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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Masaoki Sen, ex-kamikaze pilot and ‘tea ceremony diplomat,' dies at 102
Traveling the world to engage in a kind of tea-ceremony diplomacy, he used that ancient art, whose roots lie in Zen Buddhism, to call for an end to all wars. He was known for the phrase 'peacefulness through a bowl of tea.' Advertisement Following Japanese traditions, he went by several names during his lifetime. As grandmaster of the Urasenke, he was called Soshitsu Sen XV, a title that evoked his school's lineage back to Rikyu Sen, a philosopher of the tea ceremony who taught it to medieval warlords. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up After retiring in 2002, he took the name Genshitsu Sen, a gesture that allowed his eldest son, Masayuki, to become the next Soshitsu. In a statement released by the Urasenke, the son said his father had weakened physically after injuring his hip in a fall three months ago. When his breathing stopped suddenly, efforts were not made to prolong his life, in accordance with Mr. Sen's wishes. Complete information on his survivors was not immediately available. Advertisement Nobel laureate and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi served tea she made to Mr. Sen in Kyoto, Japan, in 2013. Uncredited/Associated Press Masaoki Sen was born in Kyoto on April 19, 1923, the eldest son and thus heir apparent of the Urasenke grandmaster at the time. That stature appeared to have saved him during the war. After leaving Doshisha University in 1943, he was drafted into the Imperial Navy, where he trained to be a pilot. When his unit was asked to form a 'special attack' squadron to carry out suicide missions, Mr. Sen was one of the volunteers. 'I thought I was ready to die,' he said in an interview with a Japanese newspaper in 2021. 'But I was just a greenhorn of 20 or 21 years of age. I didn't know what death meant.' While many young men in his unit flew off to intentionally crash their planes into Allied ships, Mr. Sen was never sent. Historians say the Japanese military often spared families' oldest sons, especially those from historically significant households. After the war, Mr. Sen asked a former commander why he was never sent. The older man answered: 'Just think of it as fate.' Unlike many war veterans, Mr. Sen spoke openly of his experiences and of his sorrow over the loss of comrades who never returned. He also made no effort to disguise his anger toward the Japanese leaders who had sent them on one-way missions. 'We were told to die because others would fill our ranks,' he said in another interview. 'But who wants to die?' Given a second chance at life, Mr. Sen used his hereditary grandmaster role to turn the ancient art of making and serving tea into a means of promoting peace for nearly four decades, giving demonstrations and lectures in Japan and around the world. Advertisement He continued his mission after retirement. In 2011, he conducted a tea ceremony in Pearl Harbor to honor the crew of the USS Arizona, a battleship sunk by the Japanese in their surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941. He said at the time, 'Facing what happened in the past and relaying its lessons to future generations is the responsibility of those of us who survived.' This article originally appeared in
6 days ago
- General
Genshitsu Sen, Japanese tea master and former Kamikaze pilot trainee, dies at 102
TOKYO -- Genshitsu Sen, a former Kamikaze pilot trainee and grand master of the Japanese tea ceremony who promoted peace through the art of tea, has died, officials said Thursday. He was 102. Sen had been hospitalized since falling and experiencing difficulty walking in May. He died early Thursday after developing breathing trouble, Urasenke officials said. As a survivor of Japan's wartime Kamikaze suicide program who saw many of his fellow pilots take off for one-way flights, Sen was a staunch anti-war advocate and promoted 'peacefulness through a bowl of tea.' 'Serving tea brings peace to everyone," he said. 'If everyone feels peaceful, there will be no war.' Sen became the 15th Grand Master of the Urasenke school of Japanese tea ceremony in 1964. Urasenke is one of three top schools founded in the early 17th century based on the teachings of Sen no Rikyu. As grand master, Sen performed the tea ceremony more than 300 times in 70 countries to promote the art of Chado, or the way of tea, and global peace, earning him the nickname 'flying teamaster.' He hosted tea ceremonies to pray for peace in milestone years marking the end of the war and, in 2011, served tea at the USS Arizona memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii, to pay tribute to those who died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Sen was born in 1923 in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto. He was only 6 years old when he first took lessons to become a grand master. His future was mired in uncertainty during the war. In 1941, the year he entered Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan launched the war on the United States, and two years later he was among 100,000 students mobilized to fight. In 1943, Sen was conscripted to the Imperial Navy and began training to be a Kamikaze pilot, but the war ended before he was deployed. Sen brought his tea ceremony equipment with him when he joined the navy and served a group of several fellow trainees a farewell tea before their mission. He handed over his grand mastership to his son in 2002, but continued to promote tea and peace until earlier this year. His wake and funeral were to be held by close family only and a memorial is expected at a later date, Urasenke said.
