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Two men examine names of 908 kamikaze corps
members based at Kanoya who lost their lives. Isao Uchiyama (at right) is
former member of the kamikaze corps.
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Monuments
Japan has many monuments dedicated to special attack force members who
died in suicide attacks during World War II. The locations of many former
Navy and Army air bases have monuments with names inscribed of men who died
after taking off from these bases. Kyushu, the southernmost main island of
Japan, has the most monuments since this was the location of many of the
kamikaze sortie bases. However, many other places in Japan also have special
attack force monuments, especially near former air bases.
This section of the web site provides information on a few of the
monuments erected in memory of special attack force members. A Japanese web
site, Junkoku no ishibumi (War Memorials),
has much more extensive information and many photos on special attack force
monuments. Also, the 1990 book
Tokubetsu Kougekitai (Special Attack Corps) by the Tokkotai Senbotsusha Irei
Heiwa Kinen Kyoukai (Tokkotai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association) has a
large section with photos about special attack force monuments throughout
Japan.
Although individual monuments have unique features, most can be put into
four different categories. Examples are listed below for each category.
- Stone tablet: Miyazaki, Oita,
Kashima, Usa
- Tower: Kushira, Kanoya
- Human image: kamikaze pilots at Chiran,
Kokubu Air Base No. 2, and Yasukuni
Jinja Yushukan
- Buddhist Kannon (Goddess of Mercy): Chiran,
Ehime
Many monuments are located nearby museums that have exhibits about special
attack forces. In this web site section, additional historical information has
been provided about two large former kamikaze sortie bases, Kushira
and Miyazaki, that have monuments but no
museums at the locations. Some locations, such as Chiran and Kanoya, have
several monuments in the same area, so this section only includes the most
famous ones. Also, some museums have monuments located inside their buildings,
so information on these has been included in the Museums
section. Annual memorial services are held at several of the monuments in this
web site section. Since no remains exist of airmen who made kamikaze attacks,
bereaved families had no opportunity to erect a typical memorial that would
contain the ashes of the dead. Therefore, many family members and war comrades
attend these memorial services as a tangible way to remember publicly the men
who died. Most monuments probably have very few visitors at other times of the
year, except where the monuments are located next to museums such as the Chiran
Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots.
The following monuments have individual web pages:
The Lists web page categorizes the monuments in
this section in various ways, such as location by prefecture, year erected, and
best monuments.
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