Kyozo and Kuma definitely believed that the birth of older Kyota, and then of younger Kyoji, was a miracle the angel Yoriko brought to them, so that all their children were a gift from heaven.

Kyota had fair skin and was a touchy child, so they worried about his weak constitution. But such worries were completely dispelled when he entered elementary school.
In the higher grades, he, alongwith his younger brother Kyoji who followed him by two years, was outstanding in his studies, and in baseball an ace pitcher and a strong batter.
Both of them gave up their baseball dreams after their fight from the sandy beach, but in junior high school the older showed a superiority in soft tennis enough to take part in a county meet. The younger, though not weak, was also an all-round sportsman and also acted as a student council president.

The father spent the days in the rice field and diving for fish, and the mother managed the grocery store.
After both sons entered senior high school, it became difficult to make them work in the rice field, not to mention delivering foodstuffs or drinks. Before long the parents had sold the field on the hill and their rice field.

Yoriko went to a cooking school after graduating from Shingu Senior High School. Kyota attended a university in Tokyo and Kyoji followed the same path after two years.
The parents did not neglect them in any way, but they never stuck their nose into their children's studies. Their wish was that their children would be helpful to society through their studies. The parents left them to develop as they liked, and they grew up by themselves.

2. To Show Diving to a Son's Friend

It was the summer of Showa 37 (1962) when Kyota, the older son, was a junior in university. Komori-kun, his school friend from the university, visited Kyota's hometown Miwasaki all the way from Tokyo and stayed with the Wozumi family for one week. He was a native Tokyoite and a cheerful guy of medium height and build, the same as Kyota.
One year earlier, when they were freshmen, a half year after entreing H University, Komori became friends with Kyota, who was suffering from loneliness and speaking only the dialect of his hometown. He taught Kyota the standard way of speaking in Tokyo, and let him stay at his house in Nerima Ward and taste his mother's home cooking. Kyota had been brought up only with local dishes, so until then he had eaten only udon noodles, not soba noodles, not to mention natto (fermented soybeans).
It was Komori-kun who saved Kyota from a burdensome homesickness.

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Kyota had no trouble swimming but, with lacking further incentive, had not learned more from his father.
When he decided to invite Komori-kun to his hometown, he asked his father one thing, to show his father's diving and his skill with an underwater gun. Needless to say, his father accepted the son's request with a smile across his face.

It was a wonderful summer day for experiencing diving.
Father Kyozo rowed a small boat with two young guys on it. A life buoy is at the ready so the school friend would not drown in the sea.
Kyozo drops anchor at the rock on the side of Suzushima Island. He is all set for diving and quietly enters the sea wearing a fundoshi (Japanese loincloth), a diving mask, an underwater gun of his own making, and a bottsuri basket for holding game. While Komori-kun watches him seriously and presses the shutter button of his box-type camera several times, he takes a deep breath and then dives deep into the sea.
The sea is calm under the blue sky. Not too hot, and Komori-kun looks comfortable.

After nearly one hour, a large box on the small boat is full of sea breams, Ise lobsters, abalones, and so forth. They are all for delicious dinner dishes. Seeing Komori-kun so excited, Kyota proudly thanks his father, who is actually enjoying his usual life more than fulfilling the son's wish.

At night, mother Kuma puts all her cooking skills to good use for her son's school friend.
Raw sashimi, grilled, cooked, ... such gorgeous local dishes are all experienced for the first time by Komori-kun. He does not forget to press the shutter button to take a photo of the deluxe dishes, and then enjoys the taste of every dish, listening to the father's explanation in his expansive local dialect.
The son Kyota loves abalone more than any other sea food. He dips it into vinegar and then into his mouth until he was stuffed.
Both of his parents thank his school friend for his everyday kindness to their son, and are assured of their son's growth.

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Kyozo went on diving, his reason for living, for many more years. But within a couple of years, he began to feel something unusual in his body.

3. Go to Heaven

The days of his poor physical condition continue for a long time. Irregular and bad bowel movements and sometimes bloody urine or a bloody stool. He does not mind such things, but the body does not lie. He has already sold the rice field, and diving with his underwater gun is now difficult for him.
His body became weaker day by day, so now he has to lie in bed for most of the day.

In the summer of Showa 40 (1965), Kyozo had a lot of bloody stool and it became difficult for him to move. He was brought to Shingu Hospital in an ambulance.
The younger son Kyoji, returning home for the school summer vacation, informed his sister and brother. At that tme, sister Yoriko was managing a Japanese-style restaurant in Nishinomiya City, after marrying with the son and heir of the owner. The older son Kyota had found employment at a steel company, and was working at a factory in Nagoya.

With the results of various examinations over a couple of days, the hospital diagnosed him as suffering from "large intestine terminal cancer, requiring a quick operation."

The operation took several hours while Kuma and the three children were waiting in the next room. After the operation, the doctor in charge told them that the cancer had spread all over the body, and that unfortunately further operation was futile. Then he added, "I hope he will be alive for another half a year."

Kyozo's bedridden life continued on the second floor at his home.
The wide view of the sea far beyond his window is the best healing for him. His young days in Arafura Sea come to his mind one after another.
Mostly due to the relaxed days and happiness from consideration through love, he lived for nearly four more years, in spite of the hospital's diagnosis.

Eventually the home doctor said to Kuma, "He may have only few days left to live. Let the children know about it." It was in late April of Showa 34 (1969). At that time, Yoriko was a young hostess of the restaurant in Nishinomiya, Kyota was working for production process management in a Nagoya Factory of the steel company, and Kyoji was an office worker at the Nagoya branch of a main bank.
All of them returned to their hometown immediately.

Kyozo ended his life at the age of 68 in May, with Kuma and the children surrounding him.
Coincidentally, the older son Kyota was to be sent by his company to the United States to study in two months. Informed of this before his death, the father Kyozo passed away with a look of a satisfaction. Some people reach the end of their life with despair, wondering “what is it all about?”, but for Kyozo everything in his life was rewarded by his wife Kuma and the children.