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BN: What other kinds of things did you do when you were a child just for fun with your friends? Fishing or sports or movies? What kinds of other things?

SI: We played volleyball.

BN: Volleyball?

SI: Yeah, all together. Most of, play with, [inaudible] called ball, you know, maruyasobi, different kind ball, the play kind of thing, long time, we never see this kind now. Play with that.

Off camera: Once a year they had undou.

BN: Undoukai.

SI: Undoukai, oh, that the best one, the undoukai. This is October. Yes, undoukai.

BN: Was that at the school?

SI: At the school. All the village, too, they challenge it.

BN: What kinds of games or events do you remember from the undoukai?

SI: Oh, the relay.

BN: This is running relay?

SI: Yes. Form a group and then challenge.

Off camera: Water sport?

SI: No, we never had water sport.

Off camera: Swimming?

SI: No, water sport we never had.

BN: Were you close to the beach?

SI: Only beach is only friends to go and swim, only go down to the... oh, that's right, you said beach. March come, they called it Hamori Day, go to down the, we pick up any kind of... that's right. Long time I never see this kind. All come, water gonna come low, and we go to pick 'em up or dig 'em... I forgot that name. What you call the pokey one?

BN: Oh, sea urchin.

SI: And the inside was so... oh, I forgot the name. You open this, you can eat the roe...

BN: Oh, right. Sea anemone or sea urchin?

SI: I forgot the name.

BN: How far away was the beach? Walking distance?

SI: About one mile.

BN: So pretty close. To kind of transition to the war period, I'm wondering, before the war actually came to Okinawa, I'm wondering, did your village start to feel the effects of the war in other ways? Like I'm wondering, for instance, did men of the village get kind of drafted into the army?

SI: Oh, yes, uh-huh.

BN: So you started to see a lot of the young men...

SI: That time, well, okay, they called bokugou, they got to dig this underground, and we're going to hide in there in case kuushuu they come.

BN: Like a shelter.

SI: Yes, inside there. Long time this is... that time I never have our village. The time we went to the, you know, the, they called it Yanbaru, our side, war going to be strong so we tried, my father said, "Try save the children, go to the other side." Actually, I never do, our village, hide too much inside there. Most of the time live in the so-called north side already. Oh, I'm sorry. So they called it Yanbaru, we have to be... my father said we got to be, save the children, so we had to move to there. After that, we moved to the sokai, and then war coming strong. When we went to sokai there, they said, "You folks going to bring to the war, bring it over here." [Laughs] We got scolding.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.