Ishimaru

by Louis Rosas

  It would take several minutes before Ryuichi regained control over his emotions. The shock of surviving his ordeal at sea was fresh in his senses and had to be contained if he was to survive. He recalled his grandfather’s last words as he lay on his deathbed urging him to live on. The memory of that moment drew his strength as he stood up and resolved to do whatever he could within his means to stay alive. He could feel his chapped lips and his thirst beckoning him. 53 days adrift with little water to survive on had worn on him. Finding water would be his first priority, but first, he needed to know what new sound he was hearing was.

  “Okasan! Okasan! (mother)”cried out young Yukichi off in the distance.

  The cries for Yukichi’s mother had startled Ryuichi. Looking both ways, Ryuichi called out to the boy:

  “Yukichi-kun! Yukichi-kun! Where are you?” he cried.

  “Over here!” cried Yukichi.

  Ryuichi raced over the sand to find the youngest of the half-starved boys lying there shouting for his mother in a tearful panic. Ryuichi grabbed the boy and lifted him from the wet sand.

  “Calm yourself!” ordered Ryuichi.

  Yukichi looked up with tears in his eyes to his older shipmate when suddenly they could hear the calls of two other boys.

  “That must be Iwakichi!” exclaimed Yukichi.

  “Hai! Sounds like Onchi is with him too!” added Ryuichi.

  The two boys got up and raced over another hundred meters down the shoreline before finding their stranded shipmates who were found sitting under a palm tree. Out of breath, Ryuichi dropped down to his knees.

  “We’re alive aren’t we?” said Onchi.

  “Hai (yes)!” replied Ryuichi.

  “Has anyone else survived?” asked Iwakichi.

  “I don’t think so. We are the only ones left alive,” said Ryuichi.

  “Ryuichi-san. When are we going home back to Mihama?” asked Yukichi.

  “I do not know. For the time being, we are stuck here on this little island,” replied Ryuichi.

  Unwilling to accept his fate, Onchi stood up and raced towards the water’s edge screaming:

  “Baka! Baka! Baka!”

  Ryuichi feeling to need to restore order chased raced after him and tackled him sending both boys into the low surf.

  “Get a hold of yourself!” demanded Ryuichi.

  The two other boys Iwakichi and Yukichi could see the Ryuichi and Onchi beat each other in the crashing surf hitting each other repeatedly.

  “Yame!-Yame! (Stop it!)” shouted Iwakichi.

  The two younger boys raced over into the low surf to break the two older boys apart.

  “Just stop it!” cried Iwakichi.

  Ryuichi backed off Onchi who had his lip broken.

  “My mouth is bleeding!” cried Onchi.

  Ryuichi held his head low and tried to look the other way. Yukichi got in Ryuichi’s face and demanded he apologizes.

  “Tell him you’re sorry!” he demanded.

  Ryuichi turned around to face Onchi who was sitting in the low surf watching the sand recede around him with the tide.

  “Gomenasai (I am sorry),” he apologized extending his hand to help Onchi out of the tide.

  Onchi took Ryuichi’s hand and got up out of the surf.

  “What are we going to do now?” asked Yukichi.

  Ryuichi scanned the beach and spotted what looked like rope and seaweed. They could see what looked like part of a ripped sail further down the small beach giving Ryuichi an idea.

  “If we are to survive to be rescued, we must do what we can while there is still a few hours of daylight left. Let’s build a shelter, gather what we can, and then we will forge for food and water. Are we Men of Mihama? We shall endure! Ne?” proposed Ryuichi.

  “Hai!” agreed the three younger boys as they each raised their right fists into the air in agreement.

  Empowered by their new resolve to survive, the four boys scavenged what they could find scattered about the shore. They had found enough tattered strands of rope from the torn sail to string up a small square covering to shelter them from the sun and the tropical rains. Ryuichi instructed the boys how to use jagged rocks to cut open coconuts and use the broken shells to collect rainwater to drink from. Ryuichi struggled to make a fire but to no avail. He struggled for hours rubbing two sticks of driftwood together, but it was no use. For that first night since being set adrift, the boys would spend it under the lonely desolate canopy of stars wishing for someone to bring them home.

