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{{short description|1944–1945 Japanese suicidal aircraft attacks}}
{{Other uses}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Navy Kamikaze Lieutenant.jpg|thumb|Navy Kamikaze pilot in the rank of a [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]] receives [[sortie]] orders. Over 90% of the Navy's Kamikaze pilots were between 18 and 24 years of age.]]
[[File:Kamikaze WW2 USN.gif|thumb|upright=1.3|A ''kamikaze'' aircraft crashes into a US warship in May 1945]]
{{Nihongo|'''''Kamikaze'''''|{{linktext|神風}}||{{IPA|ja|kamiꜜkaze|pron}}; {{gloss|divine wind}}<ref>{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Aviation |first=David W. |last=Wragg |isbn=9780850451634 |edition=first |publisher=Osprey |year=1973 |page=171}}</ref> or {{gloss|[[Kami|spirit]] wind}}|}}, officially {{Nihongo||神風特別攻撃隊|'''''Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai'''''|{{gloss|Divine Wind Special Attack Unit}}}}, were a part of the [[Japanese Special Attack Units]] of [[military aviation|military aviators]] who flew [[suicide attack]]s for the [[Empire of Japan]] against [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] naval vessels in the closing stages of the [[Pacific War|Pacific campaign]] of [[World War II]], intending to destroy [[warship]]s more effectively than with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 ''kamikaze'' pilots died during the war in attacks that killed more than 7,000 Allied naval personnel,<ref name=Zaloga>{{cite book |last=Zaloga |first=Steve |title=Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack Weapons 1944–45 |url=https://archive.org/details/kamikazejapanese00zalo|url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/kamikazejapanese00zalo/page/n11 12] |isbn=978-1849083539| series=New Vanguard |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2011}}</ref> sank several dozen warships, and damaged scores more. The term is used generically in modern warfare for an attacking vehicle, often unmanned, which is itself destroyed when attacking a target; for example, a [[kamikaze drone]].

''Kamikaze'' aircraft were pilot-guided explosive [[cruise missiles]], either purpose-built or converted from conventional aircraft. Pilots would attempt to crash their aircraft into enemy ships in what was called a "body attack" (''tai-atari'') in aircraft loaded with bombs, [[torpedo]]es or other explosives. About 19 percent of ''kamikaze'' attacks were successful.<ref name=Zaloga/> The Japanese considered the goal of damaging or sinking large numbers of Allied ships to be a just reason for suicide attacks. By late 1944, Allied qualitative and quantitative superiority over the Japanese in both aircrew and aircraft meant that ''kamikaze'' attacks were more accurate than conventional airstrikes, and often caused more damage. Some ''kamikazes'' hit their targets even after their aircraft had been crippled.

The attacks began in October 1944, at a time when the war was looking increasingly bleak for the Japanese. They had lost several decisive battles; many of their best pilots had been killed, and skilled replacements could not be trained fast enough; their aircraft were becoming outdated; and they had lost command of the air and sea. These factors, along with Japan's unwillingness to surrender, led to the institutionalization of ''kamikaze'' tactics as a core aspect of Japanese air warfare strategy as Allied forces advanced towards the [[Japanese archipelago|home islands]].

A tradition of death instead of defeat, capture, and shame was deeply entrenched in Japanese military culture; one of the primary values in the [[samurai]] way of life and the ''[[Bushido]]'' code was [[loyalty]] and [[honor]] until death.<ref name="powers">David Powers, "[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/japan_no_surrender_01.shtml Japan: No Surrender in World War Two]"</ref><ref>[[John W. Dower]], ''War Without Mercy: Race & Power in the Pacific War'' pp. 1, 216 {{ISBN|039450030X}}</ref><ref>Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook, ''Japan at War: An Oral History'' p. 264 {{ISBN|1565840143}}</ref><ref>Meirion and Susie Harries, ''Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army'' p. 413 {{ISBN|0394569350}}</ref> In addition to ''kamikazes'', the Japanese military also used or made plans for non-aerial Japanese Special Attack Units, including those involving [[Kairyu]] (submarines), [[Kaiten]] (human torpedoes), [[Shinyo (suicide boat)|Shinyo]] speedboats, [[Smertnik]] infantrymen, and [[Fukuryu]] divers.

==Definition and origin==
{{Main|Kamikaze (typhoon)}}
[[File:MokoShurai.jpg|thumb|upright|''Kamikaze'' was a reference to the two typhoons that sank or dispersed [[Kublai Khan]]'s [[Mongol invasions of Japan|invading Mongol fleets]].]]
The Japanese word ''[[Kamikaze (typhoon)|kamikaze]]'' is usually translated as "divine wind" (''[[kami]]'' is the word for "god", "spirit", or "divinity", and ''kaze'' for "wind"). The word originated from ''[[Makurakotoba#Examples|Makurakotoba]]'' of [[Waka (poetry)|waka]] poetry modifying "[[Ise Province|Ise]]"<ref>Used as "Kamikaze no" in [[Man'yōshū]], Tome I, poem 163, Tome IV poem 500 etc.</ref>{{clarify|date=November 2023}} and has been used since August 1281 to refer to the [[Kamikaze (typhoon)|major typhoons]] that dispersed [[Goryeo under Mongol Rule|Mongol-Koryo]] fleets which [[Mongol invasions of Japan|invaded Japan]] under [[Kublai Khan]] in 1274 and 1281.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Axell |first1=Albert |title=Japan's Suicide Gods |date=2002 |publisher=Pearson Education |location=London |page=ix |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hfNmAAAAMAAJ|isbn=978-0582772328 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=kamikaze&allowed_in_frame=0|title=''Kamikaze'' origin|dictionary=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]|date=11 December 2015}}</ref>

A Japanese monoplane that made a record-breaking flight from Tokyo to London in 1937 for the [[Asahi Shimbun|Asahi]] newspaper group was named ''[[Kamikaze (aircraft)|Kamikaze]]''. She was a prototype for the [[Mitsubishi Ki-15]] ("Babs").<ref>{{cite book |last=Jenkins |first=David |title=Battle Surface! Japan's Submarine War Against Australia 1942–44 |year=1992 |publisher=Random House Australia |location=Milsons Point NSW Australia |isbn=0091826381 |page=122 }}</ref>

In Japanese, the formal term used for units carrying out suicide attacks during 1944–1945 is ''tokubetsu kōgekitai'' ([[:ja:特別攻撃隊|特別攻撃隊]]), which literally means "special attack unit". This is usually abbreviated to ''tokkōtai'' (特攻隊). More specifically, air suicide attack units from the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] were officially called ''shinpū tokubetsu kōgeki tai'' (神風特別攻撃隊, "divine wind special attack units"). ''Shinpū'' is the [[On'yomi|on-reading]] (''on'yomi'' or Chinese-derived pronunciation) of the same [[kanji|characters]] as the [[Kun'yomi|kun-reading]] (''kun'yomi'' or Japanese pronunciation) ''kamikaze'' in Japanese. During World War II, the pronunciation ''kamikaze'' was used only informally in the Japanese press in relation to suicide attacks, but after the war, this usage gained acceptance worldwide and was re-imported into Japan.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Porter |first1=Edgar A. |title="I Shall Die with Pleasure" |date=2017 |work=Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation |pages=120–126 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1pk3jj7.13 |access-date=2024-04-08 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-94-6298-259-8 |last2=Porter |first2=Ran Ying|jstor=j.ctt1pk3jj7.13 }}</ref>

==History==

===Background===
[[File:D4Y Yoshinori Yamaguchi col.jpg|thumb|left|Lt. Yoshinori Yamaguchi's [[Yokosuka D4Y]]3 (Type 33 ''Suisei'') "Judy" in a suicide dive against {{USS|Essex|CV-9|6}} on 25 November 1944. The attack left 15 killed and 44 wounded. The [[dive brake]]s are extended and the non-[[Self-sealing fuel tank|self-sealing]] port wing tank trails a mist of fuel, smoke and hydraulic fluid.]]

Before the official formation of ''kamikaze'' units, pilots had made deliberate crashes as a last resort when their aircraft had suffered severe damage and they did not want to risk being captured or wanted to do as much damage to the enemy as possible, since they were crashing anyway. Such situations occurred in both the Axis and Allied air forces. Axell and Kase see these suicides as "individual, impromptu decisions by men who were mentally prepared to die".<ref>Axell, pp. 34, 40–41</ref>

One example of this may have occurred on 7 December 1941 during the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Mulero |first=Alexis R. |url=https://www.mcbhawaii.marines.mil/News/News-Article-Display/Article/538924/fusata-iida-wwiis-first-kamikaza-pilot/ |title=Fusata Iida: WWII's first 'Kamikaza' pilot |publisher=Marine Corps Base Hawaii, United States Marine Corps |date=7 December 2001 |access-date=18 January 2024}}</ref> [[First Lieutenant]] Fusata Iida's aircraft had taken a hit and had started leaking fuel when he apparently used it to make a suicide attack on [[Marine Corps Base Hawaii|Naval Air Station Kaneohe]]. Before taking off, he had told his men that if his aircraft was badly damaged he would crash it into a "worthy enemy target".<ref>Axell, p. 44.</ref> In late February 1942, Imperial Japanese Headquarters mentioned, for the first time, that a "human bomb" or ''Taiatari'', had destroyed a US aircraft carrier.  It was explained that the term, which meant "thrust of body," was the practice of Japanese airmen to dive with the full load of bombs on to their target.<ref>The Shanghai Sunday Times, March 1, 1942, page 1 .</ref>  Another possible example occurred at the [[Battle of Midway]] when a damaged American bomber flew at the {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Akagi||2}}'s bridge but missed. During the [[Naval Battle of Guadalcanal]] the US flagship, {{USS|San Francisco|CA-38|2}}, was heavily damaged during a Japanese bombing raid when a large twin-engined Japanese [[Mitsubishi G4M]] "Betty" medium bomber, which was in flames from anti-aircraft fire, most likely intentionally crashed into her backup conning tower, destroying almost all of the backup command equipment for the flagship. Most of the officers and men stationed there, including the [[Executive officer#United States Navy and United States Coast Guard|executive officer]], were killed or wounded. This de facto ''kamikaze'' strike greatly changed the course of what was to happen during the infamous "Friday the 13th" battle 12 hours later.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1958/november/san-francisco-story |title=The San Francisco Story |last=McCandless |first=Bruce |journal=Proceedings |volume=84 |number=11 |date=November 1958}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/11276 |title=John E. Bennett oral history interview, February 5, 1994 and February 6, 1994 |via=East Carolina University Manuscript Collection |access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref>

