Birth Stones

　　Our next destination was also located in a deserted wasteland and I thought that it might be rejected by the driver, but he took us there. If you don't have the background knowledge, "Birth Stones" are a simple abandoned place, but this site was the first place to be formally acknowledged as the precious ruin of Oahu island in 1925. An ancient Hawaiian chief and his wife in the area set several stones around and built their house for delivery and gave birth to a baby boy, who grew up to become a great chief. After that, women in the royal family came to deliver their babies there. This place, I felt, had a sort of mythic allure.
　　FYI, I found a signboard which reads "Wheeler Air Force Base" just before the arrival at Birth Stones. I remembered that I knew the base from the documentary film of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I thought of fighters and bombers having passed over us 77 years ago from the north to Pearl Harbor.
　　I learned from the driver where there were homes which were rough or poor in public security on Oahu island. At one of which, Nanakuli, a celebrity of K, whom most Japanese knew, had his luxurious house.
　　One evening, he took a guest to K's house from Honolulu airport. On arrival at K's house, he was asked to come back to his house a few hours later in order to take K's guests to their hotels, but he rejected K's request, because the area was really dangerous at night. After the exchange of mutual opinions, he proposed that he would wait for K's guests until the end of the party, if K allowed him to stay and wait "inside his house" to avoid burglars. K said "OK" to him, and while he was waiting, K often kindly came to him with food. Our driver was so grateful for K's thoughtfulness. I asked the driver why K had his house built in such an unsafe place. The answer was really simple and like this: It was his birth place. The majority of the population had Polynesian roots. There seemed to be various conditions also on Oahu island which looked happy to tourists like me.

次に立ち寄ったところもへんぴな場所にあり、ドライバーから拒否されるかと思ったが連れて行ってくれた。予備知識がなければ、ただ石が転がっているだけの場所だが、１９２５年オアフ島で最初に公式の史跡として認められ保存されてきた場所。この地区の酋長とその妻が岩石群を置き、産屋を建て、息子を産んだ場所と言われている。その息子が後に大酋長になったことから、それ以降、王族の女性たちがここで子供を産むようになったそうだ。この場所に、僕は、ある種の伝説的な魅力があるように感じた。
　
到着直前にウィーラー空軍基地の看板を見つけ、パールハーバー攻撃の記録映画でこの基地を見たことを思いだした。我らが日本海軍航空隊はこの上空を通過して真珠湾に向かったのだと７７年前に思いを馳せた。
　
ここまでの移動の途中、ドライバーからオアフ島の立ち寄っては行けない場所についてもいろいろと教えてもらった。その一つ、ナナクリ地区に自宅を持つ、日本人なら誰もが知る有名人Ｋについての話が面白かったので紹介する。夕刻、ホノルル空港から彼の自宅までパーティーに出席する客を送ったところ、数時間後に迎えに来るよう頼まれた。が、断ったとのこと。夜遅く、ナナクリへ行くのは怖いと。それほど犯罪が多い地区だと言うことだ。結局、彼は客が帰るまでＫの『邸内で』待つことになったという。待つこと数時間、Ｋが時折やって来て気を遣ってくれたという。彼はそんなＫのことを『良い奴だ』と言っていた。尋ねてみた。なぜそんな場所に豪邸を建てたのか？そんな地区だが、そこが彼の出身地だからと言う答えだった。ポリネシア系の人たちが多く住む地区、観光客には優しいオアフ島にもいろいろな事情がありそうだ。