D.Recruitment and Training


1.Recruitment Systems of IJA and IJN

As discussed in 'B.1.Combat Forces of IJA: An Overview' in this site, IJA maintained strict 'regimental district' system for recruitment. IJN depended on this system to supplement the personnels. According to 'Kaigun Jonbera Gunsei Monogatari' by Koji AMEKURA, in 1932, IJN accepted 4,689 volunteers from 55,962 applicants, while drafting 12,050 men.
At the age of 20 all male Japanese experienced the induction to draft. Even if qualified as 'most suitable for service', in peacetime, only a part of them received the order to enter the military.
If drafted, the term of service was two years for army, and three years for navy. The draftee of navy includes those who volunteered to enter navy at the time of induction. For volunteer (in narrow sense) to navy at the age of 16 or more (changed from 17 in 1940), the term of service was five years. IJN demanded their men to be a specialist, and set longer period of service for training.
As an exception, a man at the age of 17 to 19 could volunteer to navy as a three-year draftee.
IJA and IJN offered many special volunteer programs, especially for pilot candidates, reserve officers and NCOs. Shonen hikouhei program in IJA, yokaren and tokunen hei program in IJN are most known.
IJA gave their draftees primary training in the regiment they belonged to. IJN gathered their freshmen in navy barracks, basically located in each chinjufu. Each chinjufu had their 'naval districts' at sea for coastal defense. The partition of responsible areas in land among chinjufus paralleled the naval districts, and each chinjufu trained men from their responsible area. After wartime expansion, eventually IJN had 18 navy barracks and branch barracks in the end of war.

2.Officer Training in IJA

IJA shortened officer training course several times before and during the war. The following explanation applies to the system just before the Pacific War.
We can identify three types of IJA officers in their career. The first category is officers who graduated army war school (rikugun shikan gakko).
Cadet corps (yonen gakko) was a school mainly for officers' children and children of army soldiers fell in action. Initially pupils entered cadet corps at the age of 13 or 14, and after finishing five-year course, they entered to army war school with other cadets who passed the examination. In 1920, the last two year course was split from cadet corps, and attached as preliminary course (yoka) of war school. In other words, the course of war school was prolonged two years. In 1937 this two-year course was split again as army preliminary war school. Applicants for this course must be 19 or younger, but soldiers, NCOs and trainees of other volunteer programs could apply if they were 24 (25 for NCOs) or younger.
After two-year preliminary course, candidates were attached to the regiments of their home, and spent 8 months as superior privates, corporals and sergeants. Examining their performance, the regiments sent them back to war school. The candidates spent another 22 months for advanced education, and got appointments as probational officers in their home regiments. After four months as probational officers (wore a mark of master sergeant, but were treated as an officer), the regiment commisioned him as a lieutenant in the name of the emperor.
The second way to become an army officer was for warrant officers, later also for master sergeants. War school had one year course for applicants recommended by the colonel of their regiment and qualified by an entrance exam. The graduates of this course were rather older (up to 38 years old when they applied), so their promotion was limited to the class of army captain, but near the end of war, some officers were promoted to a major.
The third group of IJA officers was that of reserve officers. After three months service as a drafted private, highly educated men can apply to leader candidate (kan-ko). After another three months they were tried and sorted into officer candidate (ko-kan) and NCO candidate (otsu-kan). Officer candidates gathered to army reserve officer school (rikugun yobi shikan gakko) and after 22 month's education including service as probational officers, they were appointed as a (reserve) lieutenant, and immediately moved to reserve. That is, they served six months more than ordinal draftees in exchange for higher appointment. The term for service was the same for NCO candidates, appointed as reserve sergeants. The school they entered was different according to their service-in-arm. In the war of course they were not moved to reserve.
Special volunteer officer (tokubetsu shigan shoko) was a reserve lieutenant or first lieutenant, who volunteered to serve two years (after two years they could renew the application every year). They could apply to change into a professional officer after one-year course in war school. A ko-kan could apply as a SVO.
Near the end of war IJA created several special programs (special leader candidates, tokkan) for training a boy as an NCO or an officer, but the applicants were assigned dangerous tasks such as handling AA guns on vulnerable transport ships, or kamikaze attack by various weapons. In 1944 IJA began to accept students of high school or college as similar special candidate (tokubetsu ko-shu kanbu kohosei) but their fate was similar.
War academy (rikugun daigakko) accepted students who served at least two years, at most eight years after commisioned as a lieutenant. This three-year course was the gate for generals.

