Eighty-three dead out of one hundred and forty, and sixty per cent were under eighteen.
The cave lies at the bottom of a gorge about ten metres deep, eight hundred metres from the beach where the Americans landed. On 1 April 1945 the people sheltering there were discovered and did not believe those who shouted at them to come out; the next day, inside, someone piled up blankets and futons and set fire to them. Eighty-three people died out of about one hundred and forty, and most of them were children. For thirty-eight years nobody in the village spoke of it: the truth came out in 1983.
A natural cave in the hamlet of Namihira, in Yomitan. The monument at the entrance, ‘the statue of peace that binds the generations’, was carved by Kinjō Minoru together with the victims' families and the villagers, and unveiled on 2 April 1987; destroyed in November of the same year by right-wing activists, it was rebuilt in 1995 with donations. In September 2017 four minors damaged it again for fun: the juvenile court put them on probation and had them take part in the restoration.
ℹ️ ⚠️ You cannot go inside: since April 1995 entry has been forbidden at the wish of the families' association, because the cave is a tomb. You stay at the monument outside, where the stele also stands. The car park is nearby. It is a place of mourning that is still alive, not an attraction.
🚉 Namihiranakaishirabaru · 5 min walk
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