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Who2 Biography:

Hirohito

, Royalty

  • Born: 29 April 1901
  • Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan
  • Died: 7 January 1989
  • Best Known As: Emperor of Japan, 1926-1989

Hirohito ruled Japan for more than six decades of the 20th century, during a period in which the nation aggressively pursued political dominance in Asia, withstood the devastation of World War II and rebuilt itself into a global economic powerhouse. Taking the official name Showa ("Enlightened Peace"), he began his long reign in 1926, with a divine claim to the throne as the 124th emperor in direct lineage to Amaterasu, a mythological sun goddess. At the close of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur, in charge of the U.S. occupation of Japan, kept Hirohito on the throne rather than charge him with war crimes, and Hirohito renounced his divinity and agreed to adopt a constitutional monarchy. During Hirohito's lifetime he was often depicted as a benign and even passive bystander to events, more interested in marine biology than geopolitics. Since his death in 1989, that image has been challenged by critics who argue that Hirohito encouraged the military aggression toward China in the early 1930s, participated in the planning of the attacks on Pearl Harbor (1941) and prolonged the war against the U.S. and Great Britain unnecessarily. After his death in 1989, Hirohito was succeeded by his son, the Emperor Akihito.

Hirohito, also known as Tenno Showa or Emperor Showa, was the son of Emperor Taisho and grandson of Emperor Meiji; the most recent addition to the royal line is Hirohito's great-grandson Prince Hisahito, born in 2006... Hirohito's 62-year reign was the longest in Japanese history.

 
 
US Military History Companion: Hirohito

(1901–1989), emperor of Japan from December 1926 until his death in January 1989

A timid man, preferring marine biology to affairs of state, Hirohito reigned over but did not directly rule Japan; from early in his reign, the military increasingly held sway and committed Japan to war in his name. Hirohito unwittingly contributed to this outcome: as a constitutional monarch he always felt obliged formally to sanction the government's aggressive policies, however much he disagreed with them.

Hirohito privately but unsuccessfully opposed Japan's undeclared war with China, beginning in July 1937, and Japan's entry into the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in September 1940, fearing that this would lead Japan into an unwanted war with the United States and Great Britain. However, he was a nationalist, not the pacifist some accounts imply, and when the United States ended oil exports to Japan on 1 August 1941 in retaliation for Japan's military occupation of French Indochina, Hirohito eventually accepted that war was inevitable. That Japan formally declared war on the United States only after it attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 had not been his intention.

During the Pacific War, even as he publicly exhorted his countrymen to sacrifice their lives for victory, Hirohito instructed Prime Minister Tōjō Hideki to work for peace. Ironically, Hirohito may have prolonged the war, first by protecting the die‐hard Tōjō, upon whom he relied politically, from critics until Tōjō finally resigned in July 1944 following the fall of Saipan; and second, by advocating the last “decisive” Battle of Okinawa, which he hoped would strengthen Japan's position in any forthcoming peace negotiations.

Ultimately, when the war was clearly lost, but with the government deadlocked over whether to accept the Allies' Potsdam Proclamation (26 July 1945) calling for Japan's “unconditional surrender,” Hirohito personally intervened and Japan capitulated 15 August 1945. In September, when he first met Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander in Japan, Hirohito offered to take responsibility for the war. However, he was exempted from standing trial as a war criminal and retained on the throne so that the occupation could use his authority in the demilitarization and democratization of Japan. The new 1947 Constitution stripped him of all prerogatives, leaving a purely ceremonial role.

Despite Hirohito's formal apology for the war, made years later (1975) during a state visit to the United States, many Americans regard him as a controversial figure. However, there is no evidence that Hirohito knew in advance of, or sanctioned, the great many atrocities committed by Japanese forces during the Pacific War.

[See also Japan, Peace Treaty with; Pearl Harbor, Attack on; Potsdam Conference; World War II, U.S. Air Operations in: The Air War Against Japan; World War II, U.S. Naval Operations in: The Pacific.]

Bibliography

  • Toshiaki Kawahara, Hirohito and His Times: A Japanese Perspective, 1990.
  • Stephen S. Large, Emperor Hirohito and Shōwa Japan: A Political Biography, 1992
 
US Military Dictionary: Hirohito

(1901-89) emperor of Japan (1926-89) during World War II, though the military controlled the government and conducted the war in his name. It was Hirohito, however, who eventually brought about the peace by intervention in a government deadlock and a broadcast to the nation (1945) announcing Japan's surrender. After the war he was retained on the throne in a purely ceremonial capacity.

Hirohito was the longest reigning monarch in Japan's history, and the first Japanese crown prince and the first reigning Japanese monarch to travel abroad.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

 
Biography: Hirohito

Hirohito (1901-1989) was the 124th emperor of Japan. He reigned during a period of internal turmoil, foreign expansion, international war, and national defeat, and presided over the transformation of the Japanese monarchy into a purely symbolic institution. As the occupant of Japan's throne for 63 years, he was the longest living monarch in modern history.