3.Officer Training in IJN

IJN had no counterpart of cadet corps. Instead, their navy war school (kaigun heigakko) was four-year course, accepting boys from 16 to 19. sailors and NCOs in service could apply at the age of 23 or younger. The graduates became midshipmen, and after 18 months' service, they attained promotion to ensigns. This career differed from officers to another depending on the period they served. For example, Admiral Isoroku YAMAMOTO and his classmates attained promotion to an ensign 9 months after they graduated three-year course in navy war school.
It is clear that IJA imitated Prussian army, while IJN modeled after the Royal Navy. They succeeded the merit and demerit of two systems. IJN was free from discriminations among elite officers from cadet corps and others, but IJN officers did not experience service as a soldier and it made officers and sailors distant.
IJN promoted warrant officers to officers, usually up to navy lieutenants, but they had the title with 'tokumu'; for example, an ensign promoted from warrant officer was 'tokumu sho-i' instead of 'sho-i'. 'Tokumu' officers wore three little cherry blossom marks on the cuff of their uniform. 'Tokumu' is very ambiguous word like 'special', but readers may recall IJN called auxiliary ships as 'tokumu kantei'. In 1942 IJN mitigated this discriminative treatment and abolished three little cherry blossoms.
In the peacetime warrant officers were selected from NCOs served as NCOs at least for 8 years. Most candidates passed the exam for warrant officer, but selection was done in advance; after 6 years of compulsory service as an NCO, an NCO must apply for another two-year service, and after that, another two-year service to apply qualifications for a warrant officer. An NCO not suitable for a warrant officer was not accepted to prolong his service. Once promoted to a warrant officer, he was in IJN until mandatory retirement at the age of 48. Experienced warrant officers and tokumu officers were a backbone of IJN.
IJN also had 'reserve' officer and NCO system, alike RNR in the Royal Navy. The national mercantile marine schools had some trainings as a reserve officer in their curriculum, and the graduates were appointed as reserve officers. The graduates of private mercantile marine schools could volunteer as a reserve officer and take the training course. Similar system existed for several specialized jobs, such as weather forecasting. They also suffered from discriminative title and appearance, abolished in 1943.
Only just before the end of war, IJN expanded special officer training program, which already existed for flying crews as a part of yokaren program, to other officers. Bacherors from any faculty could apply for this program, and they were appointed as an ensign after short training.
In comparison with army counterparts, it took longer for navy officers until they were ready to apply navy war academy (kaigun daigakko). A lieutenant or lieutenant commander could apply but it seems that 10 years' service after graduation of war school was required; many student entered just 10 years after graduation while I find anybody who entered earlier. In ten years, usually applicants graduated from artillery school and torpedo school, respectively half-an-year course. Navy war academy itself was one-year course.

