steam ahead magnificently toward the Philippines.
At this time, indeed, the poem which was declaimed by a general of the Ōtomo clan, a military caste who accompanied the Emperor Jimmu when He pacified the Eastern provinces about twenty-six centuries ago, became literally my own poem. Its essence is as follows:
If we go by sea let my corpse be water-soaked,If we go by mountain let my corpse be grass-grown,I will die by the side of our Sovereign,I will never turn back.[1]
I was firmly determined and profoundly resolved to die for our Emperor and Fatherland at any time.
Although our fleet of transports was attacked by the fish torpedo of enemy subma-
- ↑ The above Japanese poem sung by General Ōtomo, in Romanized Japanese, is as follows:
Umi yukaba mizuku Kabane Yama yukaba kusa musu KabaneŌgimi no He ni koso siname Kaerimi wa sezi.
[xi]
