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As mentioned earlier, it may serve the reader to know that the entire populated areas of greater Naha, including Shuri and Tomari, were completely annihilated by the horrifying air and naval pounding they took during the assault on Okinawa in WW II. Anything not destroyed by direct strikes, was incinerated by the perpetual fires which ensued. Countless thousands of lives were lost in the holocaust, national treasures were destroyed, ancient landmarks obliterated, important cultural property vaporized, and records of every sort simply vanished.

The rusty old statue of Kannon was a symbol of Matsumura’s spiritual conviction and had been handed down in his family for five generations. There was an interesting story about Matsumura and this icon which has outlasted them both. On his return voyage to Ryukyu from Fuzhou, the ship, as was often the case sailing the waters of the East China Sea, encountered a fierce typhoon. The storm became so relentless that both passengers and crew got really scared. After a day and a night the unending tempest forced some to even cry out in fear for their lives. Only one man throughout the entire ordeal remained perfectly calm: Matsumura Sokon. While the frightened onlookers placed their fate in the hands of heaven, Matsumura trusted the goddess of mercy, and quietly chanted a sutra while holding his statue of Kannon.