Kusunoki Masashige is one of the most celebrated figures in Japanese history. His devotion to the emperor and to the imperial cause, which ultimately cost him his life, has made him the ultimate nationalistic tragic hero. When realizing that the battle against Takauji was lost, he exclaimed "seven lives for the emperor," and committed seppuku. Some six hundred years later, Kamikaze pilots in WW2 also used this phrase to express their devotion to the emperor before taking off to their final mission.