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What Was the Life of a Kamikaze Pilot Like?
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Aug 26, 2025
The Japanese word kamikaze translates to "divine wind." It refers to the storms that saved Japan from the invading Mongol fleets under Kublai Khan, and thus it was the moniker given to the pilots of the Special Attack Force in World War II. The force, known in Japanese as Tokkotai, carried out suicide attacks on the American fleet by crashing their planes, loaded with explosives, into American ships.
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During the deadly air battles of World War II
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being one of Japan's infamous kamikaze pilots wasn't exactly a walk in the park
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Compelled and conditioned to make the ultimate sacrifice in the service of Emperor Hirohito
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young pilots embarked on deadly suicide missions throughout World War II. Today, we're looking at the short, complicated lives
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of Japan's kamikaze pilots. Japan's kamikaze forces are infamous for the damage and destruction they caused
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to American fleets during the war. But there is a very sad and human story behind their actions
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Known as the Tokutai in Japan, Kamikaze forces were led by Vice Admiral Takejiro Onishi
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who believed the only way to assure any kind of victory for the Japanese was to use their planes and bombs to organize suicide attacks against the enemy
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Thus, the idea of the Special Attack Forces was born. They took the name from the legendary Divine Wind
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that protected Japan from Kublai Khan's invading Mongol army. The idea was that the force would consist of volunteers
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but building a force of kamikaze pilots wasn't as simple as that
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Some pilots enthusiastically volunteered, but that wasn't the norm. Potential pilots received a notice containing three options
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Volunteer with a strong desire, simply volunteer or decline. The papers also contained something else, the name of the pilot
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This made it much more difficult to decline the offer. the pressure to volunteer was intense
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Sometimes, the army asked a room full of potential pilots who didn't want to volunteer
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In these situations, peer pressure and the norms of Japanese society made it much more difficult to decline
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Declining might make a soldier's life miserable for the immediate future, and in some cases, saying no didn't work anyway
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One soldier, Amiko Onukotirni, wrote about this experience in his book, Kamikaze Diaries, writing
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Kuroda Kenjiro decided not to volunteer, only to be taken by surprise when he found his name
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on the list of volunteers for the Mitate Navy Tokutai Corps. His superior had reported proudly
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that all the members of his corps had volunteered. That kind of thing happened often, and many of the
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pilots believed sacrificing themselves in battle would earn them a place at Japan's Yasukuni Shrine
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a resting place to honor Japan's dead. The Yasukuni Shrine gets mentioned often in the
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writings of kamikaze pilots, and it's presently home to 2,466,000 divinities, soldiers who perished in various Japanese wars
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Soldiers from other countries are expected to fight for their country in times of war
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but the Japanese soldiers had a different set of expectations. Before 1945, the emperor was seen
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as a living god under Japan's Shinto religion. This unquestioning loyalty to the emperor meant
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they'd fight and die for him above all else. The pilots were expected to accept and embrace
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their death as true patriots of Japan. Some of them did so with honor
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A few even kept a samurai sword and a picture of the emperor in their cockpits while in flight
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Kamikaze pilots demonstrated this sense of loyalty to Hirohito through attacks Following World War II Emperor Hirohito became a figurehead with no actual political power But for a time before that he was an influential figure
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in Japanese history. Becoming a Japanese soldier during the Second World War
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was a grim business. During the war, the Japanese military mandate was simple
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death before surrender. When faced with capture, a Japanese pilot or soldier
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was trained to end their own lives rather than become a prisoner of war. But it wasn't through
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cyanide capsules or seppuku. Japanese forces trained personnel to use a rifle to accomplish
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the deed. This wasn't unique to kamikaze pilots. When facing inevitable defeat at the hands of the
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enemy, Japanese soldiers engaged in banzai charges. And things got ugly from there. If a soldier
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decided to flee instead, his comrades were required to shoot him from behind, ensuring there would be
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no capture or surrender. During wartime, soldiers from all sides write letters to home
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In the case of a kamikaze pilot, however, the letter was an integral part of the mission
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Before his mission, the kamikaze pilot's final act was to write a letter to his parents, wife, or family
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After his mission, the family members were supposed to read the heavily censored letters
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These writings captured the final thoughts of a pilot before he made his attack
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Many letters and poems survive to this day, but only a handful have been translated into English
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One such letter was written by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, the pilot of the second plane that took out the USS Bunker Hill
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ultimately decommissioning the ship and wiping out over 300 crew members. The letter isn't quite what you'd expect from someone embarking on such a mission
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Ogawa expressed gratitude to his parents and the honor he feels for being a member of the Special Attack Corps, writing
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Beyond those boundless white clouds, I will make my attack with a calm feeling
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Not even thoughts of life and death will come to mind. A person dies once
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It will be an honorable day to live for the eternal cause. Father and mother, please be glad for me
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The ensign signed off with a wish of good health to his mother, telling both parents he'd be watching over them at the Ascuni Shrine
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ending the letter with the phrase, I will go smiling, both on the day of my sortie and forever
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To this day, it's difficult to determine if these letters represent a pilot's true feelings
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or soldiers wrote them in a way that demonstrated the pilot's courage to their families
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Other pilots wrote similar letters, but there was never a guarantee the military would pass them along to the pilot's families
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Several books of these final writings were compiled, translated, and saved for posterity
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so that future generations can learn about the lives of these doomed men from a dark time in Japanese history
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Serving in the Japanese army could be cruel at times, especially since corporal punishment was
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baked into the framework of the armed forces. Beatings and violence were common among the ranks
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Anything from a missing button to failure to snap to attention could ignite a superior officer's
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wrath. A soldier might receive a beating for standing on a newspaper photo of the emperor
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While many Japanese soldiers were drafted into military service with some level of patriotism