Childhood and Education

Hirohito was born on April 29, 1901. He was the first son of Crown Prince Yoshihito, who later became the Taisho emperor, and the grandson of Mutsuhito, the Meiji emperor. Following long-established custom, Hirohito was separated from his parents shortly after birth. He was cared for under the guardianship of a vice admiral in the imperial navy until November 1904, when he returned to the Akasaka Palace, his parents' official residence.

Even from early years, Hirohito was trained to act with the dignity, reserve, and sense of responsibility his future role would require. He grew into a shy and grave young boy. In April 1908 he was enrolled at the Gakushuin (Peers School) in a special class of 12 boys, among them two of his imperial cousins. The head of the school was Gen. Maresuke Nogi, a celebrated soldier of the Russo-Japanese War. He took a personal interest in the education of the young prince and attempted to instill in him respect for the virtues of stoicism, hard work, and devotion to the nation.

Appointed Heir to Throne

Hirohito was appointed heir apparent on September 9, 1912, shortly after the death of his grandfather Mutsushito and the accession of his father Yoshihito to the throne. Hirohito lost his mentor when Nogi and his wife committed ritual suicide on the day of Mutsuhito's funeral. His education was continued under another military hero, Adm. Heihachiro Togo, who had won the victory over the Russian navy in 1905. But Hirohito never became as close to Togo as he had been to Nogi. In his studies he also had little patience with his tutor in history, who taught that the early myth of the founding of Japan by the sun-goddess was historical fact. Skeptical by nature and scientific in his interest, he found natural history more to his liking. Under the guidance of his natural-history tutor, who remained a lifelong mentor, he began to develop an interest in marine biology, a field in which he became an acknowledged expert.

Crown Prince and Regent

On February 4, 1918, Hirohito became engaged to Princess Nagako, daughter of Prince Kuniyoshi Kuninomiya. Aritomo Yamagata and others raised objections to the match on the grounds that Nagako was descended from the daimyos of Satsuma, who had a strain of color blindness. The defect, they said, would taint the imperial line. But the imperial wedding finally took place on January 26, 1924. The imperial couple later had five daughters, the first born in December 1926, and two sons, the first born in December 1933.

In March 1921 Hirohito, accompanied by a large retinue, set off for a tour of Europe. The event was unprecedented, for it was the first time a crown prince of Japan had visited abroad. Although Hirohito traveled in France, the Netherlands, and Italy, his visit to England made the deepest impression on him. He was attracted by the freedom and informality of the English royal family. On Hirohito's first day at Buckingham Palace, King George V paid him an unexpected breakfast visit in suspenders and carpet slippers, and Edward, Prince of Wales, played golf with him and accompanied him on a round of official gatherings.

On November 25, 1921, shortly after his return to Japan, Hirohito was appointed to serve as regent for his father, who had begun to show increasing signs of mental derangement. In December 1923 Hirohito escaped an attempt on his life by a young radical.

Emperor of a Restless Nation

Hirohito acceded to the throne on December 25, 1926, and his formal enthronement took place in accord with ancient rituals in November 1928. He took as his reign name Showa ("Enlightened Peace"), and he was formally known as Showa Tenno.

The choice of reign name proved highly ironic for, shortly after Hirohito became emperor, Japan's relations with the outside world began to deteriorate. In 1927 Japanese army officers arranged the assassination of Marshal Chang Tso-lin, warlord of Manchuria, in hopes of provoking a Japanese takeover of the area. The young emperor, angered at the event, urged Premier Giichi Tanaka to discover and punish the culprits. He was equally indignant in September 1931, when elements in the Japanese army engineered the occupation of southern Manchuria under their own initiative. Encouraged by advisers like Count Nobuaki Makino and Prince Kimmochi Saionji, the Emperor privately urged moderation and caution on the army as it continued to deepen Japan's military involvement on the Asian mainland.

The Manchurian incident ushered in a period of profound domestic unrest. Dissident young military officers, often with the covert encouragement of their superiors, allied with civilian right-wing radicals to plot a series of unsuccessful coups d'etat and a number of successful assassinations. They hoped to overthrow party cabinets in order to establish a military regime that could govern in the name of "direct imperial rule."

Hirohito, however, believed himself to be a thoroughly human monarch, bound by the constitution his grandfather had promulgated in 1889. He saw himself as an organ of state rather than a personal autocrat and believed that the leaders of government should be men of moderation and non-militaristic in outlook.

During the military insurrection of February 26, 1936, when elements of the First Division occupied large areas of downtown Tokyo and assassination bands murdered many leading public officials, the Emperor urged swift suppression and punishment of the mutinous soldiers and the assassins. The uprising was crushed, and a number of ranking generals who were thought to have encouraged the rebels were forced into retirement.

Road to War

The country nevertheless continued its drift toward war. In July 1937 hostilities with China broke out. During the late 1930s Hirohito's advisers in the palace bureaucracy had urged him to remain aloof from direct intervention in politics lest he compromise the position of the imperial family. The Emperor followed this advice, giving his consent to whatever policies the increasingly belligerent governments decided upon.

There is every evidence that the Emperor felt uneasy about the unfolding of events, particularly after 1940. He did not favor the alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, but he made no effort to oppose it. Similarly, he had grown distrustful of the judgments of the military leaders who kept assuring him of a quick end to the war in China. But when the final decision on war with the United States was made on September 6, 1941, his opposition was confined to an oblique reference to one of his grandfather's poems, which expressed hope for peace.

