ADMIRAL ISOROKU YAMAMOTO
By REN-ICHI YATSUNAMI
THE position today of Admiral Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleets of the Imperial Navy, has often been compared to that of Admiral Heihachiro Togo on the eve of the war with Russia in 1904. The comparison is between the crisis the nation faced at the time and the grave situation now seen as regards the Pacific over which the war in Europe is casting its darkening shadow. The Japanese Navy stands, as it did thirty-seven years ago, as the bulwark of all those interests which the Japanese nation holds as vital to its security and existence. Only the sea power that Admiral Yamamoto commands today is far different from what sailed forth to battle under the command of the "silent" admiral. The fleet that represents the best of the Japanese Navy is an embodiment of the national effort of the Japanese to maintain their legitimate claim to the waters wherein their destinies are to be shaped, and it is an achievement in which they take a pardonable pride as one of the best and most formidable that have sailed the seas. And in its commander today the Japanese repose their faith as they did in Admiral Togo.
Admiral Yamamoto hails from the snowy province of Echigo. He was born on April 4, 1884, in the city of Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, as the sixth son of the family which bore the surname of Takano and had been of samurai rank. The boy was born when his father was fifty-six years old and therefore given for his name the ideographs meaning fifty-six and to be read Isoroku. Whether this popular version is true or not, the child born of the man in full maturity of life was early known as a prodigy. His high spirit was as evident in
play as in school work. Among the seventy children forming the class he was in at the elementary school he stood head and shoulders above all others in scholarship. Out of the class, though rather small of frame or stature as compared with other boys, young Yamamoto lost little chance to assert his leadership. There was indeed an early foreshadow of the man who was later to enroll himself with the most commanding figures in the naval annals of the country.
Early at school he was seen to ply the books with diligence. And this early formed habit was evidently not to be broken as he grew. The first instance of his capacity for mental concentration and of his strong will was shown when he prepared himself for the entrance examination of the naval academy. It is told how hard he worked through the cold months of a long severe winter. The section where he lived is cold, but as he kept late hours in study through cold winter nights he allowed himself little comfort. He would be so hard on himself as to take off the outside garment as drowsiness came over him. When this proved insufficient he would further strip himself. The contraction of the body was found effectual for keeping him awake. It was not seldom, it is said, that the hard plugging boy surprised his folks who found him almost in a state of nature on cold winter nights poring over his books.
He graduated from the Naval Academy in November, 1904, the year in which war broke out with Russia. Among his class mates were Admirals Koh-ichi Shiozawa, member of the War Council, Admiral Zengo Yoshida, erstwhile Minister of the Navy, and Admiral Shighétaro Shimada, till recently commander of the Yokosuka Admiralty Port and now the Navy Minister.
At the academy he distinguished himself by his scholarship and was known among his friends as the "silent Isoroku." His characteristic reticence, so early brought out as a personal mark and continued to this day, was true to the tradition of the Imperial Navy which was first set up by his illustrious predecessor, the silent Admiral Togo.
Upon his graduation he joined the crew of the Nisshin as
cadet, which belonged to the Combined Fleets under Admiral Togo. In the same ship he took part in the historic battle of the Japan Sea the following year. When the ship engaged the Russians near Okinoshima, he was severely wounded in the left hand and in the right thigh. At the end of the war he was appointed sub-lieutenant. Meanwhile, he was married into the Yamamoto family whose pedigree is traced to Kansuké Yamamoto, the founder of the Koshu school of military strategy. The silent Isoroku was also known as the "plugging Isoroku," as he followed a regular career through the years following the war.
In 1919 he graduated from the Naval College and was sent as assistant naval attaché to the United States. From there he was transferred to European countries until 1925, when he was appointed as naval attaché to the Japanese Embassy at Washington. Through these years he familiarized himself with the conditions and people of the United States and Britain and was enabled to lay in that stock of knowledge which in later years eminently fitted him for international discussion of naval problems. Apart from his proven abilities in other respects, this qualification must have been recognized when he was chosen by the Japanese Navy to conduct negotiations in London preliminary to the Naval Limitation Conference of 1934.
