Mass Suicide” at “Kayama” Air-Raid Shelter
“Mass Suicide” at “Kayama” Air-Raid Shelter
Name: Isao Oshiro (18大城 勲)
Date of birth: September 1, 1935
Place of birth: Tamagusuku village
In 1945, when battle was about to begin (in Okinawa), there were about 1,000 Japanese soldiers of the Tama Unit (nickname for a type of Independent Mixed Brigades) stationed in the Maekawa district of the village.
In our district, soldiers were staying in almost all homes there.
The members of families who had to offer their homes slept in narrow spaces such as kitchens.
Nearly all of the soldiers used large rooms such as ichibanza (No. 1 room) and nibanza (No. 2 room).
Around the beginning of May, the Japanese forces set out for the battlefront in Shuri, and nearly all of them died in battle in Shuri.
A squad of 12 soldiers who were staying at our house went to the battlefront in Shuri. By around the middle of May, the Japanese forces were nearly annihilated, but two or three soldiers returned from Shuri to Maekawa. Those soldiers came to our air-raid shelter and told us: “Japan will lose this war, so if you plan to leave the air-raid shelter, go all the way to Yanbaru and northern areas.”
In the Maekawa district, there are natural caves. There are long natural caves like Gyokusendo, but nobody from the Maekawa district had taken refuge there.
There is a cliff on the west side of Maekawa. Family members of two or three households formed groups, and taking advantage of the cliff, each group dug holes almost all by hand. Those holes have been called “civilian air-raid shelters,” and I think there are about 60 to 70 entrances there.
The local people called these air-raid shelters “Kayama-go” (go = dugout = air-raid shelter) – “Kayama.”
We stayed there for a long time – until May something.
I think we probably stayed there until about June 1st.
American forces advanced all the way from central Okinawa, and residents from Shuri, Urasoe, Nishihara, and other areas evacuated to Maekawa, so Maekawa was crowded with all these people. And the number of naval bombardments increased, and the battle became more severe.
Regarding the “civilian air-raid shelters” I mentioned just a while ago, I think there probably were some 500 to 600 residents of Maekawa district staying in the shelters. However, as the battle intensified and the American forces closed in, nearly all Maekawa residents left Kayama-go overnight and fled all the way down to southern Okinawa, saying “We can’t stay here any longer.”
My grandfather had kept saying: “If I am going to die, I will not go anywhere because if I die here in my air-raid shelter, those who survive will remember me, and I’m sure some people will survive. It’s better than dying on the roadside and become someone who can’t be identified.” My grandfather had apparently made such a decision.
It seems that people who were handed grenades – people who were working alongside the military such as cooks, volunteer corps and defense corps – were all handed grenades, but nobody around us had anything to do with the military, so we did not have any grenades.
There were two entrances to the air-raid shelter, both leading to a single shelter.
There were four families in this shelter, including my grandmother’s siblings.
Two of those families were the families of of my grandmother’s siblings. The members of one family were complete strangers to me, but since they were from this village and were acquaintances, they were staying with us in the air-raid shelter.
A member of this other family reportedly worked in a military-related job – I think she was a cook or a member of the relief squad – so this woman had a grenade.
American forces suddenly appeared at the air-raid shelter, and since they beckoned us to “come out,” the woman who was staying with the siblings of my grandmother next to us gathered in a circle and detonated the grenade without consulting us at all. That’s where the mass suicide occurred.
There must have been a family of about 10 people inside here, and seven of them died.
That grenade exploded, filling the air-raid shelter with white smoke and the pungent smell of gunpowder. After the explosion, there was the smell of blood and human flesh scattered all over and clinging to the walls of the air-raid shelter. And my grandfather, who was not killed instantly, was moaning.
There was no one who even uttered a single word at that time.
My family and people who were inside the air-raid shelter together with us suffered no injury.
Many lives were lost as a result of being pulled into such a large battle, the war that we never expected or imagined. I particularly feel that we must pass on our experiences to our descendants through correct education and by thoroughly teaching the preciousness of peace.
