Jūsantsukabaru | Another History | Imamura Tea Plantation

This stretch of land was once a place from which many young men flew south into the sky. The fields of Imamura Tea Plantation now lie upon that runway. Two memories overlap in this ground: its history as an airfield, and its history as a tea garden.

Footage: "Japanese Film: Japanese Pilots; Dive Bombers; Aerials of Dive Bombers in Flight" (1943). Captured Japanese footage, location unknown. U.S. National Archives, Naval Photographic Center collection. Aircraft: Aichi D3A Type 99 carrier dive bomber — the same type flown from the former Daini-Kokubu air base. Public domain, via Internet Archive.

Why was an air base built here?

戦時中の日本海軍の航空基地に関する公文書 / Wartime Japanese naval air base record, National Institute for Defense Studies, via JACAR

Because southern Kyushu, including the Kokubu area, lay along what was regarded as the last line of defense for the Japanese homeland, and was therefore of military importance. Air bases were built across the region in quick succession — at Chiran, at Kanoya, at Bansei in Kaseda, and elsewhere. Kokubu was chosen as one of them.

Built at forced pace, Kokubu No. 1 Air Base was completed in 1943. From August 1944 it began training air crews as an elementary flight training unit, made up largely of teenage naval cadets. As the fighting intensified, the need to disperse the aircraft of the Kokubu air group grew, and a decision was made to build a second base at Jūsantsukabaru in Mizobe — near what is today Kagoshima Airport.

RONCHI AIRFIELD

Aerial reconnaissance photograph of "RONCHI AIRFIELD" (Kokubu No. 2 Naval Air Base), Kagoshima. Taken 1 Jan 1945 by a USAAF F-13A, Sortie 5ME-1; annotated by JICPOA (print ref. 50203-46). Original negative: U.S. National Archives, RG 373. Public domain.

第二国分基地(十三塚原飛行場)の位置を示す地図 / Map showing the location of Kokubu No. 2 Air Base at Jūsantsukabaru

Part of the airfield at Jūsantsukabaru was completed by the end of 1944. With this, the existing base was renamed Kokubu No. 1 Air Base, and the new one at Jūsantsukabaru became Kokubu No. 2 Air Base. In U.S. military records of the period, this airfield appears under the name “RONCHI.”

Labor for the construction site at Jūsantsukabaru was drawn largely from the Mizobe area, and from across the prefecture — Kagoshima City, Ibusuki, and beyond. Those who came from farther away lodged at Hinatayama, setting out each day in the half-light before dawn and walking the long uphill road to the site. There was no heavy machinery; the base was built entirely by hand.

On the high ground of Jūsantsukabaru, where water was scarce, securing it was a constant problem. People are said to have carried several 1.8-litre bottles on their backs to the river at Hazama in Hayato-chō and back, about four round trips a day.

In March 1945, as conditions worsened, the training function was transferred to the Kan’onji Naval Air Group in Kagawa Prefecture. Kokubu No. 1 Air Base was placed under the Fifth Air Fleet, headquartered at Kanoya, as an operational unit preparing for the ground battle on Okinawa.

In the final period of the Pacific War, attacks by the United States and the other Allied forces grew fiercer, and the position of the Japanese forces weakened by the day. Seeking to alter the course of the war, the Japanese military carried out the Special Attack operations, in which aircraft loaded with bombs were flown directly into enemy ships.

Between 18 March and 3 June 1945, the Special Attack Corps flew sixteen sorties from Kokubu No. 1 and Kokubu No. 2 Air Bases. In all, 427 members of the Corps were killed.

Note: The figure of 427 covers sorties from both Kokubu No. 1 and Kokubu No. 2. Because the records of the period do not always distinguish between the two bases on a given day, a breakdown by base has not been established. (Per the records of the memorial service for the Special Attack Corps members who died at the Kokubu bases.)

今昔比較。同じ土地の現在の航空写真。鹿児島空港と茶畑 / Then-and-now slider: the same ground today, with Kagoshima Airport and tea fields (GSI)

今昔比較。第二国分基地であった当時の飛行場の航空写真 / Then-and-now slider: the same ground when it was Kokubu No. 2 Air Base

Runway Concrete Fragments

At Airport Park, adjoining Kagoshima Airport, fragments of the runway of the Kokubu No. 2 Special Attack Base are preserved. The park lies along the line of the former runway, and the fragments were in use at this very place. The information board beside them, placed by the Kokubu-Mizobe Special Attack Memorial Preservation Committee, records that between 18 March and 3 June 1945, 173 men aged roughly 18 to 25 (per Kirishima City research) took off from this runway.

Airport Park, 651-10 Kareigawa, Hayato-chō, Kirishima, Kagoshima 899-5113, Japan
About 5 minutes by car from the Kagoshima Airport terminal.

桜越しにはためく日の丸 / Japanese flag waving among cherry blossoms - 今村茶園

Mizobe Uwatoko Park

On high ground a little away from Kagoshima Airport, the Jūsantsukabaru Special Attack Corps Memorial still stands quietly. An observation deck has since been built, and from it the tea fields, the airport and the mountains of Kirishima can all be seen at once. In spring the cherry trees come into full bloom, and the memory of the wind passes through. Holding a distant memory, this place has become a landscape that welcomes, gently, those living now.

3391 Fumoto, Mizobe-chō, Kirishima, Kagoshima, Japan
By car: about 10 minutes (5.9 km) from the Mizobe-Kagoshima-Kūkō interchange on the Kyushu Expressway.

鹿児島空港の滑走路を望む在来種やまとみどりの茶畑 / Tea field of seed-grown native Yamatomidori overlooking the Kagoshima Airport runway

In a corner overlooking the runway of Kagoshima Airport, a tea field stands quietly.

