The Spirit of Bushido

My grandfather died not long after that memorable afternoon. My family lost a big piece of its identity that day. I assured myself that the lessons taught me by my grandfather would not be forgotten. I began to read many history books and educated myself even more on samurai culture and lifestyle.

Two years later at age seventeen I took the entrance exams at Eta Jima. My parents paid for the train ride and my stay at an inexpensive hotel there. It costs them weeks of saved wages. My first stay at Eta Jima academy on the edge of the bustling and splendid city of Hiroshima awed my senses. I had never really left my home or the surrounding lands. To be here, after the wonderful stories told my grandfather, inspired me. That evening I revised all of my notes and stayed awake well into the night in an effort to do some last minute studying. After several attempts by a local geisha girl to entertain and spend the night with me, which I rebuffed every time more because of my timidity than anything else. I finally put the books down and fell asleep like a baby.

The next day I made the short trip to the Academy and saw that I was not the only nervous candidate. I met with some of my friends and we chatted about everything and nothing. Anything to pass the time really. In the bay there were several destroyers and smaller crafts which I identified as trawlers and coastal minesweepers. I could see the servicemen in their impeccable white uniforms walking on the decks of the vessels. I stared at the guns of one of the destroyers and her sleek torpedo tubes. I later learned that this was Okizake. The destroyer had seen action during hostilities with the Chinese in Shanghai earlier that year.


Destroyer Okizake at Eta Jima

To command one of these beauties, even if she was over twenty years old, was the only important thing in my life at that moment. Just as when I had seen the Magnificent Kongo, an inner drive took hold of me as I wrote the exam that morning.

I left back for home the same day, nearly missing the train as candidates discussed their answers on the way out of the examination room. I noticed many of them did not have the exact same answers as me, especially when pertaining to theoretical torpedo tactics. I frowned all the way home and nervously awaited the answer.

Two weeks later a telegram arrived at my home. My mother took the small simple piece of paper from the telegram delivery man. When I saw the small insignificant piece of paper my heart sank. Clearly this was not the large acceptance envelope I had been awaiting. with eyes staring down my mother gave me the telegram and said "Here Tamei, you should read it first."

I quickly snatched the paper out of her hands and my eyes darted over the symbols. "Dear Mr Tameichi Hara, it is with great pleasure that we..." My eyes do not read any further. I am already leaping up and down yelling "Banzai! Banzai!"

This is how, in 1932, I came to be accepted to the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Eta Jima. I was given a chance to serve the Emperor.
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Karaiskandar: Hope so! good to have you onboard

Thundergate: Game focus will of course be naval. But I shan't neglect other aspects. Their details will be limited however as the story is told form the point of view of a single person.

My years at Eta Jima were not without incident, or fear for that matter. To my dismay, and eventually outrage, we regularly received corporal punishment from our superiors including older cadets. I remember the first time I received blows. I was late for class and hadn't seen the fourth year cadet on the other side of the hall. He yelled at me and walked quickly towards me. I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him. "Why didn't you salute!? Why did you forget to salute a superior? I'm going to show you! Stand upright legs shoulder width!" He hit me before I could ever get in the position he had yelled, and a good thing that was. He hit me hard enough that I fell on my rear and just managed to break my fall with my right arm. I began to bleed profusely from my nose "Now you know!" he yelled as he turned around and walked away. I ran to the nearest washrooms and cleaned myself as best I could.

When I finally reached my class I walked in half out of breath, my shirt was bloodstained and my hair was wet from washing my face. The teacher looked at me as if annoyed "Sit down cadet Hara". This constant treatment distanced me somewhat from its intended purpose. I developed almost a kind wariness towards the Navy. Old ways die hard, and Japanese culture is no exception.

This led me to concentrate my main efforts towards other things. Though I was wary of naval hierarchy and inflexible doctrine, I was completely devoted to becoming an effective and respected ship's captain. I poured over pictures of the IJN's ships wanting to memorize every single one. Hosho, Haruna, Ise, Kaga, Nachi, . I closed my eyes and saw each one again in the blackness. I also set out to prove my theories on torpedo tactics. This project of mine required many calculations, and it kept me working many hours.

On my fourth and final year at the Academy a new commanding officer took charge in Vice-Admiral Kantaro Suzuki. After just two days he summoned a faculty meeting in which he stormed "This school is supposed to be producing officers not cattle!" and formally forbade any type of physical punishment. He also instituted a number of reforms. He was transferred not long after. The influence of Vice-Admiral Suzuki on my person cannot be ignored. He was the personification of what I believed in for the Navy. Competent, sound, and critical men who thought outside the box. His appearance at the school gave me much hope and indeed a big boost to continue. Many times I put my experiences in contrast with the stories of my grandfather only to realize that compared to him, I could not expect everyone here to act honourably.

It happened once or twice that some of the students made of fun of me upon hearing that my grandfather was samurai. They joked and made of fun of me asking me "Where's your horse and leather armour?", "Do yo have a spear?", "How can Hara possibly know the formulas for fire control, he still uses bow and arrow!" and they jeered me non stop. What different times I live in than my grandfather, I would think.