  The very next morning, Ryuichi lay alone under the square sail shelter.

  “Ryuichi-san! Ryuichi-san!” cried Yukichi.

  Ryuichi awoke to find the young boy kneeling at his side trying to wake him.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Onchi spotted a ship!”

  “Eh?” exclaimed Ryuichi.

  “Onchi spotted a ship! Hurry! We’re saved!” excitedly shouted Yukichi.

  Ryuichi instantly jumped up onto his feet and raced over to the north end of the island. Iwakichi stood up atop a large rock wearing only his fundoshi (traditional Japanese male undergarment) and tied palm leaves on his head to cover from the sun pointing away.

  “Ryuichi! Look!” cried out Iwakichi.

  Ryuichi climbed atop the same rock seeing Onchi further down the sand jumping and waving towards the white sails of a distant ship. “Oka-san!” shouted Onchi.

  Yukichi and Iwakichi both joined in jumping up and down crying “mother” in Japanese. But despite their efforts, the crew of the distant ship could neither see the boys waving at them nor could they hear their pleas for rescue. The sudden burst of energy and excitement soon gave way to sullen despair as the boys watched the ship sail right past them never once noticing the poor stranded castaways crying for help.

  “Come back! Come back you bastards!” shouted Onchi as he began to run out of breath kicking the sand and tide in frustration.

  “Why aren’t they coming?” asked a tearful Yukichi.

  “They are too far away to see or hear us,” explained Ryuichi.

  “Baka!” cried Iwakichi.

  “It’s not their fault,” remarked Ryuichi.

  “What do you mean by that?” angrily demanded Onchi.

  Ryuichi looked inland to the scattered palm trees and few grasses he could find before reaching a logical conclusion:

  “Screaming and waving is not going to work. If we are going to be rescued by a ship, we must light a big fire. The flames and smoke will get their attention.”

  Ryuichi’s reasoning made sense to the boys who looked to him for leadership. Ryuichi was correct in saying the only way they would get the attention of a passing ship was to light a fire. But he had struggled for hours to rub two sticks together only to give up in frustration. Then it occurred to him that his method was all wrong. He would need something to catch a spark in order to build a fire. But what? Suddenly, a coconut fell down from a tree nearly hitting him in the head. Ryuichi looked up and saw what looked like dried grass up in the tree.

  “Ehhh!” he exclaimed.

  “What are you looking at?” asked Onchi.

  “That dried grass! It can make a kindling,” explained Ryuichi.

  “I can climb that tree and get it!” declared Iwakichi.

  “Good! Go climb up there and gather as much as you can!” ordered Ryuichi.

  “Hai!”

  Hours later, Iwakichi had gathered small bundles of the dried grass while Ryuichi sat under the square sail shelter rubbing the two sticks together furiously. Yukichi could see that Ryuichi had rubbed so deeply into one of the sticks that it a small spot was turning black emitting smoke. Ryuichi blew on the smoke and rubbed even more furiously until a tiny spark emerged.

  “Quick! Add the dried grass,” instructed Ryuichi.

  Young Yukichi added a small bundle of the grass as Ryuichi blew on it. Suddenly, the dried grass caught fire.

  “Ha ha!” exclaimed Ryuichi.

  Iwakichi added small driftwood
to the small flame and it began to burn.

  “We’ve made fire!” rejoiced the boys.

  “We’re saved!”

  Days passed into weeks, then months for the marooned survivors of the Mika Maru. By now their tattered clothes were of no use. They wore palm leaves over their fundoshi’s and hats for their heads made from the same trees. Their exposure to the sun had left them with dark sunburnt skin. Their hair had grown long and scraggly. They survived off what few fish they could catch and crabs that appeared on the shore and tide pools. Any driftwood they could find that washed aground had to be collected to maintain a small cooking fire and to provide a small torch to light a bigger fire in the event a passing ship was to come by. Life continued to be harsh for the boys but overtime they had learned to adapt to survive.

  Tropical rains pelted the small island for days allowing the boys to collect a sizable cache of rainwater. They had extended the small shelter with ropes they had fashioned and palm leaves where they stored dried fish and what little fruit they could collect. It was a hard lean existence for the boys. It seemed like months had passed since they had seen a passing ship sail by. The hope of rescue had waned, but it was never abandoned.

