<entry id="2149608" stat="A" corpus="jmdict" type="jmdict">
<ent_corp type="jmdict">jmdict</ent_corp>
<ent_seq>2093820</ent_seq>
<k_ele>
<keb>三光作戦</keb>
</k_ele>
<r_ele>
<reb>さんこうさくせん</reb>
</r_ele>
<sense>
<pos>&n;</pos>
<misc>&hist;</misc>
<s_inf>三光 is a ref. to a Chinese phrase meaning 'kill all, burn all, loot all'</s_inf>
<gloss>Three Alls Strategy (Japanese scorched earth policy during the second Sino-Japanese War)</gloss>
</sense>
<info>
<audit time="2006-08-08 00:00:00" stat="A">
<upd_detl>Entry created</upd_detl>
</audit>
<audit time="2012-09-10 23:26:51" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Richard Warmington</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>What is the origin of the English translation used here -- 
"Three Lights Strategy"? Googling suggests that it may be 
associated primarily with EDICT, and may not be an accepted 
English equivalent of 三光作戦. Certainly the phrase "Three 
Lights Strategy" doesn't appear in the Wikipedia article 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Alls_Policy

I believe "Three Lights Strategy" may have originated from 
EDICT, and if that is the case, I suggest that we delete it 
from the definition, as it is a lousy translation! In 三光作
戦, 三光 is a reference to the Chinese phrase 殺光、燒光、搶光 
(kill all, burn completely, loot everything)

三光とは、殺光・焼光・搶光をさし、それぞれ殺し尽くす・焼き尽くす・奪い尽くすことを意
味する漢語である。(北方漢語で「～光」という接尾詞は「～しつくす」という意味にな
る。)
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%87%BC%E6%BB%85%E4%BD%9C%E6%
88%A6

So, in Chinese, 光 (as it's used in 殺光、燒光、搶光) is a verb 
suffix which means "completely; leaving not even a trace" -- 
NOT "light" (the Japanese sense of the character). 

So it seems a bit weird to translate 三光作戦 as the three 
"lights"!

(Of course, 光 can also mean "light" in Chinese, amongst 
other things.)

See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Alls_Policy
"The expression "Sankō Sakusen", BASED UPON CHINESE TERMS 
[my emphasis], was not used by the Japanese military. 
Rather, it was first popularized in Japan in 1957 when a 
former Japanese soldier released from the Fushun war crime 
internment center wrote a controversial book called The 
Three Alls: Japanese Confessions of War Crimes in China 
(Japanese: 三光、日本人の中国における戦争犯罪の告白, Sankō, Nihonjin 
no Chūgoku ni okeru sensō hanzai no kokuhaku) (new edition: 
Kanki Haruo, 1979), in which a number of Japanese veterans 
confessed to war crimes committed under the leadership of 
General Yasuji Okamura. The publishers were forced to stop 
the publication of the book after receiving death threats 
from Japanese militarists and ultranationalists."</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%87%BC%E6%BB%85%E4%BD%9C%E6%88
%A6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Alls_Policy</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -12,2 +12,1 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;Three Alls Strategy&lt;/gloss&gt;
-&lt;gloss&gt;Three Lights Strategy (Japanese scorched earth policy during the second Sino-Japanese War)&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;Three Alls Strategy, Japanese scorched earth policy during the second Sino-Japanese War (三光 is a reference to a Chinese phrase meaning "kill all, burn all, loot all")&lt;/gloss&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2012-09-11 05:20:28" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>(a) the entry arrived ca. 2000/2001 when my record-keeping was spotty. I don't have the source.
(b) I'm sure your analysis and revised translation is correct. My only ref with it is GG5, and it pretty much agrees. I was wondering about "Sanguang campaign" as a gloss, but it gets 0 hits as a phrase.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>GG5: "【日本史】 〔日本軍の殺戮･破壊に対する中国側の称〕 the Sanguang campaign. ▲三光は殺光 (kill all), 搶光 (plunder all), 焼光 (burn all)から."</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -12,1 +12,3 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;Three Alls Strategy, Japanese scorched earth policy during the second Sino-Japanese War (三光 is a reference to a Chinese phrase meaning "kill all, burn all, loot all")&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;s_inf&gt;三光 is a ref. to a Chinese phrase meaning 'kill all, burn all, loot all'&lt;/s_inf&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;Three Alls Strategy&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;gloss g_type="expl"&gt;Japanese scorched earth policy during the second Sino-Japanese War&lt;/gloss&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2021-10-05 02:11:27" stat="A">
<upd_uid>Marcus</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Marcus Richert</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_diff>@@ -11,0 +12 @@
+&lt;misc&gt;&amp;hist;&lt;/misc&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2021-10-06 18:58:03" stat="A">
<upd_uid>robin1354</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Robin Scott</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_diff>@@ -14,2 +14 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;Three Alls Strategy&lt;/gloss&gt;
-&lt;gloss g_type="expl"&gt;Japanese scorched earth policy during the second Sino-Japanese War&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;Three Alls Strategy (Japanese scorched earth policy during the second Sino-Japanese War)&lt;/gloss&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
</info>
</entry>