was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, diplomat, and commanding officer of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. He is best known for having been the commander of the Japanese garrison at the battle of Iwo Jima.
Even before the battle, General Kuribayashi insisted upon sharing the hardships of his men. He also refused to permit banzai charges, which he regarded as an unnecessary waste of his men's lives. The United States Marine Corps had expected to capture Iwo Jima in five days, but Kuribayashi and his men held out for 36 days. It is believed that Kuribayashi was killed in action while leading his soldiers in a night-attack on American troops, but his body was never identified by the United States military. U.S. Marine Corps General Holland Smith said of Kuribayashi that "Of all our adversaries in the Pacific, Kuribayashi was the most redoubtable."
Early life Kuribayashi was born in Matsushiro, Nagano, to an established samurai family dating to the Sengoku period.; The Kuribayashi family began as land-owning nobles under the Sanada clan, then were members of the Matsushiro Domain during the Edo period. They launched business ventures in silk and banking in the Meiji period but both failed owing to their aristocratic status. By Kuribayashi's birth in 1891, his family were working to rebuild their estate after fires destroyed their property in 1868 and 1881. Kuribayashi's father, Tsurujiro, held jobs in lumber and civil engineering while his mother, Moto, maintained the family farm.
At Matsushiro Higher Elementary School and then Nagano Middle School (now Nagano High School), Kuribayashi excelled academically with a specialty in the English language. He initially sought to become a foreign correspondent; while stationed on Iwo Jima during World War II, he told a reporter that he had explored the possibility of becoming a journalist. Vice Admiral Shigeji Kaneko, a classmate of Kuribayashi at Nagoya, recalled that "he once organized a strike against the school authorities. He just escaped expulsion by a hair. In those days, he was already good in poetry-writing, composition and speech-making. He was a young literary enthusiast."
As a student, Kuribayashi passed examinations for admission to Tōa Dōbun Shoin, a prestigious Japanese college in Shanghai, and the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, ultimately choosing to enroll in the latter. He matriculated at the military academy as a member of its 26th class. After being commissioned as a first lieutenant in cavalry, he then attended the Army War College in Minato, Tokyo, for training in advanced command, graduating second in his class in 1923. As a result of their high academic rank, accomplished students of the college were presented with a guntō by the emperor and earned a unique privilege to study abroad. Kuribayashi chose to study alone in the United States as a military attaché with the 1st Cavalry Division; this was in contrast to most students, who opted for places like Germany or France. He left Japan in March 1928 as a 36-year-old cavalry captain and lodged with a regular family in Buffalo, New York.
Kuribayashi's experience in the United States would distinguish him from other generals in the Imperial Japanese Army. He enrolled in Harvard University and became an involved student there, taking and completing courses in English, American history, and American politics. He also audited courses at the University of Michigan in similar subjects. Throughout his time in the country, Kuribayashi would travel extensively, living in Washington, D.C.; Boston, Massachusetts; Fort Bliss, Texas; and Fort Riley, Kansas, while also making visits to New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He purchased a Chevrolet automobile, which he used to journey across the country, and was taught by an American officer how to drive. During his time training with the U.S. army at Fort Riley, Kuribayashi befriended Brigadier General George Van Horn Moseley.
Kuribayashi later recalled, "I was in the United States for three years when I was a captain. I was taught how to drive by some American officers, and I bought a car. I went around the States, and I knew the close connections between the military and industry. I saw the plant area of Detroit, too. By one button push, all the industries will be mobilized for military business."The Battle for Iwo Jima, pages 35–36.
According to his son, Taro Kuribayashi, "From 1928 to 1930, my father stayed in the United States as an exchange officer. In those days, he often gave me, a grammar school boy, printed letters. He always composed easy letters in order to let me read them without any help from others. He used to enclose some sketches with the letters. I have made a book of these picture letters. In the letters are so many scenes – while visiting Boston, he was lying sprawled on the gardens of Harvard University watching a clock tower, in another he is taking a walk in Buffalo, in another, playing with some American children and being invited to the house of Medical Doctor Furukohchi, etc. Throughout his letters, it is clear that my father used to drive in many directions in the United States, studied very hard late at night, and tried to be a gentleman. Also, he used to have many friends in foreign countries."The Battle for Iwo Jima, page 36.
After returning to Tokyo, Kuribayashi was promoted to the rank of major and appointed as the first Japanese military attaché to Canada. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1933.Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II During his services in the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in Tokyo from 1933 to 1937, he wrote lyrics for several martial songs. In 1937, he was promoted to colonel, followed by another promotion in 1940 to major general.
During the lead up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Kuribayashi is known to have repeatedly told his family, "America is the last country in the world Japan should fight."Kumiko Kakehashi, So Sad to Fall in Battle, page 106.
