Recently, three of the minor planets discovered at Geisei
Observatory have been given the official names. These are (21002) Takasago,
(26151) Irinokaigan, and (58185) Rokkosan. Takasago and Rokkosan are the
names of famous places in Hyogo prefecture. I promised the local people
that I would have these places named, when I visited Kobe to give a talk
in May, 2009. I used to have warm affection of Rokkosan. Natural water
of Rokko is famous and the name of Minolta's superb camera lens Rokkor
came from the name of this place. In 1957 when the first man-made satellite
was launched , a large number of amateur astronomers across the country
joined in its visual observation. To practice tracking the satellite, a
shining metal ball was placed at the summit of Rokkosan mountain for the
target. This idea was proposed by astronomer Kyoyu Kudara. Around the time
when the Second World War broke out, there was a base for anti-aircraft
guns at the summit of the mountain. Close to the end of the war in 1944
to 1945, they fired at frequently invading B-29s very accurately making
the enemy crews fearful. The mountain ranges of Rokko rising to the north
of the port city Kobe are truly beautiful and one of my favorite scenes.
What I am going to tell you as the main topic is about Irino-kaigan.
The shores around Ashizuri misaki (Cape Ashizuri) of Kochi is well-known
as the place where Japan's Kuroshio Current arrives ahead of any other
places along the Japan Archipelago. (26151) Irinokaigan is a beach at Kuroshiocho
(town) near the peninsular. Objects drifted ashore in the area have been
collected and put on display at an exhibition held at the town hall "Akatsukikan".
When I visited there about 5 years ago, an exhibition was on with a wide
range of articles on display. They included coconuts drifted over all the
way from some islands in the South Pacific, a strange mask perhaps from
Korea with inscriptions in Korean Hangul characters, buoys and canteens
for boating, a mariner's compass, and young whale's bones. Are some of
them from a shipwreck?
Among those various articles, two strange things caught my
eyes. One of them was a letter contained in a small bottle. According to
the accompanying information, this drifted ashore on the evening of April
9, 1991. A 11-year-old boy called Brian from Vermont, Texas, threw it in
the water off a shore of Mexico. The letter was written in 11 languages.
How did the bottle drift all the way to Japan having been tossed about
in waves over many years. Which paths did it take? As you can imagine,
Brian, now 16, was excited having received a reply from the town's Sunahama
Art Museum.
A letter in a bottle
The other drifted object was a diamond ring in a case. The
case itself was badly damaged battered by waves for many years and barely
keeping its original shape. When a person who discovered it opened the
case, the diamond was glittering brilliantly with sunlight. Who on earth
threw this in the sea and for what? And where? While I was standing on
the shore of Irino, a thought crossed my mind.
Toward the end of the Pacific War, one local man was sent
to battle fields. It was soon after his marriage and his wife handed her
wedding ring to him. "Keep in mind this ring is me. Please return
to me safely." It was a gift from his wife tormented with sorrow.
The transport ship he was on board was sunken by an enemy submarine on
its way to the destination and sadly the soldier drowned. This left his
precious ring in the case floating around in the southern sea. After several
years, it was drifted ashore on an uninhabited island, but repeated tsunami
waves made the ring drifting back to the ocean again. Many decades later,
the ring at last reached the beach of his hometown he had longed so much
to return to. It was the beach of Irino lined with pine trees where he
and his wife used to walk and talk love together. It was a beautiful place
with waves washing the shore. The soldier's soul finally found the place
of peace.
What crossed the local's mind when he discovered the ring?
Did he wonder: If the soldier's wife was alive and wellcand if she saw
the diamond ring on display at Akatsuki Museumc
Two elderly women, likely locals, were looking at the ring
curiously while quietly talking to each other. Seventy years have passed
since that day. Everything faded into oblivion. Fantasizing about the fate
of the solider and ring, I walked along a long stretch of the shore. I
found myself humming this song:
"In the morning as I wandered about along the seashore
I remembered things from the old times
The sound of the wind, the shape of the cloud,
The waves that came, and the color of the seashell too"
The seashore full of these fond memories, oblivious of the
past events, reveals its magnificent beauty under the bright sun as if
it were happening in a dream.
