Heh. Funny thing is that the word was *not* used by Japanese themselves for those pilots. They sometimes used "shinpu", also meaning "divine wind", but "kamikaze" they called the two typhoons which in 1274 and 1281 destroyed Mongol (who already conquered all of China by that time) invasion fleets. Similarly, English in 1588 called the severe storm that weakened or even crippled Spanish Armada enough that much smaller English fleet was able to defeat it "Protestant Wind" or "Divine Wind", and even made a medal with an inscription "Flavit Jehovah et Dissipati Sunt" ("Jehovah blew them apart").
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-26 03:55 am (UTC)They sometimes used "shinpu", also meaning "divine wind", but "kamikaze" they called the two typhoons which in 1274 and 1281 destroyed Mongol (who already conquered all of China by that time) invasion fleets.
Similarly, English in 1588 called the severe storm that weakened or even crippled Spanish Armada enough that much smaller English fleet was able to defeat it "Protestant Wind" or "Divine Wind", and even made a medal with an inscription "Flavit Jehovah et Dissipati Sunt" ("Jehovah blew them apart").