Umi Yukaba
American forces encountered a terrifying new Japanese tactic at the Battle of Leyte: the suicide air attack. The strategy was called kamikaze -- Japanese for "divine wind" -- in reference to typhoons that were said to have repelled Kublai Khan in the 13th century.
Military pilots volunteered for the elite force to honor the Emperor and protect the Japanese homeland. "Being pilots, we knew that we were going to die in battle sooner or later," explained Masayuki Shimada, a pilot who was unable to complete his kamikaze mission. "Since we were destined to die, we wanted to die a glorious death on a special attack mission."
Kamikaze pilots prepared for their one-way missions with formal rituals. They painted the Japanese flag on headbands with blood pricked from their fingers, wrote farewell poems and shared a toast with their superior officers. Before takeoff, the pilots sang a traditional song, Umi Yukaba.
Umi yukaba
Mizutsuku kabane
Yama yukaba
Kusa musu kabane
Ogimi no he mi koso shiname
Nodo niwa shinaji,
Translation:
If I go away to sea.
I shall return a corpse awash;
If duty calls me to the mountain,
A verdant sward will be my pall;
Thus for the sake of the Emperor
I will not die peacefully at home.
Translation source: Inoguchi, Rikihei and Nakajima, Tadashi with Pineau, Roger, The Divine Wind: Japan's Kamikaze Force in World War II. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1978, p. 61.
"Umi Yukaba" recording courtesy of Showkan
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