Yomiuri Shimbun
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Records of Imperial Navy's Lectures to Emperor Showa Discovered; Military Leaders Sought to Instill Distrust in U.K., U.S.
Records of lectures on military science given to Emperor Showa by a top naval officer before the Pacific War have been found. The annals of Emperor Showa, which were compiled by the Imperial Household Agency, notes that such lectures were given to the emperor. However, this is the first time that records of them have been discovered. The records comprise 22 lectures held from February 1934 to October 1935. The lectures were given by Takayoshi Kato (1883-1955), son-in-law of former Prime Minister Tomosaburo Kato. The younger Kato was vice chief of the Imperial Navy General Staff, its second highest Teshima, associate professor of Ryukoku University who studies naval history, confirmed that the records had been left at the home of Kato's descendants. The records include remarks that were apparently intended to sow distrust of Britain and the United States in the emperor, including a claim that the United States was attempting to 'overwhelm the Japanese Imperial Navy and conquer the Pacific Ocean.' 'Emperor Showa was cautious that the military would use the lectures to support its own claims and authority,' Teshima said. According to Takahisa Furukawa, a professor at Nihon University who is known for his research on Emperor Showa, only two sets of comprehensive records of lectures given to the emperor have been found: One comprises transcripts of lectures on international law given by a scholar on the subject during the Taisho era (1912-26), and the other transcripts of lectures on diplomacy given by a diplomat from the mid-1930s until after Japan's defeat in the war. 'This is the first time that records of military-related lectures have been discovered, which is quite valuable,' Furukawa said. According to Teshima, the records were prepared by a member of the Naval General Staff who was in charge of defense and operational planning in the Imperial Navy, indicating that the content of the lectures reflected its views. The Washington and London naval treaties, both of which were signed to restrict armaments, were set to expire at the end of 1936, and the Imperial Navy was eager to scrap them to build up its armaments. In June 1934, two lectures were given titled 'The international situation as seen by the Imperial Navy,' in which the Naval General Staff's detailed explanations were designed to instill distrust of Britain and the United States in Emperor Showa. The lectures emphasized that Britain was inherently expansionist, stating, 'The country has an ambition to become the world's largest naval power.' With regard to the United States, the records assert that the country was aiming to expand its navy for the purpose of advancing into the Orient, overwhelming the Japanese Imperial Navy, dominating the Pacific Ocean and monopolizing the Far Eastern market. The 11th lecture was held in January 1935 after preliminary negotiations between Japan and the world powers had broken down and Japan had announced its abandonment of the Washington Naval Treaty. The reason for the breakdown was explained in the lecture as follows: 'The United States cannot wake up from the old international conception that it should maintain its own vested superiority and oppress the Empire of Japan.' Ultimately, however, Emperor Showa 'did not uncritically accept the claims of the Naval General Staff, because of his ideas of engaging in cooperative diplomacy with Britain and the United States, ideas which had been formed through his visit to Europe when he was crown prince, and lectures on diplomatic history,' according to Teshima. In fact, although the naval treaties were scrapped, the emperor held on to his idea of cooperating with the two powers.
