Ningen gyorai kaiten: Chinkon su
tokkō jidai (Kaiten human torpedo: Time of singing requiems for special
attacks)
by Yutaka Usami
Zenponsha, 2003, 174 pages
The title suggests an overview of the kaiten human torpedo used in WWII
suicide attacks. However, the book includes several other topics such as midget
submarines, the Naval Engineering College, and other types of tokkō
(special attack) weapons used for suicide missions. Yutaka Usami, a graduate of
the Naval Academy and the Naval Engineering College, originally compiled this
book (called a booklet by the author) for the 2002 annual memorial ceremony at
the Nankōsha Jinja kaiten monument
in Gero City. This monument honors one of the kaiten co-inventors, Hiroshi
Kuroki, whose hometown was Gero. Other Japanese books about kaiten give a much
better historical overview than this book, but it does have a few sections with
information not found in other books such as the monument in Madagascar to honor
the four men in two-man midget submarines who died during an attack on Diego
Suarez.
The four-page table of contents gives descriptions of this book's numerous
small sections and ten appendices, but these do not have any clear organization.
More than half of the sections come from other books with details provided about
sources. Usami's selections from others' writings reflect his right-wing views
toward WWII history such as a section about the benefits of Japan's occupation
of China. Some sections have little relationship to the book's title. For
example, without any explanation for its inclusion in the book, the last
appendix takes up 12 pages to list the names of all non-Japanese individuals and
groups by country who visited the inner shrine of Yasukuni Jinja between 1946
and 2003.
About half of this book relates directly to kaiten. Two sections totaling 13
pages cover Hiroshi Kuroki's life, including his idea for the kaiten weapon and
his entreaties written in blood to naval authorities to try to gain their
acceptance for the kaiten's development. One section includes two final letters
and a diary extract of kaiten crewmen who either died in battle or during
training. Appendices provide a list of kaiten crewmen who died, a summary table
of kaiten missions, operational capabilities of different kaiten models, and
information on annual memorial ceremonies including those held at former kaiten
bases at Ōtsushima, Hirao, Hikari, and Ōga.
Although not directly related to kaiten, the book has 20 pages about the
monument at Diego Suarez (now named Antsiranana) for the four midget submarine crewmen who died
there and the 2001 and 2002 activities at Ikeda High School in Tokushima
Prefecture to remember one crewman, Katsusuke Iwase, who graduated from the
school. The monument at Diego Suarez was unveiled on May 31, 1997, the 55th
anniversary of the four men's deaths. Government and military officials of
Madagascar and Diego Suarez and representatives from Japan attended the first
memorial service for the four men.
Although this book contains some obscure information not found elsewhere,
other books on kaiten present a much more organized and comprehensive history.
Memorial ceremony held on May 31, 1997,
at unveiling of monument at Diego Suarez
to honor four men who died there in midget submarine attack
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