The carrier battles in 1942, particularly the Battle of Midway, inflicted irreparable damage on the [[Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service]] (IJNAS), such that it could no longer field a large number of fleet carriers with well-trained aircrews.<ref name="U.S">U.S. Naval War College Analysis, p. 1; Parshall and Tully, ''Shattered Sword'', pp. 416–430.</ref> Japanese planners had based their assumptions on a quick war and lacked comprehensive programs to replace mounting losses to ships, pilots, and sailors. Prior to the war, Japanese carrier pilots were carefully selected after undergoing years of training in specialized schools, which produced high-quality aircrew but at low volume; the Japanese military never meaningfully expanded or restructured this training pipeline. The Battle of Midway, the [[Solomon Islands campaign]] (1942–1945) and the [[New Guinea campaign]] (1942–1945){{snd}}notably the naval battles of the [[Battle of the Eastern Solomons|Eastern Solomons]] (August 1942) and [[Battle of Santa Cruz Islands|Santa Cruz Islands]] (October 1942){{snd}}decimated the IJNAS veteran aircrews, and replacing their combat experience proved impossible.<ref>Peattie, ''Sunburst'', pp. 176–86; Eric Bergerud, ''Fire in the Sky'', p. 668.</ref> 

[[File:A6M5 52c Kyushu.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Model 52c Zeros ready to take part in a ''kamikaze'' attack (early 1945)]]

During 1943–1944, US forces steadily advanced toward Japan. Newer US-made aircraft, especially the [[Grumman F6F Hellcat]] and [[Vought F4U Corsair]], outclassed and soon outnumbered Japan's fighters. Tropical diseases, as well as shortages of spare parts and [[fuel]], made operations more and more difficult for the IJNAS. By the [[Battle of the Philippine Sea]] (June 1944), the Japanese had to make do with obsolete aircraft and inexperienced aviators in the fight against better-trained and more experienced US Navy airmen who flew [[radar]]-directed [[combat air patrol]]s. The Japanese lost over 400 carrier-based aircraft and pilots in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, effectively destroying the IJN's carrier air arm. Allied aviators called the action the "[[Great Marianas Turkey Shoot]]".

On 19 June 1944, aircraft from the carrier {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Chiyoda||2}} approached a US task group. According to some accounts, two made suicide attacks, one of which hit {{USS|Indiana|BB-58|6}}.<ref>
''Fighting Elites: Kamikaze'': 9, 12</ref>

The important Japanese base of [[Battle of Saipan|Saipan]] fell to the Allied forces on 15 July 1944. Its capture provided adequate forward bases that enabled US air forces using the [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]] to strike at the Japanese home islands. After the fall of Saipan, the Japanese High Command predicted that the Allies would try to capture the [[Second Philippine Republic|Philippines]], strategically important to Tokyo because of the islands' location between the [[oilfield]]s of Southeast Asia and Japan.

===Beginnings===
[[File:USS Essex (CV-9) is hit by a Kamikaze off the Philippines on 25 November 1944.jpg|thumb|left|A ''kamikaze'' aircraft explodes after crashing into ''Essex''{{'s}} flight deck amidships 25 November 1944.]]

Captain [[Motoharu Okamura]], in charge of the [[JMSDF Tateyama Air Base|Tateyama]] Base in Tokyo, as well as the 341st Air Group Home, was, according to some sources, the first officer to officially propose ''kamikaze'' attack tactics. With his superiors, he arranged the first investigations into the plausibility and mechanisms of intentional suicide attacks on 15 June 1944.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.animeigo.com/liner/out-print/father-kamikaze.html|title=Father of the Kamikaze Liner Notes – AnimEigo|work=animeigo.com}}</ref> In August 1944, it was announced by the [[Dōmei Tsushin|Domei]] news agency that a flight instructor named Takeo Tagata was training pilots in [[Taiwan]] for suicide missions.<ref>Axell, pp. 40–41</ref>

One source claims that the first ''kamikaze'' mission occurred on 13 September 1944. A group of pilots from the army's 31st Fighter Squadron on [[Negros Island]] decided to launch a suicide attack the following morning.<ref>Toland, p. 568</ref> [[First Lieutenant]] Takeshi Kosai and a [[sergeant]] were selected. Two {{convert|100|kg|lb|abbr=on}} bombs were attached to two fighters, and the pilots took off before dawn, planning to crash into carriers. They never returned, but there is no record of a ''kamikaze'' hitting an Allied ship that day.<ref>[[John Toland (author)|John Toland]], ''[[The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936–1945]]'' p. 568</ref> According to some sources, on 14 October 1944, {{USS|Reno|CL-96|6}} was hit by a deliberately crashed Japanese aircraft.<ref>[http://www.ww2pacific.com/suicide.html ww2pacific.com, 2004, "World War II in the Pacific: Japanese Suicide Attacks at Sea"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413183449/http://www.ww2pacific.com/suicide.html |date=13 April 2020 }}. Accessed 1 August 2007.</ref>

[[File:Arima Masafumi.jpg|thumb|upright|Rear Admiral [[Masafumi Arima]]]]

[[Rear Admiral]] [[Masafumi Arima]], the commander of the 26th Air Flotilla (part of the [[11th Air Fleet]]), is sometimes credited with inventing the ''kamikaze'' tactic. Arima personally led an attack by a [[Mitsubishi G4M]] "Betty" twin-engined bomber against a large {{sclass|Essex|aircraft carrier|1}}, {{USS|Franklin|CV-13|6}}, near Leyte Gulf, on or about 15 October 1944. Arima was killed and part of an aircraft hit ''Franklin''. The Japanese high command and [[propaganda]]s seized on Arima's example. He was promoted [[Posthumous name|posthumous]]ly to [[vice admiral]] and was given official credit for making the first ''kamikaze'' attack. 

On 17 October 1944, Allied forces assaulted [[Suluan]] Island, beginning the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]]. The Imperial Japanese Navy's 1st Air Fleet, based at [[Manila]], was assigned the task of assisting the Japanese ships that would attempt to destroy Allied forces in Leyte Gulf. That unit had only 41 aircraft: 34 [[Mitsubishi A6M Zero]] ("Zeke") carrier-based fighters, three [[Nakajima B6N]] ''Tenzan'' ("Jill") [[torpedo bomber]]s, one [[Mitsubishi G4M]] ("Betty") and two [[Yokosuka P1Y]] ''Ginga'' ("Frances") land-based bombers, and one reconnaissance aircraft. The task facing the Japanese air forces seemed impossible. The 1st Air Fleet commandant, [[Vice Admiral]] [[Takijirō Ōnishi]], decided to form a suicide offensive force, the Special Attack Unit. In a meeting on 19 October at [[Clark Air Base|Mabalacat Airfield]] (known to the US military as Clark Air Base) near Manila, Onishi told officers of the 201st Flying Group headquarters: "I don't think there would be any other certain way to carry out the operation [to hold the Philippines] than to put a 250&nbsp;kg bomb on a Zero and let it crash into a US carrier, in order to disable her for a week."

===First unit===
[[File:72nd Shinbu 1945 Kamikaze.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|26 May 1945. Corporal [[Yukio Araki]], holding a puppy, with four other pilots of the 72nd ''Shinbu'' Squadron at [[Kaseda, Kagoshima|Bansei]], [[Kagoshima]]. Araki died the following day, at the age of 17, in a suicide attack on ships near Okinawa.]]

[[Commander]] [[Asaichi Tamai]] asked a group of 23 talented student pilots, all of whom he had trained, to volunteer for the special attack force. All of the pilots raised both of their hands, volunteering to join the operation. Later, Tamai asked Lieutenant [[Yukio Seki]] to command the special attack force. Seki is said to have closed his eyes, lowered his head, and thought for ten seconds before saying: "Please do appoint me to the post." Seki became the 24th ''kamikaze'' pilot to be chosen. He later said: "Japan's future is bleak if it is forced to kill one of its best pilots" and "I am not going on this mission for the Emperor or for the Empire&nbsp;... I am going because I was ordered to."<ref>Axell, p. 16</ref>

The names of the four subunits within the ''Kamikaze'' Special Attack Force were ''Unit Shikishima'', ''Unit Yamato'', ''Unit Asahi'' and ''Unit Yamazakura''.<ref>[[Ivan Morris]], ''The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan'', p. 289 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975</ref> These names were taken from a patriotic [[death poem]] by the Japanese classical scholar, [[Motoori Norinaga]].<ref>Ivan Morris, ''The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan'', pp. 289–290 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975</ref> The poem reads:

{{blockquote|敷島の 大和心を 人問はば 朝日に匂う 山桜花

''Shikishima no Yamato-gokoro wo hito towaba, asahi ni niou yamazakurabana''

If someone asks about the ''[[Yamato-damashii|Yamato spirit]]'' [Spirit of Old/True Japan] of ''Shikishima'' [a poetic name for Japan]{{snd}}it is the flowers of ''yamazakura'' [mountain [[cherry blossom]]] that are fragrant in the ''Asahi'' [rising sun].}}

A less literal translation<ref>[http://www.norinagakinenkan.com/norinaga/shiryo/about.html "Motoori Norinaga: A scholar-physician who loved cherry blossoms"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212101814/http://www.norinagakinenkan.com/norinaga/shiryo/about.html |date=12 February 2010 }}, [http://www.theeast.co.jp/English/index.htm ''The East''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111220602/http://www.theeast.co.jp/English/index.htm |date=11 January 2009 }}, Vol. XXVI No, 1</ref> is:
{{poemquote|
Asked about the soul of Japan,
I would say
That it is
Like wild cherry blossoms
Glowing in the morning sun.
}}

Ōnishi, addressing this unit, told them that their nobility of spirit would keep the homeland from ruin even in defeat.<ref>Ivan Morris, ''The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan'', p. 284 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975</ref>

===Leyte Gulf: the first attacks===
[[File:SL Exp 5.jpg|thumb|''St Lo'' attacked by ''kamikazes'', 25 October 1944]]
[[File:D4Y tail kitkun.jpg|thumb|Right horizontal [[Stabilizer (aircraft)|stabilizer]] from the tail of a "Judy" on the deck of {{USS|Kitkun Bay}}. The "Judy" made a run on the ship approaching from dead astern; it was met by effective fire and the aircraft passed over the island and exploded. Parts of the aircraft and the pilot were scattered over the flight deck and the forecastle.]]

