MAJOR DEEJ UNIVERSE

Early Life

Kenjiro Kunitada was born in 1917 in Oroville, California, the son of Japanese immigrants who had settled in the Sacramento Valley as rice and fruit farmers.

His father, Hiroshi Kunitada, had been born in Japan and was the son of a minor samurai family whose lineage had collapsed after the Meiji Restoration dismantled the samurai class. Hiroshi brought little wealth with him to America, but he carried with him a family heirloom:
A centuries-old katana passed down through the Kunitada line.

Kenjiro grew up helping his family farm orchards and rice fields while being raised with two very different cultural influences:
•    American frontier independence
•    Japanese traditions of honor and discipline
 

His father taught him the philosophy of Bushidō — the samurai code of honor.
 

But he also warned him:

• “A sword is not meant to serve kings.

• It is meant to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

Kenjiro took these lessons to heart.

​

​

Early Life
Kenjiro trained from childhood in traditional sword techniques taught by his father. Later, while attending high school in Oroville, he studied:
•    Judo
•    Kendo
•    Boxing
•    Track and field
 

He became widely known locally as a disciplined and quiet young man who rarely fought — but when forced to, ended fights extremely quickly.

After graduating high school in 1935, Kenjiro briefly attended community college in Chico but returned home to help run the family farm during the economic hardships of the Great Depression.


The Internment Camps
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, anti-Japanese fear and anger swept across the United States.

In 1942, the Kunitada family — like thousands of other Japanese-American families — were forcibly relocated to an internment camp.
 

Kenjiro’s parents and siblings were sent to the Tule Lake Relocation Center in Northern California.
 

Kenjiro himself avoided internment because he had already volunteered for U.S. military service.
 

He did so for a simple reason:
“America is my home. I will defend it.”

Despite volunteering, the Army initially refused to place him in a combat unit.
 

Discovery by Allied Fighters

Kenjiro’s extraordinary sword skill came to the attention of military intelligence during training exercises in 1943, when he defeated multiple soldiers in hand-to-hand demonstrations using a wooden training sword.

The demonstration was witnessed by Captain John Brown, later known as Captain Invader.

Brown saw something unusual.

Kenjiro fought like a trained warrior — not simply a soldier.

Brown recruited him into the Allied Fighters, recognizing that a warrior trained in both American and Japanese traditions could be invaluable in the Pacific Theater.

Kenjiro accepted, but under one condition:
His family must be protected while he served.
 

Brown quietly ensured that the Kunitada family received improved conditions inside the internment camp.
 

Kenjiro never forgot this.
 

The Birth of Katana Kuni

Within the Allied Fighters, Kenjiro adopted the battlefield name: Katana Kuni.
 

The name carried two meanings:
•    “Kuni” meaning nation
•    honoring his family name Kunitada

He carried the ancestral katana passed down from his father, a blade believed to have been forged in the late Edo period of Japan.
 

Though not superhuman, Katana Kuni became one of the Allied Fighters’ most formidable close-combat specialists.
 

His reputation spread quickly among Allied forces.
 

Japanese soldiers sometimes whispered about:
“The American Samurai.”
 

Bataan Rescue Mission (1944)

In 1944, Katana Kuni joined Captain Invader, Dauntless, and Philippines Fighter in a rescue mission near Bataan in the Philippines.

The Allied Fighters eliminated more than fifty Japanese troops guarding a civilian shelter.

Inside, they discovered survivors of the Bataan Death March. Many had been brutally abused and left near death. Among them was the father of Philippines Fighter (I). The elderly man died in his son’s arms moments after being rescued.
 

The incident deeply affected Katana Kuni. He had always believed that soldiers must fight with honor. What he saw in Bataan convinced him that the Imperial war machine had abandoned honor completely.
 

The Samurai Sentinel

During the Pacific war, the Allied Fighters repeatedly encountered a Japanese superhuman warrior known as: Samurai Sentinel. His real name was only known as "Riishi". Riishi was a warrior who followed the strict code of the samurai. Despite fighting for Japan, he refused to kill American heroes unless directly ordered by the Emperor himself. This strange moral code created a grudging respect between him and the Allied Fighters.

During the Battle of Iwo Jima, U.S. Army intelligence intercepted communications revealing a disturbing truth. A Japanese general had forged a message supposedly from the Emperor ordering Samurai Sentinel to kill Americans indiscriminately.

The Emperor had never sent such an order.

When Katana Kuni heard this, he understood the situation immediately.

A samurai’s loyalty to his emperor was absolute.

If Riishi believed the order was real, he would follow it.

Kuni chose to act alone.

Kuni located Riishi near the volcanic beaches of Iwo Jima. He attempted to explain the deception, but Riishi believed Kuni was attempting to trick him.

The two warriors fought.

The battle was fierce and brief.

Riishi ultimately struck a fatal blow, driving his blade through Kuni’s heart.

Even as he lay dying, Katana Kuni continued trying to convince him of the truth.

Moments later, the Allied Fighters arrived. Captain Invader presented the decoded communications proving the order had been forged.
Realizing the truth, Riishi was devastated.

Riishi brought the Allied Fighters, initially as his prisoners, at the bequest of Captain Invader, before the Japanese general responsible. When pressed, the Japaense radiomen confessed the General's deception. In fury and shame, Riishi executed the general himself.

He then returned to the Allied Fighters, gave Captain Invader a bag of gold for Kuni’s family and spoke quietly:
“Kuni was the better man. I fought for my emperor. He fought for honor.”
 

Riishi was flown back to Japan and shortly after that disappeared from the public's view.  The US military knew where he was, but at the behest of Captain Invader, they left him alone.

Funeral and Legacy

Katana Kuni’s body was returned to the United States.

His funeral in Oroville, California was small. Only thirty people attended. Most of his family were still imprisoned in internment camps.
 

After the war, the newly promoted Major Invader personally delivered:
•    Kuni’s sword
•    the gold from Riishi
•    more than $100,000 in donations from people Kuni had helped and/or saved during the war
 

After they were finally release from the internment camps, the Kunitada family returned to Oroville only to discover their farm had been sold out from under them during the war. With that, they disappeared from public records soon afterward. No one knows where they went - not even the newly promoted Major Invader.

Recognition

For decades, Katana Kuni’s sacrifice was largely forgotten.

 

In the 1970s, Major Invader personally pressured (threatened) the local California state legislature to properly honor him.
 

Today in Oroville, California:
•    The Katana Kuni Memorial Park stands
•    The Katana Kuni Memorial Football Game is conducted on Memorial Day each year between the local football teams
•    A state-funded Japanese-American assistance charity was created and maintained by the state of California

 

Although he is gone "Katana Kuni" is remembered for his honor, duty and sacrifice.

​