During the war Hirohito refused to leave the imperial palace at Tokyo, even after air raids began to demolish the city and fires destroyed many buildings on the palace grounds. He wished to share the hardships of his subjects.

Japan Defeated

By the summer of 1945 it was clear to most informed public officials, including many military leaders, that defeat was inevitable. But the decision to surrender did not come until after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At a historic imperial conference on August 9, 1945, the Emperor made clear his determination to "endure the unendurable" and expressed his opinion in favor of surrendering to the Allies.

Following Japan's formal surrender in September 1945, there was much speculation about whether the Emperor would be punished as a war criminal. Hirohito himself frequently expressed his willingness to abdicate as a token of his responsibility for the war. But the American authorities, including Gen. Douglas MacArthur, decided that it would better serve the goals of domestic stability and internal reform of Japan to let him remain as ruler. On January 1, 1946, however, the Emperor once and for all gave up any claims to being a sacred monarch by issuing a rescript that denied his divinity as a descendant of the sun-goddess.

Emperor's Life as a Mortal

During the years of the occupation and afterward, every effort was made to "democratize" the throne by having the Emperor mingle with the people. At first, the Emperor was inept and ill at ease when he met his subjects. He won the nickname "Mr. Is-that-so?" because of his perfunctory comments on visits to factories and schools. Even though he was personally aloof and somewhat awkward in public, the Emperor nevertheless became a popular figure. Pictures of the imperial family and stories of their activities became steady grist for weekly magazine and newspaper copy.

A respected marine biologist with a number of books on that subject to his credit, the Emperor lived a modest, sober, and retiring life when not engaged in official functions. His son Crown Prince Akihito married a commoner in 1959, and the line of succession was assured through their son Prince Hiro. In 1972 Hirohito traveled to Europe and was met with hostile demonstrations. A 1975 trip to the United States resulted in a more friendly reception. Hirohito died on January 7, 1989, at the age of 87. Symbolic of his interest in science and in modernizing his country, Hirohito reportedly was buried with his microscope and a Mickey Mouse watch.

Further Reading

The most complete biography of Hirohito in English is by Leonard Mosley, Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (1966). A journalistic sketch of Hirohito was written during the war by Willard Price, entitled Japan and the Son of Heaven (1945). Reading on the troubled years of the 1930s is provided by Robert J. C. Butow, Tojo and the Coming of the War (1961), and James B. Crowley, Japan's Quest for Autonomy: National Security and Foreign Policy (1966). The Emperor's role in the surrender decision is related in Robert J. C. Butow, Japan's Decision to Surrender (1954).

In 1996, Time published two retrospective articles by Carl Posey about Hirohito's life: "The God-Emperor Who Became a Man" and "From Militarist to Beloved Monarch." Time, Oct. 21, 1996.

Additional Sources

Large, Stephen S. Emperors of the Rising Sun: Three Biographies, Kodansha International, 1997 [biographies of Hirohito, his father, and his grandfather].

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Hirohito

(born April 29, 1901, Tokyo, Japan — died Jan. 7, 1989, Tokyo) Longest-reigning of Japan's monarchs (1926 – 89). His rule coincided with Japan's 20th-century militarism and its aggression against China and Southeast Asia and in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. Though the Meiji Constitution invested the emperor with supreme authority, in practice he merely ratified the policies formulated by his ministers and advisers. Historians have debated whether Hirohito could have diverted Japan from its militaristic path and what responsibility he should bear for the actions of the government and military during the war. In August 1945 he broke the precedent of imperial silence when he made a national radio broadcast to announce Japan's surrender, and in 1946 he made a second broadcast to repudiate the traditional quasi-divine status of Japan's emperors. See also Showa period.

For more information on Hirohito, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Hirohito
(hērō'hētō) , 1901–89, emperor of Japan. He was made regent in 1921 and succeeded his father, Yoshihito (the Taishō emperor), in 1926. He married (1924) Princess Nagako Kuni (1903–2000); a son and heir, Prince Akihito, was born in 1933. For 20 years he reigned as sovereign as Japan went to war in China and the Pacific, and in 1945 he made an unprecedented radio broadcast announcing Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies. Under Allied occupation, he retained the throne, but was transformed from imperial sovereign to democratic symbol. The constitution of 1946 made him “symbol of the state and of the unity of the people,” and he became familiar as a marine biologist, family figure, and greeter of foreign heads of state. His Showa (“enlightened peace”) reign was the longest and one of the most turbulent in Japan's history.

Bibliography

See D. Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito (1995); H. P. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (2000).

 
Law Encyclopedia: Hirohito
This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Hirohito was the emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989. His reign encompassed a period of Japanese militarism that resulted in Japan's participation in World War II, the United States' dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the United States' military occupation of Japan following Japan's defeat. After World War II, Hirohito's authority changed, and he was reduced to a ceremonial figure.

Hirohito was born in Tokyo on April 29, 1901, and was educated in Japan. He became emperor on December 25, 1926, at a time when Japanese parliamentary government suggested that democracy and international cooperation would continue to grow. However, forces within the military sought to dominate the government and embark on a course of expansionism within Asia. Though he had private misgivings about the rise of militarism, Hirohito took no action to stop the generals. His advisers were concerned that imperial opposition would lead to the military overthrow of the monarchy.

