“Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster himself.”

So warned Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) in one of his most pointed aphorisms.

I recently visited a man who knows, from harrowing personal experience, the terror of a “monster” that once stalked this nation.

Ryoichi Hishiya, now 104 and living in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, was a member of the art club at a prewar normal school when, in September 1941, his world collapsed.

He was arrested on suspicion of violating the 1925 Peace Preservation Law, which was enacted to suppress political dissent, particularly among socialists, communists, labor activists and anyone who questioned the imperial system.

His offense?........

© The Asahi Shimbun