Several suicide attacks, carried out during the [[invasion of Leyte]] by Japanese pilots from units other than the Special Attack Force, have been described as the first ''kamikaze'' attacks. Early on 21 October 1944, a Japanese aircraft deliberately crashed into the foremast of the heavy cruiser {{HMAS|Australia|D84|6}}.<ref name=Nichols/> This aircraft was possibly either an [[Aichi D3A]] dive&nbsp;bomber, from an unidentified unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service,<ref name=Nichols>{{Cite journal|last=Nichols|first=Robert|year=2004|title=The first kamikaze attack?|journal=Wartime|publisher=Australian War Memorial|issue=28|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/28/article.asp|access-date=15 August 2010|archive-date=2 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002233842/http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/28/article.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> or a [[Mitsubishi Ki-51]] of the 6th Flying Brigade, [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Force]].<ref>[https://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/28/kamikaze-attack Richard L. Dunn, 2002–2005, "First Kamikaze? Attack on HMAS Australia{{snd}}21 October 1944" (j-aircraft.com)]. Access date: 20 June 2007. If the pilot was from the 6th Flying Brigade, it was probably either Lieutenant Morita or Sergeant Itano, flying out of [[San Jose, Mindoro]].</ref> The attack killed 30 personnel, including the cruiser's captain, [[Emile Dechaineux]], and wounded 64, including the Australian force commander, Commodore [[John Augustine Collins|John Collins]].<ref name=Nichols/> The [[Australia in the War of 1939–1945|Australian official history of the war]] claimed that this was the first ''kamikaze'' attack on an Allied ship. Other sources disagree because it was not a planned attack by a member of the Special Attack Force and was most likely undertaken on the pilot's own initiative.<ref name=Nichols/>

The sinking of the ocean tug {{USS|Sonoma|AT-12|6}} on 24 October is listed in some sources as the first ship lost to a ''kamikaze'' strike, but the attack occurred before the first mission of the Special Attack Force (on 25 October) and the aircraft used, a [[Mitsubishi G4M]], was not flown by the original four Special Attack Squadrons.

On 25 October 1944, during the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]], the ''Kamikaze'' Special Attack Force carried out its first mission. Five A6M Zeros, led by Lieutenant Seki, were escorted to the target by leading Japanese ace [[Hiroyoshi Nishizawa]] where they attacked several [[escort carrier]]s. One Zero attempted to hit the bridge of {{USS|Kitkun Bay}} but instead exploded on the port catwalk and cartwheeled into the sea. Two others dived at {{USS|Fanshaw Bay}} but were destroyed by [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] fire. The last two, Seki among them, ran at {{USS|White Plains|CVE-66|6}}. Seki however, under heavy fire and trailing smoke, aborted the attack on ''White Plains'' and instead banked toward {{USS|St. Lo}}, diving into the flight deck, where his bomb caused fires that resulted in the bomb magazine exploding, sinking the carrier.<ref>Toland, p. 567</ref>

By 26 October day's end, 55 ''kamikazes'' from the Special Attack Force had also damaged three large escort carriers: {{USS|Sangamon|CVE-26|6}}, {{USS|Santee|CVE-29|2}}, and {{USS|Suwannee|CVE-27|2}} (which had
taken a ''kamikaze'' strike forward of its aft elevator the day before); and three smaller escorts: USS ''White Plains'', {{USS|Kalinin Bay||2}}, and ''Kitkun Bay''. In total, seven carriers were hit, as well as 40 other ships (5 sunk, 23 heavily damaged and 12 moderately damaged).

===Main wave of attacks===
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
| footer            = 
| image1            = Kamikaze attacks USS Columbia (CL-56) in Lingayen Gulf on 6 January 1945 (NH 79449).jpg
| alt1              = 
| caption1          = {{USS|Columbia|CL-56|6}} is attacked by a [[Mitsubishi Ki-51]] ''kamikaze'' off [[Lingayen Gulf]], 6 January 1945.
| image2            = Kamikaze hits USS Columbia (CL-56) in Lingayen Gulf on 6 January 1945 (NH 79450).jpg
| alt2              = 
| caption2          = The ''kamikaze'' hits ''Columbia'' at 17:29. The aircraft and its bomb penetrated two decks before exploding, killing 13 and wounding 44.
}}

Early successes—such as the sinking of {{USS|St. Lo}}—were followed by an immediate expansion of the program, and over the next few months over 2,000 aircraft made such attacks.

When Japan began to suffer intense [[strategic bombing]] by [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]]es, the Japanese military attempted to use suicide attacks against this threat. During the northern hemisphere winter of 1944–45, the IJAAF formed the 47th Air Regiment, also known as the ''Shinten'' Special Unit (''Shinten Seiku Tai'') at Narimasu Airfield, [[Nerima, Tokyo]], to defend the [[Tokyo Metropolitan Area]]. The unit was equipped with [[Nakajima Ki-44]] ''Shoki'' ("Tojo") fighters, whose pilots were instructed to collide with [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF) B-29s approaching Japan. Targeting the aircraft proved to be much less successful and practical than attacks against warships, as the bombers made for much faster, more maneuverable, and smaller targets. The B-29 also had formidable defensive weaponry, so suicide attacks against B-29s demanded considerable piloting skill to be successful, which worked against the very purpose of using expendable pilots. Even encouraging capable pilots to bail out before impact was ineffective because vital personnel were often lost when they mistimed their exits and were killed as a result.

On 11 March, the US carrier {{USS|Randolph|CV-15|6}} was hit and moderately damaged at [[Ulithi Atoll]], in the Caroline Islands, by a ''kamikaze'' that had flown almost {{convert|4000|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Japan, in a mission called [[Operation Tan No. 2]]. On 20 March, the submarine {{USS|Devilfish|SS-292|6}} survived a hit from an aircraft just off Japan.

Purpose-built ''kamikazes'', opposed to converted fighters and dive-bombers, were also being constructed. [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] Mitsuo Ohta had suggested that piloted [[Glide bomb|glider bomb]]s, carried within range of targets by a mother aircraft, should be developed. The First Naval Air Technical Bureau (''Kugisho'') in [[Yokosuka]] refined Ohta's idea. [[Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka|Yokosuka MXY-7 ''Ohka'']] [[rocket-powered aircraft]], launched from bombers, were first deployed in ''kamikaze'' attacks from March 1945. US personnel gave them the derisive nickname "''Baka'' Bombs" (''baka'' is Japanese for "idiot" or "stupid"). The [[Nakajima Ki-115]] ''Tsurugi'' was a simple, easily built propeller aircraft with a wooden airframe that used engines from existing stocks. Its non-retractable [[landing gear]] was jettisoned shortly after takeoff for a suicide mission, recovered, and reused. Obsolete aircraft such as [[Yokosuka K5Y]] biplane trainers were also converted to ''kamikazes''. During 1945, the Japanese military began stockpiling ''Tsurugi'', Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka, other aircraft and [[Shin'yō-class suicide motorboat|suicide boats]] for use against Allied forces expected to invade Japan. The invasion never happened, and few were ever used.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.colesaircraft.com/sitebuilder/images/Untitled-44-857x538.jpg|title=Japanese Ki-9 biplane|access-date=12 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110153/http://www.colesaircraft.com/sitebuilder/images/Untitled-44-857x538.jpg|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Allied defensive tactics===
[[File:Kamikaze attacks USS White Plains (CVE-66) on 25 October 1944 (80-G-288882).jpg|thumb|left|An [[A6M Zero]] (A6M2 Model 21) towards the end of its run at the [[escort carrier]] {{USS|White Plains|CVE-66|6}} on 25 October 1944. The aircraft exploded in mid-air moments after the picture was taken, scattering debris across the deck.]]

In early 1945, US Navy aviator Commander [[John Thach]], already famous for developing effective aerial tactics against the Japanese such as the [[Thach Weave]], developed a defensive strategy against ''kamikazes'' called the "[[big blue blanket]]" to establish Allied [[air supremacy]] well away from the carrier force. This recommended [[combat air patrol]]s (CAP) that were larger and operated farther from the carriers than before, a line of picket [[destroyer]]s and [[destroyer escort]]s at least {{convert|80|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the main body of the fleet to provide earlier [[radar]] interception and improved coordination between fighter direction officers on carriers. This plan also called for around-the-clock fighter patrols over Allied fleets. A final element included intensive fighter sweeps over Japanese airfields, and bombing Japanese runways, using [[Delay-action bomb|delayed-action bombs]] making repairs more difficult.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rwebs.net/dispatch/output.asp?ArticleID=49|author=Bill Coombes|date=1995|title=Divine Wind The Japanese secret weapon – kamikaze suicide attacks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928035807/http://rwebs.net/dispatch/output.asp?ArticleID=49|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 September 2006|website=rwebs.net}}</ref>

Late in 1944, the [[British Pacific Fleet]] (BPF) used the high-altitude performance of its [[Supermarine Seafire]]s (the naval version of the Spitfire) on combat air patrol duties. Seafires were involved in countering the ''kamikaze'' attacks during the [[Battle of Iwo Jima|Iwo Jima landings]] and beyond. The Seafires' best day was 15 August 1945, shooting down eight attacking aircraft with a single loss.