As the 124th direct descendant of Japan's first emperor, Jimmu, Hirohito was considered sacred and was referred to as Tenno Heika, meaning "son of heaven." Because Hirohito was unwilling to exercise his divine authority against the military, the Japanese army invaded China in 1937 and in 1940 joined in a military alliance with the Axis powers. The alliance led to Japan's participation in World War II and its attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States on December 7, 1941.

The attack on the United States led to severe consequences for Japanese Americans. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 9066, forcing the relocation of all 112,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast (including 70,000 U.S. citizens) to detention camps in places such as Jerome, Arkansas, and Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Roosevelt issued the order after U.S. military leaders, worried about a Japanese invasion, argued that national security required such drastic action.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the forced relocation in Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 65 S. Ct. 193, 89 L. Ed. 194 (1944). Justice Hugo L. Black noted that curtailing the rights of a single racial group is constitutionally suspect, but in this case military necessity justified the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. In retrospect historians have characterized the removal and detention as the most drastic invasion of individual civil rights by the government in U.S. history.

Hirohito gradually became more open, within the inner circles of government, about his desire to end the war, especially after the United States inflicted numerous military defeats on Japan. But many members of the military wished to fight until the very end. With the United States' dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Hirohito pushed for the surrender of Japan. On August 15 he broadcast Japan's surrender to the Allied forces. He broadcast to the Japanese people additional messages that were credited for the smooth transfer of power from Japan to the U.S. military occupation force, under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur.

Although Hirohito was implicated in Japanese war plans, he was exonerated in the war crimes trials of 1946-48. He had changed the importance of the monarchy in 1946, when he publicly renounced his divine authority. The 1947 constitution that was written for Japan by MacArthur and his advisers had transformed Hirohito from a sovereign with supreme authority into a "symbol of the state," and placed control of the government in the hands of elected officials. Hirohito had endorsed the change, which reduced the emperor to a ceremonial figure.

Hirohito embraced the ceremonial role. He traveled widely and became more accessible. He also pursued his interest in marine biology. He died on January 7, 1989.

See: Japanese American Evacuation Cases; Korematsu v. United States.

 
History Dictionary: Hirohito
(heer-oh-hee-toh)

Japanese emperor who came to the throne in the 1920s. He reigned over the Japanese in World War II. After the war, he was forced to give up the claim to divine status that previous emperors had made. He died in 1989, after long outliving all the other major figures associated with the war.

 
Quotes By: Hirohito

Quotes:

"We have resolved to endure the unendurable and suffer what is insufferable."

 
Wikipedia: Hirohito
Emperor Shōwa
Emperor of Japan
Hirohito_in_dress_uniform.jpg
Reign 25 December, 1926 – 7 January, 1989
Coronation 25 December, 1926
Born 29 April, 1901
Tokyo, Japan
Died 7 January, 1989
Predecessor Emperor Taishō
Successor Emperor Akihito
Consort Empress Kōjun
Issue Princess Teru
Princess Hisa
Princess Taka
Princess Yori
Crown Prince Tsugu
Prince Yoshi
Princess Suga
Royal House Imperial House of Japan
Father Emperor Taishō
Mother Empress Teimei

Emperor Shōwa (昭和天皇 Shōwa Tennō?) (April 29, 1901 – January 7, 1989) was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from December 25 1926 until his death in 1989. In the Western World, he is most known by the name he had while he was alive, Hirohito.

The word Shōwa is the name of the era that corresponded with the emperor's reign, and was made the emperor's own name upon his death, the name by which he is now exclusively referred to in Japan[1]. Although he was and continues to be known outside of Japan by his personal name, Hirohito (裕仁?), in Japan use of an emperor's personal name is considered overly familiar or derogatory.[2] His reign was the longest of any historical Japanese emperor, and he oversaw many significant changes to Japanese society.

Early life

A younger Emperor Showa and his wife Nagako Kumi, later Empress Kōjun
Enlarge
A younger Emperor Showa and his wife Nagako Kumi, later Empress Kōjun

Born in the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo, Hirohito was the first son of Crown Prince Yoshihito (the future Emperor Taishō) and Crown Princess Sadako (the future Empress Teimei). His childhood title was Prince Michi (迪宮 Michi no miya?). He became heir apparent upon the death of his grandfather, Emperor Meiji, on July 30, 1912. His formal investiture as crown prince took place on November 2, 1916.

He attended the boy's department of Gakushuin Peers School from 1908 to 1914 and then a special institute for the crown prince (Tōgū-gogakumonsho) from 1914 to 1921. On November 29, 1921, he became regent of Japan, in place of his ailing father. In 1921, Prince Regent Hirohito took a six month tour of Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. By doing this he became the first Japanese crown prince to travel abroad. When he returned, he was named prince regent when his father retired of mental illness.

