Statements Concerning Igarashi

IGARASHI, MIKIE (KIU)

Statement of Igarashi (18 June 1947)

54, female, lives in house next to crematory at KIU Medical College Campus, in charge of crematory for 14 years. The crematory has 3 ovens, two for adults, one for children. Servants from the various sections bring the bodies to the crematory, put them in ovens, tell Igarashi, and she builds a fire. The cre­mating taking at least 3 hours, and then she takes a little rake and rakes out all the ashes and bones, picks out the choice bones and puts them in a little box if they are to be saved.

The bodies burned are those which were used for dissection in autopsy section, except when special permission is given for relatives of those people working at the University. Sometimes "unknown and unwanted" bones are cremated, these being old bones that have been used in anatomy or other sections. They are parts of many bodies, and when they get too old and dirty they are brought out for cremation, are not identified as there is no use keeping them, so they are just thrown on the ash pile.

When the servants bring bodies to be cremated, they tell Igarashi whether they are to be kept. If Igarashi is not there at the time, Igarashi always goes to see Nomiyama who keeps the records and asks him whether the bones are to be kept. "Unknown and unwanted” bones are put indifferent sized boxes than ’"bodies of persons". When the body is that of a man who died in prison and whose body was cut up for classes, the servants bring a little wooden tag which they put on the oven door. After Igarashi picks the bones, she puts the tag along with the bones and brings it up to Nomiyama. When there is a wooden tag, Igarashi knows it is the body of a prisoner or one used by Anatomy Section, so Igarashi picks the bones.

If there is no tag, she picks the choice bones and bring them to Nomiyama, who keeps records that will tell him to whom the bones belong. Igarashi doesn’t know to whom the bones belong until she takes the ashes up to Nomiyama. (Igara­shi cannot read). Igarashi keeps no records of the bodies cremated, but brings the bones to Nomiyama, and he gives her the papers of that person, whereupon Igarashi takes the ashes and papers to Uriyu in the Administration Office. When Nomiyama is out, Igarashi takes the bones directly to Uriyu, who then later gets the papers from Nomiyama. (Nomiyama is just a little above a ser­vant, very old, something the matter with his thinking, is often absent from his office.)

Takata, an anatomy section servant, told Igarashi when he brought particular bodies that they were of American PWs. The first time he brought 2 bodies, told Igarashi they were of American Prisoners. The next morning he came back' and told her to pick up the bones, brought 2 envelopes, told her that Hirako wanted him to bring the bones to the office. This was in late April or early May 1945.

2-3 days later, Takata brought 2 more bodies, told her they were bodies of PWs, to keep the bones. He came back next day and Igarashi picked the bones and put them in the 2 envelopes he brought, said that Hirako had told him to bring the bones. Perhaps Yayami came with Takata both times, or perhaps Toyofuku or Nakamura of pathology section. Igarashi was never told to keep this matter quiet.

IGARASHI, MIKIE -2 -

Statement of Igarashi (18 June 1947) (Cont'd)

Later Igarashi got 2 boxes of unknown bones - this happened 2 times so there must have been 4 bodies. Igarashi through them out because she had been told they were unknown and unwanted bones. Hirako had so ordered as to such bones. Usually unknown and unwanted bones are different colors, not usually white. Sometimes they are white, but others are mixed up with them. Igarashi recalls one time, just after the other Prisoners had been cremated, that she got 2 boxes to cremate, and a few days later 1-2 more, and was told they were all unknown and unwanted. They were all "nice and white", unlike the usual unknown and unwanted bones. Ogawa told Igarashi about seeing 8 Prisoners.

Tanaka told Igarashi that 4 of the bodies were of PWs; knows nothing of any others. Igarashi never received the body of a whole person and had never been told to throw away the bones without saving some, in her past experience.