Shurijo Castle burned down ... Kabira's father thinks about Okinawa now-December 3, 20:29

One month after the destruction of Shuri Castle in Okinawa, the first professor emeritus of Showa Women's University, Asayo Kawahira, who has a deep connection with Okinawa and NHK on the first radio on November 27, “Miami Miyake's My Asa!” Interviewed (92). Mr. Kabira is the father of John Kabira, a free caster, and Yoshihide Kawahira, an actor. Minami Miyake caster asked about thoughts about Okinawa and Shuri Castle.

Born in Taiwan, Okinawa's first announcer

Asahi Kabira was born in 1927 in Taiwan under Japanese rule as the youngest child of the Ryukyu dynasty.

The year after the end of the war, I was withdrawn to Okinawa with my family.

In Okinawa, he was instrumental in launching radio stations and was also the first announcer in Okinawa after the war.

(Miyake Caster)
Mr. Kabira is a living character of Okinawa's postwar history. What did you know about the news of Shuri Castle burnout?

(Mr. Kawahira)
That day, when I got up in the morning and turned on the TV, I saw the live broadcast that Shuri Castle was on fire, and would you say it was self-defeated? I didn't speak any more.

(Miyake Caster)
How about Mr. John?

(John)
Likewise. When you watched the broadcast, it was like “No way”.

(Miyake Caster)
Mr. Asakawa Kabira was born in Taiwan. How did you hear from Okinawan parents about Okinawa and Shuri Castle in Taiwan?

(Mr. Kawahira)
My parents were born and raised in Shuri, so I talked a lot about Shuri Castle. So I think it was my parents' wish to make a day for the castle to be seen, but that didn't work. In Okinawan language, the castle is called “Gusuku”. You were talking in that way. And my mother is very proud of the words used in the castle. Because your mother's grandmother had served a queen in the so-called castle. I heard that the paternal grandfather was the one who served the last Ryukyu king, Nao Tai King, so Shuri Castle and then Shuri's royal family were very familiar and familiar. We are.

Shuri Castle lost in the war ...

The first year after the end of the war, Kawahira stepped on the land of Okinawa with his parents' hometown for the first time. I entered Okinawa by boat, but what I saw there was a completely different form of Okinawa.

(Miyake Caster)
What did your mother say when Okinawa approached?

(Mr. Kawahira)
From the ship's view, it is not that there is no Ichiki Ichigo, but anyway, looking at the situation where US military vehicles were going back and forth on the beach, my mother leaked "" "Yes," says the country is broken and there are mountains and rivers, but there are no mountains and rivers left. I didn't feel like I was back to my hometown Okinawa, which my parents and brothers talked about. It was like coming to a foreign country.

(Miyake Caster)
What did Shuri Castle look like?

(Mr. Kawahira)
The following year, when I went in 1947, the stone wall of Shuri Castle that had been burned in the Battle of Okinawa was destroyed, but there was only a road anyway, but I could not enter the castle. There is a symbolic gate called “Shrine Gate” before entering Shuri Castle, but it was also destroyed, and only one pillar was left under the road. . The most shocking thing is in front of Shuri Castle, “Tamaudon” is the Okinawan word. In other words, the grave where the kings are buried. When the stone grave door is opened and you enter, do you say that it is a large lid of a stone bowl, or something like that is opened and the king's white bone is still left in it? It was. From now on, it is an unforgettable experience that I was the end of my life when I saw the remains of the king.

(Miyake Caster)
What was the existence of Shuri Castle lost to the war for the people of Okinawa?

(Mr. Kawahira)
My parents and older brothers moved to Taiwan at the end of the Taisho era, but at that time I was seeing that Shuri Castle was going to break, or that there was no shadow to see. At that time, an art teacher named Yoshitaro Kamakura who was a teacher at Okinawa Women's Normal School and Okinawa Prefectural First High School was an architect teacher named Dr. Chuta Ito at the University of Tokyo (Tokyo Imperial University). Going back to the question, “Is this okay?” Suddenly sent an expert from the Ministry of Education, saying that “this should be preserved” and designated as a national treasure. When I heard that, our parents went to Taiwan with a sense of security. So, there is a famous song called “Arajo no Tsuki”, but my parents said, “Singing“ Arajo no Tsuki ”reminds me of something like Shuri Castle in Okinawa”. It was Shurijo Castle, where there were not so many inhabitants. And when I went to Shuri Castle right after the war, I was in a dark feeling that this was Shuri ... just because I heard how wonderful Shuri was.

