Fuchida Mitsuo was a famed carrier bomber pilot who, in his capacity as commander of the Akagi air group and concurrently as senior air officer of the First Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, led the aerial attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Mitsuo Fuchida papers consists of an unfinished manuscript of Fuchida's autobiography (Natsu wa chikai [The summer is near]), photo albums, records of Fuchida's travels and speaking tours in the postwar period, Navy Academy textbooks, maps, navy organization personnel charts, the Bible, and secondary literature on the Pacific War and Christianity.

Fuchida Mitsuo was born to Fuchida Yazō (father) and Shika (mother) in the Iwaki Village of Kita-Katsuragi District, Nara Prefecture. After receiveing education in his hometown at Kanmaki Ordinary Grade School and Unebi Middle School, he proceeded in 1921 to the Navy Academy and graduated in 1924. He received further technical training in gunnery, torpedoes, and aviation. He entered the Naval Staff College in 1936 and graduated in 1938. Fuchida married Kitaoka Haruko in 1931 and had two children. The son, Yoshiya, was born in 1933, and the daughter, Miyako, was born in 1937. He became a famed carrier bomber pilot who, in his capacity as commander of the Akagi air group and concurrently as senior air officer of the First Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, led the aerial attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He participated in ensuing air campaigns in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas but, after incurring injuries resulting from the destruction of the aircraft carrier Akagi at the Battle of Midway, he was based mostly in Japan, serving as instructor at the Naval Staff College (1942), the staff of the First Air Fleet (1943), and the staff of the Combined Fleet (1944), among other positions held. He had participated in the navy's aerial warfare against China prior to the start of the Pacific War, having held the command of the Thirteen Special Air Group at Nanjing (1938) and consecutively commanding the air groups of the carriers of Ryūjō and Akagi (1938-9). The highest military rank he held was that of a captain, commissioned in 1944. Fuchida led a life of a farmer following the breakup of the Japanese army and navy forces under the Allied occupation of Japan (1945-1952), during which he converted to Christianity and was baptized in 1951. The remainder of his life was dedicated to evangelical activities in Japan and the United States while he also authored books, gave interviews, and delivered speeches concerning the Pacific War, especially with regard to his personal recollections of the Pearl Harbor attack and the Battle of Midway. His unfinished manuscript, Natsu wa chikai [The summer is near], in which he relates his life story, was published posthumously as Shinjuwan kōgeki sōtaicho no kaisō: Fuchida Mitsuo jijoden (Kōdansha, 2007). An English translation, For That One Day, was published in 2011. He died in 1976.

63 manuscript boxes, 40 oversize boxes, 3 oversize folders, 2 sound tape reels (81.9 Linear Feet)

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Boxes 87-97 may not be used without the permission of the Archivist. The remainder of the collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.