[[File:A6M kamikaze attacking c1945.jpg|thumb|An A6M5 "Zero" diving towards American ships in the Philippines in early 1945]]

Allied pilots were more experienced, better trained and flying superior aircraft, making the poorly trained ''kamikaze'' pilots easy targets. The US [[Fast Carrier Task Force]] alone could bring over 1,000 fighter aircraft into play. Allied pilots became adept at destroying enemy aircraft before they struck ships.

Allied gunners had begun to develop techniques to negate ''kamikaze'' attacks. Light rapid-fire anti-aircraft weapons such as the [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20&nbsp;mm Oerlikon]] autocannons were still useful though the [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40&nbsp;mm Bofors]] was preferred; their high rate of fire and quick training remained advantageous, but they lacked the punch to take down a kamikaze bearing down on the ship they defended.<ref name="ibiblio.org">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/rep/Kamikaze/AAA-Summary/AAA-Summary-2.html|title=HyperWar: Antiaircraft Action Summary – Suicide Attacks [Chapter 2]|website=www.ibiblio.org}}</ref>  It was found that heavy anti-aircraft guns such as the [[5"/38 caliber gun]] (127&nbsp;mm) were the most effective as they had sufficient firepower to destroy aircraft at a safe range from the ship, which was preferable since even a heavily damaged ''kamikaze'' could reach its target.<ref name="ibiblio.org"/><ref name="Oerlikon">{{Cite web|url=http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_2cm-70_mk234.htm |title=United States of America 20 mm/70 (0.79") Marks 2, 3 & 4 |access-date=25 February 2007 |date=September 2006 |author=DiGiulian, Tony |publisher=navweaps.com}}</ref> The speedy ''Ohkas'' presented a very difficult problem for [[Anti aircraft|anti-aircraft]] fire, since their velocity made [[Mark 8, Fire Control Computer|fire control]] extremely difficult. By 1945, large numbers of anti-aircraft shells with radiofrequency [[proximity fuze]]s, on average seven times more effective than regular shells, became available, and the US Navy recommended their use against ''kamikaze'' attacks.

===Final phase===
[[File:USS Louisville (CA-28) is hit by a kamikaze in Lingayen Gulf on 6 January 1945 (80-G-363217).jpg|thumb|left|{{USS|Louisville|CA-28|6}} is struck by a [[Mitsubishi Ki-51]] ''kamikaze'' at the [[Battle of Lingayen Gulf]], 6 January 1945.]]
[[File:Kamikaze zero.jpg|thumb|left|upright|{{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}} shortly before being hit by a [[Mitsubishi A6M Zero]] (visible top left), 11 April 1945. The damage was superficial, and no-one was killed apart from the pilot.]]

The peak period of ''kamikaze'' attack frequency came during April–June 1945 at the [[Battle of Okinawa]]. On 6 April 1945, waves of aircraft made hundreds of attacks in Operation Kikusui ("floating chrysanthemums").<ref>Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor: ''Danger's Hour, The Story of the USS ''Bunker Hill'' and the ''Kamikaze'' Pilot who Crippled Her'', Simon and Schuster, New York, 2008 {{ISBN|978-0743260800}}</ref> At Okinawa, ''kamikaze'' attacks focused at first on Allied [[destroyer]]s on [[Radar picket|picket]] duty, and then on the carriers in the middle of the fleet. Suicide attacks by aircraft or boats at Okinawa sank or put out of action at least 30 US warships<ref name=navycas>Naval Historical Center, 2004, [http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq82-1.htm ''Casualties: U.S. Navy and Coast Guard Vessels, Sunk or Damaged Beyond Repair during World War II, 7 December 1941 – 1 October 1945''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102121523/http://www.history.navy.mil/FAQs/faq82-1.htm |date=2 January 2013 }} (U.S. Navy) Access date: 1 December 2007.</ref> and at least three US [[merchant ship]]s,<ref>[http://www.usmm.org/sunk45.html American Merchant Marine at War (website), 2006, "Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1945"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325205902/http://www.usmm.org/sunk45.html |date=25 March 2017 }} Access date: 1 December 2007.</ref> along with some from other Allied forces. The attacks expended 1,465 aircraft. Many warships of all classes were damaged, some severely, but no aircraft carriers, [[battleship]]s or [[cruiser]]s were sunk by ''kamikaze'' at Okinawa. Most of the ships lost were destroyers or smaller vessels, especially those on picket duty.<ref name=navycas/> The destroyer {{USS|Laffey|DD-724|6}} earned the nickname "The Ship That Would Not Die" after surviving six ''kamikaze'' attacks and four bomb hits during this battle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patriotspoint.org/exhibits/fleet/laffey.html |title=USS Laffey |publisher=[[Patriots Point]] Naval & Maritime Museum |access-date=22 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927212452/http://www.patriotspoint.org/exhibits/fleet/laffey.html |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

American carriers, with their wooden flight decks, [[Comparison of armoured to unarmoured flight deck designs|appeared to suffer more damage]] from ''kamikaze'' hits than the armored-decked carriers of the [[British Pacific Fleet]]. American carriers also suffered considerably heavier casualties from ''kamikaze'' strikes; for instance, 389 men were killed in one attack on {{USS|Bunker Hill|CV-17|6}}, greater than the combined number of fatalities suffered on all six Royal Navy armored carriers from all forms of attack during the entire war. ''Bunker Hill'' and ''Franklin'' were both hit (in ''Franklin's'' case, by a dive bomber, not a ''kamikaze'') while conducting operations with fully fueled and armed aircraft spotted on deck for takeoff, an extremely vulnerable state for any carrier. Eight ''kamikaze'' hits on five British carriers resulted in only 20 deaths while a combined total of 15 bomb hits, most of {{cvt|500|kg|||}} weight or greater, and one torpedo hit on four carriers caused 193 fatal casualties earlier in the war—striking proof of the protective value of the armored flight deck.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-042.php|title=History and Technology – Kamikaze Damage to US and British Carriers |website=navweaps.com}}</ref><ref>Polmar, ''Aircraft Carriers''.</ref>

[[File:HMS Formidable (67) on fire 1945.jpg|thumb|Aircraft carrier {{HMS|Formidable|67|6}} after being struck by a ''kamikaze'' off the [[Sakishima Islands]]. The ''kamikaze'' made a dent {{convert|3|m|ft|0}} long and {{convert|0.6|m|ft|0}} wide and deep in the armored flight deck. Eight crew members were killed, 47 were wounded, and 11 aircraft were destroyed.]]
[[File:USS Newcomb Damage 1945.jpg|thumb|upright|''Kamikaze'' damage to the destroyer {{USS|Newcomb|DD-586|6}} following action off Okinawa. ''Newcomb'' was damaged beyond economical repair and scrapped post-war.]]
The resilience of well-armored vessels was shown on 4 May, just after 11:30, when there was a wave of suicide attacks against the British Pacific Fleet. One Japanese aircraft made a steep dive from "a great height" at the carrier {{HMS|Formidable|67|6}} and was engaged by anti-aircraft guns.<ref>[https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Navy-c24.html Sydney David Waters, 1956, ''The Royal New Zealand Navy'', Historical Publications Branch, Wellington. pp. 383–384] Access date: 1 December 2007.</ref> Although the ''kamikaze'' was hit by gunfire, it managed to drop a bomb that detonated on the flight deck, making a crater {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on|0}} long, {{convert|0.6|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} wide and {{convert|0.6|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} deep. A long steel splinter speared down through the hangar deck and the main boiler room (where it ruptured a steam line) before coming to rest in a fuel tank near the aircraft park, where it started a major fire. Eight personnel were killed and 47 were wounded. One Corsair and ten [[Grumman TBF Avenger|Grumman Avenger]]s were destroyed. The fires were gradually brought under control, and the crater in the deck was repaired with concrete and steel plate. By 17:00, Corsairs were able to land. On 9 May, ''Formidable'' was again damaged by a ''kamikaze'', as were the carrier {{HMS|Victorious|R38|6}} and the battleship {{HMS|Howe|32|6}}. The British were able to clear the flight deck and resume flight operations in just hours, while their American counterparts took a few days or even months, as observed by a US Navy liaison officer on {{HMS|Indefatigable|R10|6}} who commented: "When a ''kamikaze'' hits a US carrier it means six months of repair at [[Pearl Harbor]]. When a ''kamikaze'' hits a Limey carrier it's just a case of 'Sweepers, man your brooms'."

Twin-engine aircraft were occasionally used in ''kamikaze'' attacks. For example, [[Mitsubishi Ki-67]] ''Hiryū'' ("Peggy") medium bombers, based on Formosa, undertook ''kamikaze'' attacks on Allied forces off Okinawa, while a pair of [[Kawasaki Ki-45]] ''Toryu'' ("Nick") heavy fighters caused enough damage for the destroyer {{USS|Dickerson|DD-157|6}} to be scuttled. The last ship in the war to be sunk, the {{sclass|Fletcher|destroyer|1}} {{USS|Callaghan|DD-792|6}}, was on a radar picket line off Okinawa when she was struck by an obsolete wood-and-fabric [[Yokosuka K5Y]] biplane.

