Suicide was generally accepted as the way to atone for failure, and ritual suicide, also known as seppuku and harakiri, was common among the military of Japan. The concept of individual suicide was accepted within Japanese society, particularly among those descended from the warrior, or Samurai, class. It is estimated that over 1,200 pilots (out of 2,314) lost their lives on such missions. A kamikaze pilot salutes as he receives his orders for a “divine wind” mission. This time, the Kamikaze would not be a typhoon, but swarms of suicide planes that were to be unleashed at the advancing allies. In desperation, some Japanese leaders looked to another “Divine Wind” again to save them. The Western Allies had begun their inexorable advance against Japan three years earlier at New Guinea and Guadalcanal, and they were now more than halfway across the vast Pacific, aiming directly for Japan itself. It was not Mongols this time, but an enormous military force led by the United States that was threatening to invade Japan. Nearly 700 years later, in 1944, the same situation faced Japan. In the year 1281, Japan had been saved by this help from above. The enemy, Mongols under Kublai Khan, had been destroyed by a sudden typhoon, a “Divine Wind” or “Kamikaze,” as it came to be known in Japanese history. But then, suddenly and without warning, a great wind came and destroyed the enemy fleet. There was nothing left but to fight to the death against the savage invaders. They were outnumbered, and the enemy was about to land on the shores of the Imperial Home Islands. The nation of Japan was hopeless before the invading force.
0 kommentar(er)