He married his distant cousin Princess Nagako Kuni (the future Empress Kōjun), the eldest daughter of Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi, on January 26, 1924. They had two sons and five daughters:

  1. Princess Shigeko, childhood appellation Teru no miya (照宮成子 teru no miya shigeko), 9 December 1925–23 July 1961; m. October 10 1943 Prince Higashikuni Morihiro (May 6 1916 — February 1 1969), the eldest son of Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko and his wife, Princess Toshiko, the eighth daughter of Emperor Meiji; lost status as imperial family members, October 14, 1947;
  2. Princess Sachiko, childhood appellation Hisa no miya (久宮祐子 hisa no miya sachiko), 10 September 1927–8 March 1928;
  3. Princess Kazuko, childhood appellation Taka no miya (孝宮和子 taka no miya kazuko), 30 September 1929–28 May 1989; m. May 5, 1950 Takatsukasa Toshimichi (August 26 1923 — January 27 1966), eldest son of Nobusuke [peer]; and adopted a son Naotake.
  4. Princess Atsuko, childhood appellation Yori no miya (順宮厚子 yori no miya atsuko), b. 7 March 1931; m. October 10 1952 Ikeda Takamasa (b. October 21 1927), eldest son of former Marquis Nobumasa Ikeda;
  5. Crown Prince Akihito, childhood appellation Tsugu no miya (継宮明仁 tsugu no miya akihito) became the present Emperor of Japan, b. 23 December 1933; m. April 10 1959 Shōda Michiko (the present Empress of Japan, b. October 20 1934), elder daughter of Shōda Hidesaburo, former president and chairman of Nisshin Flour Milling Company;
  6. Prince Masahito, childhood appellation Yoshi no miya (義宮正仁 yoshi no miya masahito), b. 28 November 1935, titled Prince Hitachi (常陸宮 hitachi no miya) since 1 October 1964; m. October 30 1964 Tsugaru Hanako (b. July 19 1940), fourth daughter of former Count Tsugaru Yoshitaka;
  7. Princess Takako, childhood appellation Suga no miya (清宮貴子 suga no miya takako), b. 3 March 1939; m. March 3 1960 Shimazu Hisanaga, son of former Count Shimazu Hisanori and has a son Yoshihisa.

The daughters who lived to adulthood left the imperial family as a result of the American reforms of the Japanese imperial household in October 1947 (in the case of Princess Higashikuni) or under the terms of the Imperial Household Law at the moment of their subsequent marriages (in the cases of Princesses Kazuko, Atsuko, and Takako).

Accession

On December 25, 1926, Hirohito assumed the throne upon the death of his father Yoshihito. The Taishō era ceased at once and a new era, the Shōwa era (Enlightened Peace), was proclaimed. The deceased emperor was posthumously renamed Emperor Taishō a few days later. Following Japanese custom, the new emperor was never referred to by his given name, but rather was referred to simply as "His Majesty the Emperor" (天皇陛下 tennō heika?), which may be shortened to "His Majesty" (陛下 heika?). In writing, the emperor was also referred to formally as "The Reigning Emperor" (今上天皇 kinjō tennō?).

Early reign

His coronation in 1926
Enlarge
His coronation in 1926

The first part of Emperor Shōwa's reign as sovereign (between 1926 and 1945) took place against a background of increasing military power within the government, through both legal and extralegal means. The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy had held veto power over the formation of cabinets since 1900, and between 1921 and 1944 there were no fewer than 64 incidents of political violence.

One notable case was the assassination of moderate Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in 1932, which marked the end of any real civilian control of the military. This was followed by an attempted military coup in February 1936, the February 26 incident, mounted by junior Army officers of the Kōdōha faction who had the sympathy of many high-ranking officers including Prince Chichibu (Yasuhito), one of the emperor's brothers. This revolt was occasioned by a loss of ground by the militarist faction in Diet elections. The coup resulted in the murder of a number of high government and Army officials, and was put down with Emperor Shōwa angrily assuming a major role in confronting them.

When Chief Aide-de-camp Shigeru Honjō informed him of the revolt, the emperor immediately ordered that it be put down and referred to the officers as rebels (bōto). Shortly thereafter, he ordered Army minister Yoshiyuki Kawashima to suppress the rebels within one hour, and he asked reports from Honjō every thirty minutes. The next day, when told by Honjō that little progress was being made by the high command in quashing the rebels, the emperor told him "I Myself, will lead the Konoe Division and subdue them." This he was not forced to do but the rebellion was suppressed following his orders on February 29.[3]

Still, from the 1930s on, the military clique held almost all political power in Japan, and pursued policies that eventually led Japan to fight the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II.

The Sino-Japanese War and World War II

The problem of imperial responsibility

Many people from countries once part of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere see Emperor Shōwa as the mastermind behind the atrocities committed by the imperial forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War and in World War II. Some feel that he, some members of the imperial family such as his brother Prince Chichibu, his cousins Prince Takeda and Prince Fushimi, and his uncles Prince Kan'in, Prince Asaka, and Prince Higashikuni, should have been tried for war crimes. Because of this, many Asians residing in countries that were subject to Japanese invasion, as well as others in nations that fought Japan retain a hostile attitude towards the Japanese imperial family.

