Photo/Illutration Families of war victims pray inside Chibichirigama cave in Yomitan, Okinawa Prefecture, in April 2021. (Pool)

A gruesome tragedy occurred 79 years ago, the day after U.S. troops stormed ashore at the main island of Okinawa.

It occurred at the bottom of a small valley not far from the coast, in the village of Yomitan. Of about 140 local residents who hid in Chibichirigama cave, 83 lost their lives due to desperate acts such as setting fire inside the cave.

The names and ages of those who died can be found in the “Yomitanson shi” (history of Yomitan village), a history compiled by the municipal government.

Kojiro Higa was 11, Sueko Oshiro was 8 and Yoshiharu Chibana was 3.

Even though it's referred to as a “mass suicide,” 60 percent of the victims were children 18 or younger.

Why did such a cruel event occur? “Just as the Imperial Japanese Army massacred the Chinese, now it is our turn to be killed by the American forces.”

With this thought, a male villager who had experience on the Chinese front set fire inside the cave.

There is also testimony describing how a woman who was returning home from the former Manchuria spoke of the fate that awaited women of a defeated nation and recommended death by suicide.

“It’s better to die by our own hands. If captured, we’ll be mistreated and killed anyway,” the woman reportedly said.

The cruel acts committed by Japanese soldiers in China had come back to haunt the people in the cave, fueling their fear and prompting them to take their own lives.

It is also a historical fact that the main units of the Japanese forces that fought against the U.S. forces in Okinawa in the closing days of World War II were soldiers who had transferred from the battlefields of China.

Whether victim or perpetrator, civilian or soldier, such boundaries all blurred together, creating a continuum where the weak were sacrificed. That’s probably what war is.

June 23 is Okinawa Memorial Day. It is time to reflect on the grim fact that today exists only as a moment in a history that once saw these unbearable horrors of war.

We have to strain our eyes to absorb the distressing words left by those who died and reflect deeply and earnestly on their implications.

—The Asahi Shimbun, June 23

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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