4.Specialists and NCO Training in IJA

The NCO training system of IJA was simpler than that of IJN. From 1927 to 1938, IJN held one-year course in three service schools (kyodo gakko) for training NCO candidates of infantry, artillery and cavalry. IJA converted the facility to army reserve officer school and delegated the NCO training to service troops (gun kyodo-tai) in each army districts; east, middle, west, Korea and Taiwan. The convert proceeded gradually from 1938 to 1943.
For young volunteer, IJA offered two-year (shortened gradually) course for an NCO at the time of graduation in flying crew and aircraft ground crew, radio, field artillery, heavy artillery, anti-aircraft gun, railroad engineer, shipping engineer and tank crew. The first two were the largest program, so boy flying crew school and boy radio crew school were established, followed by boy tanker school.
Officers in the following services-in-arm got their education in army war school; infantry, tanks, artillery, engineer, supply and cavalry. They differed in the troops attached, and had some specialized training in war school. They got most of their specialized training after they experienced the service and went to practice schools of their speciality. For flying crew, at first candidates were educated in this manner, but army aviation officer school was newly founded in 1938 (as branch of war school from 1937).
All engineer and artillery officers got recurrent education after a year from their appointments in army artillery-engineer school (rikugun ho-ko gakko), later renamed as army schience school (rikugun kagaku gakko) for advanced technology.
Army gendarmerie school (rikugun kenpei gakko) educated men, NCO and officers volunteered for gendarmerie. NCOs and first class privates (a gendarmerie was at least a first class privates) were usually professionals who repeatedly volunteered to serve every two years. Officers also must be experienced, but often officers volunteered to gendarmerie when they could not serve in their original appointments because of wound or sickness.
The following schools were practice schools. They had a few courses for NCOs and company officers, rarely for field officers, for advanced training of their specialities. The courses were usually from three to six months. Each of them also had a reserve officer candidate troop and an NCO education troop for leader candidates and usual NCO candidates. Thus the task of training leader candidates was shared among various schools, educational troops in higher-echeron local HQs (mainly for NCO candidates), and army reserve officer schools.
Army infantry school
Army cavalry school
Army tank school
Army tank maintenance school
Army field artillery school
Army heavy artillery school
Army anti-aircraft gun school
Army engineer school
Army telecommunication school
Army supply school
These schools were also research institutes of related topics.
Minor services-in-arm gave their specialized training in training department (renshu-bu). We find fragmental reference to training departments on shipping (engineer), railroad (engineer), airfield building, paratrooper (rikugun teishin renshu-bu).

We should explain the weapon craftsmen before refering to army weapon school (rikugun heiki gakko). Until IJA introduced new service-in-arm, technician, in 1940, weapon technicians were either engineers (electric workers, mechanics and woodcraftsmen) or artillerymen (saddlers, gunsmiths, explosive specialists and blacksmiths). Each technician was graded in three, respectively equivalent to sergeant major, sergeant and corporal. Army weapon school was mainly for these craftsmen, educated to become an NCO technician. They could become officers, but elite technical officers were engineer or artillerymen who graduated army war school and army science school with an excellent score and sent to Tokyo Imperial University or Kyoto Imperial University as research students. We shall discuss about technicians later.
Narashino school (rikugun Narashino gakko) was a secret school located in Narashino (Chiba prefecture) for personnel treating poison gas.
Nakano school (rikugun Nakano gakko) was a secret school originally located in Nakano (Tokyo metropolis) for espionage.
Toyama school (rikugun Toyama gakko) located in Toyama (Tokyo metropolis, unrelated to Toyama prefecture) was specialized in gymnastics, martial arts and military music band.
The following services-in-arm were 'kakubu', non-combat services. As discussed above, originally elite technician officers were engineers or artillerymen. They were reluctant to volunteer to technician because it did not seem honorable that they moved to non-combat services from combat services. On the other hand, making full use of an old system, many bacherors of science or technology were appointed as army technical first lieutenants.
The training system of intendance officers changed drastically several times. Freshmen in 1907 to 1922 were basically educated in army intendance school, but as in army war school, they were sent to troops in the beginning and the end of education as probational staffs. In the era of armament reduction after WWI, IJA supplemented intendance officers from other services-in-arm on their application and examination. The training for them resembled that for their seniors, but probational appointment was omitted. Lastly after IJA began expanding again, as technical officers, graduates from faculties of economics, law and commerce were appointed as second intendants (equivalent to first lieutenants) after a short course in army intendant school. Also IJA recruited kan-ko as intendants, which was by far the most in number among intendant officers in the Pacific War. Intendant NCOs (keishu) were selected from volunteers who served one year or more in combat services-in-arm. Also there were men and NCOs for sewing (hokohei as men, hokocho as NCO) and shoemaking (kakohei as men, kakocho as NCO).
There were two types of the career of sanitary staffs. Japan had established licence system for doctors, and IJA and IJN utilized this system. IJA maintained a scholarship system for medical students volunteering for army surgeons. Also doctors who already passed for license exam could volunteer as an army doctor. An army doctor began his career as third class army surgeon (lieutenant), and got advanced training in army surgeon school.
There were also yakuzaikan (company officer chemists) and higher. Dentists were appointed as officers as late as in 1940. Perhaps until then some dentists were hired temporalily.
The other career began as a second class medic (private), as which some draftees were assigned. If they volunteered to serve after their first two-year service, they took a training course in sanitary supply depot (eisei zairyo sho) or sanitary NCO candidate unit in so-gun class HQ to become kangocho (NCO medics), and finally they got one-year education in army surgeon school to kangokan (company officer medics). They could not be promoted above the class of major as other officers who began their career as a private. Similarly, there were helpers for chemists, makohei (men) and makocho (NCO). Because licensed chemist company officers were called yakuzaikan, we cannot distinguish licensed company officers from non-lisenced ones from warrant officers. It is not sure if there existed the latter.
Veteriniary system resembles that of sanitary troops, but veteriniary soldier did not exist; perhaps artillery and supply troops provided the men for horse hospital. horse shoer (teitetsu kocho) served as veteriniary NCO, but there was no counterpart for kangokan; all officers were veterinians. Unlike sanitary troops, there was a program to send IJA personnels to become veterinians, so perhaps NCOs applied it for their promotion.
Judical staffs were officials until 1942. After 1942 it became non-combat service-in-arm. As doctors and medics, those who passed bar exam became officers, and judical men and NCOs could be promoted up to a major.
In most of these non-combat services-in-arm, the highest class was equivalent to lieutenant general (for dentists, generalmajor). They were typically inspector-general of their speciality. Only military musicians did not have higher organization posts, so they were at most promoted to an equivalent to major.

