Post by EXO on Feb 4, 2009 16:38:10 GMT 8
Inquirer Northern Luzon
They came to appease the dead and living
By Ben Moses Ebreo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:36:00 02/03/2009
KIANGAN, Ifugao – That’s what a group of Japanese officials did on Jan. 30 when they paid respects to their dead in a ritual in Kiangan, Ifugao.
In a Buddhist ceremony called the okyo, which is similar to Ifugao’s bogwa (bone washing), the skeletal remains of 509 Japanese soldiers who died during World War II were burned.
The bones were retrieved and collected from different provinces and burned on the grounds of the Kiangan Central School in Barangay Poblacion.
The remains were wrapped in a woven blanket before these were burned. Animals were butchered as ritual offerings so their spirits would not appear in the dreams of the living.
Enryo Sugiwaka, the Buddhist high priest who led the okyo, said the ritual was meant to free the soul of the dead soldiers so these would return to their country.
It was also aimed to bring peace of mind to their families and loved ones, he said.
Gov. Teodoro Baguilat Jr., Ifugao war veterans and a Japanese delegation led by Kazushi Yomagishi, a Japanese minister of health, labor and welfare, and former lawmaker Osamu Kenishi witnessed the ceremony.
Prevent sickness
In Ifugao, the bogwa is practiced to prevent and cure sickness caused by the belief that disturbed spirits show their sentiments and emotions by afflicting diseases on the living.
Santos Bayucca, 45, a member of the international organization Good Sannan that led in the retrieval of the bones, said the group used the network of friends in the Cordillera to find the remains of the Japanese soldiers in their communities.
Bayucca, a resident of Banaue town, said the painstaking work of finding and collecting the remains started two years ago with the help of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), which provided funds for the project.
“The bogwa culture of the Cordillera helped us a lot since we can easily identify that the bones we dug up belong to Japanese soldiers because Cordillerans gather the remains of their dead and place them inside their houses. Definitely, the bones that we retrieved were 80 percent Japanese,” Bayucca said.
Filipino and Japanese anthropologists identified the remains. Stories of villagers about the war and of the presence of Japanese soldiers in their communities helped in the search.
Bayucca said war artifacts dug up with the bones – metal helmets, bullets, dog tags, a machinegun, a samurai sword, medicine bottles, belt buckles, hand grenades and water bags – revealed more information.
Among the important finds was a power generator believed to belong to Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, a top commander of the Japanese Imperial Army in Asia during World War II. Yamashita surrendered to American forces in Kiangan in 1945. With a report from EV Espiritu
They came to appease the dead and living
By Ben Moses Ebreo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:36:00 02/03/2009
KIANGAN, Ifugao – That’s what a group of Japanese officials did on Jan. 30 when they paid respects to their dead in a ritual in Kiangan, Ifugao.
In a Buddhist ceremony called the okyo, which is similar to Ifugao’s bogwa (bone washing), the skeletal remains of 509 Japanese soldiers who died during World War II were burned.
The bones were retrieved and collected from different provinces and burned on the grounds of the Kiangan Central School in Barangay Poblacion.
The remains were wrapped in a woven blanket before these were burned. Animals were butchered as ritual offerings so their spirits would not appear in the dreams of the living.
Enryo Sugiwaka, the Buddhist high priest who led the okyo, said the ritual was meant to free the soul of the dead soldiers so these would return to their country.
It was also aimed to bring peace of mind to their families and loved ones, he said.
Gov. Teodoro Baguilat Jr., Ifugao war veterans and a Japanese delegation led by Kazushi Yomagishi, a Japanese minister of health, labor and welfare, and former lawmaker Osamu Kenishi witnessed the ceremony.
Prevent sickness
In Ifugao, the bogwa is practiced to prevent and cure sickness caused by the belief that disturbed spirits show their sentiments and emotions by afflicting diseases on the living.
Santos Bayucca, 45, a member of the international organization Good Sannan that led in the retrieval of the bones, said the group used the network of friends in the Cordillera to find the remains of the Japanese soldiers in their communities.
Bayucca, a resident of Banaue town, said the painstaking work of finding and collecting the remains started two years ago with the help of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), which provided funds for the project.
“The bogwa culture of the Cordillera helped us a lot since we can easily identify that the bones we dug up belong to Japanese soldiers because Cordillerans gather the remains of their dead and place them inside their houses. Definitely, the bones that we retrieved were 80 percent Japanese,” Bayucca said.
Filipino and Japanese anthropologists identified the remains. Stories of villagers about the war and of the presence of Japanese soldiers in their communities helped in the search.
Bayucca said war artifacts dug up with the bones – metal helmets, bullets, dog tags, a machinegun, a samurai sword, medicine bottles, belt buckles, hand grenades and water bags – revealed more information.
Among the important finds was a power generator believed to belong to Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, a top commander of the Japanese Imperial Army in Asia during World War II. Yamashita surrendered to American forces in Kiangan in 1945. With a report from EV Espiritu