What Actually is Kamikaze?

November is a good time to explain to folks what Kamikaze actually means. Because, according to the history books, Kamikaze happened in November.


Kamikaze doesn't exactly mean suicide airplanes. Kamikaze means "Divine Wind."

This short but excellent explanation of the origin of Kamikaze from Shmoop:

By the late thirteenth century, the Mongol Empire stretched from Korea to Eastern Europe, making it the largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen. In fact, Mongols are the only people in history ever to have successfully pulled off a winter invasion of Russia. Basically, these guys are the rockstars of the military world.

So when it came time to invade Japan, only two things could stop them:

1)    A typhoon

2)    Another typhoon

The Mongol fleet destroyed in a typhoon, ink and water on paper, by Kikuchi Yōsai, 1847

In November of 1274, Kublai Khan sent a fleet of an estimated 600 ships into Hakata Bay. They were devastated by a typhoon after only one day of fighting. Dismayed but not defeated, Kublai Khan spent the next seven years regrouping for a bigger, stronger attack.

In August of 1281, the Mongols sent an estimated 900 ships into Hakata Bay – only to be destroyed by a second, much larger typhoon. Just to be clear, although typhoons are common in Japan, the first one happened well after typhoon season and the second was a kind that’s estimated to occur only once every few hundred years.

Convinced of a divine intervention, the Japanese called the two storms “kamikaze,” or divine winds. Kublai Khan was inclined to agree: the Mongols never tried to invade Japan again.

See: Kamikaze at Wikipedia.

See more about the Top 7 Epic Fails in Human History at Schmoop.

The Fleet that Came to Stay (US World War II film)

Sunday Short Free Matinee!

Here is an interesting US made World War II propaganda film about the battle of Okinawa.

The battle of Okinawa was the first time Kamikaze planes appeared in World War II.

This film has much footage that I have never seen before.

The film's description from the Internet Archives:

The Fleet That Came to Stay was produced by the US Navy in 1945, and details the aerial and naval battles that raged during the invasion of Okinawa. The Okinawa campaign was especially devastating for the U.S. Navy due to the use of kamikaze suicide planes by the Japanese. After being hit by two kamikaze planes, the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) was severely damaged, and 346 of its crew were KIA. 



Note: This film is not here to glorify war or the state. I'd like for people to watch this and see how the State glorifies itself in any methodology possible. Especially check out the overlay of president Roosevelt at about 14:05 in the film.

If this guy was so concerned about US soldiers dying, why did he connive to have the USA enter the war?