The central question is how much real control the emperor had over the Japanese military during the two wars. Officially, the imperial constitution, adopted under Emperor Meiji, gave full power to the emperor. Article 4 prescribed that "The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution" while, according to article 6 "The Emperor gives sanction to laws and orders them to be promulgated and executed" and article 11, "The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and the Navy." The emperor was thus the leader of the Imperial General Headquarters.

However, the view promoted by both the Japanese Imperial Palace and the American occupation forces immediately after World War II had Emperor Shōwa as a powerless figurehead behaving strictly according to protocol, while remaining at a distance from the decision-making processes.

Many historians such as Akira Fujiwara (Shōwa Tennō no Jū-go Nen Sensō, 1991) and Peter Wetzler (Hirohito and War, 1998), based on the primary sources and the monumental work of Shirō Hara,[4] have produced evidence suggesting that the emperor worked through intermediaries to exercise a great deal of control over the military and was neither bellicose nor a pacifist, but an opportunist who governed in a pluralistic decision-making process. American historian Herbert Bix argues that Emperor Shōwa may even have been the prime mover of most of the events of the two wars. Historians such as Bix, Fujiwara, Wetzler, and Akira Yamada recognize that the post-war view focusing on imperial conferences misses the importance of numerous "behind the chrysanthemum curtain" meetings where the real decisions were made between the emperor, his chiefs of staff, and the cabinet.

Primary sources, such as the "Sugiyama memo" and the diaries of Kido and Konoe, describe in detail the informal meetings Emperor Shōwa had with his chiefs of staff and ministers (For example, Prince Fumimaro Konoe had a very good firsthand view of the surrender events). These documents show that the emperor was kept informed of all main military operations and that he frequently questioned his senior staff and asked for changes.

Entering World War II

Prior to what is formally known as "World War II," Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and the rest of China in 1937 (the Second Sino-Japanese War). The primary sources reveal that Emperor Shōwa never really had any objection to the invasion of China in 1937, which was recommended to him by his chiefs of staff and prime minister Fumimaro Konoe. His main concern seems to have been the possibility of an attack by the Soviets in the north and his questions to his chief of staff Prince Kan'in and minister of the army Hajime Sugiyama were mostly about the time it could take to crush the Chinese resistance.

According to Akira Fujiwara, the emperor even personally ratified the proposition of his army to remove the constraints of international law on the treatment of Chinese prisoners on August 5.[5] Moreover, the works of Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno show that he authorized by specific orders (rinsanmei) the use of chemical weapons against the Chinese.[6] For example, during the invasion of Wuhan, from August to October 1938, the emperor authorized the use of toxic gas on 375 separate occasions,[7] despite the resolution adopted by the League of Nations on May 14 condemning the use of toxic gas by the Japanese Army.

During World War II, ostensibly under Emperor Shōwa's leadership, Japan formed alliances with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, forming the Axis Powers. The emperor, who had a predilection for England, was reluctant to form this alliance. In July 1939, he even had a bad quarrel on this subject with one of his brothers, Prince Chichibu, who was visiting him three times a week to support the treaty, and reprimanded the army minister Seishiro Itagaki,[8] but he finally gave his consent after the success of the Wehrmacht in Europe.

On September 4, 1941, the Japanese Cabinet met to consider the war plans prepared by Imperial General Headquarters, and decided that:


“ Our Empire, for the purpose of self-defence and self-preservation, will complete preparations for war ... [and is] ... resolved to go to war with the United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands if necessary. Our Empire will concurrently take all possible diplomatic measures vis-à-vis the United States and Great Britain, and thereby endeavor to obtain our objectives ... In the event that there is no prospect of our demands being met by the first ten days of October through the diplomatic negotiations mentioned above, we will immediately decide to commence hostilities against the United States, Britain and the Netherlands. ”

The "objectives" to be obtained were clearly defined: a free hand to continue with the conquest of China and Southeast Asia, no increase in US or British military forces in the region, and cooperation by the West "in the acquisition of goods needed by our Empire."

On September 5, Prime Minister Konoe informally submitted a draft of the decision to the emperor, just one day in advance of the Imperial Conference at which it would be formally implemented. On this evening, Emperor Shōwa had a meeting with chief of staff of the army Sugiyama, chief of staff of the navy Osami Nagano and Konoe. The emperor then questioned Sugiyama about the chances of success of an open war with the Occident. As Sugiyama answered positively, the emperor scolded him:


“ —At the time of the Shina [China] incident, the army told me that we could make Chiang surrender after three months but you still can't beat him even today! Sugiyama, you were minister at the time.
—China is a vast area with many ways in and ways out, and we met unexpectedly big difficulties.
—You say the interior of China is huge; isn't the Pacific Ocean even bigger than China? Didn't I caution you each time about those matters? Sugiyama, are you lying to me?[9]		 ”

Chief of Naval General Staff Admiral Nagano, a former Navy Minister and vastly experienced, later told a trusted colleague, "I have never seen the emperor reprimand us in such a manner, his face turning red and raising his voice."

According to the traditional view, Emperor Shōwa was deeply concerned by the decision to place "war preparations first and diplomatic negotiations second," and he announced his intention to break with tradition. At the Imperial Conference on the following day, he directly questioned the chiefs of the Army and Navy general staffs, a quite unprecedented action.

