War of Famine in Miyako Island

Transformation of Civil-Military Relationship over Horse Meat Consumption

Abstract

During the Battle of Okinawa, Miyako Island experienc ed no ground fighting but was exposed to continuous heavy aerial bombing. After the food supply from outside was cut off, people there were faced with serious food shortage without any practical measures to produce food. There are witnesses that both the civilians and militaries ate horse meat under this circumstance, even though Miyako was traditionally an area of horse breeding and the islanders treated horses with great care. “Eating horse meat” caused changes in restrictions and cultural norms with regard to horses both among the military and local community, triggering various frictions and confusions accordingly. What were these hanges brought about to the civil-military relationship, and the relationship among the islanders, as a result of the horse meat consumption? What was the dominant power there? This article presents an overview of the situation of food supply and horses in Miyako Island during the Battle of Okinawa, and based on it, sheds light on the situation where several politics intersected with the intention to consume horses as food, transforming the relationship among people in the process.