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57, has worked as a servant at the Anatomy Section of KIU Medical School for 25 years, duties being to sweep floors, inject newly received corpses with preserving fluid, tie identifying tags on them, put them in vats and take them out when needed by students for classes, help clean up the anatomy room on days that dissections have taken place, carry bodies to and from the crematory, and run errands for professors. The preserving solution is of alcohol and formaldehyde. The vats contain this preservative. Wooden tags received from Nomiyama are tied on the writs, giving the number of the corpse, the name, age, address, and place the corpse came from, the date received, and sometimes the kind of sickness. 2 tags are used so that if one is lost the bags can still be identified. Takata is somewhat the head servant over Takagi and Urago. They also pick up the flesh no longer wanted. If the students are not finished with a body, Takata sees that it is properly tagged and then taken to the vats until wanted. If there are bones, Takata sees that they are properly tagged and saved with the body. In Japan the bones of a person are important, even when of a Prisoner or tramp, and the bones are always cremated and picked over so that the family or friends can have them later. If necessary, more tags are put on the bones until they are ready to be cremated. There are many separate bones in Anatomy Section used for instruction purposes, which are taken out and cremated when they get too old and dirty. They are called "unknown or unwanted" bones and are thrown on the ash pile after cremations. About 1300 in April or May 1945 Makino told Takata to bring 2 coffins to the autopsy room, but to not come into the room, that they were going to operate on some PWs. Takata is not sure whether or not Hirako was with him. Takata did so, saw 2 Japanese soldiers bring in 2 Prisoners that looked like Americans. Before Takata left he saw 1 Prisoner brought in and put on the operating table in the Autopsy Room, and 1 was brought to a little room next door. They appeared to be drugged because they could not stand up very well, and they were blindfolded. When Takata came back half hour later, the 1 Prisoner was still outside. After about an hour, the 2nd Prisoner was brought into the autopsy room. Takata recalls Goshima present. He believes Makino stayed there until everything was done. Takata was not sure whether Hirako was present when the first Prisoner was operated on, but he went in and out after the 2nd Prisoner was taken in the room. After the operations were over, about 1700-1730, Makino told Takata to take the bodies to the crematory. Before the operations, Takata saw a group of men standing around an Army truck in back of the autopsy building. Takata decided to wait until the next day to take the bodies since it was late, came into the autopsy room the next morning, saw the 2 coffins on the floor, the covers not nailed down, so he lifted the lids. Both bodies were nude, face up, too long and doubled up a little with the knees sticking up. The shoulders were too wide and were hunched forward. One body was about 6', heavily built, broad shoulders, large chest, not fat, with red hair. The other was taller, but slimmer, with reddish hair. Both heads were attached. Both bodies had long cuts from the ribs to the navel; Takata wondered what had happened because it appeared that the internal organs had been removed; the cuts were not sewed up. The clothes were placed in the box too. Takata nailed down the lids, left because of an air raid. Takata doesn't know whether the Pathology Section servant arrived before-- one servant from Anatomy and one from Pathology always carried out the bodies. The alert wasn't over until late; there was a 2nd alert the next day, so on the 3rd day he and a Pathology servant took the bodies to the crematory, unmarked and untagged, done on Makino's authority. Hirako was in charge of the crematory, could order bodies to be burned; Makino was under Hirako. Takata recalls no previous incident where a body was burned without some record of identification. Uriyu in the administration office, got the papers and was the one who would give the authority when a man could be burned. When a body was received to be used in the Anatomy Section, he just marked the papers "cremated" immediately, and they stayed with the bodies until they were ready for cremation. When cremated, the tag would be placed outside the oven and when Igarashi picked the bones she would place the tag in the top of the box she put the bones in. If the relatives came they were given the bones; if no one claimed them, they were taken to Uriyu and the tag was put in the box of bones. At one time they used 4 tags on each body but because of the loss of materials, they only used 2 then. The morning after the bodies were taken to the crematory, Hirako called Takata in and told him not to say anything about these bodies to anyone. Takata kept a record of all bodies cremated because he got about 1 yen per body; Hirako asked Takata if he had put these 2 bodies in his record; Takata said he hadn't. Hirako then said not to put them in, but if so, Takata wouldn't have been paid, so Hirako said that he would see that Takata was paid, but he never did anything about it. Hirako gave Takata 2 envelopes, told