| １．In the Year 1936
What happened in 1936 (Showa 11) in Japan?
February 26 (2-26) Incident occurred this year.
It was an attempted coup d'état in the Empire of Japan. It was organized
by a group of young Imperial Japanese Army officers with the goal of purging
the government and military leadership of their factional rivals and ideological
opponents.
Although the rebels succeeded in assassinating several leading officials (including two former prime ministers) and in occupying the government center of Tokyo, they failed to assassinate Prime Minister Keisuke Okada or secure control of the Imperial Palace. Their supporters in the army made attempts to capitalize on their actions, but divisions within the military, combined with Imperial anger at the coup, meant they were unable to achieve a change of government. Facing overwhelming opposition as the army moved against them, the rebels surrendered on 29 February. (Wikipedia)
It was also a year of Berlin Olympic, where Tajima of the triple jump and
Maehata of the breaststroke won the gold medal.
The remote fishing village of Miwasaki facing the Sea of Kumano had already
been merged into Shingu Town and was then Miwasaki Ward of Shingu City.
With neiboring wards of Sano and Kinokawa its population was still about
4,000.
The transportations from Miwasaki to the urban area of Shingu were the
national road passing the hill and the railroad of Kisei Line.
Go down to the seashore and stand in the middle of the concrete bridge
connecting Suzushima and Kushima islands, then you will see the Sea of
Kumano widened over the Pacific Ocean.
How about the important fishery? It was a little changed while Kyozo was
away for ten and several years.
Fishermen came fairly to be able to make a living with small steam boat
by catching such migratory fishes in the vicinity as bonito, sardine, Pacific
saury, yellow tuna and others, though most families were still involved
in farming, too.
Gamed fishes were unloaded on the seashore along the bay, and sold at auction
on the dirt floor of the Miwasaki Fishery Cooparative.
The fishery cooperative was kept by the commision of auction. It had a
complicated problem, a while after Wozumi grocery store opened by Kuma's
request.
In late autumn this year (1936), when Kyozo was 36 years old, something
severe happened in this fishing village.
2. Yakuza Group in Shingu
There was the world of yakuza in Shingu City, too. The pocket of sales
was their good source of revenue.
Four hoodlums of Anto group running this whole Shingu area came over to
the house of the cooperative's chief, having the eyes on the market of
Miwasaki fishery cooperarive after the municipality.
"We are from Anto Group. This area is also our turf. You don't seem
to have visited us. It is among the problems in our group, you see."
It is with a talk of disdain.
"Putting it aside, we want some share from the next year's auction.
Now is not the time for only you to be pleased. This is not the talk of
four of us! The boss and other seniors agree. From now, all of you will
be relieved because we will do any troubles for you, you see? Any amount
will be good enough. Talk about it with your men and let us know your answer."
The senior guy talks fast and nonstop seemingly with the memorized words.
The three others are looking through the room. The cooperative chief has
nothing to do just standing.
"Your next meeting is this Saturday, right?"
The senior reminds the chief with an upward glance.
"We will see you at the cooperative office at 8:00 at night to have
your answer!"
The chief turned pale and contacted the members.
Kyozo Wozumi built "Hinomoto-maru Boat", a ship for collecting
pearl oysters, just after his return from Arafura Sea. And also he has
been a member of the fishery cooperative, as he has been catching fishes
himself.
"Would you now join us to work for our town?"
Kyozo could not decline the chief's polite request, so he has been one
of the members, though he does nothing special.
The autumn deepened and it was cold in late-autumn shower even in warm
Kumano district. At present a light rain was falling, but the sea became
wilder as a sign of a stormy weather. Pacific saury fishing has been considerably
good and mackerel (Japanese seerfish) of expensive price has begun catching,
though.
No boat won't go fishing from tomorrow for several days.
Eight members of the cooperative gathered together in its office from the
evening, where they were in a gloomy atmosphere sitting in a circle on
a tatami mat.
Though they know everything beforehand, the chief explains it in brief
again. He starts the talk, considering this request is not an evil plan
of the four hoodlums only,
"We have to give some answer to them....."
All members look down in a scowling face and are hesitant to speak.
"Could you give your opinion first?"
Asked by name, the vice chief speaks timidly.
"Cannot stand it but cannot be helped. There is no reason to give
them any money, but I am afraid to be complicated. I doubt if the police
is reliable at the most important time. Both of them may understand each
other behind the back door."
Each member just says something neutral sequentially, looking away or down
at the tatami mat.
"I know we are in a difficult situation. I wonder how much they will
request. But why don't we think that they will protect our market whenever
any trouble would happen?"
"It will look bad if this kind of trouble is revealed or known by
medias."
"I think there's nothing we can do about it, though we are angry."
" ..... "
The active young man does not resist the seniors this time, saying,
"If we refuse their request, they will surely do something more troublesome.
