Etajima Museum of Naval History
The Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, founded in Tokyo in
1876, moved in 1888 to the island of Etajima in the Inland Sea near the coast
of Hiroshima City. The Allied Forces closed the school in 1945, but the base at
Etajima was reopened in 1956. Etajima now serves as the location for the First
Service School and Officer Candidate School of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense
Force. The Museum of Naval History opened in 1936 from donations of Naval
Academy graduates who wanted to preserve the history of the Imperial Japanese
Navy. The museum has two large rooms with exhibits related to the Navy's
special attack forces of planes, midget submarines, and manned torpedoes.
The museum covers Japan's naval history chronologically from
the late 19th century to the end of the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1945. The
exhibits focus on Japan's naval accomplishments and victories, such as Admiral
Togo's defeat of the Russian fleet in 1905 in the Russo-Japanese War. Other
than the role of the special attack forces in World War II, no mention is made
of the Navy's disastrous defeat at Midway in 1942 and the series of naval
losses suffered by Japan up to the sinking of the battleship Yamato in
April 1945.
The first room dedicated to the Navy's special attack forces
has a long bronze tablet on one wall, and the placard in front says that
inscribed on the tablet are "2,633 names of members of the kamikaze
special attack corps and the kaiten 'human torpedo' force who died a heroic
death." The Imperial Japanese Navy considered the young men who piloted
planes, submarines, and torpedoes in suicide attacks to be part of the same
general group of special attack forces. The tablet includes the names of 80
pilots of kaiten (manned torpedoes) and 28 pilots of midget submarines,
including the men who piloted the five midget submarines that participated in
the attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition to the bronze tablet, the first room
has several exhibits of last letters, photos, and newspaper articles about the
pilots of the kaiten torpedoes and midget submarines.
The second room on the Navy's special attack forces presents
the leaders of the kamikaze operations and about 150 last letters and wills
written by kamikaze pilots. The room has large photos of the following three
naval officers who played significant roles in the kamikaze attacks:
- Vice
Admiral Ohnishi - organized first official kamikaze corps in October 1944
in Philippines
- Vice
Admiral Arima - prior to formation of first official kamikaze corps,
personally led group of planes against U.S. carrier task force and made
suicide attack on ship on October 15, 1944
- Vice
Admiral Ugaki - commanded Naval Air Fleet in 1945 in attacks on enemy
ships around Okinawa, and personally led group of planes in final kamikaze
attack of war
The museum does not attempt to tell the overall history of
the kamikaze special attack corps, and the descriptions of the kamikaze leaders
indicate that the museum's purpose is not to critically evaluate their actions
but rather to honor them, as illustrated by the following description of Vice
Admiral Ohnishi:
As Commander in Chief, Naval Air Fleet, Admiral Ohnishi was
greatly loved and respected by his men of the kamikaze special attack corps. He
desperately, but unsuccessfully, put forth his utmost effort in an attempt to
turn the tide of war. When he received the Imperial edict to terminate the war,
he left a farewell statement and fulfilled his responsibility to his men by
nobly committing harakiri (ritual suicide).
The museum does not try to cover the entire record of the
kamikaze operations, since the exhibits make no reference to the over one
thousand Japanese Imperial Army pilots who died in kamikaze plane attacks. The
Imperial Japanese Navy and Army had separate traditions and often quarreled
with each other during the war, so it is not surprising that the Museum of
Naval History does not mention the Army's contributions to the kamikaze
operations.
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