  One day, Ryuichi woke up and could feel his feet were wet.

  “Eh?” he muttered as he realized one of the ropes tethering the square sail had come undone allowing water to drip in and putting out their small fire.

  “Onchi,” summoned Ryuichi.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Everything is wet,” pointed Ryuichi.

  Onchi nudged Iwakichi who was too asleep to wake up.

  “What do you want?” mumbled Iwakichi.

  “The fire is out you idiot!” scolded Onchi.

  “I thought you were on fire watch,” said Ryuichi.

  “I was until I made Iwakichi keep watch so I could sleep,” explained Onchi.

  “Don’t blame me!” argued Iwakichi.

  “Both of you! Baka!” scolded Ryuichi as he angrily walked away from the shelter in frustration.

  Ryuichi had enough of their bickering and walked out to the northern rock finding young Yukichi sitting there making something from palm leaves.

  “Hey! What are you doing Yukichi-kun?” asked Ryuichi.

  The youngster looked up and smiled as he held up what looked like a little doll of a man made from tied palm leaves. Ryuichi smiled back.

  “May I?” he asked.

  “Hai!” replied Yukichi as he handed Ryuichi the small doll.

  “This is pretty good work,” said Ryuichi.

  “Arigatou,” thanked the boy.

  Suddenly, something caught his eye.

  “What is it?” asked Yukichi.

  “It’s a ship!” exclaimed Ryuichi.

  With great haste, the two boys raced back to the shelter shouting with excitement along the way:

  “It’s a ship! It’s a ship!”

  Ryuichi grabbed his two rubbing sticks and began to rustle them together to make a fire.

  “Quick! Find some dried grass!” ordered Ryuichi.

  Iwakichi and Onchi scurried all over the place to find something that wasn’t wet.

  “Everything’s wet!” cried Onchi.

  “Hurry! Hurry!” cried Yukichi.

  By now the white sails of a three mast sailing ship could be clearly seen off beyond the small coral reef and crashing waves and with it a sense of hope.

  “Come on! Come on!” cried Ryuichi as he continued to furiously rub the two sticks together.

  “Hurry!” shouted Yukichi.

  Then, at last, a spark! Ryuichi continued to rub the sticks as Iwakichi added what little-dried grass he could find. Once smoke started to appear, Onchi blew on the tiny emerging spark.

  “Keep doing that!” encouraged Ryuichi.

  Then suddenly a small flame became fire. They boys had fastened a small triangle shaped carriage out of twigs to carry the small embers up a tree. As soon as the flame was transferred to the carriage, Iwakichi gingerly climbed up a tree in the hope of igniting it. So long as the ship was within view, there was hope of being seen but time was running out. If they were to be rescued, they would have to act fast.

  All eyes were on Iwakichi as he neared the top of the tree.

  “Hurry! They are sailing away!” cried Yukichi.

  Iwakichi momentarily caught a glimpse of the passing ship beyond the coral reef before nearly losing his grip. Within the span of a split second, Iwakichi nearly fell out of the tree. In a panic, he grasped at a branch within reach to keep him from falling. At that moment, he could not have foreseen what happened next. A large cache of collected water unexpectedly showered down on him dousing the small fire laden carriage, and in the process snuffing out the small flame, the boys counted on to ignite the tree in time to alert the passing ship. But as fate would have it, Iwakichi unintentionally doused out any hope of rescue that day.

  “BAKA!” screamed Onchi as he raced over to the base of the tree hitting Iwakichi on the head the moment he reached the ground.

  “It’s not my fault!” argued Iwakichi.

  “Yes, it is! Thanks to you, we’re stuck here!” shouted Onchi.

  Young Yukichi threw himself between the two fighting boys before Ryuichi had enough.

  “Yame! (stop)” Both of you!” scolded Ryuichi.

  “Just stop,” he repeated.

  “But he screwed up!” protested Onchi as he struggled to breathe.

  “How was I to know there was still water up there?” argued Iwakichi as he held up his fists in self-defense.

