At the Prayer for Peace Ceremony on Iejima, where 1500 civilians died in the Battle of Okinawa, bereaved families clasp their hands to pray, “Preserve us from another war!” (22ap24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Coppertone Stonecrop, roadside Futenma, 19ap24


On 21 April, Ie Village in Okinawa Prefecture held its Prayer for Peace Ritual at Perfumed Spirits Monument in its Nishi Ie District to commemorate its war dead. About 150 people, including Mayor Masahide Nashiro and Governor Denny Tamaki, attended to offer their bow in the moment of silence.


21 April, 79 years ago, was the day the battle for Ie Island ended in the Okinawa campaign. Every year since, Ie Village has held its commemoration of that day.


Before the plaque inscribed with the name Masashige Yamashiro (=山城真繁?), her father, Toko Kurashita (=蔵下登子?) (80), from Kawahira in Ie Village,  prayed, “Please protect us from another war!”

　

Visiting in her wheelchair from her home in Okinawa City, along with 11 relatives, Kinuko Shimabukuro (89) clasped her hands in prayer for her father, Takesuke Miyagi (=宮城武助?), who died in the battle for Ie Island. She assured his spirit, “Your family is still here and healthy. This year, even your great great grandchildren are here with us. We’ll come again next year.”


Shige Chinen (86), from Nishi Iemae in Ie Village, took refuge in Nakijin Village during the Battle of Okinawa. He remembers his mother’s worry there, while watching their home island of Iejima, surrounded by US warships and burning under their shelling. His father had been a member of the local militia there, and his voice choked up as he wept, “When I come here, tears flow with thoughts of my dad. He had been a really kind man.”


While the US warships were surrounding the island, Masahito Miyagi (=宮城正仁?) (94), from Kawahira in Ie Village, put an inner tube around his waist and crossed the strait to the peninsula of the mainland on a horse to escape.


Addressing  inscription on the plaque naming his father, who had been in the local militia, he reported, ”Look Dad, I’m still living a long life.” Then, clasping his hands together prayed, “I’m praying that we’ll never have another war.”  


Kazuko Oshiro (82), from Nishie-ue in Ie Village lost her father, brothers , and relatives in the battle. She stated, “I’ve heard that the shells fell like falling rain on Iejima. When I see videos of Ukraine, the Battle of Okinawa pops into my mind.”


Mayor Nashiro offered his thoughts to those assembled, “We can’t let the memory of that war fade away like a wind. We have to pass on to our children and grandchildren the horror of war, the blessings of peace. and the preciousness of life.”

　

Governor Denny Tamaki, for his part,  pledged, “We will continue to do our best assiduously to aim for a world of perpetual peace.”


The ferocious front line battle for Iejima raged for 6 days from 16 April 1945. Around 1,500 islanders and 2,000 Japanese soldiers ended up dead. The Perfumed Spirits Monument was built in 1951 with donations from the villagers.


Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times, published Sunday 21 April 2024, at 19:03. Byline: Hiroya Shimoji and Yu Tome (=當銘悠?）https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/dff7f712a19af50938b60441b74363f9d886f844


Denny in the News: news about Governor Denny Tamaki.


Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 


This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 


Any suggestion on improving my translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.


Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

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