During the final stage of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army aviation employed numbers of kamikaze airstrikes against the [[Red Army]] during the [[Soviet–Japanese War]] in 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rg.ru/2015/09/03/kamikadze.html|title= Воспоминания очевидцев: Японцы отправляли на фронт танки-камикадзе|date=Sep 3, 2015|lang=ru}}</ref> Between 9 August and 2 September 1945, several airstrikes involving kamikaze pilots were recorded. On 18 August, a Japanese Ki-45 flown by Lieutenant Yoshira Tsiohara attacked a tanker in the port of Vladivostok. The plane was shot down and the pilot was killed. He was found to have orders to attack the largest tanker in Vladivostok, and if he failed, to ram the biggest house in the city.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} On the same day, the Soviet minesweeper ''KT-152'' was sunk during the [[Battle of Shumshu]]. It is believed to have been attacked by a ''kamikaze''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://vpk-news.ru/articles/20928 |title=Смертники и полусмертники против Красной Армии |language=ru |access-date=7 October 2022 |archive-date=13 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113162428/https://vpk-news.ru/articles/20928 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1247&context=nwc-review|title=Kamikazes: The Soviet Legacy|access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|オネール|1988|p=292}}</ref> In the middle of August the Japanese military planned to dispatch a group of 30 ''kamikaze'' pilots from Japan to Korea to attack Soviet warships, but the Japanese leadership decided to surrender and the operation was cancelled.

''Kamikazes'' also operated against Red Army ground units. On August 10, three ''kamikazes'' attacked a tank column of the 20th Guards Tank Brigade. The paratroopers succeeded in shooting down two of the attacking aircraft, while the third crashed into a tank. During 12–13 August, 14 Japanese planes, including ''kamikazes'', targeted tanks of the 5th Guards Tank Corps. Soviet fighter aviation, which managed to destroy three enemy aircraft and an anti-aircraft artillery which lost two planes{{clarify|date=April 2023|reason=Japanese losses to AA? The numbers would add up to 14.}} participated in repulsing the air raids. Nine ''kamikazes'' crashed without hitting their targets. Damage from these attacks was negligible.

[[File:USS Bunker Hill hit by two Kamikazes.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|{{USS|Bunker Hill|CV-17|6}}, an aircraft carrier, was hit by two ''kamikazes'' on 11 May 1945, resulting in 396 personnel dead or missing and over 260 wounded.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-048/h-048-1.html |title=H-048-1: Kamikaze Attacks on U.S. Flagships off Okinawa |last=Cox |first=Samuel J. |date=May 2020 |website=Naval History and Heritage Command |publisher= |access-date=3 September 2024}}</ref><ref>[http://www.navsource.net/archives/02/17.htm Bunker Hill CV-17], NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive</ref>]]
{{multiple image
|image1 = Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa hit Bunker Hill (new).png
|image2 = Seizō Yasunori and Zero (cropped, b&w).jpg
|footer = [[Kiyoshi Ogawa]] ''(left)'', 22, and [[Seizō Yasunori]], 21, the pilots who flew their aircraft into ''Bunker Hill''
|total_width = 290
}}
On 17 August, the Kwantung Army command ordered its units to surrender, but some of the pilots disobeyed and the Japanese air attacks continued. On 18 August, convoys of the 20th and 21st Armored Brigade were attacked. The kamikazes traded six of their aircraft for a tank and a couple of cars. The ''kamikazes'' also flew solo. On 18 August, several ammunition resupply vehicles carrying ammunition for BM-13{{clarify|date=April 2023}} were destroyed by a ''kamikaze'' in the Tao'an area. The personnel were unharmed, as they managed to evade the raid. On 19 August, nine aircraft raided the tanks of the 21st Guards Tank Brigade. Seven were shot down, but two planes broke through; one tank was destroyed and the other damaged. About the raid, the author of the book ''Tanker on a foreign vehicle'' D. Loza recalls six Japanese aircraft attacked the convoy, which damaged one Sherman tank and destroyed a medical vehicle.  Japanese commanders ordered weapons depots to be secured and the propellers of aircraft on airfields to be removed to stop these sorties. Supposedly, the ''kamikazes'' carried out more than 50 suicide attacks against the Soviet Red Army in August 1945. That is the number of aircraft the Japanese attributed to "other losses". Overall, the ''kamikaze'' airstrikes proved ineffective and had little or no effect on the Red Army during the Soviet–Japanese War.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dzen.ru/media/id/5a4412865a104fc5286678ec/iaponskie-letchikikamikadze-protiv-krasnoi-armii-v-1945-godu-5d2ac76ce3062c00aefaca88|title=Японские летчики-камикадзе против Красной Армии в 1945 году.|language=ru|access-date=Oct 7, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-soviet-invasion-of-manchuria-led-to-japans-greatest-defeat/|title=The Soviet Invasion of Manchuria led to Japan's Greatest Defeat|access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/soviet-invasion-of-manchuria-catching-japan-unawares/|title=Soviet Invasion of Manchuria: Catching Japan Unawares|date=4 October 2016 |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref>

Vice Admiral [[Matome Ugaki]], the commander of the IJN 5th Air Fleet based in Kyushu, participated in one of the final ''kamikaze'' attacks on American ships on 15 August 1945, hours after Japan's announced surrender.<ref>Hoyt, ''The Last Kamikaze''.</ref>

On 19 August 1945, 11 young officers under Second Lieutenant Hitoshi Imada, attached to the 675th Manchuria Detachment, accompanied by two women of their engagement,{{clarify|date=April 2023|reason=Engagement?}} left the Daikosan airfield and made a final aerial suicide attack against one of the Soviet armored units that had [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]] known as the Shinshu Fumetsu Special Attack Corps (Japanese: 神州不滅特別攻撃隊),<ref>{{cite web|url= https://mag.japaaan.com/archives/155676|title=終戦後に特攻した「神州不滅特別攻撃隊」そこには女性の姿も。彼らが残した思いとは|language=ja|access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~UN3k-MN/0815-sinsyu.htm |title=神州不滅特攻隊|language=ja|date=Oct 20, 2002|access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://tokyowanyosai.com/sub/ibutu/sekihi/irei-567.html |title=神州不滅特別攻撃隊之碑（世田谷観音寺）|language=ja|access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220823/p2a/00m/0na/018000c|title=Last flight: Why did one young Japanese woman join her pilot husband on kamikaze mission?|newspaper=Mainichi Daily News |date=24 August 2022|access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref> The last ''kamikaze'' attacks were recorded on 20 August 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dzen.ru/media/id/5a4412865a104fc5286678ec/iaponskie-letchikikamikadze-protiv-krasnoi-armii-v-1945-godu-5d2ac76ce3062c00aefaca88|title=Японские летчики-камикадзе против Красной Армии в 1945 году.|access-date=Oct 7, 2022}}</ref>
Shortly afterward, the main strength of the Japanese Army began to lay down its arms in surrender per the [[Hirohito|Emperor]]'s [[Jewel Voice Broadcast|broadcast]]. The Soviet–Japanese War, and World War II, had come to an end.

At the time of the surrender, the Japanese had more than 9,000 aircraft in the home islands available for ''kamikaze'' attacks, and more than 5,000 had already been specially fitted for suicide attack to resist the planned either American or Soviet invasion.<ref name=USSBS>[[United States Strategic Bombing Survey]], [http://aupress.au.af.mil/Books/USSBS/USSBS.pdf Summary Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030825163637/http://aupress.au.af.mil/Books/USSBS/USSBS.pdf |date=25 August 2003 }}, Pacific War, Washington D.C., 1 July 1946, pp 70–71.</ref>

==Effects==
[[File:Ugaki Matome final mission.jpg|thumb|left|Ugaki, shortly before taking off in a [[Yokosuka D4Y]] to participate in one of the final ''kamikaze'' strikes, 15 August 1945]]

As the end of the war approached, the Allies did not suffer more serious significant losses, despite having far more ships and facing a greater intensity of ''kamikaze'' attacks. Although causing some of the heaviest casualties on US carriers in 1945 (particularly as ''Bunker Hill'' was unlucky to be hit with fueled and armed aircraft on deck), the IJN had sacrificed 2,525 ''kamikaze'' pilots and the IJAAF 1,387{{snd}} without successfully sinking any fleet carriers, cruisers, or battleships. This was far more than the IJN had lost in 1942 when it sank or crippled three US fleet carriers (albeit without inflicting significant casualties). In 1942, when US Navy vessels were scarce, the temporary absence of key warships from the combat zone would tie up operational initiatives. By 1945, however, the US Navy was large enough that damaged ships could be detached back home for repair without much hampering the fleet's operational capability. The only US surface losses were escort carriers, destroyers, and smaller ships, all of which lacked the armor protection or capability to sustain heavy damage. Overall, the ''kamikazes'' were unable to turn the tide of the war and stop the Allied invasion.

While on paper it may appear that ''kamikaze'' and ''kamikaze''-assisted attacks at Okinawa only managed to sink smaller ships like destroyers, the reality is different. ''Kamikaze'' raids often included escort fighters and conventional bombers piloted by skilled aviators who were not intended to execute suicide strikes. These coordinated groups, such as the one that paved the way for conventional bombers to successfully strike the fleet carrier ''Franklin'', were crucial. In fact, three large fleet carriers—''Franklin'', ''Bunker Hill'', and {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|2}}—were so heavily damaged by ''kamikaze''-related attacks that they were knocked out for the remainder of the war.