Here the zairai — seed-grown, native — stock of Yamatomidori, from which Imamura Tea Plantation began, is still quietly alive after eighty years.

It was planted just as the war ended and this plateau was slowly returning to ordinary life. On ground from which Special Attack aircraft had taken off only the year before, one woman planted tea. The time of Imamura Tea Plantation begins there.

Before named cultivars such as Yabukita became the norm, Japan’s tea fields began with stock like this. Unlike cultivars propagated from cuttings, which are uniform, seed-grown native tea differs from plant to plant. The timing of the first buds, the shape of the leaves, the taste — each a little different. These uneven plants are the starting point of three generations of tea making.

A tea field that simply goes on being there, taking the same wind. Today, too, its leaves stir, as if to whisper softly, “welcome home.”

THE Story of Maison IMAMURA

References & Sources

Japanese Official Records

War Diary of the 701st Naval Air Group, incl. annex: War Diary of the Kokubu No. 2 Detachment (National Institute for Defense Studies, Ministry of Defense / Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, Ref. C13120358900)
Operational Records of the Ten Air Unit, Fifth Air Fleet, Feb.–Aug. 1945 (ibid., Ref. C16120705300)
Combat Reports of Fighter Squadrons 302 & 303, "Air Defense of the Kanoya Area," 18–20 March 1945 (ibid., Ref. C13120282500)
Status Tables of Naval Air Bases, Homeland Section: Sasebo Naval District (National Institute for Defense Studies)

Japanese Publications

Tokkotai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association (ed.), The Complete History of the Special Attack Corps (2008; supplement 2011) and the Special Attack Corps Roster of the Fallen
Iwamoto, Kiyoshi & Mukai, Tsutomu (eds.), Requiem: Ride the White Clouds Home — A Record of Kokubu No. 2 Special Attack Base (Jūsantsukabaru Special Attack Memorial Preservation Committee / Mizobe Town, 1992)
War History Series (Senshi Sōsho): Naval Operations in the Okinawa Area (War History Office, National Defense College, Asagumo Shimbunsha, 1968)

U.S. Official Records

CINCPAC-CINCPOA Bulletin No. 166-45, "Airfields in Kyushu" (U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, 15 August 1945) — public domain
Air Facilities Supplement to JANIS 84 (Southwest Japan) (Joint Army-Navy Intelligence Study, compiled 1 May 1945) — public domain
CINCPAC-CINCPOA Special Translation No. 65, "Digest of Japanese Air Bases" (12 May 1945 / National Diet Library Digital Collections) — public domain
XXI Bomber Command Tactical Mission Reports, incl. Mission No. 104 (National Diet Library Digital Collections) — public domain
U.S. Army Air Forces reconnaissance photograph, Sortie 5ME-1 (taken 1 January 1945; JICPOA annotated print, ref. 50203-46 / original negative: U.S. National Archives, Record Group 373) — public domain

Local Sources (Kirishima City, Kagoshima)

Inscription and dedication of the Jūsantsukabaru Special Attack Corps Memorial (Uwatoko Park, erected 1979)
Information board, Runway Concrete Fragments (Airport Park, 651-10 Kareigawa, Hayato-chō; Kokubu-Mizobe Special Attack Memorial Preservation Committee) — the figure of 173 fallen is per Kirishima City research
Memorial information board (Uwatoko Park, 1997, Mizobe Town Special Attack Memorial Preservation Committee)
On-site guide map, "Special Attack Base: Kokubu No. 2"

Images

U.S. military aerial photograph USA-M57-261 (19 April 1946, 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, Eighth Air Force): adapted from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) Map & Aerial Photo Viewing Service
Present-day aerial imagery: adapted from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) aerial photographs.

Film

"Japanese Pilots; Dive Bombers; Aerials of Dive Bombers in Flight" (1943, captured Japanese footage): U.S. National Archives, via Internet Archive — public domain
U.S. Navy footage, March–April 1945, waters off Kyushu and Okinawa (Naval Photographic Center collection, NPC-11125 / 11173 / 11213 / 11164 et al.): U.S. National Archives, via Internet Archive — public domain

About This Project

Company

IMAMURA TEA PLANTATION
Founded 1947

Address

655-15 Karegawa, Hayato-cho, Kirishima-shi, Kagoshima 899-5113 Japan

Contact Information

Tel 0995-43-9162
Fax 0995-43-9260

Hours of Operation

10:00 – 17:00
Closed on Sundays and National Holidays

Tea Master：Hirotsugu Imamura

When I face the craft of tea, I always hold on to a sense of “freedom.”I listen to the voice of nature, break away from fixed forms, and quietly explore the possibilities within each cup.

Producer：Yoshihiro Shimazu

Tea takes me places I never expected—beyond landscapes, beyond time, and sometimes even beyond myself.It keeps leading me forward, and I keep following.

Branding：I.T.P.entertainment

We deliver emotion through stories and tea,　crafting moments that stay with you.

Certifications & Qualifications

Organic JAS Certified Producer (Agricultural Products) — Certification No. 1097
Organic JAS Certified Processor (Processed Foods) — Certification No. 1108 (Processed)
ASIAGAP Certification Number: MIC-S-A460000095

PRESENTED BY

IMAMURA TEA PLANTATION

I want the afterglow of Kirishima to linger on.

contact STORY Our Process

The Memory of the Other Wind.

Another memory, carried on the wind.

RONCHI AIRFIELD

About This Project

IMAMURA TEA PLANTATION

I want the afterglow of Kirishima to linger on.