[Feature: Passing Down the Memories of War] Takeshi Akuzawa: Passing Down Memories at the Hiyoshidai Tunnels

Image: November 23, 1943, "After the Farewell Ceremony for Keio students Departing for the Front," Keio students leaving Mita through the Main Gate (Maboroshi no Mon).

Eighty years after the war, passing down the memories of war has become extremely difficult. According to a national public opinion survey conducted by the Asahi Shimbun from February to April of this year, the percentage of people who answered that they had experienced the war decreased from 11% in a survey ten years ago to 5%, while the percentage of people who had no experience of their own and had never heard stories from those who experienced the war increased from 29% to 38%*1. It has long been said that the memory of war has shifted from "people" to "objects," and the value and meaning of the remaining "objects" are being questioned once again.

The Keio History Museum held a spring special exhibition last year titled "Keio University and the War: From Objects to People." It was an opportunity to ask what can be connected to the "people" living today through the various "objects" from the war period collected by the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies. This special exhibition will move to the Keio Osaka City Campus from July to August of this year.

When considering "from objects to people," the largest "object" for Keio University is likely the group of underground military facilities built by the former Imperial Japanese Navy on Hiyoshi Campus and its surrounding areas, known as the "Hiyoshidai Tunnels," a war site. What should we pass down at these tunnels? This article provides an overview of the war sites remaining in Hiyoshi and reports on the current status and challenges regarding their educational use.

Hiyoshi Campus opened on May 1, 1934. On this day, classes for the preparatory courses of the Faculties of Letters, Economics, and Law began at the First Building (the current high school building).

Under the concept of opening an "ideal campus" in a "superb environment" away from the city center, the athletic field and student cafeteria were completed in succession. In February 1936, the Second Building was completed, and classes for the School of Medicine preparatory course also began. The following year, the Hiyoshi Kishukusha and the YMCA Hiyoshi Hall (chapel) were completed, and the form of the "ideal campus" was established.

However, that "ideal" time was all too short. Following the Second Sino-Japanese War and the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, the deferment of conscription for humanities students was suspended in October 1943, and students aged 20 and over were required to enlist in the Army and Navy. This was the so-called "Student Mobilization for War." On November 19, a farewell ceremony for the preparatory course was held at the athletic field. The "ideal campus" changed from a place where Keio students learned to a place that sent Keio students to the battlefield.

As the number of students decreased due to student mobilization and labor service, the military began using vacant classrooms. Following instructions from the Ministry of Education, on March 10, 1944, Keio University and the Ministry of the Navy signed a lease agreement for the buildings and facilities in Hiyoshi. The Third Department (Intelligence Department) of the Naval General Staff moved into the First Building, and the collection and analysis of enemy information were conducted in the classrooms.

In June of the same year, the Navy suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and in July, Saipan fell. As the war situation became increasingly severe, the Combined Fleet moved its headquarters to land. The Hiyoshi Kishukusha was selected from several candidate sites. The Kishukusha consisted of three reinforced concrete three-story buildings, with 40 private rooms in each building equipped with study desks, beds, and wardrobes. Heating was provided by a state-of-the-art panel heating system, and there were flush toilets on each floor. Because it was on high ground, radio reception was good, and the topography and ground were suitable for the construction of underground facilities. The "superb environment" became a suitable location for the Navy as well. The Combined Fleet Headquarters moved to the Kishukusha on September 29, and beneath their feet, construction of underground facilities proceeded at a rapid pace. By around November, the use of core areas such as the operations room, telegraph room, and code room began.

The Combined Fleet Headquarters Tunnels are located approximately 30 meters underground, with the interior covered in concrete about 40 centimeters thick, connected to the ground-level operations room in the Kishukusha by 126 steps. On the southwest side of the First Building, there was already an air-raid shelter for the Third Department of the Naval General Staff. Following the Combined Fleet Headquarters Tunnels, underground tunnels for the Navy Ministry's Aviation Bureau and Personnel Bureau, and outside the campus, for the Naval Technical Department, were constructed one after another. Including other small-scale tunnels, the total length exceeds 5 kilometers.

