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Last Letters of Navy
Special Attack Corps (1971)
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Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Noriyoshi Sugimoto
At 1500 on April 3, 1945, Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Noriyoshi Sugimoto took off
from Kanoya Air Base in a Zero fighter carrying a 500-kg bomb and died in a
special (suicide) attack south of Amami Ōshima at the age of 18. He was a
member of the Jinrai Butai (Thunder Gods Corps) 2nd Kenmu Squadron. He was from
Nangō Town in Miyazaki Prefecture and was a member of the 17th Otsu Class of the Navy's
Yokaren (Preparatory Flight Training Program). Later he became a
member of the 721st Naval Air Group.
He wrote the following final letter:
I do not choose to die for strong emotions, honor, and leaving a name for
myself. We consider this to be the best path to save the Japanese people at
this critical point.
However, as for our deaths being something foolish, we are not doing this
for appearances and whims. A cherry blossom blooms and falls. A person, like
a flower, blooms and falls. My friends, students at Nangō [1]
School, went and fell smiling in the skies of Greater East Asia as a humble
shield for the Empire of Japan and for the Emperor. I also will go and
earnestly pray for others to follow after me.
Finally this is the farewell to everyone. Hope that you enjoy a long life
forever. I will be a cherry blossom in a good place at Kudan [2].
Everyone, please stay healthy forever. I will go and come back. In a
white wooden box [3] that will return. Do not cry
or grieve. I will certainly come in glory in a small box of paulownia wood.
Sugimoto also wrote the following death poem in tanka form
(31-syllable poem with lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables):
My body broken
Corpse scattered with
Cherry blossoms
My spirit will protect
Skies of Empire
Letter and poem translated by Bill Gordon
July 2018 (letter)
July 2024 (poem)
The letter comes from Matsugi
(1971, 121-2). The poem comes from Tokkōtai Senbotsusha (1999, 55). The biographical information in the first paragraph comes from
Matsugi
(1971, 121) and Osuo (2005, 194).
Notes
1. Nangō, a former coastal town in southern
Miyazaki Prefecture, was Sugimoto's hometown. In 2009, Nichinan City, Nangō
Town, and Kitagō Town merged to form the new city of Nichinan.
2. Kudan Hill is the location in Tōkyō of Yasukuni
Jinja, Japan's national shrine to honor spirits of soldiers killed in battle.
3. A white wooden box was how the Japanese
military usually delivered the remains of war dead to their families. In the
case of kamikaze pilots, the remains such as fingernails or hairs from the head
would often be prepared in advance. There are also cases where the white box
would arrive at the family's home with no remains.
Sources Cited
Matsugi, Fujio, ed. 1971. Kaigun tokubetsu kōgekitai no isho (Last letters of Navy Special Attack Corps).
Tōkyō: KK Bestsellers.
Osuo, Kazuhiko. 2005. Tokubetsu kōgekitai no kiroku (kaigun
hen) (Record of special attack corps (Navy)). Tōkyō: Kōjinsha.
Tokkōtai Senbotsusha Irei Heiwa Kinen Kyōkai (Tokkōtai
Commemoration Peace Memorial Association). 1999. Tokkōtai iei shū
(Special Attack Corps death poem collection). Tōkyō: Tokkōtai Senbotsusha Irei
Heiwa Kinen Kyōkai.
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