Banzai


(used as a Japanese patriotic cry or joyous shout.)
(used as a Japanese battle cry.)
leading to likely or inevitable death; suicidal:
a banzai attack by Japanese troops in the last days of World War II.
Historical Examples

He repeated banzai over and over again, and also shouted Come, come, Japanese soldiers!
Human Bullets Tadayoshi Sakurai

His reason was all gone, yet he did not forget to shout banzai for his Fatherland.
Human Bullets Tadayoshi Sakurai

Some said they heard a voice reply ‘banzai,’ some heard nothing.
Chatterbox, 1906 Various

The signal was greeted with enthusiasm and loud cries of “banzai!”
Banzai! Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff

But the Japanese were brave to the last, and sank beneath the waves with the cry of banzai!
At the Fall of Port Arthur Edward Stratemeyer

Some Japanese regiments, in attacking our positions, threw themselves with the cry of “banzai!”
McClure’s Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 6, October, 1908 Various

My crew received me back with literally open arms and loud shouts of “banzai Nippon!”
Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun Harry Collingwood

I had already made my selection, when suddenly a voice called out from the rigging, ‘banzai!
Chatterbox, 1906 Various

The imperial colors waved high above our new camp, and the banzai of rejoicing arose like surges of the sea!
Human Bullets Tadayoshi Sakurai

banzai was shouted two or three times; joy and congratulation resounded on the heights of Kenzan, which was now virtually ours.
Human Bullets Tadayoshi Sakurai

interjection
a patriotic cheer, battle cry, or salutation

Japanese war-cry, 1893, literally “(may you live) ten thousand years,” originally a greeting addressed to the emperor, from ban “ten thousand” + sai “year.”

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