Okinawa Day 6: Kenji Monument

Tuesday, May 5th--This morning we packed everything up and got ready to go back to the southern part of the island.  We had hired Kiyoko san to take us down to Naha and drive us around again today, since it would be so much cheaper and easier.  She showed up with Mimi again, which the kids were happy about.
As we followed the coast down to Naha, I tried to ask Kiyoko san some questions about the history and culture of the island that we were curious about.  Sometimes, Raymond had to act as translator between us.  Kiyoko san seemed to enjoy talking to him in Japanese.
The first thing we wanted to know is how come we had only seen one shrine the entire time that we have been here.  They are sprinkled all over mainland Japan.  Kiyoko san explained to us that most Okinawan people worship their ancestors like is done in China.  Kiyoko san had a small shrine and incense on the windowsill in her kitchen and we had noticed shrines dedicated to ancestors in the homes at the Okinawan Village, so that made sense.  She said that the Okinawans will pray to their ancestors in their homes or go to the cemetery where they are buried and pray to them there.  This is a distinct difference from Okinawa and mainland Japan.
As we neared Naha, Kiyoko san pointed out a place to us and told us that several years ago a big American corporation came in to this place and built a bunch of homes for their employees.  They built an entire community and the homes were very nice.  The employees and their families moved in, but within a year everyone moved back out and refused to live there.  She said that the place was the site of a major battle during the Battle of Okinawa and the residents could feel the ghosts of the soldiers who had died there so they all moved away.  She said that even today, no one will live there.  The homes are just falling into disrepair.
She also told us that her son-in-law is a scuba diver and his job is to dive off of the coast of the island looking for unexploded ordinance still in the ocean from WWII.  She said that he finds stuff everyday, and he has been doing it for years.  Kiyoko san was uncomfortable talking about the war, but she did tell us about her grandmother who was a teen during the battle.  She fled to the northern part of the island just before the American military landed and was able to find safety there.

Our first stop today was to the Kenji Monument.  Kiyoko san had never been there and it took us a little while to find it.  It wasn't marked very well and isn't a very common tourist site.  We had to ask for directions a few times and drove through several sugar cane fields before we finally found it.

 We parked her brother's mini van in the parking lot and began to follow a nice trail through some thick foliage.  It was a beautiful day, though a little cloudy.  It was already starting to get muggy and hot.  We were all starting to sweat as we began the walk to Kenji.

 Kiyoko san was dressed in boots and a sweater, which amused us.  She is more used to the heat.  As we walked along the trail, we came to a place where some people were enshrined. 

 There was incense nearby.

 Further on, we found another monument dedicated to more enshrined people.

There was an altar in front for praying and burning incense.  Kiyoko san was very uncomfortable being on this trail and near these enshrinements.  She said that she could feel ghosts.  She kept asking us if we felt the ghosts also. 

 Further on, we began to find caves near the trail.  We went off the trail several times to explore the caves.

We were very humbled and amazed to actually be here!  These are the caves that so many Okinawans and some Japanese soldiers had hidden in during the landings.  These caves are a part of the history of WWII.  We knew that those hiding in these caves were frightened.  In the panic and confusion caused by the landing of the Americans, many islanders chose--as they had been taught--death rather than the shame of being captured by American troops.  They killed each other or themselves with knives, sickles, clubs, grenades, poisons or whatever else they could find to use.  It was sobering to be in these caves.  Mimi came into the caves with us, but Kiyoko san kept leaving and then coming back.  She was upset that we were here and didn't want anything to do with the caves.  She kept saying that ghosts were going to get us.  We understood her tension in being here, but we were careful to be reverent and respectful as we explored these caves. 

Logan near another cave.

