Takijirō Ōnishi (大西 瀧治郎,Ōnishi Takijirō, 2 June 1891 – 16 August 1945) was anadmiral in theImperial Japanese Navy duringWorld War II who came to be known as the father of thekamikaze.^[2]

Takijirō Ōnishi
Rear Admiral Ōnishi Takijirō (1939–1943)
Native name	大西 瀧治郎
Born	(1891-06-02)2 June 1891 Tamba, Hyōgo, Japan
Died	16 August 1945(1945-08-16) (aged 54)[1] Tokyo, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/ branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Years of service	1912–1945
Rank	Vice Admiral
Commands	Sasebo Naval Air Group, 2nd Combined Air Group, 1st Combined Air Group,1st Air Fleet,Vice-chief of Navy General Staff
Battles / wars	Second Sino-Japanese War Bombing of Chongqing World War II Pacific War Battle of Leyte Gulf

Ōnishi was a native of Ashida village (part of present-dayTamba City) inHyōgo Prefecture. He graduated from the 40th class of theImperial Japanese Navy Academy, ranked 20 out of a class of 144 cadets in 1912. He served hismidshipman term on thecruiserSoya andbattlecruiserTsukuba and after he was commissioned anensign, he was assigned to thebattleshipKawachi.

As a sub-lieutenant, he was assigned to theseaplane tenderWakamiya, and helped develop theImperial Japanese Navy Air Service in its early stages. He was also dispatched to England and France in 1918, to learn more about the development ofcombat aircraft and their use inWorld War I. After his return, he was promoted tolieutenant, and assigned to theYokosuka Naval Air Group from 1918 to 1920. He continued to serve in various staff positions related tonaval aviation through the 1920s, and was also a flight instructor at Kasumigaura.

After his promotion tolieutenant commander, Ōnishi was assigned to theaircraft carrierHōshō on 10 December 1928 as commander of thecarrier air wing. He becameexecutive officer of the aircraft carrierKaga on 15 November 1932. He was promoted torear admiral on 15 November 1939 andchief of staff of the11th Air Fleet.

Early in thePacific Campaign ofWorld War II, Ōnishi was the head of the Naval Aviation Development Division in theMinistry of Munitions and was responsible for some of the technical details of theattack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 under the command of AdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto. Ōnishi had opposed the attack on the grounds that it would lead to a full-scale war with a foe that had the resources to overpower Japan into anunconditional surrender. Nevertheless, his 11th Air Fleet had a critical role in the operations in attacking American forces in thePhilippines from Japanese-occupiedTaiwan.^[3]

On 1 May 1943, he was promoted tovice admiral. As an admiral, Ōnishi was also very interested inpsychology, particularly in relation to soldier's reactions under critical circumstances. In 1938, he had published a book on the subject:War Ethics of the Imperial Navy.

After October 1944, Ōnishi became the commander of theFirst Air Fleet in the northern Philippines. While he is commonly credited with having devised the tactic of suicide air attacks (kamikaze) on Allied aircraft carriers, the project predated his tenure and was one that he had originally opposed as "heresy." Following the loss of theMariana Islands, and facing orders to destroy theUS Navy′s aircraft carrier fleet in advance of Operation Sho, Onishi changed his position and ordered the attacks. In a meeting atMabalacat Airfield (known to the US military asClark Air Base), nearManila on 19 October 1944, Ōnishi, who was visiting the 201st Navy Flying Corps headquarters, said, "In my opinion, there is only one way of assuring that our meager strength will be effective to a maximum degree. That is to organize suicide attack units composed ofA6M Zero fighters armed with 250-kilogram bombs, with each plane to crash-dive into an enemy carrier.... What do you think?"^[4]

He addressed the firstkamikaze unit and announced that its nobility of spirit would keep the homeland from ruin even in defeat.^[5] After his recall toTokyo, Ōnishi became Vice Chief of theImperial Japanese Navy General Staff on 19 May 1945.^[1]

Just before the end of the war, Ōnishi pushed for continuing the fight and said that the sacrifice of 20 million more Japanese lives would make Japan victorious.^[6]

Ōnishi committed ritual suicide (seppuku) in his quarters on 16 August 1945 after the unconditionalsurrender of Japan at the end of World War II.^[7]Yoshio Kodama was a witness, but subsequently unable to bring himself to commit seppuku.^[7] Ōnishi'ssuicide note apologized to the approximately 4,000 pilots he had sent to their deaths, and he urged all young civilians who had survived the war to work towards rebuilding Japan and peace among nations. He also stated that he would offer his death as a penance to thekamikaze pilots and their families.^{[citation needed]} Accordingly, he did not use akaishakunin, the usual second who executes by beheading, and so died of self-inflicted injuries over a period of 15 hours.

The sword with which Ōnishi committed suicide is kept at theYūshūkan Museum inYasukuni Shrine, in Tokyo. Ōnishi's ashes were divided between two graves: one at theZen temple ofSōji-ji inTsurumi,Yokohama, and the other at the public cemetery in the former Ashida Village in Hyōgo Prefecture.

• The Japanese actor Tōru Abe portrayed Ōnishi in the 1970 filmTora! Tora! Tora! (uncredited^[8]).
• Ōnishi was also portrayed in theToei 1970 productionSaigo no Tokkōtai^[9] (最後の特攻隊, directed byJunya Sato),The Last Kamikaze in English.
• Toei produced a biographical film in 1974,Ā Kessen Kōkūtai^[10] (あゝ決戦航空隊, directed by Kōsaku Yamashita),Father of the Kamikaze in English.

• Kamikaze

• Axell, Albert; Hideaki Kase (2002).Kamikaze: Japan's Suicide Gods. New York: Longman.ISBN 0-582-77232-X.
• Evans, David (1979).Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941. US Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
• Hoyt, Edwin P. (1993).The Last Kamikaze. Praeger Publishers.ISBN 0-275-94067-5.
• Inoguchi, Rikihei; Nakajima, Tadashi; Pineau, Roder (2002).The Divine Wind: Japan's Kamikaze Force in World War II. US Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-394-X.
• Millot, Bernard (1971).DIVINE THUNDER: The life and death of the Kamikazes. Macdonald.ISBN 0-356-03856-4.
• Peattie, Mark R.,Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,ISBN 1-55750-432-6
• Sheftall, M.G. (2005).Blossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze. NAL Caliber.ISBN 0-451-21487-0.

• One of the commanders who ordered the Kamikaze operation(in Japanese)
• Chen, Peter."WW2DB:Tak1jiro Onishi".WW2 Database. Retrieved2007-08-03.
• "Onishi Takajiro".His farewell note. Archived fromthe original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved2016-03-31.
• Mościbrodzki, Wojciech."Onishi Takajiro".Admiral's Memorial Site. Retrieved2007-08-03.
• Nishida, Hiroshi."Materials of IJN: Onishi, Takajiro".Imperial Japanese Navy. Archived fromthe original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved2007-08-03.