Isoroku Yamamoto, he great World War II Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and brainchild of the tactical masterpiece attack on Pearl Harbor, began his life in relative poverty and obscurity. As the seventh child of an elderly schoolteacher, Isoroku –meaning fifty-six- Takano was so named after his father’s age at his birth in April of 1884 (Potter 3). Yamamoto, meaning "the base of the mountain" was not his last name until he was adopted at the age of thirty by the Yamamoto family following the death of parents (Potter 15). Yamamoto’s upbringing was largely in Nagaoko in northwestern Japan where his father was a head schoolteacher. It was here that Yamamoto learned English under the instruction of an American Missionary who also helped cultivate Yamamoto’s lifelong interest in the Bible (Potter 11-12). His service in the Imperial Japanese Navy began with his appointment to the Japanese Naval Academy during his mid-teens. After graduating seventh in his class he was commissioned as an Ensign and sent to the cruiser Nisshin in 1904. While aboard the Nisshin, Yamamoto lost two fingers during a surface engagement with a Russian battle fleet in the Straits of Tsushima (Potter 12). During the opening decades of the Nineteen Hundreds, Yamamoto would advance in rank as he made several cruises throughout the Pacific, making port calls in Korea and Australia. At the rank of Commander he would later be assigned to Naval Headquarters in Tokyo and shortly thereafter was married to one Reiko Mihashi (Potter 14-16).

    Yamamoto was not long married before he was sent to Harvard for a two-year postgraduate course. It was during this time that Yamamoto became intimately familiar with the U.S.’ industrial capacity, oil production, and the development of aircraft as a naval asset (Potter16-18). Yamamoto returned to Japan in the early twenties and as a captain served as the executive officer of an aircraft training squadron in Kasumigaura. After a year and a half he was back in America as a Naval attaché in Washington where he was in an ideal position to investigate the "power policies, shipbuilding and defense programs" of the U.S. (Potter 19-20). His knowledge of America would later play heavily in his resistance to entering into a protracted war with the U.S. and his promoting the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Picture of Yamamoto with Navy Secretary Curtis Wilbur