Pacific War
In December 1941, Kuribayashi was ordered into the field as the Chief of Staff of the Japanese 23rd Army, commanded by Takashi Sakai. Stationed in Guangdong province at the beginning of the war, the 23rd Army was responsible for war crimes during the occupation of China and Hong Kong. As Chief of Staff to Sakai, Kuribayashi helped plan the Invasion of Hong Kong, which was launched on the same morning as the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
The 23rd Army's conduct in Hong Kong was characterized by brutality, numerous and widespread war crimes were reported against both Allied servicemen, nurses and civilians. After the war, Sakai was accused of war crimes at the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal, found guilty of command responsibility for the extrajudicial murder of Chinese civilians and executed by firing squad on 30 September 1946. Kuribayashi however played a limited role in command and control during the invasion itself. He tried to persuade Sakai against court-martialing the commander of the 228th Regiment after the unit had captured Shing Mun Redoubt without orders. Afterwards he was relegated to dealing with diplomatic issues such as the sinking of Soviet vessels. According to a former subordinate, General Kuribayashi regularly visited wounded enlisted men in the hospital, which was virtually unheard of for an officer of the Imperial General Staff.
In 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant general, and reassigned to be commander of the 2nd Imperial Guards Division, which was primarily a reserve and training division. On 27 May 1944, he became commander of the 109th Infantry Division.
Just two weeks later, on 8 June 1944, he received orders signed by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo to defend the strategically located island of Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands chain. According to Yoshii Kuribayashi, her husband said upon receiving the orders that it was unlikely even for his ashes to return from Iwo Jima.
According to historian Kumiko Kakehashi, it is possible that Kuribayashi was deliberately selected for what was known to be a suicide mission. General Kuribayashi was known for having expressed the belief that Japan's war against the United States was a no win situation and needed to be ended via a negotiated peace. In the eyes of the ultra-nationalists in the Imperial General Staff and in Tojo's cabinet, this had allegedly caused Kuribayashi to be seen as a defeatist.
He was accorded the honor of a personal audience with Emperor Hirohito on the eve of his departure. In a subsequent letter to Yoshii and their children, the general made no mention of meeting the Emperor. He instead expressed regret for failing to fix the draft in the kitchen of their home. He included a detailed diagram so that his son, Taro Kuribayashi would be able to complete the repair and prevent the family from catching cold.
Planning for the Battle of Iwo Jima
On 19 June 1944, General Kuribayashi stepped off a plane on Iwo Jima's Chidori airstrip. Meanwhile, the island's garrison was busy digging trenches on the beach. Kuribayashi made a careful survey of the island and ordered his men to construct defenses further inland. Deciding not to seriously contest the projected beach landings, Kuribayashi decreed that the defense of Iwo Jima would be fought almost entirely from underground. His men honeycombed the island with more than of tunnels, 5,000 caves, and pillboxes. According to his former Chief of Staff, Kuribayashi often told him, "America's productive powers are beyond our imagination. Japan has started a war with a formidable enemy and we must brace ourselves accordingly."Picture Letters from the Commander-in-Chief, page 235.
Kuribayashi recognized that he would not be able to hold Iwo Jima against the overwhelming military forces of the United States. He knew, however, that the loss of Iwo Jima would place all of Japan within range of American strategic bombers. Therefore, he planned a campaign of attrition, by which he hoped to delay the bombing of Japanese civilians and to force the United States Government to reconsider the possible invasion of Japanese home islands.
According to historian James Bradley, "Americans have always taken casualties very seriously. When the number of casualties is too high, public opinion will boil up and condemn an operation as a failure, even if we get the upper hand militarily. Kuribayashi had lived in America. He knew our national character. That's why he deliberately chose to fight in a way that would relentlessly drive up the number of casualties. I think he hoped American public opinion would shift toward wanting to bring the war with Japan to a rapid end."Kumiko Kakehashi, So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of War, page 47.
Long before the Americans landed, however, Gen. Kuribayashi fully expected to die on Iwo Jima. On 5 September 1944, he wrote to his wife, "It must be destiny that we as a family must face this. Please accept this and stand tall with the children at your side. I will be with you always."Picture Letters from the Commander-in-Chief, page 236.
The Japanese defenders include Private Takeo Abe, who survived the battle and spent the remainder of his life repatriating the remains of his comrades. Private Abe later recalled, "By the end of 1944, we were forced to spare rations for battle and we foraged around for edible weeds. Suffering from chronic diarrhea, empty stomachs, and lack of water, we dug bunkers in the sand under a merciless sun and constructed underground shelters that were steamy with heat. We used salt water, lukewarm from a well on the beach, for cooking, and saved what little rainwater we could for drinking. But one water-bottle a day was the most we ever had to drink."Picture Letters from the Commander-in-Chief, page 236.