Meanwhile he has successively filled posts of increasing importance in the navy. After serving as head master at the naval aeronautical school at Kasumigaura, he was appointed captain of the aircraft carrier Akaghi, chief of the technical department of the Aeronautical Headquarters, and commander of the air battle corps, thus giving most of those years to the sphere of aeronautical activity and development. His contributions in these directions are noteworthy since the air arm of the navy of the time was still in infancy. He was one of the earliest to take it under his charge and help it grow. It is indeed a happy coincidence, if a coincidence it is, that the main fleet of the Japanese Navy today is commanded by one than whom few are better versed in aircraft. This is important because the
range of air strategy continues to develop and expand in modern naval war. It should be noted that when he became vice-admiral in 1934 and chief of the Aeronautical Headquarters the next year, the air arm of the Japanese Navy was said some ten years behind those of foreign navies. The combative instinct and power of the new commander, which had been displayed even in early school days, were at once aroused. He bent his utmost effort on the construction of new machines and on the training of efficient personnel. The intensity with which the naval air arm was forged on the new anvil and the fervour with which the hammer was wielded was shown by the change that was achieved in the two following years. An impressive proof of this was shown shortly after the current China conflict broke out in 1937 and a naval air unit, in formation, flew from its home base across the sea to Nanking through a storm. The airmen who accomplished this remarkable trans-ocean flight in formation and under extremely unfavourable conditions of weather had been trained by their leader who had always taught them to make each of their planes worth at least as much as one naval unit afloat.
When the Hirota Cabinet was formed in December, 1936, Admiral Yamamoto was called on to be vice-minister under Admiral Nagano and to remain in the same position through the Hayashi, Konoye and Hiranuma Cabinets, which followed in succession. The years through which he held this important office were marked by storm and stress. When he assumed his duties at the central administrative office, one of his main and urgent tasks was to lead the Navy and keep it iron bound and water tight in face of the situation following the February 26 incident, and his momentous task under the Hiranuma Cabinet was to assist Admiral Yonai, Minister of the Navy, in elucidating and maintaining the clear cut policy which the Navy has consistently followed. The position of the Navy had to be kept clearly in sight when the Government had to seek and find a formula for its so-called European policy, effectually dealing with the situation, which Baron Hiranuma, the Prime Minister
of the time, described as full of perplexities and cryptic complexities. It is in the memory of the nation what an able assistant Admiral Yonai, Minister of Navy, had in his vice-minister and how they together steered their course. It was said that "Yamamoto of the Navy leaped into the position of Yamamoto of Japan." The expression is a public recognition of the statesmanship and calibre of the man who had proved himself a pilot of political acumen and judgment.
Admiral Yamamoto resigned the office of navy vice-minister when the Hiranuma Cabinet went out of power in August, 1939, and, succeeding Admiral Zengo Yoshida who became Navy Minister under the Abé Cabinet that followed, Admiral Yamamoto assumed the post of commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleets and of commander of the First Fleet, the post which every man of the Navy covets and aspires to as that of the highest honour. His appointment, however, was no small surprise to those conversant with the tradition of the Navy. For it had been a rule to give this supreme position afloat to men who at least had once been captain of a capital ship. It may well be imagined that not a few of the "blue water school" looked on his appointment with doubtful shrugs of the shoulder, for Admiral Yamamoto's career in the past had been more in the field of administration. He had never been in command of a capital ship. His record of services afloat was unquestionably inferior to those of many other officers in point of range and time. In fact, he had been given preference over more than one admiral of seniority when he was placed in command of the main fleet of the Japanese Navy. If there were misgivings about his choice at the time, the record of the past two years is a full vindication of his quality, but it remains to be seen how able he may be as commander, leader, strategic scientist in battle at sea. He has not of course been put to the test. But the control he has maintained in his position and the prestige he has acquired through his direction seem to prove that the mind that selected this man from the administrative sphere of the Navy in preference to those who were entitled to the honour in the order of
seniority had unerring judgment and far vision. This is best proved by the fact that Admiral Yamamoto remains, after two years' tenure of office, in secure command of the Combined Fleets whose importance is being increasingly felt in the face of extremely strained international relations. Not a murmur has been heard from within the Navy as to his command; not a question has been raised as to his retention of the office.
