was a

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

in the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

who served during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, and in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Yamaguchi′s carrier force was part of the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

. He subsequently participated in the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of t ...

, where he was

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

, choosing to go down with the aircraft carrier when she was

scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...

after being crippled by aircraft from and .

Life

Early career

Yamaguchi was born in Koishikawa,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, and was the third son of a former

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

retainer of

Matsue Domain 270px, Surviving walls and moat of Matsue Castle 270px, Matsudaira Sadayasu, final ''daimyō'' of Matsue was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now eastern Shimane Prefecture. It was centered around ...

. His given name "Tamon" was the childhood name of the medieval hero

Kusunoki Masashige , or , was a Japanese military commander and samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal loyal samurai. Kusunoki fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genkō War to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and restore power in Japan to the ...

. He attended the

Kaisei Academy Kaisei Academy (, ) is a Private school, private secondary school for boys located in Arakawa, Tokyo. Overview Kaisei Academy admits approximately 300 students to its junior high school and 400 to its high school each year. The school's motto ...

and was accepted into the 40th class of the

Imperial Japanese Naval Academy The was a school established to train line officers for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was originally located in Nagasaki, moved to Yokohama in 1866, and was relocated to Tsukiji, Tokyo, in 1869. It moved to Etajima, Hiroshima, in 1888. Students ...

, which he graduated in 1912, ranked 21st out of 144 cadets. His classmates included

Takijirō Ōnishi was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II who came to be known as the father of the ''kamikaze''. Early career Ōnishi was a native of Ashida village (part of present-day Tamba, Hyōgo, Tamba City) in Hyōgo Prefecture. H ...

and

Matome Ugaki was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, remembered for his extensive and revealing war diary, role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and participation in one of the final kamikaze attacks hours after the surrender of Japan ...

. As an

ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

, he served on the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

and

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

. After his commissioning as a

lieutenant junior grade Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...

, he completed naval artillery and torpedo school training and was assigned to the 3rd Submarine Squadron in December 1916. He was dispatched to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

with the Japanese fleet as part of Japan's contribution to the

Anglo-Japanese Alliance The was an alliance between the United Kingdom and the Empire of Japan which was effective from 1902 to 1923. The treaty creating the alliance was signed at Lansdowne House in London on 30 January 1902 by British foreign secretary Lord Lans ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and participated in combat operations as an officer on the destroyer based on

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

from July 1918. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in December of that year. In January 1919, he was assigned to a navigation unit with the naval squadron escorting

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (Imperial Navy) was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for ...

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s received by the Japanese government as part of reparation payments from Germany at the end of

. He served in shore-based administrative assignments at

Yokosuka Naval District was the first of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included Tokyo Bay and the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coasts of central and northern Honshū from the Kii Peninsula to Shimokita Peninsula. Its h ...

(from July 1919),

Kure Naval District was the second of four main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the Inland Sea of Japan and the Pacific coasts of southern Honshū from Wakayama to Yamaguchi prefectures, eastern and northern K ...

(from October 1919) and

Sasebo Naval District was the third of five main administrative districts of the pre-war Imperial Japanese Navy. Its territory included the western and southern coastline of Kyūshū, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and Korea, as well as patrols in the East China Sea and t ...

(from December 1920). In March 1921, Yamaguchi was sent to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to attend

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

at the Navy's expense, and returned to Japan in May 1923. On his return to Japan, he was assigned to the battleship for six months, before serving as an instructor at the Submarine School from December 1923 to December 1924. He then attended the Naval Staff College, from which he graduated with honors in November 1926. From November 1927, he was assigned to the

Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff The was the highest organ within the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). In charge of planning and operations, it was headed by an Admiral headquartered in Tokyo. History Created in 1893, the Navy General Staff took over operational (as opposed to a ...

. Yamaguchi was promoted to commander in December 1928. Assigned to the Japanese delegation at the

London Naval Conference 1930 The London Naval Treaty, officially the Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament, was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, and the United States that was signed on 22 April 1930. Seeking to address is ...

, he joined Admiral

Isoroku Yamamoto was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II. He commanded the fleet from 1939 until his death in 1943, overseeing the start of the Pacific War in 1941 and J ...

in vocal opposition to the terms of the disarmament treaty. After his return to Japan, he was assigned as

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

on the cruiser from July 1930. From November 1930, he was assigned to the staff of the

Combined Fleet The was the main sea-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Until 1933, the Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units norm ...

