The Kaeda Brothers

Although the Great War officially began in 1938, the Japanese had been fighting a war of attrition on and off against Joseon since 1929. The Japanese largely viewed this war with Joseon as a defensive one, protecting their economic gains in China after the fall of the Qing; whereas the Koreans viewed the Japanese as occupiers and aggressors hellbent on dismantling their rightful claim to the Mandate of Heaven. The clash of these two perspectives brought on a propaganda war between the two nations which was only further amplified by the start of the Great War in 1938. One tactic the Japanese used to emphasize their just war in China was to emphasize the life and achievements of one of their most successful officers, Colonel Kaeda Harunobu of the Japanese army.

Kaeda Harunobu was born in the sleepy town of Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture while his family was traveling to Kanazawa. Although there is little evidence to support the claims, it is said that when Harunobu was born, he was kidnapped by Tengu for ten days and ten nights before being returned to the Kaeda clan in their ancestral home in Kanazawa. Further tales of the supernatural surround the early life and military career of Kaeda Harunobu, including his chance meetings and battles with various Kami across Japan, before he eventually enrolled in the Japanese Army Academy at the age of 17, where he showed exceptional promise due to the divine gifts granted to him and the rest of his family by the many Gods who favored them. These tales, and others like them, were manufactured in the early 1930s by the Ministry of Propaganda, which hired several famous writers and illustrators in Japan to produce a series of kibyoshi about his life, his clan, and his rise to prominence in the early war period. These were published in newspapers, and magazines across Japan and their colonial holdings in an effort to appeal to teens and young adults to increase enlistment in support of the war effort. Despite the manufactured tales of his life, those who serve under him, and many who have reportedly met him are inclined to believe the Shinto mysticism that surrounds him.

Although the tales told of Harunobu and the Kaeda clan were known far and wide, his family came from mostly humble beginnings. The Kaeda clan is an old but rather unremarkable clan of Samurai who had a moderate amount of wealth but little prestige. Harunobu’s father was in the military when his son was born, and had made many connections during his service, helping to secure a good spot for Harunobu in the Army Academy. Despite his family's comparatively low station, Harunobu showed great promise in his studies at the Academy and managed to get into the Army War College, where he trained to be an armor officer. He graduated from the college with the rank of captain in 1927, a year before the fighting in Joseon began. By 1934, he had made the rank of Colonel, which was 3 years faster than what was typical of an officer graduating from the Army War College. The reason for his exceptional rise through the ranks mostly came from his competence as a commander in his bold border skirmishes with Joseon during the ceasefire. These actions gained the attention of the Ministry of Propaganda, which wished to create a new recruitment campaign using a real soldier to increase recruitment during the ceasefire and foster Shinto values in the younger generation. After pulling some strings with the upper brass, the Ministry offered him the promotion to Colonel in return for the use of his image and family name. After his promotion, Harunobu donned his ancestral family armor and began a tour of Japan to promote the publication of the kibyoshi about his life.

The fame garnered by Harunobu and the Ministry of Propaganda greatly increased the status of the Kaeda family and immediately celebritized the other members of his family, including his little brother Kaeda Goemon. Harunobu’s parents took well to the newfound fame and publicly encouraged the tales of their war hero son. In an interview in May of 1934, Harunobu’s father implied that his other son Goemon also had a childhood blessed with divine favor. Unlike his brother, Goemon was a black sheep in the family, choosing to enroll in the naval academy at the age of 17, instead of the army like his brother and his father before him. Goemon was moderately successful in the Navy before his brother's fame, having graduated from the Naval Academy at 19 and achieving the rank of Lieutenant by the age of 21. Goemon hated the fame granted to his family by his brother, and resented his family's shameless embrace of his brother's folk hero status.

Up to this point, the ministry had been mostly unaware of Goemon's existence, but the brother's presence ran counter to the narrative they had produced about his brother's divine upbringing. To alleviate this problem, without the permission of Goemon, the Ministry of Propaganda began to include Haronobu’s brother under a new publication entitled “The Kaeda Brothers” through whose readership they hoped to increase Naval recruitment. Goemon's modest rank and status in the Navy ran counter to the story the ministry was trying to spin, so the ministry used its resources in the naval office to arrange for Goemon to attend the Naval War College in 1935. This enraged his fellow soldiers, as entrance into the college was only available to naval officers who had served at least 10 years in the military, and Goemon had only served 4 years since his graduation from the Naval Academy. After the one-year course at the college, Goemon was granted the rank of Captain in 1936.

This blatant disregard for seniority caused his fellow soldiers to view the young Goemon as a nepo-baby, and treat him harshly. Many of his own men at this time even started blatantly disregarding his orders. It became clear to Goemon that this officer's appointment would not be enough to gain the respect of his fellow soldiers, and so he decided he would apply for the Naval Special Forces as a way to prove himself in the eyes of the men who served with him. During his training, Goemon showed great promise as a frogman. By 1938, Goemon had finished his training and was sent on his first infiltration mission deep into Indochina. He was on assignment just outside of Hanoi, deep behind enemy lines, when Japan entered into The Great War.

Empire of Japan