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Mie Special Attack Corps Monument
Tsu City, Mie Prefecture

The Special Attack Corps Monument at Mie Prefecture Gokoku Jinja is the 20th one erected nationwide with support from the Tokkōtai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association and the Association to Pass On the Japanese Spirit (Nihonjin no kokoro o tsutaeru kai). The bronze figure of the front half of a kamikaze pilot standing on a stone pedestal honors young men who died in battle while carrying out special (suicide) attacks during the final part of the Pacific War.

The large characters on the plaque on the front face of the pedestal say "Aa tokkō" (Ah, Special Attacks). The plaque on front also has in small characters the following statement: "We certainly will never forget you."

A gokoku jinja is a Shintō shrine dedicated to persons from a prefecture or other area who died to defend the country of Japan. Each gokoku jinja has several monuments to remember those persons who died in wars.

Replicas of the standing kamikaze pilot have been erected at other shrines such as Miyagi Gokoku Jinja, Fukuoka Gokoku Jinja, Fukui Gokoku Jinja, and Ehime Gokoku Jinja. The monuments have the same bronze figure of the front half of a kamikaze pilot standing on a stone pedestal, but the monument arrangements and the explanatory plaques or inscriptions differ between locations. Unlike most other shrines, the Mie Special Attack Corps Monument has no explanation other than the front plaque.

The left side of the pedestal has a small plaque with information about the monument's erection. The Mie Special Attack Corps Monument was erected on April 29, 2020, but the dedication ceremony did not take place until August 10, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first Special Attack Corps Monument supported by the Tokkōtai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association was erected in 2007.

Mie Gokoku Jinja, constructed in 1941, honors over 63,000 persons from Mie Prefecture who died in wars. A total of 139 men from Mie Prefecture, 106 from the Navy and 33 from the Army, died in special attacks. The Navy deaths included 52 men by aircraft, 41 by shin'yō explosive motorboats, 12 by special submarines, and 1 by a kaiten human torpedo. The Army deaths included 21 men by aircraft, 7 in attacks by paratroopers or Tank Corps members, and 5 by explosive motorboats.

The following last letters were written by Special Attack Corps members from Mie Prefecture who died in special attacks:

• Last Letter of Corporal Bunroku Fujita to His Mother
• Last Writings of Second Lieutenant Mitsuharu Gotō
• Last Letters of Corporal Hitoshi Hamada to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Toshimune Hattori to His Mother
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 1st Class Zen'ichi Jinushi to His Parents
• Last Letters from Sergeant Shunji Katō
• Last Letter of Lieutenant Junior Grade Fumio Kobayashi to Inn Worker
• Last Letters of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Masaru Miyazaki to His Family
• Farewell Poem of Flight Warrant Officer Hayao Nishiguchi

Certain information on this webpage was obtained from the Report on Dedication of Special Attack Corps Monument to Mie Prefecture Gokoku Jinja (in Japanese) by Mitsumasa Ishii, Managing Director of the Tokkōtai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association.

Torii at front entrance of
Mie Prefecture Gokoku Jinja