[3] Growing up, Kadekaru quit school at times in order to help his family with the farming; he held a number of part-time jobs, and performed, singing and playing sanshin alongside classmates and others in the neighborhood in local festivals.
[3] At the age of 16, Kadekaru left home, using money he gained by selling one of the family cows to pay his fare on a ship to Osaka.
There, he lived and worked in a lumbermill, delivering firewood to local businesses, and occasionally meeting with other Okinawans with whom he sang and played sanshin.
[3] In 1944, while training on the Micronesian island of Kosrae, Kadekaru was gravely wounded, taken prisoner, and brought to a field hospital, where he remained for some time.
Along with Shōei Kina, Shōtoku Yamauchi, and Shuei Kohama,[3] Kadekaru led the birth of a golden age of Okinawan folk music.
[4] He was featured on public radio from its beginnings in Okinawa in the 1950s, and performed in a variety of venues throughout the prefecture, including local festivals and theatrical productions.
The end of the American occupation of Okinawa in 1972 brought a surge in the popularity of Okinawan music throughout Japan,[3] and marked a highlight in Kadekaru's career.