. He served as an instructor at the Naval Staff College from November 1932 and was promoted to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in December of that year. Yamaguchi was the

naval attaché A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

to the Japanese embassy at

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, from June 1934 to November 1936. On his return to Japan, he received his first command, the cruiser from December 1936 to December 1937, followed by the battleship to December 1938.

World War II

With the start of the

, the Ise was assigned to patrols off the southern Chinese coast. Yamaguchi was promoted to

on 15 November 1938. From December, he was the chief-of-staff of the

IJN 5th Fleet The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, active during the early portions of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and again in World War II, primarily in the Aleutian campaign, during which it was augmented and designated the Northern Area Force. ...

and from November 1939 was on the staff of the

IJN 1st Fleet The was the main battleship fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. History First established on 28 December 1903, the IJN 1st Fleet was created during the Russo-Japanese War when the Imperial General Headquarters divided the Readiness Fleet int ...

. in January 1940, he became commander of the 1st Combined Air Group, and in this capacity directed a saturation bombing campaign in central China through 1940, including the

Bombing of Chongqing The bombing of Chongqing (, ), from 18 February 1938 to 19 December 1944, was a series of massive terror bombing operations authorized by the Empire of Japan's Imperial General Headquarters and conducted by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Servic ...

. In November 1940, Yamaguchi was reassigned to command the 2nd Carrier Division, consisting of the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

s and . In preparation for the

, Yamaguchi trained his flight crews ruthlessly, which led to many accidents and complaints; however, the training paid off after the start of combat operations. Following the successful strike against the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Yamaguchi′s carrier force participated in the

Battle of Wake Island The Battle of Wake Island was a battle of the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on Wake Island. The assault began simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor naval and air bases in Hawaii on the ...

. After the start of 1942, he was sent south to assist in the Battle of Ambon in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

, followed by the

Bombing of Darwin The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Empire of Japan, Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the ...

in February. In March, his carriers supported Japanese forces in the

Battle of Java The Battle of Java (Invasion of Java, Operation J) was a battle of the Pacific theatre of World War II. It occurred on the island of Java from 28 February – 12 March 1942. It involved forces from the Empire of Japan, which invaded on 28 Feb ...

, sweeping the Dutch East Indies of remaining Allied warships. In April, he crossed into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

to support the large-scale raid against the Royal Navy at and near Ceylon. Yamaguchi returned to Japan briefly in late April for maintenance on his fleet, at a time when the IJN General Staff was making plans for a Second Operational Phase of the Pacific War. Yamaguchi proposed an ambitious plan that included the occupation of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in July, and occupation of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

in January 1943. But this was not to be. In June 1942, he was assigned to the Midway operation. During the battle, on 4 June 1942, Yamaguchi disagreed with the fleet commander, Vice Admiral

Chūichi Nagumo was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Nagumo led Japan's main carrier battle group, the ''Kido Butai'', in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and over the next months in successful raids on Darwin in A ...

. A reconnaissance plane discovered an American aircraft carrier () near Midway. At that moment, the Japanese planes had been armed for a second strike on Midway, with the "Kate" level bombers carrying bombs rather than torpedoes. Yamaguchi called for an immediate strike on the US ship, with the planes armed as they were, but Nagumo decided instead to wait until the planes had been re-armed. Shortly afterward, American carrier aircraft destroyed all the Japanese carriers except Yamaguchi's flagship ''Hiryū''. Yamaguchi quickly ordered two successive attacks on ''Yorktown'' which crippled it. ''Hiryū'' was then crippled by aircraft from , plus some orphaned ''Yorktown'' aircraft.

