Kamikaze
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	Kokubu No. 2 Air Base Exhibit in Community Center

Kokubu No. 2 Air Base Special Attack Corps Monument (Uwatoko Park)
Kirishima City, Kagoshima Prefecture

In 1942, the Japanese Navy built an air base in Kokubu Town, located in Kagoshima Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of mainland Japan [1]. In 1943, construction started on a second airfield on a plateau in Hayato Town, next to Kokubu. This second airfield, which came to be known as Kokubu No. 2 Air Base, was pressed into service for special (suicide) attacks by the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps in 1945 even though the base had not yet been completed. From March 18 to June 3, 171 planes took off from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base to make suicide attacks on American ships near Okinawa, and 217 pilots died in these attacks [2]. Mizobe Town (part of Kirishima City since 2005) erected a monument and maintains an exhibition room in its community center in remembrance of the pilots who gave their lives.

On April 6, 1979, Mizobe Town unveiled the Special Attack Corps Monument in Uwatoko Park at the top of hill overlooking the former Kokubu No. 2 Air Base. The current Kagoshima Airport can be seen from the monument. This monument includes a bronze statue of a pilot and a plaque with the names of the young men who died in special attacks after taking off from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base. A plaque to the right of the statue has the following poem:

Repose of Souls

Riders of the white clouds
Come back to us
Cherry blossom breeze
Scent of chrysanthemums
Giving your blessing 
Your hometown now filled
With peace

The Special Attack Corps exhibition room in the community center displays photos of about 50 pilots who made sorties from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base. Each photo has the pilot's name, rank, home prefecture, naval training class, home base and unit, and date of death. Two display cases contain copies of several last letters written by the pilots, and the room also has several photos of the base and the units stationed there. A plaque near the entrance gives a summary of the history of the base.

The community center sells a 254-page book (Iwamoto and Mukaida, eds.) that gives a detailed history of the base, the last letters of several kamikaze pilots, and reflections on the Kamikaze Corps operations by several local residents. Entrance to the Special Attack Corps exhibition room is free, and the community center is about a ten-minute drive from Kagoshima Airport. No information is available in English, and Kirishima City does not have anything about this exhibition on the Internet.

The following last letters, diary entries, and other writings were written by Kamikaze Special Attack Corps members who took off from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base and died in special attacks:

• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Kaneyuki Fukuda to His Mother
• Last Letter of Ensign Toshio Furuichi to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Kiichi Hasegawa to His Parents
• Last Letter from Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Nobutaka Inoue to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Eiji Itō to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Norio Itō to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Cadet Shigeru Kano to His Family
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Seitarō Kashiwamura to His Parents
• Last Letter from Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Seiichi Kōsaku to His Parents
• Last Letter with Blank Space (Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Seiichi Maebashi)
• Last Letter of Ensign Shigeru Masaki to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Masayoshi Miyata to His Family
• Last Letters of Ensign Cadet Sakae Miyauchi to His Parents and Younger Sisters
• Last Letter of Lieutenant Junior Grade Hiroshi Nagao to His Parents
• I Do Not Yet Want to Die! (Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Yoshiaki Ono)
• Last Diary Entries of Ensign Cadet Akio Ōtsuka
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Hajime Sayama to His Parents
• Final Diary Entry of Ensign Sumio Shima
• Last Letters of Ensign Masaaki Shirosaki to His Family
• Last Letter of Ensign Masaaki Tokitō to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Masanori Ueno to His Parents
• Last Writings of Ensign Hisao Yamashita

Date of visit: June 15, 2004

Kokubu No. 2 Air Base Special Attack Corps Monument (Barrel Valley)

Notes

1. The historical information in the first paragraph comes from Iwamoto and Mukaida (1992, 3-5, 26-33, 162).

2. Iwamoto and Mukaida (1992, 8, 26-27) state that the records for the earliest three sortie dates do not clearly indicate whether planes made sorties from Kokubu No. 1 Air Base or No. 2 Air Base. Therefore, the figures for Kokubu No. 2 Air Base for March 18, 19, and 20 include both air bases.

Source Cited

Iwamoto, Kiyoshi, and Tsutomu Mukaida, eds. 1992. Chinkon -- shirakumo ni norete kimi kaerimase: Tokkō kichi daini kokubu no ki (Repose of souls -- riding on the white clouds, come back to us: Record of Special Attack Corps Kokubu No. 2 Air Base). Mizobe Town, Kagoshima Prefecture: Jūsanzukabaru tokkōhi hozon iinkai (Committee to Preserve the Jūsanzukabaru Special Attack Corps Monument).