Ōsaka Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Ōsaka City, Ōsaka Prefecture
Ōsaka Gokoku Jinja is a Shintō shrine that honors persons from Ōsaka
Prefecture who died to defend Japan. The area around the shrine has several
monuments in memory of groups or individuals who died in battle including one
erected in 1982 to honor Navy Yokaren (Preparatory Flight Training Program)
graduates who gave their lives for their country. These Yokaren graduates who
died in battle included many Special Attack Corps (tokkōtai) members who
carried out suicide attacks against Allied ships.
The monument has a propeller mounted on front. The plaque to the right of the
propeller has engraved the characters for Yokaren, and the plaque on the left
says "Kisama to ore to tsubasa" (You and I and wings). Kisama
(you) and ore (I) are personal pronouns used in male speech. Men in the WWII Navy typically
used these pronouns between themselves, and "kisama to ore" (you and I)
is the phrase used to start the famous Japanese Navy song titled "Dōki no
sakura" (Cherry blossoms of same class).
A plaque next to the monument gives the Yokaren history:
Kisama to ore to tsubasa (You and I and wings) Monument
In 1930, regarding training of accomplished aircraft crewmen, the
Navy Hikō Yoka Renshusei (Preparatory Flight Training Program)
system was established with the belief that it depended on early
education of gifted individuals. In 1937, the Kō and Otsu, and afterward the Hei and Toku Otsu, courses of study were established. From throughout Japan
youths who loved their country and who yearned for the skies, and from the
beginning those also from far overseas, volunteered in high spirits.
Yokaren airmen, after a triumph in their first battle at the Japan-China
Incident in August 1937, became the core of our aerial fighting power both
in name and reality in the Pacific War. They attained distinguished
achievements in war. When the war situation turned against them and the
decisive battle for the homeland approached, they sacrificed themselves
during the national crisis by laying down their lives as they believed in
prosperity for the country of Japan. One after another they became aerial,
surface, and underwater Special Attack Corps members and bravely died in
battle in the skies and seas.
We former Yokaren trainees have deepened our bonds throughout our lives
and add our names to this holy place. We erect this monument to convey to
posterity that the spirits of the war dead of the rosy-cheeked forerunners
called "Yokaren" of the Shōwa imperial reign should be honored publicly. We
earnestly hope for world peace and for prosperity of our descendants.
December 5, 1982
Kansai Kō Yokaren Association
The stone posts surrounding the monument have names of various
groups and individuals who contributed to the monument's erection. Besides the
Kansai Kō Yokaren Association, other groups with names on posts around the
monument include the Okazaki Naval Air Group, Mie Air Group 15th Kō Class, Miho
Air Group 14th Kō Class, and Urato Air Group 16th Kō Class.
A statue of Ensign Toshio Kurii from Ōsaka Prefecture stands near the Yokaren
Monument. On April 16, 1945, Kurii died as a member of the Kamikaze Special
Attack Corps 3rd Tsukuba Squadron that took off from Kanoya Air Base with
bomb-carrying Zero fighters. He was a
member of the 14th Class of Navy Flight Reserve Students (Kaigun Hikō Yobi
Gakusei).
Ensign Toshio Kurii
The following last letters were written by Yokaren graduates from Ōsaka
Prefecture:
|
