at the death of a person I had never met, a person I thought I would meet someday.

The Charms of Chihiro’s Illustrations
Not many can depict children as skillfully as Chihiro. She can make children appear adorable in everyone’s eyes. Viewers see their own children in her illustrations. I think Chihiro received an incredible gift from God, who told her to draw children, and that is what she frantically did until she died at the age of 55.

Madogiwa no Totto-chan (Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window)
I really wanted illustrations for my book, and wished to use Chihiro’s works. When I went to ask her bereaved family about it, they said OK and that’s how I was allowed to use Chihiro’s pictures. Because the pictures and the text fit perfectly, a lot of people thought Chihiro must have read some of the story before drawing the illustrations. This, actually, is not true. I handed over the text to Chihiro’s son, Takeshi, and he selected the pictures.
I was expelled from school because I didn't listen to my teacher. For this scene, I used an illustration of a girl turning back and talking to another child. If it had been a boy, it would not match the scene. But since it was a girl, it was perfect. There was a picture for every possible scene. It’s incredible how many pictures of children Chihiro drew.

Tracing Chihiro's Life
When I was writing that book, there were so many things I was surprised at.
I thought that such a lovely, beautiful woman would have had no misfortunes, troubles, or sufferings in her life. I was truly surprised to learn how much she actually suffered in her life, and how many illustrations of children she then created.
At that time, her parents were, so to say, deported. War responsibility. So they settled into an uncultivated land around the current Chihiro Art Museum Azumino to become farmers.
I think she felt responsible for all the victims of the war. She thought her immaturity was at fault. I think she blamed herself and felt guilty. She must have felt her actions had been immature for someone her age.
I believe she left Tokyo because she was sick of everything—she wanted to forget everything from that time and cut her connections with the past. That’s why she left without saying anything.
In my view, losing the war made her independent and stand on her own feet.
Without that defeat in war, without the suffering she had been through, Chihiro Iwasaki's painting would have been completely different.

Wishing Happiness and Peace for Children
I think what Chihiro truly wanted to paint was something like Senka no Naka no Kodomotachi (Children in the Flames of War).
She drew adorable children as a plea: do not make these sweet children cry. This may have been what was foremost in Chihiro’s mind. It was as though she was asking: please, I beg you, keep peace, so that no one will hurt such young, innocent, and sweet children.
There is this illustration of a mother holding her child. The mother is embracing the child knowing that the fire is approaching and they are going to die. What is incredible in this work is that in spite of how tightly the child is being embraced by its mother, you can tell that the child is not afraid at all by looking at the child’s fingers. It testifies to how skillful Chihiro was.
There is this picture of a girl walking with a baby on her back. When I look at it, I think that Chihiro had drawn it with various feelings. And though she did not say anything about it, and it illustrates Vietnamese children, I believe that this work encompasses all her own feelings.