Just as the chief says, this must not be only the hoodlums' idea. I think
it is better for us to make compromise with them. I am sure all union members
will accept us."
Kyozo sits cross-legged, folding his arms, and is looking up the front
openwork panels. He looks as if he had nothing to do with the case, but
this appearance is his habit. Actually, he is listening carefully and seems
to have his idea.
The young man notices it and urges Kyozo to talk.
"How about you, Kyozo-san? Could you tell your idea?"
Kyozo nods. He just says so, looking around the members.
"I don't like to do any compromise. Let's refuse."
Then he drinks a sip of tea in a usual face. The other members take his
attitude 'again' in a boring atmosphere.
"You shouldn't say so. We also want to say so, but it would be terrible
after that. Just imagine what a fight they would pick with us. The market
might have to be closed. It would be another thing if it were OK."
"I may agree with Kyozo on one side, but as the cooperative we cannot
give them such a conventional answer."
" ..... "
Each member says in a similar critical way. Then uncomfortable silence
for a while.
One member impatiently says.
"We might be better to see their move after the first talk by Kyozo.
We have no other ideas anyway."
Another member adds, looking at Kyozo and the chief.
"They may take advantage of our weakness. ..."
The chief finally speaks ambiguously and hesitantly in a way to take a
vote.
"Shall we do this way, right? Kyozo-san, please be calm. Any fight
by chance would ruin everything. I wish you to bring up your talk, watching
their move in order not to let them angry. Be sure to be peaceful. After
that, we would work well."
All the members look at each other just with downcast eyes probably due
to no other way. The vice chief says slowly just as the opinion of all.
"Well, no objection. Let's do this way and see. Kyozo-san, please do your best."
Everybody knows the stubborn guy would never change his idea once he makes
up his mind. Now that there is no good idea rejecting him by a mojority
decision, they have to cross a risky bridge this time.
Kyozo remains completely calm with his arms folded as if it had nothing
to do with him. He nodded to the chief, blinking his eyes.
3. Hoodlums Came Over
The four guys came over at 8:00 p.m. They are the same hoodlums who visited the chief cooperative's house.
They are between late 20s and early 30s, behaving like high-handed gangsters.
All of them have some bags in hand. What in them?
"Here we are from Anto group!"
The door was opened with a menacing voice. Suddenly the wind and rain blew
in from the sea.
"We came here to get the answer for what we asked the chief the other
day!"
The short and heavy senior said so, casting an upward glance to the chief,
and added.
"Our boss gives you his regards."
Then glaring at the sitting circle of the cooperative members, he barges
up to the room and sits cross-legged on the tatami mat. The other three
are standing near the door in a threatening face.
"Well, ....."
The chief, hesitantly saying so, urges Kyozo with a sidelong glance.
Kyozo of a cropped head has still been crossing his arms, and now looks
at the senior sittng across from him. Pausing for a minute, he begins to
talk in a hoarse voice.
"All of you, don't do such a thing as makes your parents cry."
The unexpected words make both the gangsters and the members speechless.
The cooperative members draw back, while the yakuza senior sitting cross-legged
turns red with his sworn brothers behind.
"What! Is it the answer? Don't act so big! You have to know what you
are saying and how it's going, don't you! Chief, is it OK this way?!"
Seemingly without hearing the blaring voice, the stubborn man says in a low voice with his eyes fixed still to the guy's eyes. His thick eyelashes mixed with prematurely gray hair do not move at all.
"You don't know what you are doing now yourself, do you?"
The members on his both sides hastily move further away from him. Other
members pull to their back and take their breath away.
Without a break, a guy on the dirt floor, with some unclear cry, throws
a vase there at Kyozo. The vase grazes Kyozo's head with splash to hit
the strong back pillar and smashes into pieces with a metallic sound.
The other two rush to the tatami mat and the slanted-eye guy jumps on Kyozo.
He swings the bag round and throws it to Kyozo in vain, and immediately
after that, he tries to devour and grab Kyozo by the collar. For a moment,
he is blown away 1 meter behind and squats down.
Holding the right hand, he groans, forcing from his stomach.
"It pains, sore, ..."
Before they know it, Kyozo is ready for the next attack sitting with his
right knee raised. His dark face keeps a watchful eye on the guys. All
the cooperative members are out of the present struggle. They seem to be
half asleep.
The second guy of Mohawk hairstyle aims at Kyozo holding some blunt instrument.
Kyozo dodges quickly, and the guy's momentum caused him to stumble on the
overturned teacup, then hits his head strongly on the wall losing the target.
In a scowling face he reholds the blunt instrument and tries to turn around, when Kyozo's fist like a pine cone strikes the pit of his stomach. The Mohawk guy faints in agony.
The third guy who threw a vase just before takes a dagger from his inside
pocket and draw a sheath. His eyes are already bloodshot and his hand is
trembling.