CBS News
11-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
Why a U.S. Navy captain ordered a military funeral for a kamikaze pilot during WWII's Battle of Okinawa
A Japanese pilot slammed his Zero fighter plane into the USS Missouri and ignited a fireball on April 11, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa . The suicide attack instantly killed the pilot, but none of the battleship's crew members were badly hurt. The Missouri's captain ordered a military burial at sea with full honors, marking one of the more unusual and little-known episodes of World War II. The pilot received the same funeral that the ship would have given one of its own sailors. Eighty years later, the Missouri is a museum moored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, not far from the submerged hull of the USS Arizona, which sank in the 1941 Japanese bombing that propelled the U.S. into the war. On Friday, three of the captain's grandsons will mark the anniversary of the attack and burial with the mayors of Honolulu and the Japanese city of Minamikyushu, from which many kamikaze pilots set off on their suicide missions. "This is one of the ship's great stories and explains, in part, why the ship became an international symbol of peace and reconciliation within two years of its launching and rather than just an instrument of destruction," said Michael Carr, CEO of the Battleship Missouri Memorial . "This is a remarkable story of compassion and humanity, even in the midst of one of the worst battles of World War II." Here's what to know about the attack on the Missouri and the pilot's burial: Japan launched a suicide attack campaign as a last-ditch measure to push U.S. forces back late in the war, when it was hopelessly losing. The Imperial Navy founded the Kamikaze Tokko Tai, which translates as Divine Wind Special Attack Corps, and the Imperial Army followed with its own unit. Across the globe, their missions are called kamikaze, but in Japan they are better known as "tokko," which means "special attack." The pilots flew hastily constructed planes and even reconnaissance and training aircraft because the military lacked sufficient equipment. They took off on one-way flights with just enough fuel to reach their targets. Kamikaze sank their first ship on Oct. 25, 1944, when a navy Zero pilot smashed into the USS St. Lo in the Philippine Sea while carrying a pair of 550-pound bombs. Britain's Imperial War Museum says they killed 7,000 Allied naval personnel in all. Their initial 30% success rate fell to about 8% by mid-1945 due to declining crew skills, dwindling aircraft capabilities and improved U.S. defenses. According to the National WWII Museum , suicide plane attacks began at Okinawa on March 26, 1945, and five days after the initial American landing on April 1, 355 Japanese kamikaze aircraft struck the armada of Allied ships supporting the invasion. By the end of the war, 36 ships were sunk and another 368 damaged, according to the museum. Some 4,000 pilots died on suicide missions, about 2,500 navy and more than 1,400 army, most of them university students drafted in late 1943. Many launched from Chiran, a tea farming town that today is part of Minamikyushu, a city in southwest Japan. The missions became more intense as Japan's outlook grew more dire and the military showcased the sacrifice of the pilots to drum up patriotism and support for the war. Those who failed to take off or survived were considered a disgrace. Despite stereotypes of kamikaze as super-patriots who volunteered to die, many were not, as shown by their carefully nuanced last letters to loved ones and survivor accounts. "They were victims of war," said Hiroyuki Nuriki, mayor of Minamikyushu, who noted the pilots were only around 20 years old and had futures. "I'm sure they didn't want to die, but they still had to go," he said. "That's the tragedy of war, and that's why we should never start a war again." According to the U.S. Naval Institute , Rear Admiral Toshiyuki Yokoi, a former Imperial Japanese Navy officer, recounted in 1954 that his mission at Okinawa was to "break up enemy carrier striking forces by concentrating all power in suicide air attacks" -- a tactic he strongly disagreed with. "There are serious basic defects in this type of attack, he wrote. "First, the expenditure of life and materiel is great. It takes several years to train one good pilot, yet in Kamikaze operations, he, as well as his plane, will be expended in a single sortie… Second, the striking velocity of a plane is not great enough to penetrate the decks of fleet carriers or battleships and cause critical damage below... Third, operational command of Kamikaze planes is difficult because results cannot be evaluated with any accuracy. When his subordinates' lives are sacrificed, a commander will naturally tend to overestimate the results achieved." The Battle of Okinawa lasted 82 days, with fierce fighting on land and sea. On April 11, the Missouri fended off aerial assaults from multiple directions and had already downed one kamikaze plane when a second approached. The Missouri's gunners hit the Zero fighter with a 5-inch (12.7-centimeter) round. The plane plunged, but it leveled out about 20 