Death

Yamaguchi was

, as he, along with ship's captain, Tomeo Kaku, chose to go down with ''Hiryū''. Yamaguchi and Kaku, summoned all officers and crew to the flight deck, and Yamaguchi addressed them, taking responsibility for the loss of ''Hiryū'' and ''Soryu''. Yamaguchi announced, "I shall remain on board to the end. I command all of you to leave the ship and continue your loyal service to His Majesty, the Emperor." Yamaguchi then led his men in three Banzai cheers for the Emperor. All the men, including Yamaguchi and Kaku, then shared naval biscuits and water, in a farewell toast. Yamaguchi refused to allow his staff officers to stay with them. He asked Commander Ito to deliver two last messages. The first was for Admiral Nagumo: "I have no words to apologize for what has happened. I only wish for a stronger Japanese Navy and revenge." The second was for Captain Toshio Abe, commanding the destroyer : "Scuttle the ''Hiryū'' with your torpedoes." As Commander Ito left, Yamaguchi handed him his cap as a keepsake for his family. As the men began leaving, Kaku turned to Yamaguchi and said "I am going to share the fate of the ship, sir." The admiral agreed, and both men began calmly admiring the moon. Yamaguchi said to Kaku, "Let us enjoy the beauty of the moon." "How bright it shines," Kaku agreed, "It must be in its twenty-first day." Yamaguchi and Kaku were last seen on the bridge waving to the crew who were abandoning ship. Captain Abe carried out his final order and the torpedoed ''Hiryū''. One torpedo missed and the other struck near the bow without the typical plume of water, although the detonation was quite visible. ''Hiryū'' sank four hours later. Yamaguchi was posthumously promoted to the rank of

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

and awarded the

Order of the Golden Kite Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, 1st class.

Decorations

* 1939 –

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

, 2nd class * 1945 – JPN Kinshi-kunsho 1Class BAR

, 1st class

Promotions

*Midshipman – 17 July 1912 *Ensign – 1 December 1913 *Sublieutenant – 13 December 1915 *Lieutenant – 1 December 1918 *Lieutenant Commander – 1 December 1924 *Commander – 10 December 1928 *Captain – 1 December 1932 *Rear Admiral – 15 November 1938 *Vice Admiral – 5 June 1942 (Posthumous)

In film and fiction

In the 1960 film '' Hawaii Midway Ocean Combat; The Storm in The Pacific (ハワイ・ミッドウェイ大海空戦太平洋の嵐)'', Yamaguchi was portrayed by

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor and producer. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades over a lengthy career, he is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time. He often played hypermasculine characters and was noted for his commandin ...

. In the 1970 film ''

Tora! Tora! Tora! ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' () is a 1970 epic war film that dramatizes the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, from both American and Japanese positions. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard F ...

'', Yamaguchi was portrayed by

Susumu Fujita was a Japanese film and television actor. He played the lead role in Akira Kurosawa's first feature, '' Sanshiro Sugata'', and appeared in other Kurosawa films including '' The Men Who Tread On the Tiger's Tail'' (as Togashi, commander of the ...

. In the 1976 film '' Midway'', Yamaguchi was portrayed by Hawaiian actor

John Fujioka John Mamoru Fujioka (June 29, 1925 – December 13, 2018)"John 'Mamo' Mam ...

. He appears in the 2009 manga series by

Kouta Hirano is a Japanese manga artist born in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan, most famous for his manga ''Hellsing'' and ''Drifters''. Career Hirano said he learned how to be a manga artist from reading Akira Toriyama and Akira Sakuma's '' Hetappi Manga Kenkyūj ...

, '' Drifters''. In the 2016 anime adaptation, he is voiced by Yutaka Nakano. In Toei's 2011 war film '' Isoroku'', Yamaguchi was portrayed by Hiroshi Abe.Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet (2011)
at IMDB.com In the 2019 film '' Midway'', Yamaguchi is portrayed by

Tadanobu Asano better known by his stage name is a Japanese actor, director, and musician, who has had an extensive career working in both Japanese and international cinema. He has been nominated for five Japan Academy Film Prizes, twice for Best Actor and ...

References

*Fuchida, Mitsuo (with C.H. Kawakami and Roger Pineau), Midway - The Battle that Doomed Japan: The Japanese Navy's Story, Annapolis, 1955. * *Peattie, Mark R., ''Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, *

External links

* * *
Kita Renzo's famous painting of Yamaguchi's Last Moments

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamaguchi, Tamon 1892 births 1942 deaths People from Bunkyō Military personnel from Tokyo Kaisei Academy alumni Princeton University alumni Japanese military attachés Battle of Midway Japanese admirals of World War II Captains who went down with the ship Imperial Japanese Navy personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite, 1st class Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun