<figure id="attachment_417322" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1670px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417322"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3726231e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/d8793a17b87c2c652ba53e0ed490b108.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417322" class="wp-caption-text">The photo above shows Okawa Elementary School immediately after it was hit by the tsunami from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Below is the current image of the school after the rubble was cleared away as a relic of the disaster.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_417323" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417323"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="824637f0"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/2f9d53d7e10ffb2d81558aded11c5420.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417323" class="wp-caption-text">The debris has been removed, but. The mud and debris from the tsunami that struck Ōkawa Elementary School have been cleared, leaving the scene as shown in the photo below. However, the memories will never fade.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>“I couldn&#8217;t wear my junior high school uniform.”</h2>
&#8220;My daughter was in the sixth grade. She was looking forward to graduating from Ōkawa Elementary School and then entering middle school. It was that time in March. March 11, that day, was the day her middle school uniform was finished. There was a uniform shop right around that tall telephone pole over there. That day, she was supposed to bring home her middle school sailor uniform and show it to the family. Unfortunately, my daughter never got to wear her middle school uniform.&#8221;
Toshirō Satō (61), who serves as a storyteller, began recounting his personal experience to the gathered visitors using a microphone. His daughter had been caught in the disaster.
It was a Saturday, just before the 14th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011. The location was in front of the former main gate of Ishinomaki Municipal Ōkawa Elementary School (closed on March 31, 2018, and now a preserved disaster site).
Though 3.7 km from the coastline, Ōkawa Elementary School was struck by a tsunami that traveled up the river. Of the 108 students at the school, excluding those who were absent or had already gone home, 78 attempted to evacuate but were swept away by the tsunami. Of those, 74 lost their lives (70 confirmed dead, 4 missing), and 10 out of 11 teachers who were leading the evacuation also perished.
Toshirō, who lost his second daughter, Mizuho (then 12), had been a middle school teacher in Onagawa Town at the time of the disaster. Now, he serves as the representative of the voluntary organization &#8220;The Association to Reflect on the Meaning of Small Lives,&#8221; which was established to examine and preserve the legacy of what happened at Ōkawa Elementary School.
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<h2>“The importance of this event has sunk in.&#8221;</h2>
At the same time, as a co-representative of the &#8220;Ōkawa Legacy Association,&#8221; Toshirō Satō also took requests to explain to volunteers from Nagano Prefecture, who had come through a volunteer group, what had happened at Ōkawa Elementary School that day. According to Satō, even on that particular day, he had received multiple requests to serve as a storyteller.
Moments of laughter arose from lighthearted humor, and tears flowed as the visitors were moved by the sorrow of the tragic site. When asked about their impressions, one visitor expressed that the importance of preparing for potential danger and being able to act quickly in case of an emergency really struck home. It was clear that the lessons of that day had become ingrained.
I first set foot in Ōkawa Elementary School on March 30, 2011, 19 days after the disaster struck. After being forced to take a detour due to collapsed roads, I finally arrived at the school, where seawater still hadn’t receded, and debris and mud were piled up around the two-story school building. The scene I witnessed there remains seared in my memory. A mother was digging through the towering piles of mud with her hands, searching for the body of her child. Nearby, in a marsh away from the school, a grandfather and father watched the body recovery efforts, their faces gaunt with exhaustion.
&#8220;Many prominent politicians came to Ōkawa Elementary School, but it’s rare for them to visit again. Among them, Akie Abe visited about three years after the disaster. She said, &#8216;I’ll come again,&#8217; and though I didn’t expect her to, she’s come back every year since then. The idea to start the &#8216;Bamboo Lights&#8217; came from hearing about it from Ms. Akie,&#8221; said Kazutaka Satō (58). 
Kazutaka, who lost his third son Yūki (then 12), who was in the sixth grade, is now the chairman of the Ōkawa Bamboo Lights executive committee. The initiative began on March 11, 2022, to light bamboo lanterns as a memorial and a symbol of hope for the future on the anniversary of the disaster. The number of lanterns matches the number of students enrolled at the time, 108.
Takahiro Shitō (60), who is involved in the creation of the bamboo lanterns on the school grounds, also lost his second daughter, Chise (then 11), who was in the fifth grade. Takahiro said, 
&#8220;There are still unresolved issues among the bereaved families and the local community, but I believe time and space are necessary to resolve them. Ōkawa Elementary School is an important place where we can come, reflect, and spend time remembering. That’s why I want to keep this place connected. The bamboo lights are different each year, but this year, the arrangement is designed to resemble people, with the bamboo gathered in the center as if being embraced by arms.&#8221;
On a different day, I spoke with Hideo Tadano (53), who lost his eldest daughter Mina (then 9), who was in the third grade. Hideo also lost his wife and father to the tsunami, but his eldest son Tetsuya (now 25), who was in the fifth grade at the time, was one of the few who miraculously survived, despite being engulfed by the tsunami at Ōkawa Elementary School. Hideo cannot hide his anger.
&#8220;During the trial (which confirmed the plaintiffs&#8217; victory in 2019, ruling that the city’s board of education and the school’s failure to take proper disaster prevention measures was illegal), there were adults who lied. The most important thing I want to say is that I don’t want my son, who experienced that life-or-death situation here, to see such adults. The reason the bereaved families sought the truth in court was to prevent the same tragedy from happening again. But there were people who distorted that truth.&#8221;
As these various emotions interweave, Ōkawa Elementary School faces its 14th anniversary of remembrance.
<figure id="attachment_417344" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2438px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417344"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2b3bf1d8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/de9fa988e6d2ba4c252e39d776f312c9.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417344" class="wp-caption-text">Toshiro Sato, a storyteller, shares the experience of his daughter, who was a student at Okawa Elementary School at the time of the earthquake.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_417343" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2496px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417343"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d0bdee96"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/bcbe8def6a9b312c10191bc179741b1d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417343" class="wp-caption-text">Kazutaka Satō, the chairman of the Ōkawa Bamboo Lights executive committee, oversees this annual event, which has been held every year since 2022.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_417342" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2079px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417342"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="725f062c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/96ed839603e30222da746f450f17e482.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417342" class="wp-caption-text">This year&#8217;s preparations for the Ōkawa Bamboo Lights. Every year on March 11, the bamboo lights are prepared for the event, which is a regular ritual imbued with thoughts of remembrance and hope for the future.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_417346" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2698px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417346"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="aed7ae12"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/b1b36dacad42386031b8201bf6e9ed0d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417346" class="wp-caption-text">Mr. Takahiro Shirato at the production site of &#8220;Okawa Bamboo Lighting. The shape changes from year to year.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_417345" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-417345"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="52f1dc91"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/ba7e1cd93fdb954d7d0b555d5b9e6517.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-417345" class="wp-caption-text">Hideaki Tadano lost his wife and father in the tsunami. He is angry that false testimony was given in court.</figcaption></figure>
Ono Ikko: Born in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture in 1966. He has covered the Great East Japan Earthquake and various other events. His major publications include &#8220;Full Document: Kitakyushu Confinement Serial Murder Case.”
From the March 28, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”

 Ikko Ono (Nonfiction writer)

 Fourteen years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, nonfiction writer Ikko Ono, who visited Okawa Elementary School 19 days after the disaster, recounts the tragedy. He also reveals his thoughts on the annual "Bamboo Light" event held by the bereaved families of those who lost family members in the disaster.

14 Years After the Ōkawa Elementary Tragedy: Unforgettable Memories of the Bereaved Families

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