Note: This is a very rough translation of a Wikipedia entry on Shinburyō (振武寮). I will try to clean the text up and add more information/links later.
Shinburyo was a facility located within the Imperial Japanese Army's 6th Air Force Headquarters in what is now Chuo Ward, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and was said to have housed surviving kamikaze pilots until their next sortie. . It was established by requisitioning the dormitory of Fukuoka Girls' High School (currently Fukuoka Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School), which was located across the road from Fukuoka Girls' High School (currently Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka Chuo High School), where the military headquarters was located. After the war, the Fukuoka City Kyuden Memorial Gymnasium was built at the location, but it closed on March 31, 2019. It was managed by several air staff members from the headquarters of the 6th Air Force (commander was Lieutenant General Michihiro Sugawara), one of whom is said to be Major Kiyotada Kurasawa. Although it remained unknown for a long time after the war, its existence was revealed after the movie “Summer of Moonlight'' was shown in 1993.
There are also kamikaze members who went out as kamikaze members of the Shinbutai (the name of the special attack unit under the command of the 6th Air Force located in western Japan), but for some reason returned to their base without being able to attack, It is said to be a facility where special attack pilots who were unable to deploy for various reasons were kept until their next deployment. There are various factors, including external factors such as bad weather, engine trouble, equipment trouble, and attacks by enemy aircraft, as well as psychological fear of death and the fact that soldiers turn back because they expect a certain outcome and feel sorry for the death of a dog. There were even internal factors such as . . .. In particular, during Operation Tengo during the Battle of Okinawa, when the crew members who went on a kamikaze sortie did not attack and returned home, some of them were labeled as ``cowards who feared death'' or ``intentionally boarded the aircraft.'' They were accused of returning home with damaged equipment, and are said to have been subjected to discriminatory treatment.
Furthermore, the existence of similar facilities in the Imperial Navy Air Corps is not known. However, in the Imperial Army Air Corps, on November 7, 1944, which was the first sortie of the Army's air special attack unit, five modified special attack aircraft (and model number) of the Type 4 heavy bomber “Hiryu” of the “Futake Corps” were deployed. Four of the aircraft failed to engage the enemy and returned home, and the remaining four aircraft sortied the next day and all returned. Some of them were unable to engage the enemy from the very beginning of the kamikaze attack, and due to weather problems, a large percentage of the kamikaze aircraft returned. Recognizing this, for example, it was also used in the textbook “Togo Air Duty Essentials”, which was compiled by the Shimoshizu Flying Unit in May 1945 for the education of kamikaze pilots before the Battle of Okinawa. It was assumed that the kamikaze aircraft would return for unavoidable reasons, such as the specific procedures and guidelines for the return of kamikaze pilots. In addition, articles such as the Asahi Shimbun have also covered the returnees due to equipment failure, and there were no restrictions on reporting or concealment from the public.
According to the “Shinbutai Formation Table” prepared by the 6th Air Force, which was kept by Major Kurasawa, 605 of the 1,276 suicide bombers listed remained on standby or returned after sortieing. Of these, 9 in 21 Shinbutai, 5 in 22 Shinbutai, 6 in 30 Shinbutai, 4 in 38 Shinbutai, 7 in 65 Shinbutai, 5 in 67 Shinbutai, 2 in 76 Shinbutai, In the notes section of a total of 40 members, 1 in the 111th Shinbutai and 1 in the 112nd Shinbutai, there are entries that appear to be handwritten by General Staff Kurasawa “in Fukuoka” (however, there are entries about the Second Army Hospital in Fukuoka, etc.) It is said that this means that they were sent to the 6th Air Force headquarters, but Shinbu-ryo only existed for about a month and a half from May to June 1945, and the special attack personnel who were housed there were There were approximately 50 to 80 people [9] to 80 people, accounting for around 10% of the returned crew members.[10] The official records of the Imperial Army contain no mention of Shinbu-ryo.
There is no mention of this in the diary written by Lieutenant General Sugawara, commander of the 6th Air Force. It doesn't exist. The kamikaze soldiers were hidden in a room called the “sewing room” and “Omorikan”, an inn in front of Hakata Station that was used as a military inn for the kamikaze members who were on standby, but it was full, so they simply used the Fukuoka Jogakuin dormitory that had been taken over by the 6th Air Force, and were not forced to house them.” No. Major Hiroshi Kawamoto, who was on the staff of the 6th Air Force (and became the last mayor of Taniyama City, Kagoshima Prefecture after the war), also testified that there was a place in Fukuoka where kamikaze pilots with physical and mental disabilities could be given a “rest”. The leaders of the 6th Air Force either testified that they were not aware of the existence of “Shinburyo”' or denied it. On the other hand, some of the details have been revealed through the testimonies of the Kamikaze pilots who were detained.
However, the name “Shinburyo” refers to the air service quarters at Hofu Air Base in Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture (located near Mitajiri Station). It was revealed in the will written by Second Lieutenant Sai Hamada of the 179th Shinbutai to his parents that the 179th Shinbutai 2nd Lieutenant Sai Hamada had also called them “Shinbudyo”. It has been pointed out that “Shinbutai” was simply a general term for the dormitory where members of the “Shinbutai” stayed, and Kurasawa also said, “Since all Okinawa kamikaze troopers are Shinbutai, they (the kamikaze members) can do whatever they like. I think it was called Shinbu-ryo.”
Incidentally, there are scattered cases in various places where the military gave their own names to private inns such as “Kokuryo”, “Hakkoso”, and “Hiryoso” when renting private inns to accommodate aviation personnel. The name is not a special case. Reasons such as loss of aircraft (Personnel and equipment are supplied from the formation unit to the frontline units in the form of increased allocation, so it is difficult for junior officers and non-commissioned officers who lose the aircraft to procure replacement equipment on their own) The reason why the returning members headed to Fukuoka, where the headquarters was located, was that the Shinbutai units were under the direct control of the 6th Air Force headquarters (in terms of operational organization, they were directed to local flying units such as the 6th Squadron). It is necessary to look at this point from an unbiased perspective, as it is completely natural if it is considered as a quarters for airborne personnel attached to the Air Force.
