Kozakura-no-To is a large monument in Asahigaoka Park (Asahigaoka Koen), only a few yards from Gokoku-ji (Gokoku Temple) and Naminoue-gu (Naminoue Shrine) in Naminoue. It is dedicated to the children killed aboard the S.S. Tsushima Maru, an evacuation ship sunk during World War II.

The S.S. Tsushima Maru left Naha on August 21, 1944, carrying 1,418 passengers, including 775 children. Late on August 22, while near the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, the ship was sunk by a torpedo fired from an U.S. Navy submarine. The U.S. government did not acknowledge the sinking of the ship until World War II had concluded.

In 1950, the families of those who perished aboard the ship formed an association. They raised funds and constructed Kozakura-no-To in Asahigaoka Park in 1954. The names of the students are listed by school on a large, tiered monument, and the trees next to the monument are sometimes adorned with cranes of peace (tsuru) folded by schoolchildren from throughout Okinawa. Each year on August 22, a memorial service is held at the monument.

Not far from Kozakura-no-To is the S.S. Tsushima Maru Museum, which opened on August 22, 2004. Exhibits—which include a reconstructed schoolroom, recorded testimony of families, and belongings of some of those aboard the ship—spread across the museum’s two stories.

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