Tenzan Corps Monument
Setagaya City, Tokyo Prefecture
The Tenzan (nicknamed "Jill" by Allies) was a single-engined three-seat
carrier attack bomber used by the
Japanese Navy in kamikaze attacks during the Battle of Okinawa. Men from the
251st, 254th, and 256th Flight Corps joined forces to form the Tenzan Corps
Kikusui Unit, and 9 planes (27 men) sortied to attack the American fleet on
April 6, 1945 [1].
The monument's plaque lists the names of the 27 men who died and has the
following inscription:
On April 6, 1945, near the end of the Greater East Asian War, the Tenzan Corps
(Kikusui Unit, Kamikaze Special Attack Forces) sortied from Kushira Air Base in
Kagoshima Prefecture and carried out body-crashing attacks against the invading
enemy task force situated off Okinawa. All corps members died an heroic death as
they quickly sunk or greatly damaged 5 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers,
and 3 other ships.
The results of 10 ships sunk or damaged with 9 planes may be exaggerated.
The Japanese sent 303 planes on suicide missions on April 6-7, but these attacks
sunk or damaged only 34 ships (Warner 1982, 196). It is improbable that the
Tenzan Corps achieved such a high success rate when only about 11% of the planes
who participated in the operation sunk or damaged American ships.
This monument, built in 1961, stands in a corner of the grounds of Setagaya
Kannon Temple, the location of two Tokko (Special Attack Forces) Peace Kannon
[2] statues. An annual memorial service is held at
the Tenzan Corps Monument on the nearest Sunday to April 6.
Notes
1. Tokkotai Senbotsusha (1990, 165) indicates three
other men in a tenth Tenzan plane sortied from Kushira Air Base on April 6,
1945. This plane was part of the No. 3 Mitate Unit of the Tenzan Corps.
2. A Kannon is the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy.
Sources Cited
Tokkotai Senbotsusha Irei
Heiwa Kinen Kyoukai (Tokkotai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association). 1990.
Tokubetsu Kougekitai (Special Attack Corps). Tokyo: Tokkotai Senbotsusha Irei Heiwa Kinen Kyoukai.
Warner, Denis, Peggy
Warner, with Commander Sadao Seno. 1982. The Sacred Warriors: Japan's Suicide
Legions. New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold.
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