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Okinawans visit family tombs at Kadena MUNS

  • Published
  • By Corey M. Pettis
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Local Japanese families armed with garden tools and trays of food visited the tombs of their ancestors at Kadena's munitions storage area April 10.

During the month of April, families all across Okinawa gather at the tombs of their ancestors to pray to the spirits and celebrate their lives at the high-spirited festival time known as "Shimi".

"Shimi" is an Okinawan tradition dating back hundreds of years, as well as some of these tombs, far outdating Kadena Air Base. It normally falls on the 15th day of the third month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which in western culture, normally lands in April. This year, the closest Sunday to the 15th of April was the 10th.

"It's a huge community relations builder," said Master Sgt. Stephen Laws, 18th Munitions Squadron munitions control NCO in charge. "A lot of the families really appreciate it, they are really happy when they come in."

Okinawans have a great deal of respect for the dead, and though their ancestors are physically dead, it is believed their spirits are alive and present in the lives of the descendants. Kadena works with the local community to ensure respect is paid and help make this day possible.

"We contact Japan Air Self-Defense Force, they work out here along with the Navy, Marines and Army, to stop all operations for the families to come out here and celebrate," said Laws.

Close to 80 Airmen from Kadena volunteered to come out on a Sunday to escort the families onto the base and accommodate them, usually getting rewarded with leftover food.

"It's a good opportunity for our young Airmen to interact and to see them spiritually and culturally, they get to be a part of that, said Floyd Higa, 18th Munitions Squadron chief master labor contractor. "Every time the volunteers see these kind of traditions, they are just so grateful. Okinawa is rich with these kind of spiritual traditions with their ancestors."

MUNS Airmen get the opportunity to see a whole new culture, in a traditional Japanese ceremony that not a lot of non-Japanese people even know about.

"This is a Kadena ammo specific event, there is no other bomb dump that deals with this, and just being part of this Kadena ammo event is special," said Higa. 

One by one, families slowly started to trickle in for the first part of the day, the clean-up. Loaded with weed-whackers and other gardening tools, the family cleans the overgrown vegetation around the tomb. Once the area is clean and trimmed up, the family heads back home to clean and prepare for the ceremony.

During the ceremony, special paper representing money called "uchikabi" is burned to aid the spirits. Then the spirts are offered fruits such as bananas, oranges, mangoes and papayas, as they are laid on the ledge in front of the tomb. "Awamori", an Okinawan rice liquor is also offered.

With their ancestral spirits honored, the families have a sort of party with food and drink, similar to American Thanksgiving.

The food is a major part of the tradition with many families cooking food and preparing all sorts of traditional Japanese cuisine days prior to "Shimi".

"This is something that's normally on the outside, unless you get really engrained in the Okinawan culture because the celebration is family, it's not visitors and 'hey look what we're doing'," said Laws.

Every year, Kadena's MUNS Airmen volunteer their own time to make a special day happen for Okinawan families.

"It's awesome that our unit can come together as one and make it happen, even though it's not an explosive operation mission, it is still a mission," said Higa.