For the Japanese this was not much different than sinking them, operationally speaking. For each of the heavily damaged aircraft carriers dozens of aircraft were destroyed that would have been impossible to be shot down by any Japanese forces via dogfights or anti-aircraft weapons at this stage of the war. ''Franklin'' lost 59 planes, ''Bunker Hill'' lost 78 planes, and ''Enterprise'' lost 25 planes in the Japanese attacks that ended the war for them. There were more lost planes on these three carriers alone (not including the numerous other successful strikes on other Allied carriers during the Battle of Okinawa) than the United States lost in the entire Battle of Midway. ''Franklin'' and ''Bunker Hill'' also both had the [[List of sunken aircraft carriers#United States|first and third largest fatalities on sunken or damaged US aircraft carriers in World War II]] and were the only ''Essex''-class carriers to never serve on active duty after World War II while ''Enterprise'' was mothballed soon after World War II despite all three of them receiving repairs back in the United States. Numerous other larger-than-destroyer warships were so heavily damaged that they also were knocked out for the rest of the war and decommissioned shortly after World War II.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-japan/kamikaze/pre-okinawa.html |title=Pre-Okinawa Kamikazes |publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command National Museum of the U.S. Navy |access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2005/april/hellish-prelude-okinawa |title=Hellish Prelude at Okinawa |date=April 2005 |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute |access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/listPages/navy/asp/USN_Loss_1945May.asp |title=U.S. Navy Overseas Loss List - May 1945 |publisher=Aviation Archaeological Investigation & Research |access-date=30 August 2023}} For destroyed aircraft from ''Bunker Hill'' and ''Enterprise''.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/listPages/navy/asp/USN_Loss_1945Mar.asp |title=U.S. Navy Overseas Loss List - March 1945 |publisher=Aviation Archaeological Investigation & Research |access-date=30 August 2023}} For destroyed aircraft from ''Franklin''.</ref>

The Japanese ''kamikazes'' were so relentless at Okinawa that [[United States Fifth Fleet]] commander Admiral [[Raymond A. Spruance]]'s flagships were struck two separate times ({{USS|Indianapolis|CA-35|2}} was hit in March and had to retire for repairs which forced him to transfer to {{USS|New Mexico|BB-40|2}} which was also hit in May). [[Fast Carrier Task Force]] commander Vice Admiral [[Marc Mitscher]] and his chief of staff Commodore [[Arleigh Burke]] were yards away from getting killed or wounded by ''kamikazes'' on his flagship ''Bunker Hill'', which killed three of Mitscher's staff officers and eleven of his enlisted staff members and also destroyed his flag cabin along with all of his uniforms, personal papers, and possessions. Just three days later Mitscher's new flagship ''Enterprise'' was also struck by a ''kamikaze'', forcing him to have to change his flagship yet again.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-048/h-048-1.html |title=H-048-1: Kamikaze Attacks on U.S. Flagships off Okinawa |publisher=U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref>

Spruance later wrote about the effectiveness of ''kamikazes'':

{{blockquote|This is my second experience with a suicide plane making a hit on board my own ship, and I have seen four other ships hit near me. The suicide plane is a very effective weapon, which we must not underestimate. I do not believe anyone who has not been around within its area of operations can realize its potentialities against ships. It is the opposite extreme of a lot of our Army heavy bombers who bomb safely and ineffectively from the upper atmosphere.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1945/battle-of-okinawa/spruance-letter.html |title=Admiral Spruance Recounts Kamikaze Attack on His Flagship, New Mexico (BB-40) |publisher=U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command |access-date=30 August 2023}}</ref>}}

In the immediate aftermath of ''kamikaze'' strikes, British fleet carriers with their armoured flight decks recovered more quickly [[Comparison of armoured to unarmoured flight deck designs#Postwar analysis|compared to their US counterparts]]. Post-war analysis showed that some British carriers such as HMS ''Formidable'' suffered structural damage that led to them being scrapped, as being beyond economic repair. [[Economic history of the United Kingdom#1945–1959: the post-War era|Britain's post-war economic situation]] played a role in the decision to not repair damaged carriers, while even seriously damaged American carriers such as USS ''Bunker Hill'' were repaired, although they were then mothballed or sold off as surplus after World War II without re-entering service.

[[File:USS Intrepid CV-11 kamikaze strike.jpg|thumb|upright|A crewman in an [[anti-aircraft|AA]] gun aboard the battleship {{USS|New Jersey|BB-62|2}} watches a ''kamikaze'' aircraft dive at {{USS|Intrepid|CV-11|2}} 25 November 1944. Over 75 men were killed or missing and 100 wounded.]]

The exact number of ships sunk is a matter of debate. According to a wartime Japanese propaganda announcement, the missions sank 81 ships and damaged 195, and according to a Japanese tally, ''kamikaze'' attacks accounted for up to 80% of the US losses in the final phase of the war in the Pacific. In a 2004 book, ''World War II'', the historians Willmott, Cross, and Messenger stated that more than 70 US vessels were "sunk or damaged beyond repair" by ''kamikazes''.<ref>Willmott, {{page needed|date=November 2020}}.</ref>

According to the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, from October 1944 until the end of the war, 2,550 Kamikaze missions were flown with only 475 (or 18.6%) achieving a hit or a damaging near miss. Warships of all types were damaged including 12 aircraft carriers, 15 battleships, and 16 light and escort carriers. However, no ship larger than an escort carrier was sunk. Approximately 45 ships were sunk, the bulk of which were destroyers. To the United States, the losses were of such concern that more than 2,000 B-29 sorties were diverted from attacking Japanese cities and industries to striking Kamikaze air fields in Kyushu.<ref name=USSBS/>

According to a [[United States Air Force|US Air Force]] webpage:

{{blockquote|Approximately 2,800 ''Kamikaze'' attackers sank 34 Navy ships, damaged 368 others, killed 4,900 sailors, and wounded over 4,800. Despite [[radar]] detection and cuing, airborne interception, attrition, and massive anti-aircraft barrages, 14 per cent of ''Kamikazes'' survived to score a hit on a ship; nearly 8.5 percent of all ships hit by ''Kamikazes'' sank.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/EARS/Hallionpapers/precisionweaponspower.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505052709/http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/EARS/Hallionpapers/precisionweaponspower.htm |archive-date=5 May 2009 |first=Richard P. |last=Hallion |date=1999 |title=Precision Weapons, Power Projection, and The Revolution In Military Affairs |publisher=USAF Historical Studies Office |access-date=21 December 2015}}</ref>}}

Australian journalists Denis and Peggy Warner, in a 1982 book with Japanese naval historian Sadao Seno (''The Sacred Warriors: Japan's Suicide Legions''), arrived at a total of 57 ships sunk by ''kamikazes''. Bill Gordon, an American [[Japanese Studies|Japanologist]] who specializes in ''kamikazes'', lists in a 2007 article 47 ships known to have been sunk by ''kamikaze'' aircraft. Gordon says that the Warners and Seno included ten ships that did not sink. He lists:
* three escort carriers: {{USS|St. Lo|CVE-63|6}}, {{USS|Ommaney Bay|CVE-79|6}}, and {{USS|Bismarck Sea|CVE-95|6}}
* fourteen destroyers, including the last ship to be sunk, {{USS|Callaghan|DD-792|6}} on 29 July 1945, off Okinawa
* three [[high-speed transport]] ships
* five [[Landing Ship, Tank]]
* four [[Landing Ship Medium]]
* three [[Landing Ship Medium|Landing Ship Medium (Rocket)]]
* one auxiliary [[Petroleum tanker|tanker]]
* three [[Victory ship]]s
* three [[Liberty ship]]s
* two [[high-speed minesweeper]]s
* one [[USS Swallow (AM-65)|''Auk''-class minesweeper]]
* one [[submarine chaser]]
* two [[PT boat]]s
* two [[Landing Craft Support]]

==Recruitment==
[[File:Kamikaze-ManchesterMSI crop.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Japanese [[Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka|Yokosuka MXY-7 ''Ohka'']] ("cherry blossom"), a specially built rocket-powered ''kamikaze'' aircraft used towards the end of the war. The US called them ''Baka Bombs'' ("idiot bombs").]]

It was claimed by the Japanese forces at the time that there were many volunteers for the suicidal forces. Captain [[Motoharu Okamura]] commented that "there were so many volunteers for suicide missions that he referred to them as a swarm of bees", explaining: "Bees die after they have stung."<ref name="Axell, p. 35">Axell, p. 35</ref> Okamura is credited with being the first to propose the ''kamikaze'' attacks. He had expressed his desire to lead a volunteer group of suicide attacks some four months before Admiral [[Takijiro Ohnishi]], commander of the Japanese naval air forces in the Philippines, presented the idea to his staff. While Vice-Admiral [[Shigeru Fukudome]], commander of the second air fleet, was inspecting the 341st Air Group, Captain Okamura took the chance to express his ideas on crash-dive tactics:
{{blockquote|In our present situation, I firmly believe that the only way to swing the war in our favor is to resort to crash-dive attacks with our aircraft. There is no other way. There will be more than enough volunteers for this chance to save our country, and I would like to command such an operation. Provide me with 300 aircraft and I will turn the tide of war.<ref>{{cite book |last=Inoguchi |first=Rikihei |title=The Divine Wind |location=Maryland |publisher=Naval Institute Press |date=1958 |page=139}}</ref>}}

When the volunteers arrived for duty in the corps, there were twice as many persons as aircraft available. "After the war, some commanders would express regret for allowing superfluous crews to accompany sorties, sometimes squeezing themselves aboard bombers and fighters so as to encourage the suicide pilots and, it seems, join in the exultation of sinking a large enemy vessel."<!-- Ibid., 39 --> Many of the ''kamikaze'' pilots believed their death would pay the debt they owed and show the love they had for their families, friends, and emperor. "So eager were many minimally trained pilots to take part in suicide missions that when their sorties were delayed or aborted, the pilots became deeply despondent. Many of those who were selected for a body crashing mission were described as being extraordinarily blissful immediately before their final sortie."<ref>Axell, p. 40</ref>

However, an evidence-based study of 2,000 pilots' uncensored letters revealed that the pilots candidly expressed myriad emotions in private. Typically, they declared their determination to die to protect the homeland and thanked their school teachers, parents, siblings, and friends for their selfless devotion. Although most pilots were unmarried (the average age was 19), some young fathers left loving instructions for their young wives and children to live well, and others expressed memories of unrequited love or the sorrow of dying young.<ref>{{cite book |last=van der Does-Ishikawa |first=Luli |chapter=Contested memories of the Kamikaze and the self-representations of Tokkō-tai youth in their missives home |editor-last=Hook |editor-first=G. D. |title=Excavating the Power of Memory in Japan |journal=Japan Forum |year=2015 |volume=27 |issue=3 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor and Francis UK |location=London |isbn=978-1138677296 |pages=50–84 |doi=10.1080/09555803.2015.1045540 |s2cid=216150961 }}</ref>

