Sakai Air Raid Site

The Sakai Air Raid (堺大空襲) of July 10, 1945, was one of the most devastating firebombing attacks on a Japanese city during World War II. Sakai, a historic port city in Osaka Prefecture with roots stretching back to the medieval period as Japan's most prosperous self-governing trade port, was targeted as part of the U.S. Army Air Forces' strategic campaign against medium and small cities.

In the early morning hours of July 10, 1945, 116 B-29 Superfortress bombers of the 73rd Bombardment Wing, operating from Isley Field on Saipan, arrived over Sakai. Between approximately 1:33 AM and 3:06 AM, over a period of roughly ninety minutes, the aircraft dropped approximately 13,000 incendiary bombs totaling 778.9 tons on the densely built city center. The resulting firestorm consumed the old merchant quarter and surrounding residential neighborhoods with devastating efficiency.

The human toll was staggering: according to Sakai City's figures, also used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 1,860 people were killed, more than 18,000 houses were burned and some 70,000 residents were left homeless, with about 62% of the old city area reduced to ashes. Another tally gives 1,370 dead, 1,472 injured and 14,797 houses totally or partially burned. The destruction of this historic city — once known as the "Venice of the East" for its merchant wealth, tea culture, and international trade — represented an irreplaceable cultural loss.

Many victims perished along the Doigawa (土居川) and Takeyamachi (竹屋町) canal areas where residents had fled seeking refuge from the flames. The former Ryujin Station (龍神駅) area and Doigawa riverbanks saw particularly high concentrations of casualties. Multiple memorial stones now mark these sites, including the "Sakai War Disaster Martyrs Monument" (堺市戦災殉難之地碑) erected in 1985 at Ebisujima-cho near Nankai Sakai Station, and the "Monument to Remember the Sakai Air Raid and Pray for Peace" (堺大空襲を偲び平和を祈念する碑) along the Doigawa riverbank at Kaichō-nishi.

The most prominent memorial is the Sakai City Peace Tower (堺市平和塔), a 60.5-meter triangular column erected in 1971 in Daisen Park (大仙公園). The tower contains a circular chapel of seven meters in diameter dedicated to all war victims from Sakai. An annual memorial ceremony is held each July 10 at the Doigawa riverside monument, where citizens gather to offer prayers and float lanterns.

The Sakai Peace and Human Rights Museum (堺市立平和と人権資料館, also known as the Phoenix Museum) preserves oral testimonies, photographs, and dioramas documenting the air raid. The city's "Peace Messenger" program trains citizens to share survivors' testimonies with future generations, ensuring the memory of the Sakai Air Raid endures.