The sea on the beautiful peninsula was a "battlefield" -August 4, 14:58, telling the story of an unknown tragedy
Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture.
Rich nature, traditional festivals, agriculture and fishing ... the
unique activities of the people are inherited.
However, before and after the end of the war, many people died in the sea of this beautiful peninsula due to the attacks of the US military.
It is a tragedy of an unknown war in Noto Satoumi, which has become a “battlefield”.
(Kanazawa Broadcasting Station reporter Mutsuo Moriyama)
June 1945 A torpedo attack sank a transport ship
"Tekisen'noho lightning wo受Ke / whole sinking Srní optimum Lelie"
is a telegram of Japanese naval forces that are stored in the National Institute for Defense Studies.
It is a record when three Japanese transport vessels, which were moored in Shika Town, Ishikawa Prefecture, were sunk by a torpedo attack by a US submarine on June 12, 1945, just before the end of the war.
Shika Town is located on the west side of the Noto Peninsula and has beautiful sandy beaches.
Today, the nearby Torai fishing port was once a berth for ships, and four ships, including transport ships that brought food and coal from China and the Korean Peninsula, were evacuated.
A US submarine fired a torpedo in deep fog, approaching a distance of about 500 meters.
The attack sank three ships and killed 30 people on board.
The bodies of the victims were scattered and carried to nearby settlements and cremated.
However, it took a long time to burn it with firewood, and the body was kept in the rocky area of the sea until it was its turn.
Ashes without a pick-up
"When the ship was attacked, locals evacuated to mountains and heard that the village was empty."
Kiyomaru Fujibaki (76 years old), a former chief priest of Kojunji, a local temple, says so.
The temple still holds the remains of two of the people who died in the torpedo attack and whose identities were unknown until the end.
(* Kiyo Fujibaki's "Kiyo" is "Ne" and "Leave")
Kiyo Maru Fujiki
"I don't mean to do
anything
big, and I think every human being has it. Many people, such as the younger generation, don't even know that the ship was sunk. I think, but we must create a world where a cruel war does not occur. "
The tragedy continues even after the end of the war ... A private ship explodes and sinks due to a mine
The tragedy at sea continued even after the end of the war.
On August 28, 1945, a private wooden ship "Noto Noto Maru" exploded and sank off the coast of Noto Island in Nanao Bay, killing 28 people including the crew.
The "mine" laid in the bay is believed to be the cause of the ship's sinking.
Former elementary school teacher in Nanao City, Mr. Hiroshi Kakusan (75 years old), who is investigating the history of the war in the area, obtained the accident report of the company that owned the ship and continued to investigate the sinking of the ship. rice field.
According to the report, the No. 2 Noto Maru was "instantly sunk" by a mine, and the rider was "thrown into the sea, causing many casualties."
It is said that some of the victims were babies who were only one month old.
The sea where about 400 mines were dropped
Mr. Hiroshi Kakusan
"Nanao Port was one of the distribution bases on the Sea of Japan side, so it may have been the target of mines."
A mine is a weapon that is dropped into the sea, explodes in response to an approaching ship, and sinks the ship.
At the end of the Pacific War, US troops used planes to drop mines at ports and major routes throughout Japan.
It was called "Operation Starvation" because it was intended to disrupt Japan's maritime transport.
It is said that about 400 were dropped in Nanao Bay.
The second Noto Maru sank in the sea of dangerous mines.
The stone monument erected in the Unoura district of Nanao City is also engraved with the names of 13 residents of the district who died on the No. 2 Noto Maru.
Father's last words
Takeo Matsumoto (85 years old), who lived in the Uura area at that time, was one of the survivors on the No. 2 Noto Maru.
Mr. Matsumoto was taken by his father to a nearby Wakura Onsen from the day before to heal the skin irritation on his face.
It is said that
Mr. Matsumoto and his colleagues boarded the No. 2 Noto Maru to hurry on their way home after
receiving the
happy news that
their older brother had returned
.
My sister on the way home from work was also on board the ship.
On the way, at the first port of call, Mr. Matsumoto misunderstood that he had arrived at the nearest place to his house and tried to get off the ship.
"Here, nematore" (sit down and wait)
This was the last word of his father that Mr. Matsumoto heard.
Mr. Matsumoto said that he did not remember the moment of the explosion and was in the sea when he noticed it.
Mr. Matsumoto, who was repeatedly ups and downs in the swirling sea, was pulled up to a rescue ship, but his father and sister were found dead.
Takeo Matsumoto
"I always remember when the Obon festival comes every year. I wonder how old my father would have lived without getting on a boat if he didn't get a rash on his skin as a child ..."
Thinking about the farewell 76 years ago, tears came to Mr. Matsumoto's eyes.
"Tragedy of Noto Satoumi" for posterity
Mr. Hiroshi Kakusan, a former elementary school teacher who has investigated the sinking of the second Noto Maru.
I made a big picture-story show with my children at the elementary school where I used to work, not to let the tragedy weather.
"
Passengers heard the words of the chief engineer of a ship traveling through the sea of mines,
" This area is dangerous
. "
The picture of the moment of sinking was based on the eyewitness testimony of the locals that "a large water column has risen."
It also depicts people who sank and were thrown into the sea, grabbed by debris and waited for help, and people who left the ship to rescue.
The picture-story show is kept in a safe place even after Mr. Kakuzo retires, and is exhibited almost every year at the "Peace Exhibition" held by Nanao City.
Mr. Hiroshi Kakusan
"I want the children to think that many times more people, including family and friends, were sad around the 28 people who died in the sinking of the Second Noto Maru. Memorial monuments and various things I want you to read from the records that there was damage from the war in your area and tell them. "
Postscript
I (interviewer) is 43 years old.
He is about the same age as Matsumoto's father, who died, and has two children.
Matsumoto, who was nine years old when he lost his father, has lived for 76 years after the end of the war, thinking that he had killed his father because of himself.
If I were in the same position as Mr. Matsumoto's father, I imagined that the two children would live the long life with the same feelings, and felt the depth of the wounds caused by the war. I couldn't help it.
The crew of the ship, who died in a torpedo attack in the sea of Shika Town and still has no taker of the remains, must have had family and friends.
How did those people live after the war?
I know the war only through interviews.
However, every time I interviewed, I was exposed to the fact that not only those who lost their families in the war but also former soldiers who came back alive lived with great pain in their hearts for a long time after the war.
We will continue to cover the impact of the war on the region and work on what Mr. Kakuzo talks about.
Kanazawa Broadcasting Station Reporter
Mutsuo Moriyama
Joined in 2004
After working at
Akita Broadcasting Station, Science and Culture Department,
Kochi Broadcasting Station, etc., he is
currently
in charge of academics and medical care as a
Yugun reporter at
Kanazawa Broadcasting Station.