My grandmother, Sakae, was born on June 1, 1922 as the youngest daughter of Yoshikawa family in Ujina, Hiroshima. Yoshikawa family is comprised of 4 members: the father is Tatsuo, mother is Tomo, children are Sui and Sakae. The head of the family, Tatsuo mainly worked on undersea operation as a professional diver. He mainly received jobs from Chugoku Electric Power Company and laid an undersea cable. Around 1900, he was inducted to an army for Sino-Japanese war and stayed in Shanghai, China for a few years. During the duty, his salary was sent to his wife, Tomo and finally, they bought a land with the money and built a house in Ujina town. The Ujina town was near Seto inland sea. This beautiful sea was blessed with an abundant of marine products. Tatsuo also made a living by catching fresh fish. His wife, Tomo went to fish market near the house to get marine products. And then she loaded them her cart and tried to sell them within the morning. After that, she took care of their children and supported her husband as half-time wife. This family was one of the typical old Japanese families. In the olden times, father reigned as the head of the family and earned money, mother was domesticated, and mother and children followed his decisions and supported him without any resistance.
Sakae’s childhood was filled with happiness. Around Ujina region, she was raised and grew up peacefully. She studied Ujina child care house and continued Ujina elementary school. After the school, she really liked playing at the park with her classmates and other kids in the neighborhood with full power. According to her childhood friend, she could run so fast so the other kids chased after her. Her father took the seat closest to the front of the ground to cheer on her at the athletic contest. Her high physical ability was proven in a later chapter.
Sakae nostalgically spoked that there was the most enjoyment thing after that. Grilled fresh fishes which were cooked by her father for dinner was so tasty! It was one of the great fun for the girl who was about to die from starvation. Yoshikawa family was not wealthy well back then, however, Sakae enjoyed a harmless high without any concern. She in pure girl age thought that there was no barrier to interrupt her brilliant future. After the graduation of elementary school, she went on to Ujina 2-year higher elementary school. The school was located at near the Ujina elementary school. This is the last education record of her. Currently, most of students in Japan go on to high school, however, at that time, almost all higher elementary school students started working after the graduation. There were quite a few selected students who went on to high school. The advancement to college was much more rare cases.
