Okinawa | Himeyuri Peace Museum

Date I went: 03/29/2020

Youtube video:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oritabi808/

The Himeyuri Peace Museum is another place where I learned of the tragedies in World War 2. You can learn more about the history of the museum here.

Himeyuri Peace Museum website: https://www.himeyuri.or.jp/JP/top.html

Drive from the Peace Memorial Park to Himeyuri Museum (Only about 7 minutes by car)

The Himeyuri Peace Museum and the Peace Memorial Park are very interconnected. Many students around Okinawa were mobilized into the Japanese military at the start of the battle in Okinawa. 240 students and teachers from the "The Okinawa Female Normal School" and "The Okinawa First Girls' High School" were conscripted. They mostly worked as nurses in the army field hospitals, but as the war situation grew worse for Japan the Okinawans retreated further south to the Itoman district where many ended up perishing towards the end of the battle. The Himeyuri Peace Museum is located where these two schools used to be; the two schools were destroyed during the battle.

In Japanese the names of the schools are 沖縄師範学校女子部 (The Okinawa Female Normal School) and 沖縄県立第一高等女学校 (The Okinawa First Girls' High School)

The Himeyuri Peace Museum (ひめゆり平和祈念資料館)

Himeyuri Memorial Tower (ひめゆりの塔)

Located next to the museum is the Himeyuri Memorial Tower. Many flowers adorn the memorial as tokens of remembrance to the Himeyuri students.

1,000 Folded Cranes

In Japan there is a legend that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes your wish will be granted. I would imagine the wishes that people made for the folded cranes at the Himeyuri museum are for peace in Okinawa.

Inside the Museum

Inside the museum you can learn more about the tragedy that occurred with the Himeyuri students. It felt like a lot of the message being presented in the museum was that it was very unnecessary for them to die in this battle and that future generations need to remember that

war brings so much tragedy.

Pictures from the internet of the Himeyuri students

Top left picture: https://www.delhievents.com/2019/08/himeyuri-students-photography-exhibition-japan-foundation.html

Top right picture: https://blog.hawaii.edu/okinawacollection/2017/06/01/new-acquisitions-anime-himeyuri-dvd-and-a-guidebook/

Bottom left picture: https://blog.hawaii.edu/okinawacollection/2017/06/01/new-acquisitions-anime-himeyuri-dvd-and-a-guidebook/

Bottom right picture: http://calvarychapele3missions.blogspot.com/2006/09/himeyuri-cave-of-virgins.html

Most of the students who were drafted into the battle were not even 20 years of age.

Himeyuri no tô, 1953 (left side picture): https://www.imdb.co/title/tt0128250/

Himeyuri animation (right side picture): https://myanimelist.net/anime/20469/Himeyuri

These were a couple media sources I found portraying the stories of the Himeyuri students.