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KAMIKAZE

Kamikaze (神風, ; divine wind or spirit wind), officially Kamikaze/Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (神風特別攻撃隊, Divine Wind Special Attack Unit), were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to destroy warships more effectively than with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by kamikaze attacks.

The Japanese word kamikaze is usually translated as divine wind (kami is the word for god, spirit, or divinity, and kaze for wind). The word originated from Makurakotoba of waka poetry modifying Ise and has been used since August 1281 to refer to the major typhoons that dispersed Mongol-Koryo fleets who invaded Japan under Kublai Khan in 1274.

The Mongol fleet destroyed in a typhoon, ink and water on paper, by Kikuchi Yōsai, 1847:


Kamikaze aircraft were essentially pilot-guided explosive missiles, purpose-built or converted from conventional aircraft. Pilots would attempt to crash their aircraft into enemy ships in what was called a body attack (tai-atari) in planes loaded with bombs, torpedoes or other explosives. About 19% of kamikaze attacks were successful.

Captain Motoharu Okamura, in charge of the Tateyama Base in Tokyo, as well as the 341st Air Group Home, was, according to some sources, the first officer to officially propose kamikaze attack tactics. With his superiors, he arranged the first investigations into the plausibility and mechanisms of intentional suicide attacks on 15 June 1944.

Rear Admiral Masafumi Arima, the commander of the 26th Air Flotilla, is sometimes credited with inventing the kamikaze tactic. Arima personally led an attack by about 100 Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (Judy) dive bombers against a large Essex-class aircraft carrier, USS Franklin, near Leyte Gulf, on or about 15 October 1944. Arima was killed and part of a plane hit Franklin. 

The Japanese high command and propagandists seized on Arimas example. He was promoted posthumously to Vice Admiral and was given official credit for making the first kamikaze attack. 

The names of the first four sub-units within the Kamikaze Special Attack Force were Unit Shikishima, Unit Yamato, Unit Asahi and Unit Yamazakura.
These names were taken from a patriotic death poem, Shikishima no Yamato-gokoro wo hito towaba, asahi ni niou yamazakura bana by the Japanese l scholar, Motoori Norinaga.
The poem reads:
If someone asks about the Yamato spirit (Spirit of Old/True Japan) of Shikishima (a poetic name for Japan)—it is the flowers of yamazakura (mountain cherry blossom) that are fragrant in the Asahi (rising sun).

The tradition of death instead of defeat, capture and shame was deeply entrenched in Japanese military culture; one of the primary values in the samurai life and the Bushido code was loyalty and honor until death. In addition to kamikazes, the Japanese military also used or made plans for non-aerial Japanese Special Attack Units, including those involving submarines, human torpedoes, speedboats and divers.

It was claimed by the Japanese forces at the time that there were many volunteers for the suicidal forces.

When the volunteers arrived for duty in the corps, there were twice as many persons as aircraft available. After the war, some commanders would express regret for allowing superfluous crews to accompany sorties, sometimes squeezing themselves aboard bombers and fighters so as to encourage the suicide pilots and, it seems, join in the exultation of sinking a large enemy vessel. Many of the kamikaze pilots believed their death would pay the debt they owed and show the love they had for their families, friends and emperor. 

Tokkōtai pilot training,  generally consisted of incredibly strenuous training, coupled with cruel and torturous corporal punishment as a daily routine.
Pilots were given a manual that detailed how they were supposed to think, prepare and attack. From this manual, pilots were told to attain a high level of spiritual training, and to keep health in the very best condition. These instructions, among others, were meant to make pilots mentally ready to die.
The tokkōtai pilots manual told pilots to never close their eyes, as this would lower the chances of hitting their targets. In the final moments before the crash, the pilot was to yell hissatsu (必殺) at the top of his lungs, which translates to certain kill or sink without fail.

The peak period of kamikaze attack frequency came during April–June 1945 at the Battle of Okinawa.
2,000 Japanese servicemen who perished in kamikaze attacks during the three month long battle for the island of Okinawa, located just 400 miles south of mainland Japan, that raged from April 1 to June 22, 1945. They were at the centre of a desperate and ill-thought out strategy by the Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo—known as Operation Ten-Go—to defeat the next phase of the American advance in the Pacific. “I firmly believed,” wrote the navy’s chief of operations, “that Okinawa alone was the decisive battleground where we would be able to reverse the war situation.” The plan was to sink so many American ships that the US Fifth Fleet would withdraw, abandoning its troops on Okinawa who could then be mopped up by the large Japanese garrison. It failed, though various forms of kamikaze attack—including planes, manned rockets and human torpedoes—did sink 36 American ships and damage a further 368, inflicting 10,000 casualties (half of them killed.)

To the Allies, steeped in the Judaeo-Christian tradition of the sanctity of life, the apparent willingness of Japanese servicemen like Araki to carry out suicide attacks was profoundly shocking. But then, as scholars of the kamikaze point out, the word suicide in Japanese does not always have the same “immoral connotation” that it has in English. Two versions—jiketsu (self-determination) and jisai (self-judgement)—“suggest an honorable or laudable act done in the public interest.” There is, moreover, no ethical or religious taboo regarding suicide in Japan’s traditional religion of Shintoism. Instead, the Japanese samurai warrior code of bushido—heavily influenced by Shintoism, as well as Buddhism and even Confucianism—revered self-sacrifice and fighting to the bitter end for emperor and country.

To surrender, on the other hand, was seen as dishonourable, hence the contempt the Japanese felt for prisoners of war. Japanese soldiers believed that when they fell on the field of battle they would become kami, or gods, and join the nation’s spirits at the Shinto shrine of Yasukuni in Tokyo. Hence the typical farewell from members of the Shimpū (Divine Wind) Special Attack Corps: “I’ll meet you at the Yasukuni Shrine!”

The exact number of ships sunk is a matter of debate. According to a wartime Japanese propaganda announcement, the missions sank 81 ships and damaged 195, and according to a Japanese tally, kamikaze attacks accounted for up to 80% of the U.S. losses in the final phase of the war in the Pacific.

According to a U.S. Air Force webpage:
Approximately 2,800 Kamikaze attackers sank 34 Navy ships, damaged 368 others, killed 4,900 sailors, and wounded over 4,800. Despite radar detection and cuing, airborne interception, attrition, and massive anti-aircraft barrages, 14 percent of Kamikazes survived to score a hit on a ship; nearly 8.5 percent of all ships hit by Kamikazes sank.

In 1890, the Imperial Re on Education was passed, under which students were required to ritually recite its oath to offer themselves courageously to the state as well as protect the Imperial family. The ultimate offering was to give up ones life. It was an honour to die for Japan and the Emperor. 
The fact is that innumerable soldiers, sailors and pilots were determined to die, to become eirei, that is guardian spirits of the country. ... Many Japanese felt that to be enshrined at Yasukuni was a special honour because the Emperor visited the shrine to pay homage twice a year. Yasukuni is the only shrine deifying common men which the Emperor would visit to pay his respects.
While many stories were falsified, some were true, such as that of Kiyu Ishikawa, who saved a Japanese ship when he crashed his plane into a torpedo that an American submarine had launched. The sergeant major was posthumously promoted to second lieutenant by the emperor and was enshrined at Yasukuni.

Stories like these, which showed the kind of praise and honour death produced, encouraged young Japanese to volunteer for the Special Attack Corps and instilled a desire in the youth to die as a kamikaze.
Ceremonies were carried out before kamikaze pilots departed on their final mission. The kamikaze shared ceremonial cups of sake or water known as mizu no sakazuki. Many Army officer kamikaze took their swords along, while the Navy pilots (as a general rule) did not.