| Toyoaki Horiuchi | |||||
| Native Name: | 堀内 豊秋 | ||||
| Native Name Lang: | jpn | ||||
| Birth Date: | 27 September 1900 | ||||
| Birth Place: | Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan | ||||
| Death Place: | Manado, North Sulawesi, Dutch East Indies
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| Serviceyears: | 1923–1945 | ||||
| Rank: | Captain
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was a Japanese Navy officer; his highest rank was . He was known for the development of naval gymnastics, which were meant to improve the alertness and flexibility of sailors in closed areas of warships and he was known for leading the paratroopers. He was the first jumper during the drop on an airfield 60 km south of Manado, Indonesia, in the Battle of Manado.
He was born in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture on 27 September 1900 in the house known as Mimageno Kadogoya, since his ancestors were heads of a small town. After graduation from a middle school in 1919, he entered the Naval school at Edajima, Hiroshima Prefecture and graduated in 1922. In the Naval school, he studied not only English but also Spanish and Portuguese. After graduation, he became a naval officer in September 1923, and was ordered to take a pilot student course. Unfortunately, he was struck by a whirling propeller and had to defer his training.[1] He took another course and joined the crew of a destroyer. In December 1, 1927, he was promoted to lieutenant and took artillery. In 1928, he became a division officer in Japanese cruiser Natori and in 1929, he was a division officer in Japanese cruiser Ashigara. In 1930, he became a teacher at the Naval school. He was in charge of artillery and gymnastics. In October 1934, he was appointed as the teacher of artillery at Yokosuka. At the end of 1936, he sailed on the Japanese cruiser Isuzu as the artillery officer.
He was known for the development of his own gymnastics based on the Denmark gymnastics. As a teacher of gymnastics at the Naval school, he had long felt a need that those in the navy should attain more alertness and flexibility of actions in the limited spaces of warships and he studied various methods; traditionally the Japanese Imperial Army had employed the Swedish gymnastics. Once, he had a chance of learning the Denmark gymnastics by visiting Danish gymnasts at Okayama, and developed his own system, based on the flexible movements of extremities; becauseof his peculiar movements, he was nicknamed octopus man. He revealed the superiority of this gymnastics by showing the team he taught won high marks in various games and finally the Ministry of the Navy employed his method of gymnastics. In 1944, he was awarded for his development of gymnastics by the Navy Minister.[2]
Prior to the beginning of the Pacific War, he was appointed as a special commander, and on 11 January 1942, his troop successfully performed an airborne operation at Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Earlier, he had been the leader in training paratroopers at Tateyama, Chiba, during which a number of trainees died due to various reasons. On November 1940, the trainees were divided into the first special troop, headed by him numbering 750, another troop was headed by Fukumi. He jumped at 9:52 a.m. on 11 January 1942 from a height of 150 metres. His flight was recorded on film and was used for propaganda purposes.
According to Japanese reports, Horiuchi treated the inhabitants of the island well, and was appreciated them. During his short tenure, he gave reportedly provided necessary goods such as salt, and reduced the tax to 1/4 of the previous amount. Horiuchi reportedly used the local language and according to one Japanese source, treated the prisoners of war (POWs) of the Netherlands fairly. On 11 January 1992, a goodwill meeting was held in commemoration of the 50th year of the parachute drop. Issai Horiuchi, the son of Horiuchi, carried the photograph of Horiuchi and several hundreds of the inhabitants attended the meeting.[3] Hiroyuki Agawa, who later became a writer, was under Horiuchi when Horiuchi was transferred to Toukou of Taiwan in 1943 as a teacher of Naval students. Horiuchi said to Agawa that he was one of those who were loved by those in the occupied lands. He lost any desire or position when my assistant lieutenant died. To become a good commander, eliminate five desires, especially the sexual desire. Those who lost something will not kill others, but those whose lovers are taken by someone, may kill them. In the occupied lands, the Japanese army and navy made mistakes because of this.[4]
On 29 January 1948, a written indictment was read at the Manado Temporary Military Court which presented charges against Japanese Navy Colonel Toyoaki Horiuchi by the order of the Prosecutor General (dated 19 January 1948). The charges were that Horiuchi ordered or allowed Dutch army officers to be subjected to systemic terrorism. He was in a position of knowing the terrorism and did not punish Japanese officers. In 1942, at least 30 Dutch officers were killed with swords. He was in a position of knowing this but did not take necessary preventive measures. These are against the rules dealing with wartime criminals. Lawyer Ide stated that Horiuchi did not know these facts. There were 9 witnesses, most from the Dutch side. Horiuchi sent a letter of testimony that he did not know these facts. However, he felt responsible as an officer of superior rank. For a long time, he believed that we should love enemies. In January 1942, when he set up the parachute troop center, he strongly banned violence to those on the Dutch side. We treated these officers with respect and courtesy. He was impressed by Van den Berg officer who asked for permission while he was responsible. He punished his officers who gave him some violence. Based on his conviction, he freed 650 men of Indonesia. He admitted some of the violence had not been reported to him.[5]