Among the tunnels in Hiyoshi, the only one currently open for tours is the Combined Fleet Headquarters Tunnels. With the permission of Keio University, tours for the general public are conducted by the Association for the Preservation of the Hiyoshidai Tunnels, a civic group. Last year, a total of 41 tours were held, with 1,774 visitors. In addition to the regular tours held twice a month, opportunities to guide tours for research and educational purposes are increasing. Within Keio, there are tours within classes and extracurricular programs of affiliated schools including the high school, as well as tours sponsored by the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies and the Student Affairs Center. Peace learning tours for local elementary and junior high schools and tours by seminars from other universities are also conducted.

There are three pillars to the tunnel tours. The first is for the guide to objectively convey historical background and facts, and for visitors to "know" them. Next is to walk with one's own feet and "feel" something within the unique atmosphere inside the tunnels. And finally, to "think" based on those experiences*3. The tunnels lie deep underground as silent remains. By stepping inside and shining a flashlight, the concrete walls, floors, and ceilings appear before one's eyes. The tour guide is a medium that connects the "object" of the war site with the "person" of the visitor, and plays an extremely important role in the relationship of "from objects to people."

As I engage in guiding activities myself, I feel I must be careful about whether the words I speak truly grasp the essence of the events that occurred there. Narratives about war easily create dramatic storytelling. When these are repeated as standardized stories accompanied by bravery or sadness, there is a risk that fiction may creep in. The tunnels are "objects" and say nothing themselves. It is the "people" living now, 80 years later, who speak in the tunnels and speak about the tunnels. If there is something the tunnels are trying to say, the guide's words must not be divergent from it.

So, what should we think about and pass down there? What makes the Hiyoshi tunnels distinctive compared to other war sites is that they were a place where people formulated strategies and issued orders. The Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet was Soemu Toyoda (later Jisaburo Ozawa), and the staff officers below the Chief of Staff were the so-called top elite of the Navy.

Mitsuru Yoshida's "The Last Days of Battleship Yamato" is a war chronicle depicting events from the Yamato's departure for the Battle of Okinawa to its sinking, and the author's own drifting and survival, through the eyes of an officer on bridge duty.

As stated in the farewell words of the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, if the Imperial Navy is truly to be concentrated in this one battle, "Why does Commander Toyoda himself not abandon the Hiyoshi air-raid shelter and take command at the front?*4"

Here, "Hiyoshi" has become a term that is far removed from the Keio University campus and symbolizes the Combined Fleet Headquarters and its operations in the desperate situation at the end of the war. It is deeply related to the kamikaze (tokko) attacks. Naval aerial kamikaze attacks began with the Battle of Leyte Gulf and reached their peak in the Battle of Okinawa. Large-scale joint Army and Navy aerial kamikaze attacks were deployed, and their command lay with the Combined Fleet Headquarters. "Hiyoshi" was the central point of the kamikaze attacks, and this cannot be omitted when speaking about the tunnels.

The total number of Japanese war dead in the entire Asia-Pacific War, including the Second Sino-Japanese War, is approximately 3.1 million, and it is said that 2.81 million, or 91%, occurred after January 1, 1944*5. Most of these were concentrated in the final year after the fall of Saipan on July 7, when the air raids on the Japanese mainland intensified. The Combined Fleet Headquarters came to Hiyoshi on September 29; the 11 months from this day until the defeat overlapped with the time when the number of war dead increased significantly. Even in such a situation, the government, the Imperial General Headquarters, and the headquarters in Hiyoshi continued the war, and the formulation and ordering of operations lacking any chance of success continued.

The question of why the war could not be stopped leads to the question of why the war was started, and it is also a very contemporary way of raising an issue. The sharp criticism contained in the term "the Hiyoshi air-raid shelter" sharply illuminates the question of what the ideal form of a leader should be for the modern age. I believe the core of what should be passed down in Hiyoshi is not so much what to tell, but what to ask. This is because the dialogue born from that can deepen the meaning of the remaining "objects" across generations and positions.

Most of the war sites in Hiyoshi are located within the Keio University campus. This has prevented them from becoming tourist attractions as seen in other war sites and has been a factor in their remaining research and educational resources. Keio University's future challenge will be concentrated on how to preserve them and utilize them educationally. What is important at that time is that it must not be limited to within Keio. It is essential to open them to society at large as a place for educational practice, and for that purpose, it is hoped that the University will take the lead in actively working toward designation as cultural properties or historic sites by the national or local governments.