lpetrich

The name literally means "peaceful country", but it is Japan's main war-memorial shrine. And according to some Shinto belief, it is where the ghosts of Japan's war dead have gone to live.

Making the place a haunted shrine. Sort of like a haunted house. Which makes me wonder if other shrines in Japan and China are considered haunted shrines.

It was founded in 1869 by the Meiji regime, as part of the new religion of State Shinto, which prominently featured the divinity of the Emperor and the importance of worshipping him at appropriate shrines. Which was certainly convenient for the regime, it must be said.

And in that shrine are memorials to Japan's development of guided cruise missiles late in WWII. These included both flying bombs dropped from bombers and the more usual sort of airplanes.

Computer technology not being so well developed back then, the guidance systems for these missiles were human pilots who seemed willing to die as a result of those missions; their self-sacrifice was noted at that shrine as the ultimate in patriotism.

Although they are often considered to have been pressured to take part in these missions, at least some of them were willing, or at least resigned. Many of their colleagues had been shot down with little gained from their missions, becoming the "turkeys" in battles like "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot"; going out with a bang may have seemed like a more pleasant option. Especially a bang that sinks an American ship, as some had actually succeeded in doing.

Their name, "kamikaze", is after a hurricane that wrecked a big Mongol invasion fleet in 1281; that hurricane was celebrated as a "divine wind", partly as a result of the Shinto belief that divinities (kami) inhabit a wide variety of interesting things. Among Shinto kami are one's ancestors; in his surrender message, Emperor Hirohito paid his respects to his ancestors.

And those involved with those suicidal aviators had clearly hoped that their attacks would do to the American fleet what the original kamikaze had done to the Mongol fleet. But despite doing damage on the level of the Pearl Harbor attackers, they were less than successful.

In fact, one can do a variety of comparisons:

The Americans, like the Mongols, came from across the sea (Mongols: Tsushima Straights, Americans: Pacific Ocean)

The Americans, like the Mongols, came in greater numbers

The Americans, like the Mongols, had more advanced technology

The Americans, like the Mongols, originated as a coalition of smaller groups (Mongols: some warring tribes, Americans: some British colonies)

The Americans, like the Mongols, would peacefully assimilate other ethnicities and nationalities

The Americans, like the Mongols, had some very statesmanlike early leaders (Genghis Khan authored the enlightened Yasa law code; the US Constitution embodied ideals of self-government and government as the servant of the people, instead of their master)

The Americans, like the Mongols, had made a principle of the separation of religion and state (yes, Genghis Khan allowed freedom of religion inside his domain)

The Americans, like the Mongols, had expanded their domains with bloody conquests that often approached genocide.

The Americans, like the Mongols, had superior explosives (Mongols: crude gunpowder bombs; Americans: nuclear bombs)

There are lots of differences, however; George Washington was very unlike Genghis Khan in that he did not try to make himself King George I.