  Ryuichi walked over to Iwakichi and put his fists down.

  “It’s nobody’s fault but my own,” said Ryuichi.

  “Ehh?” exclaimed the boys.

  Ryuichi hung his head low and began to explain.

  “This was my plan. I had come to it when I realized we did not have enough driftwood or trees to build a bonfire. I thought if the opportunity came, we could set a tree on fire. We could be saved without wasting what little we had until such an opportunity presented itself. You know I want to return home to my family just as much as you do. I think nothing more than getting us off this little-forsaken island. What I would give for some Manju, sweet buns, or a moment atop a fresh new tatami mat in my family’s home. I want to go home just as much as any of you! But to fight over our failures will do us no good. I don’t want to die here any more than any of you. We have to use our heads and come up with a new plan and should it work; we’ll all go home. Agreed?”

  “Hai!”

  The hard lesson of that unfortunate day was a hard one for the boys to swallow as they prepared for another night under a colorful vast vista beyond the calm sea. Onchi had managed to capture some crabs that day while Yukichi collected mussels. As Iwakichi tended the small cooking fire, Ryuichi contemplated his next plan. His two biggest obstacles were rain and a lack of dry wood. Using what rocks and strips of palm branches they could muster, Ryuichi conceived of building a covered fire pit that would be ready to ignite on a moment’s notice. One large enough to build a bonfire. But given the lack of trees they could spare, they would be reliant on discarded branches and what driftwood they could find that washed ashore. For this to work, the boys would have to remain vigilant and not lose hope of rescue.

  Several weeks later, young Yukichi found himself one cloudy overcast morning eyeing a good sized fish caught in a tide pool that he intended to spear. Over the course of the year, they had spent on the island, Yukichi had become quite skilled at spearfishing. He had grown taller, his hair had grown longer and the little doll he made he now wore as a pendant tied around his neck with grass for string. His keen almond-shaped brown eyes were trained in on the fish zeroed in his sights. Then, at the right moment, he thrust his spear! Yukichi successfully pierced the fish.

  “Yah!” he exclaimed as he retrieved his spear and his catch.

  Yukichi smiled as he discovered the fish was significantly larger than it looked in the water. Large enough fo
r everyone to share.

  “I got one. A big one!” he happily exclaimed.

  Young Yukichi having caught a fish hopped off the large rock from where he had been spearfishing proceeding to return back the shelter with pride in his eyes that he had caught such a large fish for them to eat. He could see the other boys sitting around the small camp as he walked up with the spear in hand.

  “Guys! Look what I caught!” announced Yukichi.

  Ryuichi, Onchi, and Iwakichi looked up to see the young boy standing there with his fish tipped spear in hand. The boys looked up somewhat unenthused.

  “Guys! It’s a fish!” said Yukichi.

  “That’s great. Another fish,” sardonically observed Iwakichi.

  “I’m so sick of eating fish!” complained Onchi as he hit the sand with his fist in frustration.

  Young Yukichi stood there and became upset.

  “What is wrong with you guys?” We’re men of Mihama right?” argued Yukichi.

  “More like Castaways of Crap Island,” dismissed Iwakichi.

  “Maybe not for long,” said Ryuichi.

  Yukichi continued to stand there in full indignation ready to argue with Iwakichi and Onchi when he noticed Ryuichi’s eyes light up. Suddenly, Ryuichi got up and walked right past Yukichi who was not done scolding his fellow ungrateful castaways when Onchi also noticed Ryuichi walking toward the beach. The look on Onchi’s face instantly changed from anger to excitement as he nudged Iwakichi to turn over and take a look.

  “I’m standing right here, and you guys act like I don’t exist! What the hell are you looking at?” demanded Yukichi.

  “There! Look!” pointed Iwakichi.

  Young Yukichi stopped his rant for a moment and turned his head around. Then it occurred to him as he dropped his spear that he was looking at the largest ship he had ever seen! Not just any ship he had seen before. No! It was like a dream. It was a Japanese ship! The boys stood in awe of the massive three masts white-hulled vessel sailing towards their little island bearing a large white rising sun flag. Then it occurred to Ryuichi what must be done.