page_title: Kamikaze
hierarchical_section_title: Kamikaze
context_page_description: Kamikaze is a word of Japanese origin. It comes from the name the Japanese gave to a typhoon that destroyed the Mongol ships in the 13th century and saved the country from invasion. In Western culture, the word kamikaze is used to mean the suicide pilots of the Empire of Japan. Those pilots attacked the ships of the Allied Powers in the final years of World War II, during which they flew their planes into enemy ships. It has also come to mean other kinds of suicide attacks.
  Most people in Western culture believe the word kamikaze was the name used by the Japanese military for pilots, but that is not true. Their correct name was tokubetsu kōgeki tai, which literally means "special attack team." This is usually abbreviated tokkōtai in a shortened form. The suicide attacks made by Navy pilots were called shinpū tokubetsu kōgeki tai. The American translators used a different style of pronunciation of the Japanese language by mistake, and read the word shinpū as kamikaze, as those Japanese characters can be read both ways. The name became well known so, after the war, the Japanese also started using it.
context_section_description: Kamikaze (Japanese: 神風; literally: "god-wind"; usual translation: "divine wind") is a word of Japanese origin. It comes from the name the Japanese gave to a typhoon that destroyed the Mongol ships in the 13th century and saved the country from invasion. In Western culture, the word kamikaze is used to mean the suicide pilots of the Empire of Japan. Those pilots attacked the ships of the Allied Powers in the final years of World War II, during which they flew their planes into enemy ships. It has also come to mean other kinds of suicide attacks.
  Most people in Western culture believe the word kamikaze was the name used by the Japanese military for pilots, but that is not true.  Their correct name was tokubetsu kōgeki tai (特別攻撃隊), which literally means "special attack team." This is usually abbreviated tokkōtai (特攻隊) in a shortened form. The suicide attacks made by Navy pilots were called shinpū tokubetsu kōgeki tai (神風特別攻撃隊, "divine wind special attack team"). The American translators used a different style of pronunciation of the Japanese language by mistake, and read the word shinpū ("divine wind") as kamikaze, as those Japanese characters can be read both ways. The name became well known so, after the war, the Japanese also started using it.
caption: A kamikaze pilot getting his last orders.
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