There are many, many caves all over this island that were used as cover for the islanders and the soldiers during the battle.  The ones we explored were just a few of them.  But, they gave the kids an idea of what the caves were like.  On the Boyer side, Ray's Great-Uncle David (Nathan David is named after him) was an American soldier who ended up on Okinawa during the last part of the war.  His job was to go from cave to cave and clean them out.  He had served his LDS mission in Hawaii and learned Japanese there.  When they approached a cave, David would shout in Japanese to anyone who happened to be hiding in the cave that they were going to blow the cave up.  He would tell them that they were friendly and they would take care of them.  Of course, David knew of the Japanese and Okinawan mindset that it was better to die than to be captured by the Americans.  In just a few minutes, he would try to convince them that it was better to come out than face death.  Many times, he was able to convince them.  In one cave, he said that between 80-100 people came out.  I'm sure that being able to speak Japanese was a factor in his ability to save their lives.  Then, he and his fellow soldiers had the hard task of blowing the cave up.  David has a deep love for the Okinawan people, even many years after the war. 

This is a picture of an American soldier helping an Okinawan out of a cave.

Because of Uncle David's service on this island, these caves are not only an important piece of history for us, but a part of family history as well.

We finally came upon the Kenji Monument.  This monument is dedicated to the boys of Okinawa Normal School who served (and mostly died) in the Battle of Okinawa as part of the "Blood and Iron" Corps. These young men were called into action just a day before the U.S. invasion of the islands started. Towards the end of the battle, the boys found themselves trapped by the advancing U.S. troops at this location just off the southern tip of the island.

Like so many others, they were encouraged by the Japanese propaganda to commit suicide rather than be captured. And so many did just that. Others died from enemy fire or bombardment.

Of the nearly 285 boys in the corps, well over half perished. The hideout cave where many of them had sought refuge can be seen too, at the bottom of a path behind the monument.

This is the cave. 

 

Beyond the cave where the Kenji boys found themselves trapped, the path continued on to the Okinawa Prefecture Peace Museum.  We decided to walk to the end of the path. 

There were many, many stairs, but it was well maintained.  We had to carry Kirstin, or course, but ended up hauling Audra also because of all the stairs and muggy heat.  Nathan was complaining as well and had to be carried by piggy-back some of the time.  We were surrounded by thick jungle.  Sometimes we noticed more caves through the foliage.  We didn't explore them though because this part of the trail had signs warning of poisonous snakes that live in the undergrowth here.

We found this trail to be sobering.  There was a different feeling here.  Maybe what we felt were the ghosts that Kiyoko san claimed were here and watching us, but we don't really believe in ghosts that haunt.  This place is a sacred place to us, one where people died during the atrocities of war.  (Can you see the cave in this picture?)

 Near the end of the trail, we came upon this cave.  It was different from the other caves because it was blocked off.  We learned later that this is the American 32nd Army Underground Headquarters entrance.

We made it to the end of the trail, and we were greeted by a simply stunning view of the coast.

This is the beach where the Americans first landed during the Battle of Okinawa.

Another look at the beach.

We ended our hike by walking up to the Reimei Monument, seen in this picture. 

This monument sits predominately at the top of Mabuni Hill.  Known as Suicide Hill or Suicide Cliff by the American forces, this monument is dedicated to the suicides of Japanese Generals Ushijima and Cho.  These two generals killed themselves in a cave nearby in the predawn hours of June 23, 1945.  These suicides brought to an end much of the final organized Japanese resistance during the fierce Battle of Okinawa.

We were now on the lawn of the Okinawa Prefecture Peace Memorial Museum, which was our next stop, but we decided to walk back and get the van and bring it around to the parking lot for the museum.

Near the parking lot, we noticed this shrine that we hadn't the first time we walked through.  12,000 people are enshrined here.  Wow.  That's a lot of people.

We weren't sure where exactly they were enshrined, but it was a peaceful and serene place.

Kiyoko san was only too happy to move on from this trail. In spite of her warnings about ghosts, we found this trail to be very important into our understanding of the Battle of Okinawa.  We were grateful that we were able to find the trail and explore this important place of history.