him to bring the ashes of the 2 Prisoners to him. Takata went down to the crematory and Igarashi picked over the bones, put them in the 2 envelopes, Takata took them back to Hirako, and he wrote something on each envelope, but Takata couldn't tell what it was. Takata could not tell whether the bodies were identified, doesn't think that Igarashi keeps records, doesn't think Nomiyama kept a record of this cremation because Hirako must have wanted it kept secret. Usually the students put the bodies in the coffins when they were through with them. The professors would apprise the servants when bodies were ready to be taken to the crematory. No organs or parts of bodies were in the autopsy room aside from the bodies in the coffins when Takata came in after the operations. Takata told Igarashi that the bodies were of Prisoners, repeated Hirako's order to her. About a week after the first time Makino again came to Takata and told him to bring 2 coffins to the autopsy room, which Takata did, and about an hour later a truck stopped in back of the Anatomy building., 2 blindfolded American Prisoners and several Japanese soldiers got out, PWs were brought in and one was left in the hallway and guarded by a Japanese soldier. They were wobbly on their feet, appeared drugged. 2 Japanese soldiers held each Prisoner up. When the Prisoners were taken in Ishiyama and 4-5 other doctors went inside also. About 1800 Makino came to Takata, said "they were all done". It was too late that night, there was an air raid again, and Takata took the bodies to the crematory on the 3rd day. The lids were not nailed the 2nd time. Both bodies were nude, face up. The clothes, which looked like green overalls, were rolled up and placed next to the bodies. Each corpse had a long incision from the chest to below the navel and again it looked as if the internal organs had been taken out. Takata nailed the lids down, called a servant from Pathology and took the bodies to the crematory. The heads were attached; the room had been cleaned up as at the 1st time; no organs were lying around. Takata told Igarashi the bodies were American, then left after putting the boxes in the ovens. The next day Hirako called Takata, told him to get the bones from Igarashi, gave Takata 2 envelopes which he took to Igarashi, and she picked over the bones and Takata brought them back to Hirako, who again wrote on them and kept them. The boxes in which the Prisoners' bodies had been placed were not marked or identified in any way. There were no tags on these bodies. Takata kept no record of the cremations since Hirako told him not to after the first time, and the 2nd time was after Ishiyama and the others were arrested. Hirako called Takata in, said that if it ever were mentioned he should say "I don't know." When Takata brought the bones to Hirako the 2nd time Takata asked him if he thought this would help, and he said, "Yes, it will be a great help to the Medical profession." or something about it being of value from the medical point of view. About 3 days after Takata brought the bones to Hirako the 2nd time. he left for 5-6 days, and on his return someone in the servants room said that there were more operations on PWs while he was gone, said that the bodies had been taken to the crematory the day before, that they were bodies of Americans. Not sure, but thinks he said 2. Later in the day Hirako called Takata in, asked Takata if the bodies had been taken to the crematory, Takata said yes-- Takata knew this from what Nakamura told him-- told him that they had been cremated. This was the first time Hirako ever called Takata in his office. He told Takata to tell Igarashi that he did not want the bones of the bodies that had just been cremated, that she should "dispose of the bones"-- Takata knew he meant that they were just to be thrown away. Takata then told Igarashi that Hirako didn't want the bones, that they were of Americans. She understood. About 10 days later Hirako called Takata in his office and said that he did not want the bones, didn't say that they were American bones, Takata hadn't heard of more Prisoners brought in, but thought he must have been talking about Americans since not interested in the usual bones. Takata told Igarashi. There were 2 bodies ther this time, because one of the other servants, probably Nakamura, Takagi or Yamami said he had brought 2 more bodies to the crematory just recently, that they were bodies of Americans. Unknown or unwanted bones are usually put in small boxes. The servants usually put them in the boxes themselves. When the ashes are to be saved, there are identifying tags. Takata usually would tell Igarashi that the bones are to be saved or are unknown and unwanted. If the servants came when she wasn't there, she would come and ask. Hirako put the bones Takata brought him on a shelf. About a week after he and the others were arrested, but he could not find them. Takata saw 4 Prisoners, heard about 4 others. Takata knew these men were PWs because Makino told him. Also he heard the professors say that PWs were going to be brought to the University one day when they were standing around outside the servants room. The ones Takata saw were blindfolded, brought in an army truck, looked different, wore different clothes than the Japanese. They were tall, lighter.
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