tonaki was born in late october 1884 in sashiki (today nanjō), okinawa, as the second child and only boy of seven siblings, of whom one sister, who was eight years younger, was still living at the time of his death. in mid-1st decade of the 20th century, tonaki fled to hawaii to avoid the russo-japanese war and worked at a sugar refinery for about ten years before returning to okinawa, working as a farmer until age 89. he married a woman named kame (who was eight years younger and died at age 61 during the battle of okinawa) and had six children (of whom one died young of liver disease and four, all except his second son, died during the battle of okinawa).