(Miyake Caster)
After the war, Shuri Castle was rebuilt, what did you think at that time?

(Mr. Kawahira)
Before the reconstruction, I was shown a picture of “Shuri Castle is like this”, so when it was time for reconstruction, it was about “Oh, yes” (laughs).

Post-war Okinawa announcer

Mr. Kawahira who stepped on Okinawa with his family. First of all, I worked as an interpreter and translator at an exhibition hall that displayed unburned Okinawan crafts and crafts. Later, my brother invited me to become an announcer for a radio station in Okinawa.

(Mr. Kawahira)
My top brother was the art director of the Okinawan government's cultural department at that time, but in Okinawa, where there are many islands, radio stations are the best way to communicate news and entertainment to the islands. That's why he makes recommendations. It was in 1949 that the American military government took it up and made a Japanese broadcasting station. At that time, I was going to be a doctor because I was speaking a standard language in Taiwan, so I wouldn't be an announcer, but I became an announcer.

(Miyake Caster)
Is that so. Do you remember the first broadcast?

(Mr. Kawahira)
I remember. It was "Is there anyone who listens to it?" It was a broadcasting station named “Ryukyu Voice”, but in its first voice, a classical song from Okinawa, a celebratory song called “Kajayde Kaze” that always plays at the celebration table. Called. There was a person who listened to me and was very impressed. So, this led to the spread of so-called “wired radio” called “parent and child radio”.

(Miyake Caster)
Why did you play this celebration song?

(Mr. Kawahira)
This is a festive seat that must be put on at first, or accompanied by dance, but the lyrics are like “The joy of today is like a flower of a bud that has received dew” . It ’s a “joy song”.

Shuri castle where everyone's heart becomes one

Later, “Okinawa Broadcasting Association” was established in Okinawa, and Kawahira served as the first chairman.

After returning to the mainland of Okinawa, I was involved in international cooperation projects with NHK, which was merged into an absorption company.

(Miyake Caster)
After returning to the mainland in 1972, I started working for NHK and moved to Tokyo. How do you feel about Okinawa when you come to Tokyo?

(Mr. Kawahira)
Immediately after I came to Tokyo, I joined the “Tokyo Okinawa Prefectural Association”. There is a group that says, “The administration has been repatriated. Because there was a kind of disappointment that the US military base was not promised to shrink. Even in the Okinawa Prefectural Association, a group of “Let's go back in order according to the return” and “Politics will continue to abolish this because there is a military base in Okinawa” There was a time when it was very difficult to operate. However, since then, the number of young people from Okinawa who have a balanced view of their identities has increased. At this Shuri Castle fire, the Okinawa Prefectural Association raised money for everyone, and at the time of the New Year's gathering, we invited the prefectural governor to hand over the collected money.

(Miyake Caster)
Shurijo Castle is what makes everyone's heart one. We asked Mr. Asakawa Kabira. Thank you very much.

Live broadcasting ended here, but Mr. Kawahira was also the country-led restoration of the Shuri Castle after the war, but this time Okinawa residents want to revive as their own, if possible, not much admission fee , I wanted to be a place for children to play as in the days of my father and mother.

(Miyako Miyake caster)
The 92-year-old Ms. Asahi Kawahira's story was very precious, and the listeners said, “I listened with solemn feelings”. The reconstruction of Shurijo Castle after the war was said to have connected the hearts of Okinawan people who were shaken by base problems. Mr. Kawahira's story strongly felt that this burnt down would also lead to the new era of Okinawa and the bonds of people.

My Asa! / My wife Minami Miyake!

You can listen to the voice of this interview here until 11 am on December 25. Please select the broadcast date on November 27 from “Listen Delivery”.