Some of Admiral Yamamoto's personal aspects are not without interest as illustrative of his character and general outlook. Of his reticence mention has already been made. Reticence in his case rather means a judicious attitude of speaking only to good purposes, where others might be idly discursive or verbose he is always exact and his speech if sparing is always to the point. One of the best commentaries on him was the remark that was heard from the American delegation when he was in London in 1933 on behalf of the Japanese Navy for preliminary negotiations on naval limitation. Chief American delegate Davies was quoted to have remarked that whereas at the Washington Conference of 1923 America took the complete leadership and had full mastery of the situation over Japan, at London, Yamamoto of Japan was making a strong bid for leadership over America, which made him wonder whether he was not so good as Hughes or that Yamamoto was better than Kato. Those who have played games of any sort with Admiral Yamamoto often speak of his characteristic tenacity. He is good at all sorts of games, chess, go and cards. He lacks no opportunity to prove his gaming ability while serving abroad. One of the navy officers who have served under the Admiral once remarked: "His success at the gaming table is due to his power of mental concentration and his combative determination which is formidable. We may get the better of him at first, but when we begin to feel the weight of his will power and doggedness bearing on the turn of battle, we yield before his dominant pressure."
Admiral Yamamoto is a man of a strong will. In his faith he is unshakable as was shown when he was vice-minister and
often represented the Navy's viewpoint. This was particularly shown, it is understood, when the Hiranuma Cabinet had to consider its policy toward European countries. He is understood to have met with strong opposition even from within the service he represented, but never wavered from the line he was determined to follow. His closely clipped head is often regarded as symbolic of the man himself. As his head is devoid of florid locks, so his mind is said free from trappings of superfluities. His characteristic attitude of mind was shown when he was about to leave for London for the preliminary naval negotiations which have already been mentioned. "I will be as true to the Japanese pattern of policy, he said, as my head is true to the Japanese idea of manly hair. What our Empire demands is simple and plain. The position it takes will be presented in all honesty and simplicity of purpose. While I am over there I will not read any foreign papers. Whatever is favourable to Japan need not be read, and whatever is antagonistic to our country would only work up our feelings. It will be quite enough for me to get instructions from the home office." While in London, he was often seen out in the field throwing a shot when he was not engaged in the council rooms or when foreign delegates were out in society or otherwise seeking pleasure. He explained his peculiar sort of pastime, saying that he needed to develop his muscles because force alone would decide where reason should fail.
Contrary to expectations that may be entertained of Yamamoto's pattern of man, he is known for warmth of heart among his friends. As an instance, it is told how when one of his old school friends was about to die in the home town of Nagaoka, the busy admiral managed to be there at the death bedside to give encouraging assurances to the departing soul. When one of his elder brothers became ill in June, 1937, on the eve of the China outbreak, the busy vice-minister found time to fly back to his native town and have his blood transfused to save his suffering brother. When state duties claimed less of his time, he was often seen back in his old home town. He went there
to pay his respects to the family graveyard. To such dutiful pilgrimage he attached importance, saying that the family system of the country was the foundation on which the great unity of its nation stood and family relations deserved true homage of heart.
If anything has to be observed about Admiral Yamamoto by way of criticism or modifying what might otherwise appear a complete eulogy, his disposition to reticence is at time mistaken for unsociableness and his speech, generally curt and often slow of delivery, for bluntness. But those who have listened to him talk never failed to find themselves impressed and even to feel themselves under a spell of personal charm. And perhaps no better thing could be said of any man than to say that he is charming to his own sex. At any rate few come into his presence without feeling his personality, a personal force without which no great leadership of men could be possible.