feet (6 meters) above the ocean and headed for the ship's starboard side. The crash ripped off the plane's right wing, which landed on the deck. Fuel in the wing caught fire, unleashing a giant plume of smoke. The crew controlled the fire within five minutes. The dent left by the attack is still visible on the Missouri's hull. Capt. William Callaghan ordered the funeral to be held the next morning. The crew collected red and white cloth and sewed a makeshift "rising sun" flag so he could be buried under his own colors, said Frank Clay, curator of the Battleship Missouri Memorial. They cleaned the body, wrapped it in canvas and placed it on a tray against the rail beneath the flag. Marine rifle guards gave a gun salute and a bugler played taps. The chaplain gave an invocation and said, "Commit his body to the deep." The crew tipped the tray and the body slid into the sea. It was the only known instance of U.S. forces holding a military funeral for a kamikaze pilot. Some crew members resented the ritual, while others grumbled but later came to believe it was the right thing to do, Clay said. Ed Buffman, who was a teenage gunner's mate 2nd class on the Missouri, said he did not dwell on it: "The next day you're ready to go back and battle again." Little is known of Callaghan's reasons for ordering the ceremony, which appeared on the ship's daily schedule for meal times and other routine activity. Carey Callaghan said his grandfather never spoke of the burial and his family didn't learn about it until 2001. He said his grandfather had empathy and a sense of dignity, which was reflected by the funeral. A remarkable thing, Callaghan said, was that three years earlier, his grandfather lost his brother, Rear Adm. Daniel Callaghan, to Japanese gunfire off Guadalcanal. Scholars believe he was Setsuo Ishino, a petty officer 2nd class in a flight training program. The pilot took off from Kanoya air base in southern Japan with 15 others as part of the No. 5 Kenmu Squadron. Most failed to hit their targets and crashed into the ocean. "Dear Mother, The time has come for me to blossom at last. I am fulfilling my final duty with a smile. Please don't say anything, this is for our country," Ishino wrote. "The next time we see each other, we will be under the beautiful cherry blossom trees at Yasukuni Shrine. Please don't cry, only smile and tell me 'well done.'" Then-President Barack Obama referenced the burial in 2016 when he visited Pearl Harbor with then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe . He told those gathered that Callaghan showed "we must resist the urge to demonize those who are different" and do so "even when hatred burns hottest." Thanks to Callahan's act, the Missouri museum and the Chiran Peace Museum, which displays army tokko artifacts, today are partners and help each other with exhibits. Nuriki, the Minamikyushu mayor, said it is important to remember the events of April 11, 1945, and the tragedy of kamikaze pilots as Asia-Pacific tensions rise. "We share the history between the former enemies that have become friends," he said. "We should keep telling the story and think about peace."
The Hill
11-04-2025
- General
- The Hill
A US Navy captain ordered a military funeral for a kamikaze pilot during WWII. Here's why
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — A Japanese pilot slammed his Zero fighter plane into the USS Missouri and ignited a fireball on April 11, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa. The suicide attack instantly killed the pilot, but none of the battleship's crew members were badly hurt. The Missouri's captain ordered a military burial at sea with full honors, marking one of the more unusual and little-known episodes of World War II. The pilot received the same funeral that the ship would have given one of its own sailors. Eighty years later, the Missouri is a museum moored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, not far from the submerged hull of the USS Arizona, which sank in the 1941 Japanese bombing that propelled the U.S. into the war. On Friday, three of the captain's grandsons will mark the anniversary of the attack and burial with the mayors of Honolulu and the Japanese city of Minamikyushu, from which many kamikaze pilots set off on their suicide missions. 'This is one of the ship's great stories and explains, in part, why the ship became an international symbol of peace and reconciliation within two years of its launching and rather than just an instrument of destruction,' said Michael Carr, CEO of the Battleship Missouri Memorial. 