Nevertheless, all speakers at the Imperial Conference were united in favour of war rather than diplomacy. Baron Yoshimichi Hara, President of the Imperial Council and the emperor's representative, then questioned them closely, producing replies to the effect that war would only be considered as a last resort from some, and silence from others.

At this point, the sovereign astonished all present by addressing the conference personally, and in breaking the tradition of Imperial silence left his advisors "struck with awe." (Prime Minister Konoe's description of the event.) Emperor Shōwa stressed the need for peaceful resolution of international problems, expressed regret at his ministers' failure to respond to Baron Hara's probings, and recited a poem written by his grandfather, Emperor Meiji which, he said, he had read "over and over again":


“ Methinks all the people of the world are brethren, then.
Why are the waves and the wind so unsettled nowadays?		 ”

Recovering from their shock, the ministers hastened to express their profound wish to explore all possible peaceful avenues. The emperor's presentation was in line with his practical role as leader of the Shinto religion.

At this time, Army Imperial Headquarters was continually communicating with the Imperial household in detail about the military situation. On October 8, Sugiyama signed a 47 page report to the emperor (sōjōan) outlining in minute detail plans for the advance in Southeast Asia and, on the third week, gave him a 51 page document, "Materials in Reply to the Throne," about an operational outlook on the war.[10]

As the war preparations continued, however, Konoe found himself more and more isolated and gave his demission on October 16. He justified himself to his chief cabinet secretary, Kenji Tomita :


“ Of course His Majesty is a pacifist, and there is no doubt he wished to avoid war. When I told him that to initiate war was a mistake, he agreed. But the next day, he would tell me : You were worried about it yesterday, but you do not have to worry so much. Thus, gradually, he began to lead toward war. And the next time I met him, he leaned even more toward. In short, I felt the emperor was telling me : my prime minister does not understand military matters, I know much more. In short, the emperor had absorbed the view of the army and navy high commands.[11] ”

The army and the navy recommended at this point the candidacy of prince Higashikuni, one of the emperor's uncles. According to the Shōwa "Monologue," written after the war, the emperor then said that if the war were to begin while a member of the imperial house was prime minister, the imperial house would have to carry the responsibility and this he opposed.[12]

He thus chose the hard-line General Hideki Tōjō, who was known for his devotion to the imperial institution and asked him to make a policy review of what had been sanctioned by the imperial conferences. On November 2, Tōjō, Sugiyama and Nagano reported to the emperor that the review of eleven points had been in vain. Emperor Shōwa gave his consent to the war and then asked: "Are you going to provide justification for the war?"[13]

On November 3, Nagano explained in detail the Pearl Harbor attack plan to the emperor.[14] On November 5, Emperor Shōwa approved in imperial conference the operations plan for a war against the Occident and had many meetings with the military and Tōjō until the end of the month. On December 1, an imperial conference finally sanctioned the "War against the United States, England and Holland." On December 8 (December 7 in Hawaii) 1941, in simultaneous attacks, Japanese forces struck at the US Fleet in Pearl Harbor and began the invasion of Malaysia. From this point, there was no turning back.

With the nation now fully committed to the war, Emperor Shōwa took a keen interest in military progress and sought to boost morale. According to Akira Yamada and Akira Fujiwara, the emperor even made major interventions in some military operations. For example, he pressed Sugiyama four times, on January 13 and 21 and February 9 and 26, to increase troop strength and launch an attack of Bataan. On February 9, March 19 and May 29, he ordered the Army Chief of staff to examine the possibilities for an attack on Chungking which led to operation Gogo.[15]

As the tide of war gradually began to turn (around late 1942 and early 1943), some people argue that the flow of information to the palace gradually began to bear less and less relation to reality, while others suggest that the emperor worked closely with Prime Minister Tōjō, continued to be well and accurately briefed by the military, and knew Japan's military position precisely right up to the point of surrender. The chief of staff of the General Affairs section of the Prime Minister's office, Shuichi Inada, remarked to Tōjō's private secretary, Sadao Akamatsu:

“ There has never been a cabinet in which the prime minister, and all the ministers, reported so often to the throne. In order to effect the essence of genuine direct imperial rule and to relieve the concerns of the emperor, the ministers reported to the throne matters within the scope of their responsibilities as per the prime minister's directives... In times of intense activities, typed drafts were presented to the emperor with corrections in red. First draft, second draft, final draft and so forth, came as deliberations progressed one after the other and were sanctioned accordingly by the emperor.[16] ”

In the first six months of war, all the major engagements had been victories. However, as the tide turned in the summer of 1942 with the battle of Midway and the landing of the American forces on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in August, the Emperor immediately recognized the potential danger and pushed the navy and the army for greater efforts. When informed in August 1943 by Sugiyama that the American advance through the Solomon islands could not be stopped, he asked his chief of staff to consider other places to attack : "When and where on are you ever going to put up a good fight? And when are you ever going to fight a decisive battle?"[17] On August 24, he reprimanded Nagano for the defeat of Bela Bela and on September 11, he ordered Sugiyama to work with the Navy to implement better military preparation and give adequate supply to soldiers fighting in Rabaul.[18]

Throughout the following years, the sequence of drawn and then decisively lost engagements was also reported to the public as a series of great victories. Only gradually did it become apparent to the people in the home islands that the situation was very grim. U.S. air raids on the cities of Japan starting in 1944 made a mockery of the unending tales of victory. Later that year, with the downfall of Hideki Tōjō's government, two other prime ministers were appointed to continue the war effort, Kuniaki Koiso and Kantaro Suzuki—again, with the formal approval of the emperor. Both were unsuccessful and Japan was nearing defeat.

