THE RYUKYU SHIMPO NEWS
April 29,2003
Return to the Prefecture
An American female karate
practitioner will bring back a dragon tapestry with Geranium crests that was
brought to
America
by an American Battle of Okinawa Veteran.
A female American karate practitioner
has acquired a tapestry with the image of a dragon printed upon it, which was
taken by an American soldier from Shuri after the battle of
Okinawa
. She plans to give the tapestry back to
Okinawa
to pay back for the kindness she has received, and has asked the head of the
Okinawa
Museum
to authenticate the tapestry.
The women is Marguerite “Peggy” Hess age 51, a 6th degree
Blackbelt from
Jensen Beach
,
Florida
who along with her husband, runs a dojo of the Uechi-Ryu school. In 1989 she
received it from an acquaintance that managed a Japanese martial arts goods
store. According to this acquaintance, a young marine brought the tapestry back
after the Battle of Okinawa.
The tapestry is about 2 meters long and 26 cm. Wide. It is made of gold thread
and embroidered with a dragon as well as the Tokugawa family crests called the
Geranium crest.
Hess is now visiting and training at the
Okinawa
Karate
Association
Training
Center
and she plans to return to
America
on April 30th.
“From the time I obtained the tapestry, I wanted to give it back to
Okinawa
. I want to donate it to some sort of public institution such as a museum”
says Hess. Next April, she will return to
Okinawa
and bring the tapestry..
An acquaintance Hess knows through karate, Billy “Joe” Smith, age 34, an
English Language Guidance councilor at a local middle school, showed a picture
of the tapestry to the prefecture museum curator on the 28th. They
stated, “ From the Geranium crests we can see that the tapestry came from
mainland {Hanshu} to
Okinawa
, but as for what period, etc., we need to research to know for sure. But, we do
know for certain that it is an important historical treasure”.