Kyozo is sitting with his right knee raised, breathing as usual. He says
in a low voice, staring at both the rash young punk and the heavy senior
on the tatami.
"You are all truly the scum."
The senior stops the younger with a frantic look, saying,
"We better go back. Better talk to boss."
- - - - -
They left with a parting threat not standing to listen. The two were managing
to hold the other wounded two.
The rain with sea wind blew in through the opened glass door.
4. Yakuza Leader Came Over
It was in the next afternoon that the boss of Anto Group himself visited
Kyozo Wozumi's house from Shingu accompanied by his three men. They drove
here on a black car rare those days.
The boss, about fifty, is a muscular man of medium height and build with
a dark face, wearing a suit jacket and pants with a bow tie. Short hair,
small mustache, a slash of 3 cm from the left eye corner to the ear, all
of them show the yakuza world. The faint and scornful smile seems his usual
look.
The storm since last night has increased the power, hitting the closed
glass door of Wozumi Store. Kyozo, as vice manager, was in the store with
an apron written "Sake Tama-no-hikari", and was arranging the
showcase under manager Kuma's direction. He was bare-footed on geta as
usual.
"Hello."
The yakuza boss says, with one of his men forcing the glass door open,
and notices the vice manager of short grey hair just before him. Kuma,
under Kyozo's silent suggestion, withdraws to the back of the store.
"It was you that injured my young men, right?"
In spite of a low grim voice, he is not threatening in particular with
a little sharp look. His left hand is playing a black rosary.
Kyozo nods slightly with no expression.
One of his men says in a posture of asking his consent.
"This is our boss Mr. Anto. Actually three of us only should be here,
but the boss came all the way with us to see you by his own eyes."
A pretentious way of speaking, but it is ignored by the vice store manager.
During the time the boss overlooks the store and see Kuma looking worried
at the back. He now smirks faintly and says.
"Isn't she your wife? Looks beautiful. Don't do that way like last
night not to have a hard time."
For the threatening low voice of the boss, the vice manager is staring
into the boss's eyes standing in the 2-meter distance. He remains calm
with his hands dangling and his eyes gentle in an apron and geta style.
The three subordinates are glaring at the vice manager Kyozo in watchful eyes at each place in the small store. Knives or dangerous toys might possibly come out from their inside pockets.
The boss threatens him more in a low voice.
"The bill last night is not cheap. As you know, I am a boss of Anto
Group. You have to understand that I should not go back easily!"
"....."
The short-hair man is just listening.
"To injure one arm is good enough!"
The boss says looking around his men.
The vice manager still keeps his eyes on the boss. The boss also keeps
the same stance as he does. His men are waiting for the boss's next order
irritated with their eyes rolling.
In front of Wozumi Store, several customers, under the eaves across the
road, are looking into the dark store with their helpless umbrellas closed,
hit through by the rain blowing sideways.
How long did the time go by?
The boss turns his eyes slightly aside, and gives a glimpse toward Kuma
just revealing her face at the back. Then with his appearance loosened,
his hand goes slowly to the cigarette display and tries to take the 10-piece
box of "Hikari" carelessly to smoke. He scrapes his tasteful
gold lighter in a pretentious way.
Finally the vice manager opens his mouth.
"You have to pay beforehand."
The hoarse voice is as usual, but Kyozo does not hide his firm will.
The boss, like being taken aback, puts out the fire of the lighter and
grins. His usual face of slight smile changes to a half bitter smile.
Nodding to one of his men,
"Pay for this."
He says so, and put the fire of the lighter on the cigarette. He smokes deeply and exhale up to the ceiling slowly. After the same gesture again,
"You have good nerve. It's just a greeting today."
He says so looking slightly at the back and adds.
"I'll be back."
The black car went away in the middle of the storm.
A messenger came over the next day. With controlled yakuza-black dress,
he said politely.
"Our boss would like to exchange vow cups of brotherhood. It is very
rare to us. So, I ask you to accept it."
Kyozo turns him away abruptly.
After a couple of days, Kyozo was summoned to police and detained at the
police station on a charge of bodily injury.
But after 2 days he was released unclearly, and when he came back home
he found a celebratory drink from the boss. He flatly turned it down
The trouble between Anto Group and Miwasaki Fishery Cooperative was shelved
only with the happening that night.
Kyozo would never have talked about it to Kuma. Kuma, on the other hand,
noticed such a thing by the Boss's visit and according to hearsay, but
she only said to him softly, "Please take it easy, omahama."
It was known among people in the village that he had ever had no stronger
enemy of karate learned as a hobby during a break from work in Arafura
Sea years ago. He is said to have learned it under a colleague from Okinawa
for self-defence against rough guys or pirates.
He made an instant decision to use karate that night, but his power was still sure.
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