Little Lily. Notes

The “Himeyuri” Students

The “Himeyuri” (ひめゆり学徒隊 – Himeyuri Gakutotai, Lily Princesses Student Corps, or Lily Corps) – a group of 222 students and 18 teachers from the Okinawa Daiichi Women’s High School and the Okinawa Shihan Women’s School, formed into a nursing unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. They were mobilized by the Japanese military on March 23, 1945.

Before the “Himeyuri” unit was disbanded, only 19 students had been killed. On June 18, 1945, the unit was given a simple disbandment order to “go home” amidst a total war. As a result, the schoolgirls suffered heavy casualties, caught in the crossfire of Japanese and American troops. Early the next morning (June 19), 5 teachers and 46 students hiding in the Ihara Third Surgery Shelter were killed by white phosphorus munitions during an attack by American forces who were unaware of the students’ presence.

In total, out of the 240 girls and teachers mobilized into the women’s student corps, more than half—136 people—died.

Some of them committed suicide in various ways out of a fear for their chastity, driven by threats of systematic rape by US soldiers. Before the fighting could finally end, some students threw themselves from the jagged cliffs of the Arasaki coast, poisoned themselves with cyanide (previously administered to soldiers in terminal condition), while others killed themselves using hand grenades given to them by Japanese soldiers.

In addition, 91 students and teachers from the “Himeyuri” schools who were not mobilized as part of the student corps also died in the Battle of Okinawa. In total, out of all the students and teachers mobilized by the Japanese army in Okinawa Prefecture, 1,552 boys (including those from the “Tekketsu Kinnōtai” or Blood and Iron Student Corps, formed from high schoolers), 441 girls, and 99 teachers died during the fighting—a total of 2,092 people. The Battle of Okinawa was an unprecedented ground battle involving the civilian population, resulting in the deaths of about 200,000 people—up to a third of the island’s population.

Before its annexation by the Japanese Empire in 1879, Okinawa was a separate independent state—the Ryukyu Kingdom. The islands speak the Okinawan language (part of the Ryukyuan language group), which differs significantly from standard Japanese.

After World War II, Okinawa was under US administration until 1972, which is why large American military bases are still located on the islands today.

Added note: Today, the memory of the girls is preserved at the Himeyuri Peace Museum in Itoman, Okinawa. It was founded in 1989 through the tireless efforts of the surviving alumni—women much like Yuriko—who dedicated their lives to ensuring that the tragedy in the caves would never be forgotten or rewritten by the mainland.

The Sicarii

The Sicarii – a militant Jewish group that operated in Judea in the 1st century CE. A radical, later breakaway wing of the Zealot movement that took the path of direct attacks and acts of terrorism. The Sicarii fought against Roman influence in Judea, attacking representatives of the Roman authorities and loyal members of the local nobility, and destroying their property.

The ancient Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote that the assassins preferred to operate in crowds, which allowed for a greater psychological effect while simultaneously giving the attacker a chance to escape. As their weapon, they used a short sword or dagger worn hidden under their clothes, which gave the group its name (from the Latin word “sica”, meaning dagger).

Along with the Zealots (though often conflicting with them), they were one of the driving forces in the First Jewish-Roman War (starting in 66 CE). They conducted active combat operations, at one point even destroying their own people’s food supplies to force the besieged Jews to fight with greater desperation. After the fall of Jerusalem (70 CE), the last of the Jewish Sicarii committed mass suicide at Masada in 73 CE following a three-year siege.

According to the writings of Flavius Josephus, when the Roman legions finally breached the wall of the Judean citadel, they found 960 corpses. The defenders had preferred to kill their wives and children, and then (by drawing lots) each other, so as not to fall into slavery. The last of the Sicarii set fire to the fortress and took his own life. Only 2 women and 5 children survived. They did not share the common fate, but instead hid deep within the underground water pipes (cisterns).

Added note: The historical echo between the Siege of Masada and the Battle of Okinawa highlights a haunting universal tragedy. In both instances, civilians and defenders were trapped in confined underground spaces (cisterns and coral caves), facing an impossible choice between capture by a foreign empire and mass suicide. Tamar’s survival in the cisterns mirrors Yuriko’s survival in the limestone caves, connecting two distant points in human history through a shared trauma of war.

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