The Strength of the Happy Soldier　元気兵隊の力

Mountains and hills

One of the karuta sets follows the adventures of a cartoon soldier as he is conscripted and then fights in (presumably) China. The soldier, Tecchan, is shown safe in all images, despite battles and being on the battlefront.  Among the subtle messages conveyed in these three cards, is the sense of a positive experience desipte the difficulties of the experience.

In the 'Mountains and Hills' card, the recitation card reads:

Up mountains,
up hills,
the energetic march

Honorable injury

The 'Honorable Injury' card has a similar positive spin on the trauma of war casualties. It reads:

The honorable
wound,
Tecchan doesn't mind!

Banzai!

Even the pain of leaving for war and the battlefront was a happy event.  'Banzai!' reads:

Smiling at
departure,
banzai, banzai!

There are no tears, not for departures, not for wounds and not from exhaustion as soldiers marched on foot through the mountains and hills of the colonies.