Last Letter of Lieutenant Junior Grade Yomo Shikata to His Father
At 0400 on May 11, 1945, Lieutenant Junior Grade Yomo Shikata took off from
Ibusuki Air Base as pilot of a three-man Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane (Allied
code name of Jake) carrying an 800-kg bomb. He was a member of the Kamikaze
Special Attack Corps 2nd Sakigake Squadron from Kashima Naval Air Group in
Ibaraki Prefecture. He died in a special (suicide) attack off Okinawa at the age
of 23. After his death in a special attack, he received a promotion to
Lieutenant Commander. He was from Kyōto Prefecture, attended Kyōto Teachers
College, and was a member of the 13th Class of the Navy's Flight Reserve
Students.
He wrote the following final letter to his father with a death poem in tanka
form (31-syllable poem with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5-7-7) at the beginning:
Death poem
Time for flying has come and the great
Island country of Yamato [1] I will protect
The other day it was a joy to see you after a long time. I promised that
I would talk with you privately in the evening, but at dusk the sortie order
suddenly was issued, and it was regrettable that I did not follow through
with my promise. However, it was my supreme pleasure to be able to see you
for a short time and talk with you. Now with great joy I am determined to go
and fall in the sea at Okinawa as a shield for the country.
In the 22 years after my birth, you brought me up with your hands alone.
In one way maybe I cannot escape criticism for not showing filial piety by
my leaving without repaying you anything, but I also am a son of Yamato.
Tonight please listen on the radio to the successful battle results of
your charming son. Certainly achieving outstanding battle results will at
least show my filial piety to you. Please ask the warrant officer who brings
this letter about details before my sortie.
Farewell.
Letter and poem translated by Bill Gordon
August 2018
The letter and poem come from Yasukuni Jinja (2001, 57-8). The biographical information on this page comes from
Osuo (2005, 238) and Yasukuni Jinja
(2001, 57).
Note
1. Yamato is an ancient name for Japan.
Sources Cited
Osuo, Kazuhiko. 2005. Tokubetsu kōgekitai no kiroku (kaigun
hen) (Record of special attack corps (Navy)). Tōkyō: Kōjinsha.
Yasukuni Jinja, ed. 2001. Eirei
no koto no ha (7) (Words of the spirits of war heroes, Volume 7).
Tōkyō: Yasukuni Jinja Shamusho.
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