5.Specialists and NCO Training in IJN

IJN was a meritocracy, or even a diploma-conscious society. IJN did not have a school for NCO candidate, who were recommended by the leader of their troop. Instead, IJN encouraged men to study in schools of various specialities, and promoted NCOs based on their records in schools. A training course lasted for several months, but often standard course and advanced course, and master course for some specialities, were available.

Schools	Specialities (senshu)	Notes
Yokosuka Navy Artillery School	artillery artillery-measurement	Tateyama was specialized in ground combat and ground AA guns, including SNLF men and leaders.
Tateyama Navy Artillery School
Navy Torpedo School	torpedo
Navy Mine School	mines sonar	renamed as anti-sub school in 1944
Navy Telecommunication School	radio cypher
Navy Radar School	radar	from 1944
Navy Navigation School	signal navigation
Navy Weather School	weather	from 1945
Navy Crafts and Engineer School	turbine boiler support-machinery internal-combustion(diesel) electricities	renamed as engineer school in 1945
Navy Crafts School	crafts	repair, civil engineering for base construcion, and aircraft maintenance were taught there. Split from crafts and engineer school in 1941
Navy Sanitary School	nursery	from 1945. Until then trainings were given in Navy Hospital.
Navy Intendance School	intendance clothes and foods
(Yokosuka Marine Barracks)	musical bands
(Each Marine Barracks)	judical affairs

Navy Submarine School educated, in principle, only volunteers who had finished standard course of their specialities. From 1944 this qualification was mitigated for newly mobilized draftees.
There were scholarship system similar to IJA for navy doctor.

6.Pilot Training in IJA

When aviation became a separate service-in-arm from engineer in 1925, The training system of aviation officers resembled other combat officers. The basic training was given in army war school, and instead of infantry or other regiments, aviation officer candidates were attached to air regiments as probational staffs. Along with basic training in attached air regiments, they entered to army aviation schools after they were commissioned for advanced training of aviation itself. Later in 1938 army aviation officer school was founded from a branch of army war school. The aviation officer still shared preliminary education in army preliminary war school with other officers.
Aviation schools, especially schools training fighter pilots, had many branches all over Japan. Most school had a name from its location, but graduates did not necessarily get their training in that location.
Seeing the popularity of yokaren system in IJN, IJA began a new training program, 'young flying crew (shonen hikouhei)' in 1934. Volunteers at the age of 15 to 16 (later 14 to 15) took three-year training for pilot, flying crew and maintenance crew. After finishing this program boys were appointed as corporals. It was the fastest way in IJA to become an NCO, but on the other hand, half of Army Kamikaze pilots were boys from this program.
For officer pilots, IJA introduced special probational officer pilot program in 1943. Those who had been in high school or more advanced school could apply for this program. Applicant was immediately appointed as a sergeant major, but culled rapidly. They were required to go to the stage of solo flight in three weeks, while practice times was 30 minutes a day. If failed, they were appointed elsewhere for ground combat.