As time wore on, modern critics questioned the nationalist portrayal of ''kamikaze'' pilots as noble soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives for the country. In 2006, [[Tsuneo Watanabe]], editor-in-chief of the ''[[Yomiuri Shimbun]]'', criticized Japanese nationalists' glorification of ''kamikaze'' attacks:<ref>{{cite news |work=The New York Times |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C11FB3E5A0C728DDDAB0894DE404482 |title=The Saturday Profile; Shadow Shogun Steps Into Light, to Change Japan |date=11 February 2006 |access-date=15 February 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |work=International Herald Tribune |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/10/news/MOGUL.php |title=Publisher dismayed by Japanese nationalism |date=10 February 2006 |access-date=11 March 2007 |archive-date=11 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060511005410/http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/10/news/MOGUL.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-sep-25-fg-kamikaze25-story.html|title=They've Outlived the Stigma|work=Los Angeles Times|date=25 September 2004}}</ref>

<blockquote>It's all a lie that they left filled with braveness and joy, crying, "Long live the [[Hirohito|emperor]]!" They were sheep at a slaughterhouse. Everybody was looking down and tottering. Some were unable to stand up and were carried and pushed into their aircraft by maintenance soldiers.</blockquote>

==Training==
{{Blockquote|When you eliminate all thoughts about life and death, you will be able to totally disregard your earthly life. This will also enable you to concentrate your attention on eradicating the enemy with unwavering determination, meanwhile reinforcing your excellence in flight skills.|Excerpt from a ''kamikaze'' pilots' manual|source=<ref name="guardian"/>}}

''Tokkōtai'' pilot training, as described by Takeo Kasuga,<ref>{{cite book|last=Ohnuki-Tierney |first=Emiko |title=Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers |url=https://archive.org/details/kamikazediariesr00ohnu_748 |url-access=limited |year=2006 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/kamikazediariesr00ohnu_748/page/n201 175]|isbn=978-0226619507 }} Extract at [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/619508.html University of Chicago Press website]</ref> generally "consisted of incredibly strenuous training, coupled with cruel and torturous corporal punishment as a daily routine". The training, in theory, lasted for thirty days, but because of American raids and shortage of fuel it could last up to two months.

Daikichi Irokawa, who trained at Tsuchiura Naval Air Base, recalled that he "was struck on the face so hard and frequently that [his] face was no longer recognizable". He also wrote: "I was hit so hard that I could no longer see and fell on the floor. The minute I got up, I was hit again by a club so that I would confess." This brutal "training" was justified by the idea that it would instil a "soldier's fighting spirit", but daily beatings and corporal punishment eliminated patriotism among many pilots.<ref name="Ohnuki-Tierney">Ohnuki-Tierney {{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>

{{Quote box
|width=30%
|align=right
|quote=We tried to live with 120 per cent intensity, rather than waiting for death. We read and read, trying to understand why we had to die in our early twenties. We felt the clock ticking away towards our death, every sound of the clock shortening our lives.
|source=Irokawa Daikichi, ''Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers'' }}

Pilots were given a manual that detailed how they were supposed to think, prepare, and attack. From this manual, pilots were told to "attain a high level of spiritual training", and to "keep [their] health in the very best condition". These instructions, among others, were meant to make pilots mentally ready to die.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |title=Advice to Japanese kamikaze pilots during the second world war |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/07/japanese-kamikaze-pilots-second-world-war |access-date=30 July 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=7 September 2009}}</ref>

The ''tokkōtai'' pilot's manual also explained how a pilot may turn back if he could not locate a target, and that a pilot "should not waste [his] life lightly". One pilot, a graduate from [[Waseda University]], who continually came back to base was shot after his ninth return.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ohnuki-Tierney |first1=Emiko |title=Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers |date=2007 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226620923 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFB7UHgRhvAC&pg=PA1 |access-date=2 June 2021}}</ref>

The manual was very detailed in how a pilot should attack. A pilot would dive towards his target and "aim for a point between the bridge tower and the smokestacks". Entering a smokestack was also said to be "effective". Pilots were told not to aim at a carrier's bridge tower but instead to target the elevators or the flight deck. For horizontal attacks, the pilot was to "aim at the middle of the vessel, slightly higher than the waterline" or to "aim at the entrance to the aircraft hangar, or the bottom of the stack" if the former was too difficult.<ref name="guardian"/>

The ''tokkōtai'' pilot's manual told pilots to never close their eyes, as this would lower the chances of hitting their targets. In the final moments before the crash, the pilot was to yell "''hissatsu''" (必殺) at the top of his lungs, which translates to "certain kill" or "sink without fail".<ref name="guardian"/>

==Cultural background==
In 1944–45, [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers|US military leaders]] invented the term "[[State Shinto]]" as part of the [[Shinto Directive]] to differentiate the Japanese state's ideology from traditional [[Shinto]] practices. As time went on, Americans claimed, Shinto was used increasingly in the promotion of [[nationalism|nationalist]] sentiment. In 1890, the [[Imperial Rescript on Education]] was passed, under which students were required to ritually recite its oath to offer themselves "courageously to the [[State (polity)|state]]" as well as protect the [[Imperial House of Japan|Imperial family]]. The ultimate offering was to give up one's life. It was an honour to die for Japan and the [[Hirohito|Emperor]]. Axell and Kase pointed out: "The fact is that innumerable soldiers, sailors and pilots were determined to die, to become ''eirei'', that is 'guardian spirits' of the country. ... Many Japanese felt that to be enshrined at [[Yasukuni]] was a special honour because the Emperor visited the shrine to pay homage twice a year. Yasukuni is the only shrine deifying common men which the Emperor would visit to pay his respects."<ref name="Axell, p. 35"/> Young Japanese people were indoctrinated from an early age with these ideals.

[[File:19441025 pilots of japanese 201 naval air corps farewell.jpg|thumb|left|First recruits for Japanese Kamikaze suicide pilots in 1944]]

Following the commencement of the ''kamikaze'' tactic, newspapers and books ran advertisements, articles and stories regarding the suicide bombers to aid in recruiting and support. In October 1944, the ''Nippon Times'' quoted Lieutenant Sekio Nishina: "The spirit of the Special Attack Corps is the great spirit that runs in the blood of every Japanese ... The crashing action which simultaneously kills the enemy and oneself without fail is called the Special Attack ... Every Japanese is capable of becoming a member of the Special Attack Corps."<ref>Axell, p. 36</ref> Publishers also played up the idea that the ''kamikaze'' were enshrined at Yasukuni and ran exaggerated stories of ''kamikaze'' bravery – there were even [[fairy tale]]s for little children that promoted the ''kamikaze''. A Foreign Office official named Toshikazu Kase said: "It was customary for GHQ [in Tokyo] to make false announcements of victory in utter disregard of facts, and for the elated and complacent public to believe them."<ref>Axell, pp. 38, 41, 43</ref>

While many stories were falsified, some were true, such as that of Kiyu Ishikawa, who saved a Japanese ship when he crashed his aircraft into a [[torpedo]] that an American [[submarine]] had launched. The sergeant-major was posthumously promoted to second lieutenant by the emperor and was enshrined at [[Yasukuni Shrine|Yasukuni]].<ref name="Axell, p. 41">Axell, p. 41</ref> Stories like these, which showed the kind of praise and honour death produced, encouraged young Japanese to volunteer for the Special Attack Corps and instilled a desire in the youth to die as a ''kamikaze''.

Ceremonies were carried out before ''kamikaze'' pilots departed on their final mission. The ''kamikaze'' shared ceremonial cups of [[sake]] or water known as "mizu no sakazuki". Many ''kamikaze'' Army officers took their swords along, while the Navy pilots (as a general rule) did not. The ''kamikaze'', along with all Japanese aviators flying over unfriendly territory, were issued (or purchased, if they were officers) a [[Nambu pistol]] with which to end their lives if they risked being captured. Like all Army and Navy servicemen, the ''kamikaze'' would wear their ''[[senninbari]]'', a "belt of a thousand stitches" given to them by their mothers.<ref name=King>{{cite book|last=King|first=Dan|title= The Last Zero Fighter: Firsthand Accounts from WWII Japanese Naval Pilots |chapter= 4 Imaizumi|date=July 2012}}</ref> They also composed and read a [[death poem]], a tradition stemming from the [[samurai]], who did so before committing ''[[seppuku]]''. Pilots carried [[prayer]]s from their families and were given [[military decoration]]s. The ''kamikaze'' were escorted by other pilots whose function was to protect them en route to their destination and report on the results. Some of these escort pilots, such as Zero pilot Toshimitsu Imaizumi, were later sent out on their own ''kamikaze'' missions.<ref name=King/>

[[File:Chiran high school girls wave kamikaze pilot.jpg|thumb|left|Chiran high school girls wave farewell with cherry blossom branches to departing ''kamikaze'' pilot {{ill|Toshio Anazawa|ja|穴沢利夫}} in a [[Nakajima Ki-43]]-IIIa ''Hayabusa''.]]

While it is commonly perceived that volunteers signed up in droves for ''kamikaze'' missions, it has also been contended that there was extensive coercion and [[peer pressure]] involved in recruiting soldiers for the sacrifice. Their motivations in "volunteering" were complex and not simply about patriotism or bringing honour to their families. Firsthand interviews with surviving ''kamikaze'' and escort pilots has revealed that they were motivated by a desire to protect their families from perceived atrocities and possible extinction at the hands of the Allies. They viewed themselves as the last defense.<ref name = King/>

At least one of these pilots was a conscripted Korean with a Japanese name, adopted under the pre-war ''[[Soshi-kaimei]]'' ordinance that compelled [[Koreans]] to take Japanese personal names.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/22/stories/2005082202742000.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001050110/http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/22/stories/2005082202742000.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 October 2007|work=[[The Hindu]]|title=International : A "Japanese hero" goes home|date=22 August 2005}}</ref> Eleven of the 1,036 IJA ''kamikaze'' pilots who died in sorties from [[Chiran Special Attack Peace Museum|Chiran]] and other Japanese air bases during the Battle of Okinawa were Koreans.

