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Himeji Naval Air Group Monument
Kasai City, Hyōgo Prefecture

The Himeji Naval Air Group was formed in October 1943 and used Uzurano Airfield as its base. The Air Group mainly had responsibility for flight training on the Type 97 Carrier Attack Bomber (Allied code name of Kate), which had a three-man crew. The airfield also was used to test Shiden and Shiden-kai fighters produced by the Kawanishi Aircraft factory next to the airfield. The runway, no longer in use, remains in much the same condition as during the war.

This monument erected in 1999 has two stone tablets. The stone tablet related to the Kamikaze Corps stands on the left. The taller center part of this tablet has the following inscription:

Himeji Naval Air Group
Site of Uzurano Airfield

The right side of the tablet has the following poem:

Meeting their end in the beautiful skies
The clouds of Uzurano at sunset
May they drift on forever

The left side of the tablet gives the history of the kamikaze squadrons from Himeji Air Group:

The Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Hakuro [1] (White Egret) Squadrons were formed from Himeji Naval Air Group members, and they spent day and night training here at Uzurano Airfield.

The 63 men led by Lieutenant Kiyoshi Satō had 21 carrier attack bombers that made sorties five times starting April 6, 1945, from Kushira Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture. The men met heroic deaths in battle action as they carried out taiatari (body-crashing) attacks together with their aircraft against American ships around Okinawa.

The fighting finally started for the defense of the mainland. To counter the attacks by American forces with their massive material resources, the Kikusui Operation was set in motion with the fighting strength of our Okinawan defense forces, and special attack squadrons made up of air group aircraft were expanded. An all-out attack began by sea and air.

The Himeji Air Group Hakuro Squadrons joined this as had been decided. These men made sorties as they communicated their farewells to their beloved families in faraway hometowns. They performed their duty as soldiers by giving their young lives in special attacks from which they did not return again.

We erect this stone monument here now at Uzurano to communicate to future generations these historical facts, to console the spirits of these brave men who gave their lives for their country, and to sincerely pray for the realization of eternal peace with divine help.

The back of the tablet lists the names of the men who died along with the sortie dates of the Kamikaze Corps squadrons from Himeji Air Group:

April 6, 1945 - 39 men
April 12, 1945 - 12 men
April 16, 1945 - 6 men
April 28, 1945 - 3 men
May 4, 1945 - 3 men

The back and front of the stone tablet on the right gives information about the construction of Uzurano Airfield, the history of Himeji Air Group, and the Kawanishi Aircraft factory. The sign on the left of the two stone tablets provides data about Himeji Air Group and the Kawanishi Aircraft factory.

The following last letters were written by Kamikaze Special Attack Corps members from Himeji Naval Air Group who died in special attacks:

• Last Diary Entries of Ensign Takuya Adachi
• Last Statement of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Tsutomu Fujimura
• Last Letter of Ensign Cadet Shigeo Fukuda to His Parents
• Last Diary Entries of Ensign Yoshikage Hatabu
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Toshimune Hattori to His Mother
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Keishi Hirama to His Parents
• Last Letters of Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Sakae Hirashima
• Last Letter of Ensign Sōji Horie
• Last Letters of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Masayuki Ishii to His Family
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Mitsuo Iyanaga to His Mother and Older Sister
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Zen'ichi Jinushi to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Takeshi Kado to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Shigeo Kaida to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Cadet Shigeru Kano to His Family
• Last Letter of Lieutenant Junior Grade Masaaki Kijima to His Younger Brother
• Last Letter of Ensign Shizuo Komuro to His Mother
• Last Letter of Ensign Cadet Toshio Kurimura to His Family
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Gensaburō Matsumoto to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Fumio Minagawa to His Mother
• Last Letter from Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Seisaku Murata to His Parents
• Last Letters of Lieutenant Junior Grade Tatsuji Nakanishi to His Parents and Classmates
• Last Letter of Ensign Cadet Jun Nomoto to His Parents
• Final Diary Entries and Last Letters of Ensign Masanori Ōishi
• Last Letter of Ensign Kunio Ōtani to His Mother
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Yasuyoshi Ōtani to His Parents
• Last Letters of Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki to His Family
• Last Letters of Lieutenant Kiyoshi Satō to His Wife
• Last Letter of Ensign Yoshimune Suga to His Parents and Younger Sister
• Last Letter of Ensign Cadet Mikio Sugata to His Family
• Last Letter of Flight Chief Petty Officer Iwatarō Tadano to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Masamitsu Takahashi
• Last Letter of Ensign Katsuyoshi Takuma
• Last Letter of Lieutenant Junior Grade Masaki Tanaka to His Father
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Hiroshi Urakami to His Mother and Older Sister
• Last Letter of Ensign Takashi Wakaomi
• Last Letters of Ensign Kenjirō Watanabe to His Friend and Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Yoshizō Watanabe to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Tetsuo Yamada to His Family
• Last Letter of Ensign Etsuzō Yamaga to Family of Ensign Yoshikage Hatabu
• Last Letter of Ensign Shunsuke Yukawa

Note

1. Hakuro (白鷺), also pronounced as shirasagi, means white egret. Himeji Castle, which dates back to the 14th century, has the name of Shirasagi Castle or Hakuro Castle. The squadrons' pronunciation of Hakuro comes from several Japanese sources including the following article from Sankei News dated May 23, 2017: "Hakuro-tai no tokkō ni shiryō de semaru: Himeji-shi heiwa shiryōkan de ihin nado 200-ten tenji" (Approaching the special attacks of Hakuro Squadrons through source material: 200 objects displayed at Himeji City Peace Museum) <https://www.sankei.com/region/news/170523/rgn1705230024-n1.html> (January 13, 2020).