Last month my wife and I spent a week in Japan, and one of our ports-of-call was Kigoshima on the island of Kyushu. I took the opportunity to visit the site of the Chran airbase which was the primary land based launching point for Kamikaze attacks on the U.S. Navy during the Battle of Okinawa (1st April to 22nd June 1945). It is easy to describe what I found, but less easy to interpret or understand what I saw. I will elucidate later, but first a brief history of the Japanese Imperial Army's base at Chiran.
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| Kamikaze mural at the Chiran Peace Museum |
The Chiran Branch of Japan's Army Flight Training School opened in December 1941 around about the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor (a topic I covered in a previous post - here). It was a large scale operation covering over 500 acres, approximately 20% larger than the modern day civilian Kigoshima Airport. Nowadays the airfield has been lost to development aside from a parcel of land on the periphery of the old site which is now given over to the Chiran Peace Museum which was set up in 1987.
By late 1944, Japan had suffered huge losses in both aircraft and experienced pilots. The fall of Saipan and the advance of American forces exposed the strategically important island of Okinawa to the threat of attack and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) adopted the concept of tokko or 'special attack'. Pilots would crash their explosive laden aircraft into American warships and aircraft carriers. In the words of the custodian at Chiran the Battle of Okinawa was to become a fight between the material strength of the U.S. and the spiritual strength of Japan.
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| Training aircraft and statue of pilot, Chiran Peace Museum |
In March 1945, the Imperial Japanese Army followed the IJN's example in anticipation of an attack on Okinawa. Several dedicated Kamikaze (Divine Wind) bases were set up - three on the island of Taiwan, and one at Chiran. Chiran being closest to Okinawa, was the take-off point for 439 Kamikaze pilots over the period 26th March to 19th July 1945. All in all, 1036 Imperial Army (as opposed to IJN) Kamikaze pilots were killed in action - all highly motivated volunteers with an average age of just 21 years.
Many types of aircraft were used on Kamikaze missions out of Chiran but the main types were the Nakajima Ki-27 and the Nakajma Ki-84. The former accounted for 40% of the missions flown and carried a 550 pound (250kg) bomb under their right wing and a fuel tank of almost the same weight under the other wing. The flight time between Chiran and Okinawa was approximately two and half hours. Each plane carried enough fuel to cover the return journey of 800 miles. Why return? Well, if the pilots encountered bad weather or couldn't find an appropriate target then they were instructed to return to base and feel no shame in doing so.
Many Kamikaze aircraft were shot down before they got to Okinawa - the corps made up of Ki-27s and training models were easy pickings for interceptor aircraft from the U.S. Navy. Of the approximately 50% that got through to their targets between 10 and 15% were successful in their mission.
The Peace Museum serves as a place of memorialisation for the pilots as well as a repository for documents and archives. Much of the exhibition space is given over to last letters home and family photographs - many pertaining to the 'Young Boy Pilots' and recently graduated civilian trainees. This group of very young men accounted for approximately 60% of the 1036 Army Kamikaze pilots who were killed and their personal messages and few belongings give the museum visitors a profound reason to pause and reflect.
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| Individual memorials to Kamikaze pilots |
The so called 'Young Boy Pilots' had joined the Air Force Training Corps at the age of 14 and had trained for three or four years. According to the Chiran peace Museum guide book they were unskilled pilots who never experienced aerial combat, and they did not know that they were going to be Kamikaze pilots. However, once they knew their fate they did not hesitate to accept their duty. These pilots understood and appreciated the importance of their responsibilities and their morale was high. They believed that it would be worth dying for their country and for their parents. Clearly, the Bushido mindset was strong and the Samurai code was writ large in their lives!
Standing in one of the accommodation huts pictured above, it was obviously impossible to comprehend the feelings of young men such as those referenced above, who faced certain death, as they spent their final night together in this enclosed space. Around the airbase, the nearby villages accommodated guest houses for parents who wished to visit their sons at the base. Some pilots kept their participation secret but for others it was very much a family affair.
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| Chiran mural showing a pilot ascending in the arms of maidens |
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| Recovered Navy Zero at the Chiran Peace Museum |
It was not possible to take photos or use a mobile phone inside the museum aside from the entrance hall and an annexe where a Zero recovered off the coast of Koshikishima island in 1985 is on display, so I was unable to run a translation app to engage with most of the stories and labels that were presented. So what to make of the rows of photographs, the letters from parents and the artefacts on show? Similarly the rows and rows of individual shrines outside and the imposing statue of a Kamikaze pilot nearby? Were these young pilots being presented as victims or heroes?
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| The Yasakuni Shrine, Tokyo |