It is said that young pilots on ''kamikaze'' missions often flew southwest from Japan over the {{convert|922|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[Mount Kaimon]]. The mountain is also called ''"Satsuma Fuji"'' (meaning a mountain like [[Mount Fuji]] but located in the [[Satsuma Province]] region). Suicide-mission pilots looked over their shoulders to see the mountain, the southernmost on the Japanese mainland, said farewell to their country and saluted the mountain. Residents on [[Kikai Island|Kikaishima Island]], east of [[Amami Ōshima]], say that pilots from suicide-mission units dropped flowers from the air as they departed on their final missions.

''Kamikaze'' pilots who were unable to complete their missions (because of mechanical failure, interception, etc.) were stigmatized in the years following the war. This stigma began to diminish some 50 years after the war as scholars and publishers began to distribute the survivors' stories.<ref>''Los Angeles Times'', [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-sep-25-fg-kamikaze25-story.html "They've Outlived the Stigma"] (25 September 2004). Retrieved 21 August 2011</ref>

Some Japanese military personnel were critical of the policy. Officers such as [[Minoru Genda]], Tadashi Minobe and Yoshio Shiga, refused to obey the policy. They said that the commander of a ''kamikaze'' attack should engage in the task first.<ref>Henry Sakaida, ''Genda's Blade'' (Japanese), Nekopublishing, p. 376</ref><ref>Watanabe Yoji, ''Tokko Kyohi No Ishoku Shudan Suiseyashutai'' (Japanese), Kojinsha, pp. 104–08</ref> Some persons who obeyed the policy, such as Kiyokuma Okajima, Saburo Shindo and Iyozo Fujita, were also critical of the policy.<ref>Ikari Yoshiro, ''Shidenkai No Rokuki'' (Japanese), Kojinsha, pp. 197–99</ref><ref>Maru ''Saikyo Sentoki Shidenkai'' (Japanese), Kojinsha, p. 162</ref> [[Saburō Sakai]] said: "We never dared to question orders, to doubt authority, to do anything but immediately carry out all the commands of our superiors. We were automatons who obeyed without thinking."<ref>Allan R. Millett, Williamson Murray, ''Military Effectiveness Volume3'', [[Cambridge University Press]], p. 34</ref> [[Tetsuzō Iwamoto]] refused to engage in a ''kamikaze'' attack because he thought the task of fighter pilots was to shoot down aircraft.<ref>Iwamoto Tetsuzō, ''Zero-sen Gekitsui-Oh'' Kyo-no-wadai-sha. {{ISBN|487565121X}}.</ref>

==Film==
* ''Saigo no Tokkōtai''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327128/|title=Saigo no tokkôtai (1970)|date=20 April 2009|work=IMDb}}</ref> (最後の特攻隊, ''The Last Kamikaze'' in English), released in 1970, produced by [[Toei Company|Toei]], directed by [[Junya Sato]] and starring [[Kōji Tsuruta]], [[Ken Takakura]] and [[Shinichi Chiba]]
* [[Toei Company|Toei]] also produced a biographical film about [[Takijirō Ōnishi]] in 1974 called ''Ā Kessen Kōkūtai''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1534351/|title=Father of the Kamikaze (1974)|date=1 June 2007|work=IMDb}}</ref> (あゝ決戦航空隊, ''Father of the Kamikaze'' in English), directed by [[Kōsaku Yamashita]].
* ''[[The Cockpit (OVA)|The Cockpit]]'', an anthology of short films containing one about a ''kamikaze'' pilot
* Masami Takahashi, ''Last Kamikaze Testimonials from WWII Suicide Pilots'' (Watertown, MA: [http://www.der.org/films/last-kamikaze.html Documentary Educational Resources], 2008)
* Risa Morimoto, ''Wings of Defeat'' (Harriman, NY: [http://www.edgewoodpictures.com/wingsofdefeat/ New Day Films], 2007)
* ''Ore wa, kimi no tameni koso'' (2007, ''For Those We Love'' in English<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0882797/|title=Ore wa, kimi no tame ni koso shini ni iku (2007) – IMDb|author=whatdoes1know|date=12 May 2007|work=IMDb}}</ref>)
* ''Assault on the Pacific – Kamikaze'' (2007), directed by Taku Shinjo (Original title: "俺は、君のためにこそ死ににいく" ''Ore wa, Kimi no Tame ni Koso Shini ni Iku'')
* ''[[The Eternal Zero (film)|The Eternal Zero]]'' (永遠の0 Eien no Zero) a 2013 film directed by [[Takashi Yamazaki]] based on the 2006 [[The Eternal Zero|novel of the same name]] by [[Naoki Hyakuta]].
* ''[[Godzilla Minus One]]'' (ゴジラ, ''Gojira Mainasu Wan'') a 2024 film also directed by Takashi Yamazaki set in the ''[[Godzilla (franchise)|Godzilla]]'' franchise, follows ''kamikaze'' [[deserter]] Kōichi Shikishima as he encounters the monster [[Godzilla]] in [[postwar Japan]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Aviation|Japan}}
{{div col}}
* [[Aerial ramming]]
* [[Banzai charge]]
* [[Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots]]
* [[Hachimaki]]
* {{slink|Kampfgeschwader 200|Suicide and near-suicide missions}}
* [[List of Imperial Japanese Navy air-to-surface special attack units]]
* [[List of Imperial Japanese Army air-to-surface special attack units]]
* [[List of ships damaged by kamikaze attack]]
* [[Leonidas Squadron]]
* [[Human torpedo]]
* [[Ryōji Uehara]]
* [[September 11 attacks]]
* [[Shinpūren rebellion]]
* [[Smertnik]]
* [[Sonderkommando Elbe]]
* [[Suicide by pilot]]
* [[Suicide weapon]]
{{end div col}}

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
* {{Cite book| title = Kamikaze: Japan's Suicide Gods | last2=Hideaki | first2 = Kase| publisher=Longman | year = 2002 | isbn = 058277232X | location = New York | last1 = Axell | first1 = Albert }}
* {{Cite book | title = Fighting Elites: Kamikaze | last = Brown | first = David | publisher = Gallery Books | year = 1990 | location = New York | isbn = 978-0831726713 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/kamikaze0000brow }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Huggins|first1=Mark|title=Setting Sun: Japanese Air Defence of the Philippines 1944–1945|journal=Air Enthusiast|date=May–June 1999|issue=81|pages=28–35 |issn=0143-5450}}
* {{Cite book| title = The Last Zero Fighter Firsthand Accounts from WWII Japanese Naval Pilots | last = King | first = Dan | publisher=Pacific Press | year = 2012 | isbn = 978-1468178807 | location = California }}
* {{Cite book| title = The Last Kamikaze | last = Hoyt | first = Edwin P. | publisher=Praeger | year = 1993 | isbn = 0275940675 }}
* {{Cite book| title = The Divine Wind | last2= Nakajima |first2=Tadashi |last3=Pineau |first3=Roger | publisher=Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. | year = 1959 | location = London | last1 = Inoguchi | first1 = Rikihei }}
* {{Cite book| title = Divine Thunder: The Life and Death of the Kamikazes | last = Millot | first = Bernard | publisher=Macdonald | year = 1971 | isbn = 0356038564 |oclc=8142990 }}
* {{cite book |last1=O'Neill |first1=Richard |translator=Yoshio Masuda |title=Suicide Squads |year=1988 |publisher=Kasumi Publishing |isbn=978-4876022045 |language=ja |ref={{SfnRef|オネール|1988}}}}
* Parshall, Jonathan B., Tully, Anthony P. (2005). ''Shattered Sword''.  Washington: Potomac Books.  {{ISBN|978-1574889239}}
* [[Mark Peattie|Peattie, Mark R.]] (2001).  ''Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909–1941''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.  {{ISBN|978-1591146643}}
* [[Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko]]. (2006). ''Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers.'' Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0226619507}}
* {{Cite book | title = Blossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze | last = Sheftall | first = Mordecai G. | publisher = NAL Caliber | year = 2005 | isbn = 0451214870 | url = https://archive.org/details/blossomsinwindhu00shef }}
* {{Cite book|title= The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945. |last= Toland |first= John |publisher=Random House |year= 1970 |location= New York
|oclc=105915 | author-link=John Toland (author) |title-link= The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945 }}
* {{Cite book| title = World War II |last2= Cross |first2=Robin |last3=Messenger |first3=Charles | publisher=Dorling Kindersley | year = 2004 | isbn= 0756605210 | location= London | last1 = Willmott | first1 = H. P. }}
* {{Cite book| title = Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack Weapons 1944–45 | last = Zaloga | first = Steven | publisher=Osprey | year = 2011 | isbn= 978-1849083539 }}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|author=[[Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko]] |title=Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0226620916}}
* {{Cite book|author=Rielly, Robin L. |title=Kamikaze Attacks of World War II: A Complete History of Japanese Suicide Strikes on American Ships, by Aircraft and Other Means |publisher=McFarland |year=2010 |isbn=978-0786446544}}
* {{Cite book|author=Stern, Robert |title=Fire from the Sky: Surviving the Kamikaze Threat |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1591142676}}
* {{cite book|last=Wragg|first=David|title=The Pacific Naval War, 1941–1945|pages=143–154|chapter=10. Kamikaze|year=2011|publisher=[[Pen and Sword Books|Pen & Sword Maritime]]|isbn=978-1848842830}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.kamikazeimages.net/ Kamikaze Images]
* [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/619508.html Excerpt from ''Kamikaze Diaries'']
* [http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=359&pID=1089 An ex-kamikaze pilot creates a new world]
* [http://ww2db.com/other.php?other_id=18 World War II Database: Kamikaze Doctrine]
* [http://ww2history.com/videos/Pacific/Kamikazes What motivated the Kamikazes?] on WW2History.com

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