The man behind the Kamikaze Headband

[Nick Komiya]

The man behind the Kamikaze Headband

The printed Kamikaze headbands that dealers try to sell as those worn by Kamikaze pilots, have long been exposed as fabricated fantasy. They were actually worn by factory workers or more specifically, student girls, who were conscripted into the war-time production labor force. The famous printed example was made as a “tenugui”, hand towel with the name of Saburo Endo and his title of Chief of the Aircraft Production Bureau (of the Ministry of Munitions) below. He was an army Lt. General, who held that office between 1st November 1943 and 25th August 1945. The Ministry of Munitions was the Japanese counterpart of Germany’s successful Ministry of Armaments and Munitions headed by Albert Speer.

[Nick Komiya]

The general survived the war and his post war fame came as a proponent of normalizing international relationships with China and also as an anti-war activist, winning him the nick name of “Pacifist General”. Until passing away in 1984 at the age of 91 he kept a dairy that spanned 1st Aug. 1904 and 9th Sept. 1984 without missing a single day, and ran into a total of 93 volumes. Because of this record, the story of the head band is also documented. There was actually some connection with the Kamikaze pilots, as the funds he used to produce the headbands were donations made by those pilots shortly before their last missions.

[Alan M]

Thanks for this thread Nick and for sharing your knowledge , i learn so much from your informative posts . I must say i have always thought that the odds of finding an authentic Kamikaze pilots headband were very short indeed ! BTW great photos .

[SteveR]

Great post buddy.

[RussM]

Well done Nick!

The number of times these are sold, and bought, as genuine kamikaze headbands is staggering. Whether it prevents this continuing to happen or not, at least another 'myth' has been dispelled!

Regards

Russ

[Nick Komiya]

I noticed that the post war $1 souvenir headband shown above unfortunately gets endorsed in this forum every time as a wartime factory head band, but that is a case of mixed up identity. I guarantee that it is only a 100% post war tourist souvenir, so don't hesitate to wear it, if you want to look like a Japanese factory worker next Halloween. Just don't forget the pig tails and the arm band, if you knock on my door.
Those are not even fakes, as they are written in honest post war script, and no wartime person even needed to be shown the lyrics as they all knew it by heart.

[Nick Komiya]

I know that "honest post war script" doesn't sound honest at all, and yet Lifetime membership is not long enough to teach you all Japanese. However, I could show you a few self defense tricks without you having to paint my fence. I already wrote it once, but it will have to be tomorrow, because when I came back to upload, I found my Kamikaze cat snoozing on my keyboard and everything went zzzzzzzz. I did manage to salvage one photo which will have to serve as explanation on what is wrong with the souvenir piece.

[TrondK]

Be careful, it could be your cat has suicidal tendencies.....



( Or working in a factory )

[Nick Komiya]

As a matter of fact, though she had a fracture in the front leg, she still jumped off our roof and promptly broke that leg beginning of last month. Nothing will stop her once she makes up her mind, except the braces she is still wearing on the broken leg.

[AZPhil]

Thank You Sir for another great thread!
Semper Fi
Phil