The Kamikaze Who Read the Bible
The Last Four Days of Hayashi Ichizō, Age 23

About this video

Okinawa, April 1945. A twenty-three-year-old man from Fukuoka Prefecture, a student of economics at Kyoto Imperial University who had graduated early into the war, flew a Zero fighter of the Kamikaze Special Attack Unit's Second Shichisei Squadron toward the sea off Okinawa.

His name was Hayashi Ichizō. He was a Christian. In the four days before he took off, he kept writing letters to his mother. In the last of them, he quoted a passage from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, verse 39 — the prayer at Gethsemane.

If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.

— Matthew 26:39 (King James Version, 1611)

In this video, we re-read Hayashi Ichizō's letters to his mother from the primary, published sources. We do not tell the grand narrative of the war. We try to stay beside one person, in the four days between his early graduation into the military and his final flight, and listen to the words he chose to leave behind.

Sources

Every fact and every quotation in this video comes from one of the following published sources or public archives. Primary sources are documents written by Hayashi himself (letters, diary). Secondary sources are biographies, research, and context.

• Primary Hayashi, Ichizō (ed. Kaga Hiroko), Hinari Tatenari: Diary and Letters to His Mother
  Toukashobō (Fukuoka), 1st ed. 1993 / revised ed. 1995
  The central source for the letters and diary entries quoted in this video. A collected edition of Hayashi's personal writings.
• Primary Nihon Senbotsu Gakusei Kinen-kai (ed.), Kike Wadatsumi no Koe: Letters of Japanese Fallen Students (new edition)
  Iwanami Bunko, 1995 (revised); originally published by University of Tokyo Cooperative Publishing, 1949
  The widely available, canonical anthology of Japanese student-soldier writings, in which Hayashi's letters are included.
• Secondary Tada, Shigeharu, Last Letters to Mother: The Okinawa Kamikaze — Hayashi Ichizō
  Genshobō (Fukuoka), 2006
  Biographical background (upbringing, Kyoto Imperial University years, path into the military) has been cross-checked against this biography.
• Secondary Tokkōtai Senbotsusha Irei Kenshōkai (Association for the Memorial of Kamikaze Casualties), official website
  tokkotai.or.jp
  Used for confirmation of unit assignment and sortie date from publicly available records.
• Secondary National Diet Library Digital Collections
  dl.ndl.go.jp
  Used for background materials and verification of related documents.
• Scripture The New Testament, Gospel of Matthew 26:39
  King James Version, 1611 / public domain
  The Gethsemane prayer quoted in Hayashi's last letter. We render the English through a public-domain translation.

Notes

• All quotations from Hayashi's letters and diary in this video are made under Article 32 of the Japanese Copyright Act (published work, minimum necessary extent, our commentary remains principal, source attributed).
• The narration is performed by a human reader. No AI-generated voice is used in this video.
• Paper textures and abstract background imagery were created with generative AI (Adobe Firefly). No AI-generated imagery is used to depict the face of any historical person or to recreate any specific historical event.
• The English-language edition is translated by us, using Claude for a first draft and revised over time.

Japanese version

The original Japanese edition of this video is available on the Japanese video page.

For factual corrections or source inquiries, please email contact@fragmentsjapan.com. For an overview of how we work, see our editorial principles.