Uchihara Training Center

A training center for agricultural immigrants to Manchuria (northeastern China). It especially trained the Manchuria-Mongolia Pioneer Youth Volunteer Corps. It was established in 1938 (Showa 13) in Uchihara, Shimonakazuma Village, Higashiibaraki County, Ibaraki Prefecture (present-day Mito City). The director was Kato Kanji. Boys around 17 years old who had graduated from high school were trained for three months in "Imperial spirit," "martial arts," and "agriculture," and then sent off to Manchuria. From 1938 to 1945, the number of people sent out reached 86,530, and many of them were killed in action in Manchuria as the Soviet Union entered the war just before Japan's defeat.

[Hideo Kobayashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

満州（中国東北部）農業移民の訓練所。とくに満蒙(まんもう)開拓青少年義勇軍を訓練した。1938年（昭和13）茨城県東茨城郡下中妻村内原（現水戸(みと)市）に設立。所長は加藤完治(かんじ)。17歳前後の高等小学校卒業の少年を3か月間、「皇国精神」「武道」「農業」を中心に訓練し、満州へ送り出した。38年以降45年までその送出者数は8万6530名に達し、その多くは、敗戦直前のソ連参戦のなか満州で戦死した。

［小林英夫］

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