‘Army on the Tree’ comes to Okinawa stage, resonating with Okinawans’ desire for peace

‘Army on the Tree’ comes to Okinawa stage, resonating with Okinawans’ desire for peace

On June 26 at the Okinawa City Civic Center, a new recruit (Kohei Matsushita, left) tells his life story at the request of his senior officer (Atsushi Yamanishi, right) while Kaori Futenma acts as narrator.


June 27, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

On June 26 at the Okinawa City Civic Center, the late Hisashi Inoue’s theater troop performed his original play “Ki no Ue no Guntai (Army on the Tree)”, depicting the Battle of Okinawa. The Ryukyu Shimpo and the Okinawa City Cultural Development Consortium jointly hosted the performance, with special support from the plaintiff group of the third Kadena base noise lawsuit. June 26 was this performance’s opening night in Okinawa.

The plot is based on a true story about two soldiers who were hiding in a tree on Iejima, still unaware that the war had ended. Atsushi Yamanishi, Kohei Matsushita, and Okinawa-born singer Kaori Futenma acted in the play, and Minami Udo played the viola. After the play, Futenma said, “I felt the Uchinanchu’s desire for peace from up onstage.”

A woman in her 50s who attended from Naha City explained her experience: “U.S. military aircraft noise drowned out the Uchinaguchi nursery song sung by Ms. Futenma, aptly representing Okinawa today.”

There is a photographic special feature coming to the paper’s Entertainment page on July 5.

(English translation by T&CT and Erin Jones)

Go to Japanese


　


Previous Article:
Next Article:

[Similar Articles]