On January 14, 1946, only five months after the end of World War II, the Sister Ann—a British Royal Air Force Dakota transport—made an emergency landing near the tiny village of Takachi on Sado Island. The sudden arrival of a military plane from the former enemy nation of Britain sent the villagers into a state of confusion and unease. Sado, however, had a history as a haven for exiles ranging from Emperor Juntoku and the Buddhist priest Nichiren to runin, the criminals banished to islands during the Edo period. Its people believed that helping those in need was part of the Sadonmon spirit. The entire village came to the aid of the Dakota. In actual fact, they dragged the plane out of the sea with ropes to avoid the fierce winter windstorms. They went on to spend around 40 days stacking stones to build a runway roughly 500 meters in length, allowing the Dakota’s crew to make a successful takeoff. Some islanders who helped build the runway still live nearby, and are now in their seventies and eighties.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 15:22:00 +0000
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