Name: Isao Oshiro (18大城 勲)
Date of birth: September 1, 1935
Place of birth: Tamagusuku village
In 1945, when battle was about to begin (in Okinawa), there were about 1,000 Japanese soldiers of the Tama Unit (nickname for a type of Independent Mixed Brigades) stationed in the Maekawa district of the village.
In our district, soldiers were staying in almost all homes there.
The members of families who had to offer their homes slept in narrow spaces such as kitchens.
Nearly all of the soldiers used large rooms such as ichibanza (No. 1 room) and nibanza (No. 2 room).
Around the beginning of May, the Japanese forces set out for the battlefront in Shuri, and nearly all of them died in battle in Shuri.
A squad of 12 soldiers who were staying at our house went to the battlefront in Shuri. By around the middle of May, the Japanese forces were nearly annihilated, but two or three soldiers returned from Shuri to Maekawa. Those soldiers came to our air-raid shelter and told us: “Japan will lose this war, so if you plan to leave the air-raid shelter, go all the way to Yanbaru and northern areas.”
In the Maekawa district, there are natural caves. There are long natural caves like Gyokusendo, but nobody from the Maekawa district had taken refuge there.
There is a cliff on the west side of Maekawa. Family members of two or three households formed groups, and taking advantage of the cliff, each group dug holes almost all by hand. Those holes have been called “civilian air-raid shelters,” and I think there are about 60 to 70 entrances there.
The local people called these air-raid shelters “Kayama-go” (go = dugout = air-raid shelter) – “Kayama.”
We stayed there for a long time – until May something.
I think we probably stayed there until about June 1st.
American forces advanced all the way from central Okinawa, and residents from Shuri, Urasoe, Nishihara, and other areas evacuated to Maekawa, so Maekawa was crowded with all these people. And the number of naval bombardments increased, and the battle became more severe.
Regarding the “civilian air-raid shelters” I mentioned just a while ago, I think there probably were some 500 to 600 residents of Maekawa district staying in the shelters. However, as the battle intensified and the American forces closed in, nearly all Maekawa residents left Kayama-go overnight and fled all the way down to southern Okinawa, saying “We can’t stay here any longer.”
My grandfather had kept saying: “If I am going to die, I will not go anywhere because if I die here in my air-raid shelter, those who survive will remember me, and I’m sure some people will survive. It’s better than dying on the roadside and become someone who can’t be identified.” My grandfather had apparently made such a decision.
It seems that people who were handed grenades – people who were working alongside the military such as cooks, volunteer corps and defense corps – were all handed grenades, but nobody around us had anything to do with the military, so we did not have any grenades.
There were two entrances to the air-raid shelter, both leading to a single shelter.
There were four families in this shelter, including my grandmother’s siblings.
Two of those families were the families of of my grandmother’s siblings. The members of one family were complete strangers to me, but since they were from this village and were acquaintances, they were staying with us in the air-raid shelter.
A member of this other family reportedly worked in a military-related job – I think she was a cook or a member of the relief squad – so this woman had a grenade.
American forces suddenly appeared at the air-raid shelter, and since they beckoned us to “come out,” the woman who was staying with the siblings of my grandmother next to us gathered in a circle and detonated the grenade without consulting us at all. That’s where the mass suicide occurred.
There must have been a family of about 10 people inside here, and seven of them died.
That grenade exploded, filling the air-raid shelter with white smoke and the pungent smell of gunpowder. After the explosion, there was the smell of blood and human flesh scattered all over and clinging to the walls of the air-raid shelter. And my grandfather, who was not killed instantly, was moaning.
There was no one who even uttered a single word at that time.
My family and people who were inside the air-raid shelter together with us suffered no injury.
Many lives were lost as a result of being pulled into such a large battle, the war that we never expected or imagined. I particularly feel that we must pass on our experiences to our descendants through correct education and by thoroughly teaching the preciousness of peace.
