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CHIRAN |
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A small town lying in a broad valley, CHIRAN owes its fortune to the
Shimazu lords of Kagoshima . In the eighteenth century, the Shimazu's
chief retainers, the Sata family, were permitted to build a semi-fortified
village and a number of their lovely samurai houses survive today. After
exploring the samurai quarter, next stop is a former airfield on the
outskirts of town where the kamikaze suicide bombers were based. The
site has now been turned into a museum , documenting the history of the
kamikaze and commemorating the hundreds of young pilots who died.
Central Chiran consists of one main road oriented roughly east-west. The
samurai houses , buké-yashiki (daily 9am-5pm; Ľ310), are grouped along
an attractive lane running parallel to the south of this road, behind
ancient stone walls topped by neatly clipped hedges. Arriving by bus,
you should get off at the Buké-yashiki-iriguchi stop near the east end
of the samurai street; it's the last stop on the sightseeing bus from
Ibusuki.
Since many of the houses are still occupied, you can't see inside, but
the main interest lies in their small but intricate gardens , some said
to be the work of designers brought from Kyoto. Seven gardens, indicated
by signs in English, are open to the public. Though each is different in
its composition, they mostly use rock groupings and shrubs to represent
a classic scene of mountains, valleys and waterfalls taken from Chinese
landscape painting. In the best of them, such as the gardens of Hirayama
Soyo and Hirayama Ryoichi, the design also incorporates the hills behind
as "borrowed scenery". Look out, too, for defensive features such as
solid, screened entry gates and latrines beside the front gate -
apparently, this was so that the occupant could eavesdrop on passers by.
If you've got time to spare, the Anglo-Satsuma Museum (daily except Wed
9.30am-5pm; Ľ390) is moderately interesting for its coverage of the
"war" between Britain and the Shimazu clan in 1863. Most exhibits are in
Japanese, but newspaper reports from London indicate how seriously the
incident was taken at the time. The museum is on the main road near the
Buké-yashiki bus stops - look for the red double-decker bus.
Alternatively, take a pit-stop in Taki-an restaurant (daily 10am-5pm),
in a thatched building on the samurai street; their speciality is
homemade soba and udon.
The last stop in Chiran is a five-minute ride southwest from the
Buké-yashiki-iriguchi bus stop, where the Special Attack Peace Hall
(daily 9am-5pm; Ľ500, or Ľ600 including Museum Chiran) marks the site of
a military airfield established in 1942. At first it was a training
camp, but from mid-1944 Chiran became the base for the "Special Attack
Forces" whose mission was to crash their bomb-laden planes into American
ships - they're better known in the West as the kamikaze , in reference
to a "divine wind" which saved Japan from Mongol invasions in the late
thirteenth century . Hundreds of young men, some mere teenagers, rallied
to the call, eager to die for the emperor in true samurai style. Their
opportunity came during the battle of Okinawa , when an estimated 1035
pilots died, including a number from Taiwan and other bases. Before
leaving they were given a last cigarette, a drink of sake and a
blessing, after which they donned their "rising sun" headband and set
off on the lonely, one-way mission with enough fuel to last for two
hours. It seems that many never reached their target: the toll was 56
American ships sunk, 107 crippled and 300 seriously damaged.
The "peace hall", which was only established in 1975, is essentially a
memorial to the pilots' undoubted courage and makes little mention of
the wider context or moral argument. This aside, the photos, farewell
letters and often childish mascots are tragic mementos of young lives
wasted. Several pilots' letters reveal that, though they knew the war
was lost, they were still willing to make the ultimate sacrifice -
you'll see many older Japanese people walking round in tears and it's
hard not to be moved, despite the chilling overtones.
While waiting for the next bus, you might like to visit the more
cheerful Museum Chiran (daily except Wed 9am-5pm; Ľ300) beside the peace
hall. Concentrating on local history and culture, the exhibits are
beautifully displayed, with the most interesting showing the strong
influence of Okinawan culture on Kagoshima's festivals and crafts.
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