Army Aviation Schools	Specialities
Tokorozawa	basic navigation This oldest army aviation school was closed in 1937 and converted to Tokorozawa Army Aviation Maintenance School.
Kumagaya	primary (first year) training for young flying crew tokkan training special probational officer training
Tokyo	primary (first year) training for young flying crew
Paichenzu (Manchuria)	young flying crew, navigation training
Utsunomiya	young flying crew, recon
Tachi-Arai	young flying crew, dogfight
Shimo-Shizu	advanced training of recon for officers
Akeno	advanced training of dogfight for officers AA gun for ground forces
Hamamatsu	advanced training of bombing for officers
Tachikawa Army Aircraft Maintenance School	advanced training of maintenance for officers
Army Aviation Technology School	Advanced aviation technology

7.Pilot Training in IJN

In IJN practice in aviation was given in training NAGs all over Japan. Edicts on training NAG became effective in 1930, and IJN raised many training NAGs, but IJN named these NAGs as other NAGs after location of their home base. So we cannot distinguish the two from the name; we must assure if it was a training NAG or operational NAG one by one.
In 1944 IJN gave three-digit numbers to operational NAGs, and left other NAGs, those for training and airfield keeping, unchanged. In the last days IJN ordered training NAGs to join in operation, namely Kamikaze attack by young trainee, but basically NAGs named after locations still at the end of war was a training NAGs.
What was NAG? NAG was a team of about 1800 staffs; flying and ground crewmen, and instructors for training NAGs. So it was often the case that several NAGs shared a major airbase, and troops in an operational NAG dispersed among several airbases. As training program expanded, some training NAG built new barracks in neighboring area and raised new training NAGs. For example, Atsugi airfield, where General McArthur came to Japan, was shared with 1st Sagamino and 2nd Sagamino NAGs and 302nd NAG. 1st Sagamino NAG gave advanced training while 2nd trained novices.
Usually several training NAG was grouped as a combined NAG. Combined NAG was a system originally for operational NAGs, but after IJN changed the rule so that two or more NAGs might comprise an air squadron, operational NAGs were attached to air squadrons because an air squadron HQ was authorized to have more staffs for operational control.
Thus in the peacetime, officer pilots learned flying after they finished navy war school.
In 1930, IJN started a brand-new flying crew training program, yokaren. Yokaren was flying preliminary trainee (hikou yoka renshusei), that is, the status of accepted applicants. This word is used as if it was the name of a school, but in fact this system was an amalgam of various programs for rapid training of aviation crews.
This program was for boys at the age of 15 to 17. Trainees were educated in three-year preliminary course (exactly speaking, this course is yoka), followed by one-year flying training. They would become a corporal (third class flying sergeant) at the age of 18; it was the fastest way to become an NCO, which made this program popular among ambitious boys. They could not be promoted to navy commander or higher because they were not graduates of navy war school; IJN should have reminded applicants of this defect, but IJN was an excellent advertiser.
From the first class the course was shortened because pilots were needed in China front.
This course began in Yokosuka NAG but soon staffs were transfered to Kasumigaura NAG (Ibaraki prefecture), a training NAG. According to rapid expansion of this program, IJN raised new training NAG in neighboring area of Kasumigaura NAG facilities, Tsuchiura NAG. Tsuchiura and Kasumigaura were often referred to the place 'the yokaren' existed, but in fact, more and more training NAGs all over Japan were involved after 1942 in this program.
In 1937 IJN introduced new yokaren course. New course, ko-shu (type-A) yokaren accepts a little more educated boys (applicants must be high-school students), but preliminary course was a year shorter. Original course was named as otsu-shu (type-B), and continued. Later even shorter training courses, toku-otsu-shu and hei-shu was added.
Because of rapid expansion near the end of war, the trainee of yokaren system was 241,463, among which only about 24,000 finished the course. including death of trainees(air-raid etc.), 18,900 men were killed in action or training, including 2,534 in Kamikaze attack.