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in their hearts the beatings and regular punishments left indelible scars on the soldiers that would last a lifetime And if that weren bad enough corporal punishment permeated the entire armed forces
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Anyone above your rank might beat you for any reason. Their superiors would treat them the same way
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And it went all the way up the ladder to Japan's Prime Minister Hideki Tojo
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One kamikaze pilot named Irokawa Dayakiki-hi was drafted into military service, but never
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conducted a kamikaze mission. When he later became a historian, he wrote a harrowing account
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of the brutality he suffered while enlisted. One terrible incident occurred after his superiors
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accused his company of eating with local farmers to ease their hunger. He wrote
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each of us was called into the officer's room. When my turn came, as soon as I entered the room
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I was hit so hard that I could no longer see and fell to the floor. The minute I got up
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I was hit again by club so that I would confess. A friend of mine was thrown with his head first
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to the floor, lost consciousness, and was sent to a hospital. He never returned. All this savagery
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was orchestrated by the corps commander named Tsutsui. I am still looking for this fellow
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During his training, he was struck in the face until it was no longer recognizable. One day in
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1945, a fellow ensign hit him in the face repeatedly until his teeth badly cut the inside
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of his mouth. On another day, his unit was forced to sit on a frozen concrete floor and beaten with
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clubs. When the Special Attack Force first formed in 1944, no military academy-trained officers
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volunteered to join. So instead, the deadly kamikaze missions were left entirely up to the
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new recruits and junior personnel to take on the unpleasant role. Japan's kamikaze force consisted
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of approximately 4,000 kamikaze pilots. At least 3,000 of them were boy pilots that had recently
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been conscripted into the Japanese army. Around 1,000 of them were student soldiers
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whom the government decided to graduate from university early to make them eligible for the
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draft. These men were exceptionally well-educated, spending most of their time at university reading
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and writing. As a result, most accounts of the reality of serving in the Special Attack Force
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come from these student soldiers. They probably didn't think about the enemy much at all
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especially since most of them never saw actual combat. According to writer Yuki Tanaka of the
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Hiroshima Peace Institute, their diaries and letters don't often discuss their enemies
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Instead, they offer a profoundly philosophical approach to describing their lives and experiences
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There's no hatred of the enemy within their pages. Instead, they capture their struggle to
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understand their imminent deaths and come to term with their fate. And in the end, they often
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pondered how to spend their remaining time in a meaningful way and to justify the suicidal act
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they were required to make on behalf of their country. It may seem strange, but taking off on a kamikaze mission wasn't always a death sentence
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Mechanical failure or engine problems required pilots to divert their flight and return to base
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A lot of Japanese aircraft were old, outdated, and beginning to fail
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As the war raged on, more pilots had to divert their missions due to these problems
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Kamikaze pilot Takehiko Ena survived a few planned missions as a direct result of this policy He was supposed to be part of a crew of three flying a bomber during Operation Kikasui But luck was on Ena side
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On his first mission, he couldn't get his plane off the ground. His second mission didn't fare much better
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Engine trouble forced an emergency landing. On the third time out, engine trouble
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forced a crash landing into the sea. Ena, his co-pilot, and the communications officer
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swam to nearby Kuroshima Island, where they stayed for nearly three months until a Japanese submarine picked them up
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Eina was relieved he survived and felt optimistic about his future. After the war, the new U.S.-written Constitution's Article 9 restricted Japan's military to a
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defensive role. Seventy years later, he reflected on his experience, telling The Guardian
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For 70 years, we have been protected by a peace-oriented constitution. I'm very grateful that we haven't gone to war in that time
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The Japanese people should be happy about that. His sentiment isn't unique among surviving kamikaze pilots
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but it's strange to think that more kamikaze missions might have been successful if it weren't for their poorly maintained planes
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While many young Japanese men were drafted into serving, firstborn sons weren't allowed to become kamikaze pilots
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In 1944, firstborn sons got the opportunity to stay alive, to carry on the family name
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Everyone else was expected to sacrifice themselves to the service of the emperor. Second sons bore the brunt of kamikaze service. Okinawa native Paul
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Sineaki Nakamura volunteered for the Special Attack Force, training on a glider due to plane
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shortages. Nakamura was never called upon to conduct a mission of his own, and he survived
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the war. But he was far too poor to return to his home in Okinawa right away. When he finally made
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it back, he discovered all the first sons who'd remained behind during the war met their demise
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the Battle of Okinawa. After his horrifying discovery, Nakamura became an Anglican priest
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and spread Christianity throughout the land. There was one ritual all Kamikaze pilots practiced
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before their mission, a final ceremonial drink. Pilots drank a cup of sake or water before boarding
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their planes. In some ways, this is similar to the tradition of giving a man a blindfold and a
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cigarette before sending him to face the firing squad. A surviving pilot named Keichi Kuahara
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remembered the ceremonial drink and the mission he was supposed to fly afterward. As he flew out to
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sea, he looked back at his homeland with tears in his eyes. On his way to Okinawa to destroy an
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American warship, his plane experienced engine trouble and forced a crash landing. He later said
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I struggled to convince myself I had to die. I thought my death would be pointless. Even if Japan
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When won the war, my family would die in the gutter because I would not be there to support them
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It tormented me. I felt like I was losing my mind. We were told that rather than accept defeat, we should offer our lives
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There was no choice. We had to follow orders when push came to shove, but we didn't wish for death
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His second mission was also avoided due to engine failure. Kuahara's gratitude for being alive far outweighed any dishonor or fear of poor treatment from other pilots
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His guilt, however, stayed with him for a long time, and he continued to lay flowers every year for the Kamikaze pilots who died during active service