^Lot 2493 REMARKABLE ARCHIVE FROM THE TOKYO TRIALS IN

SUGAMO PRISON AFTER WWII COMPILED BY THE HEAD EXECUTIONER. *All proceeds from this item will be donated to NH Veterans Programs* This remarkable archive was assembled by Ellis Clifton Coker, (1921-1963) a career military officer stationed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo after the end of World War II. He served there during the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, commonly known as the Tokyo Trials, which concluded with the execution by hanging of seven prominent Japanese wartime leaders.Coker was personally involved in these events as the ranking officer in charge of the executions, giving him unusual access to both the prison and its most notable inmates. His son relates Historical ContextThe Tokyo Trials were the Pacific counterpart to the Nuremberg Trials in Germany. Japanese military and political officials were prosecuted for wartime atrocities and crimes against humanity, including such events as the Rape of Nanking and the Bataan Death March. Sugamo Prison held prisoners in separate classifications; among them were the Class A defendants, whom Coker referred to as the 25 "old men." His position gave him direct and extensive contact with these high-profile prisoners. Archive relates to these 25, especially the 7 condemned to death and hanged December 23, 1948. The whole world was watching these events.Coker's Duties at Sugamo PrisonCoker received orders directly from General MacArthur. Documents in the archive summarize the convictions and death sentences of several Class B prisoners. As the officer responsible for preparing condemned prisoners for execution, he measured each man's height and weight and calculated the appropriate drop length. He also made sure that each noose was tied and conditioned properly in order to avoid a botched execution and ensure an immediate death. When Hideki Tojo was prepared for execution, he was told that death on the gallows would be instantaneous because his spinal cord would be severed.Archive HighlightsThe Sugamo Prison archive contains hundreds of items. Among the most significant are an original mugshot and fingerprint card of General and former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, the highest-ranking Japanese prisoner tried and executed at Sugamo. The mugshot is dated March 26, 1946, and the card records his capture on December 8, 1945, at 14:20. The U.S. National Archives also preserves Tojo's postmortem fingerprint card, dated December 23, 1948, shortly after his execution. When American forces entered Tojo's home on September 11, 1945, to arrest him, he shot himself in the chest with an 8mm pistol. The wound was not fatal, however, and he later recovered and was processed into custody that December.One notable item is a Japanese 100-yen banknote signed by 24 Tokyo Trials prisoners, including all seven men who were executed:• Shigenori Togo (20 years)• Gen. Kenji Doihara (death)• Col. Kingoro Hashimoto (life)• Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu (life)• Ambassador Toshi Shiratori (life)• Gen. Kenryo Sato (life)• Minister Koki Hirota (death)• Gen. Hiroshi Oshima (life)• Ambassador Mamoru Shigemitsu (7 years)• Field Marshal Shunroku Hata (life)• Minister Naoki Hoshino (life)• Baron Kiichiro Hiranuma (life)• Gen. Iwane Matsui (death)• Hideki Tojo (death)• Admiral Shigetaro Shimada (life)• Gen. Akira Muto (death)• Gen. Teiichi Suzuki (life)• Gen. Takasumi Oka (life)• Minister Okinori Kaya (life)• Gen. Heitaro Kimura (death)• Advisor Koichi Kido (life)• Gen. Sadao Araki (life)• Gen. Kuniaki Koiso (life)• Gen. Seishiro Itagaki (death)Other Notable Items1946 10-yen banknote signed by Iva Ikuko Toguri, known as "Tokyo Rose," who was paroled from Sugamo Prison in 1956. Several photographs show Coker as one of Rose's guards.Another distinctive group of materials consists of 32 original watercolor drawings depicting daily life inside Sugamo Prison. Each 12 x 8.5" work is signed by the artist Yoshitaka Ogawa. The drawings are in very good condition, with strong color, and appear not to have been seen since they were unrolled for this auction.Also present is a 124-page December 1948 translation by the Japanese Buddhist chaplain Shinsho Hanayama (1898-1995) documenting life and death at Sugamo Prison. The text records the lives and executions of 34 prisoners he witnessed: 27 Class B prisoners and all 7 Class A prisoners. Hanayama met with the condemned before their deaths and arranged for the return of personal belongings and remains to their families, together with Buddhist rites. The document offers intimate details of prison life among the condemned. Hanayama later drew on this original text for his 1950 publication The Way of Deliverance: Three Years with the Condemned Japanese War Criminals. This typed copy measures 13 x 8.25 inches, includes corrections, and is bound in Japanese pressed cardboard made from newspapers.Another exceptional item is an illustrated, typed 65-page manuscript by James K. Sasaki (1912-2005), a Class C prisoner, titled The Sketches & Wills of the Seven "A" Class Executed Men. It concerns Hideki Tojo, Koki Hirota, Iwane Matsui, Kenji Doihara, Seishiro Itagaki, Akira Muto, and Heitaro Kimura, and includes portraits of the seven condemned men by Fujiki Fumio (1921-2004), along with 16 additional courtroom portraits. These unsigned portraits were likely created by Sasaki; Auburn University holds an archive of Sugamo illustrations attributed to him. Sasaki was also the co-translator of Hanayama's 124-page text. This manuscript is an important and singular historical document, offering the perspective of a Japanese prisoner who translated and recorded the views of Class A prisoners alongside his own observations.The archive also includes Coker's other military documents from 1940 to 1960, along with photographs, from service in Pacific before Sugamo, citations, promotion documents, and military correspondence and service records. Among these materials is a Veterans Administration letter stating that his death at age 43 was the result of a service-connected disability. Coker's son said that his father's death stemmed directly from the trauma he experienced while serving as an executioner at Sugamo Prison.• Coker reportedly confided in the prison chaplain about his suffering after the executions at Sugamo.• According to his son, his only "treatment" was to go to the officers' club, drink heavily, return home, sleep, and report back to work the next day.• His son ultimately attributed Coker's death to acute alcoholism.Coker retired as a major in the 175th Military Police Battalion with 20 years service. From his assignment at Sugamo onward, his service was entirely related to military detention duties which he excelled. The prisoners at Sugamo obviously respected him as based on thank you letter signed by over 50 prisoners, referring to his allowing Chaplain Hanayama to set up Buddhist alter in cellblock. PROVENANCE: Military Museum Collection of Shooters Outpost, Hooksett NH. (02-27253/JS). NON-GUN. $20,000-40,000.