'This is a remarkable story of compassion and humanity, even in the midst of one of the worst battles of World War II.' Here's what to know about the attack on the Missouri and the pilot's burial: What is a kamikaze pilot? Japan launched a suicide attack campaign as a last-ditch measure to push U.S. forces back late in the war, when it was hopelessly losing. The Imperial Navy founded the Kamikaze Tokko Tai, which translates as Divine Wind Special Attack Corps, and the Imperial Army followed with its own unit. Internationally their missions are called kamikaze, but in Japan they are better known as 'tokko,' which means 'special attack.' The pilots flew hastily constructed planes and even reconnaissance and training aircraft because the military lacked sufficient equipment. They took off on one-way flights with just enough fuel to reach their targets. Kamikaze sank their first ship on Oct. 25, 1944, when a navy Zero pilot smashed into the USS St. Lo in the Philippine Sea while carrying a pair of 550-pound (250-kilogram) bombs. Britain's Imperial War Museum says they killed 7,000 Allied naval personnel in all. Their initial 30% success rate fell to about 8% by mid-1945 due to declining crew skills, dwindling aircraft capabilities and improved U.S. defenses. Some 4,000 pilots died on suicide missions, about 2,500 navy and more than 1,400 army, most of them university students drafted in late 1943. Many launched from Chiran, a tea farming town that today is part of Minamikyushu, a city in southwest Japan. The missions became more intense as Japan's outlook grew more dire and the military showcased the sacrifice of the pilots to drum up patriotism and support for the war. Those who failed to take off or survived were considered a disgrace. Despite stereotypes of kamikaze as super-patriots who volunteered to die, many were not, as shown by their carefully nuanced last letters to loved ones and survivor accounts. 'They were victims of war,' said Hiroyuki Nuriki, mayor of Minamikyushu, who noted the pilots were only around 20 years old and had futures. 'I'm sure they didn't want to die, but they still had to go,' he said. 'That's the tragedy of war, and that's why we should never start a war again.' What happened when the plane hit the Missouri? The Battle of Okinawa lasted 82 todays, with fierce fighting on land and sea. On April 11 the Missouri fended off aerial assaults from multiple directions and already had downed one kamikaze plane when a second approached. The Missouri's gunners hit the Zero fighter with a 5-inch (12.7-centimeter) round. The plane plunged, but it leveled out about 20 feet (6 meters) above the ocean and headed for the ship's starboard side. The crash ripped off the plane's right wing, which landed on the deck. Fuel in the wing caught fire, unleashing a giant plume of smoke. The crew controlled the fire within five minutes. The dent left by the attack is still visible on the Missouri's hull. What happened to the pilot? Capt. William Callaghan ordered the funeral to be held the next morning. The crew collected red and white cloth and sewed a makeshift 'rising sun' flag so he could be buried under his own colors, said Frank Clay, curator of the Battleship Missouri Memorial. They cleaned the body, wrapped it in canvas and placed it on a tray against the rail beneath the flag. Marine rifle guards gave a gun salute and a bugler played taps. The chaplain gave an invocation and said, 'Commit his body to the deep.' The crew tipped the tray and the body slid into the sea. It was the only known instance of U.S. forces holding a military funeral for a kamikaze pilot. Some crew members resented the ritual, while others grumbled but later came to believe it was the right thing to do, Clay said. Ed Buffman, who was a teenage gunner's mate 2nd class on the Missouri, said he did not dwell on it: 'The next day you're ready to go back and battle again.' Little is known of Callaghan's reasons for ordering the ceremony, which appeared on the ship's daily schedule for meal times and other routine activity. Carey Callaghan said his grandfather never spoke of the burial and his family didn't learn about it until 2001. He said his grandfather had empathy and a sense of dignity, which was reflected by the funeral. A remarkable thing, Callaghan said, was that three years earlier, his grandfather lost his brother, Rear Adm. Daniel Callaghan, to Japanese gunfire off Guadalcanal. What is known about the pilot? Scholars believe he was Setsuo Ishino, a petty officer 2nd class in a flight training program. The pilot took off from Kanoya air base in southern Japan with 15 others as part of the No. 5 Kenmu Squadron. Most failed to hit their targets and crashed into the ocean. 'Dear Mother, The time has come for me to blossom at last. I am fulfilling my final duty with a smile. Please don't say anything, this is for our country,' Ishino wrote. 'The next time we see each other, we will be under the beautiful cherry blossom trees at Yasukuni Shrine. Please don't cry, only smile and tell me 'well done.'' Why is the anniversary being remembered decades later? Then-President Barack Obama referenced the burial in 2016 when he visited Pearl Harbor with then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He told those gathered that Callaghan showed 'we must resist the urge to demonize those who are different' and do so 'even when hatred burns hottest.' Thanks to Callahan's act, the Missouri museum and the Chiran Peace Museum, which displays army tokko artifacts, today are partners and help each other with exhibits. Nuriki, the Minamikyushu mayor, said it is important to remember the events of April 11, 1945, and the tragedy of kamikaze pilots as Asia-Pacific tensions rise. 'We share the history between the former enemies that have become friends,' he said. 'We should keep telling the story and think about peace.'
