Homecoming

When word of Sugiura’s fame reached Fujita Kazuhisa, a fellow Mito native, he began orchestrating a trip home for the local hero. On September 21, 2016, an entourage of 26 parishioners accompanied the figure of Sugiura from Zhenan Temple to Mito. Not wanting to inflict on General Flying Tiger the indignity of flying in cargo, the group even arranged a seat for the returning dignitary.

Back home, Sugiura was honored with a memorial service. Rainy skies failed to dampen the spirits of those gathered for the ceremony, carried out at the Gokoku Shrine in Mito. Afterward, Japanese and Taiwanese attendees placed the figure of Sugiura aboard a mikoshi and together paraded it through the neighborhood. A branch of a local credit association now stands where Sugiura’s home was, but participants marked the spot by erecting a panel telling about the young man’s life.

A memorial service for Sugiura was held at the Gokoku Shrine in Mito.
Participants parade a mikoshi carrying the figure of Sugiura through his home neighborhood in Mito.

The trip also included a visit to the elementary school Sugiura attended and the neighboring city of Naka, along with farther excursions to Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, to view Mount Fuji, and to the ancient capital of Kyoto. Guo Qiuyan, a Tainan restaurateur and hotel owner, summed up the visit: “Taking him home was of course wonderful. But we really wanted him to see Mount Fuji again, so it gives us a lot of pleasure to have accomplished that.”

As the group prepared to return home after the week-long trip, Guo said with a smile that he understood Sugiura might want to stay in his home country a little longer, but it was time to return. “The people of Tainan need General Flying Tiger to look after them.”

The last stop on the trip was the Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine. Parishioners living in the Kansai were in attendance to pay their respects.
The group kept the figure of Sugiura with them wherever they went, lighting cigarettes for the god during breaks.

One episode from the journey was particularly memorable for the participants. After visiting Mito, the group was heading toward Tokyo when the express train they were traveling on was unexpectedly signaled to halt just shy of Arakawaoki Station in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture. After about a minute and a half they got underway again, but the conductor never announced what had caused the light to turn red.

By coincidence, the area where they stopped was near the site of Sugiura’s old training grounds at the Kasumigaura air base. It is almost too fantastic to consider that the soul of the young man brought the train to a standstill, but Gou was pleased nonetheless. “He has many memories of the place and I’m thankful for each second he was able to spend there.”
(Originally published in Japanese on November 12, 2016. Banner photo: Images of Sugiura Shigemine at Zhenan Temple in Tainan, Taiwan. Offerings of cigarettes are placed before the statues twice daily. All photos © Katakura Yoshifumi.)