I finally graduated in May 1936, fourtieth out of one hundred fifty. This did not bother me one bit, my mind had not been one hundred percent. I knew I could have done better.

As part of our graduation all cadets got to go on a cruise to really live the life of a Navy officer. All students were excited to see where we would go and especially, what ships we would sail. As it happens, Mid 1936 was a time of turmoil and back-door dealings for Japan.

In an effort to strengthen our ties and rightful claims to the Asian mainland, particularly in China, the Imperial government announced that it had signed a pact with some of our brothers in Sinkiang. An alliance of mutual defense was signed. Everyone in the Navy saw this as a good thing. We did not have to be army officers to know that this would pin down Chinese forces in case of aggression.


Sinkiang as a deterrent


Hirohito in casual wear in the palace gardens in Urumqui

As a result of this it was clear that Japan wanted to flex some muscles in the face of its ever defying Chinese neighbour. This worked in our advantage as graduating cadets. We learned that our cruise would take place with the Home Reserve Fleet.

This small but powerful force of four cruisers would be our home for the next six months as we cruised the south Pacific. Our force commander would be Admiral Hyakutake. I had seen the man once, he had come to lecture our navigations class in my second year. We arrived at Kanazawa on the Inland sea where the fleet was berthed. None of us could contain our excitement as we neared flagship Asama.




We knew the Home Reserve Fleet was old, but we didn't care. Asama had sunk Russian cruiser [Varyag in 1904. It was a true honour for me to be serving with this fleet during our cruise.

I'f I'm not mistaken Asama was classified as a battleship when it was commissioned... all the way back in 1897!

So it actually is a good old BB lol

I was disappointed when they assigned me to Izumo. I had longed to be on Asama's bridge, even if only for a second. I quickly shook these thoughts away when I realized that i was still very lucky to be here and that i should spend every second trying to learn as much as i could. Here we were in the beautiful sea of Japan. Crystal clear water doted with green islets. Our small fleet tested engines and drilled for a month and a half. We did everything from battlestations to cleaning, lots of cleaning. With all due respect to Izumo and her fine career, the ship was a wreck.

Two weeks into our 'graduation cruise' and we began to think of Eta Jima as a pleasure ride. The constant labour of cleaning the latrines, scrubbing the upper wooden decks, painting the smokestacks, and sometimes bearing the heat and noise in the engine room for repairs, rendered our lives miserable. Some of us openly asked why they had chosen such a stupid thing to do as join the Navy. I was not among them. This was simply another step. After two months of this depressing way of life we finally embarked on our real cruise. We left the inland sea and headed South.

On the second day in Flagship Asama raised signal flags ordering a full stop. Our diamond shape formation came to a clumsy halt as the old ships tossed in and out of formation.

Asama was requesting all commanding officers to his ship for a conference. We watched as the captain's motorboat was lowered into the water.

A full three hours passed before he returned. Upon his arrival we were given orders to assemble on the deck. The vast majority of the ship's crew took places wherever they could squeezing dangerously close over the railings. Everyone wanted to hear what our captain was about to say.

"This message is to all, not just our cadets but all senior officers as well. I have just returned from a conference in which Admiral Hyakutake expressed his surprise at how well you have progressed. He sends his sincere congratulations on your hard work and graduation."


Admiral Hyakutake

I remember beaming when the captain read this. We all were.

"He then continued to ask more about our ability to perform an actual operation. I assured him that Izumo stands ready"

At this there was an immediate three cheers for Izumo and her skipper.

"I have received new orders. We are to proceed west past Jeju and meet with a convoy on the way to Dalian. We will provide escort for the convoy until it's destination" He looked up " For my part I want to say that this does not mean you have achieved anything. Continue to work hard and complete your duties not just for Izumo or the Navy, or even Hirohito, but because it is the difference between life and death on a warship. I am proud you have been selected for this special task. Banzai Nippon!"

We responded and afterward I remember how all of my senses were more on alert. It was as if everything we did was suddenly so very important. We no longer whined about cleaning and scrubbing. We had actual mission orders.

Reflecting on this years past it seems quite a funny way to have felt. Our mission orders consisted of escort duty, in times of peace.



Before we left we did a final test of our engines and guns. I was smiling like a child when we felt the ship's vibration as her eight inch guns fired off successive salvos, though the engine vibration was something else entirely. We ran less than half an hour when the ship topped out at nineteen knots. I felt the salty wind in my hair but this was nothing compared to the rumours of new destroyers reaching almost thirty-eight knots.

Catknight, Small, and Thundergate: Thank you for your support!, welcome!

Karaiskandar: japan is only securing Japanese nationals and national interests in China...nothing more.

Without commenting on "terrorists" or modern day power politics I will say this; China is a huge threat to Japan and only a strong Navy with able seamen can curve the threat

Edit: Or is it Curb the threat? sorry I'm french and english is not my first language