Last days of the war

Hiro4.jpg

In early 1945, in the wake of the loss of Leyte, Emperor Shōwa began a series of individual meetings with senior government officials to consider the progress of the war. All but one advised continuing. The exception was ex-Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe, who feared a communist revolution even more than defeat and urged a negotiated surrender. According to some accounts, the emperor apparently took the view that peace was essential, but that the armed forces would have to engineer a conspicuous military victory somewhere in order to provide a stronger bargaining position. With each passing week this became less likely. In April the Soviet Union issued notice that it would not renew its neutrality agreement. Japan's ally Germany surrendered in early May 1945. In June, the cabinet reassessed the war strategy, only to decide more firmly than ever on a fight to the last man. This was officially affirmed at a brief Imperial Council meeting, to which the emperor listened in stone-faced silence.

The following day, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Kōichi Kido prepared a draft document which summarised the hopeless military situation and proposed a negotiated settlement. According to some sources,[attribution needed] the emperor privately approved of it and authorised Kido to circulate it discreetly amongst the less hawkish cabinet members; others suggest that the emperor was indecisive, and that the delay cost many tens of thousands of Japanese and Allied lives. Extremists in Japan were also calling for a death-before-dishonor mass suicide, modeled on the "47 Ronin" incident. By mid-June the cabinet had agreed to approach the Soviet Union to act as a mediator, though not before the bargaining position had been improved by a repulse of the coming Allied invasion of mainland Japan.

On June 22, the emperor met his ministers, saying "I desire that concrete plans to end the war, unhampered by existing policy, be speedily studied and that efforts be made to implement them." The attempt to negotiate a peace via the Soviet Union came to nothing. There was always the threat that extremists would carry out a coup or foment other violence. The Allies were determined not to settle for anything short of unconditional surrender, and as late as July 1945 the Japanese government council, the Big Six, considered that option and recommended one to three conditions, beginning with a guarantee of the emperor's continued position in Japanese society.

On August 9 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war, Emperor Shōwa told Kido to "quickly control the situation" because "the Soviet Union has declared war and today began hostilities against us."[19] On August 10, the cabinet drafted an "Imperial Rescript ending the War" following the emperor's indications that the declaration did not compromise any demand which prejudiced the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler.

On August 12, the emperor informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender. One of his uncles, Prince Asaka, then asked whether the war would be continued if the kokutai (national polity) could not be preserved. The emperor simply replied "of course."[20] On August 14, the Suzuki government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. On August 15, a recording of the emperor's surrender speech was broadcast over the radio signifying the unconditional surrender of Japan's military forces (known as Gyokuon-hōsō).

Objecting to the surrender, die-hard army fanatics attempted a coup d'etat by conducting a full military assault and takeover of the Imperial Palace. The physical recording of the surrender speech was hidden and preserved overnight, and the coup was quickly crushed on the emperor's order. The surrender speech noted that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage" and ordered the Japanese to "endure the unendurable" in surrender. It was the first time the public had heard the emperor's voice. He was purposely vague, because the emperor of Japan was not regarded merely as a human saying "We surrender to the Americans," but rather, was viewed as the sacred symbol, embodiment, and leader of Japan, and as such this required a more vague tone that preserved this mystique. Indeed, the formal, stilted Japanese used by the emperor in the speech was not readily understood by many common Japanese. According to historian Richard Storry in A History of Modern Japan, the emperor typically used "a form of language familiar only to the well-educated" and to the more traditional samurai families. The most important immediate result of this surrender was that food relief shipments could be arranged within weeks, where otherwise the urban population of Japan was in danger of mass starvation similar to Germany and Central Europe after World War I. He was the only leader of the Axis Powers to remain alive and in office following the end of the Second World War.

Post-war reign

General MacArthur and The Emperor
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General MacArthur and The Emperor

As the Emperor chose his uncle Prince Higashikuni as prime minister to assist the occupation, there were attempts by numerous leaders, among them President Harry S. Truman, to have him put on trial for alleged war crimes. Many members of the imperial family such as princes Chichibu, Takamatsu and Higashikuni pressured the emperor to abdicate so one of the princes could serve as regent until Crown Prince Akihito came of age.[21] On February 27, 1946, the emperor's youngest brother, Prince Mikasa (Takahito), even stood up in the privy council and indirectly urged the emperor to step down and accept responsibility for Japan's defeat. According to Minister of Welfare Ashida's diary, "Everyone seemed to ponder Mikasa's words. Never have I seen His Majesty's face so pale."[22]

U.S. General Douglas MacArthur insisted that Emperor Shōwa retain the throne. MacArthur saw him as a symbol of the continuity and cohesion of the Japanese people. Many historians criticize this decision to exonerate the Emperor and all members of the imperial family implicated in the war such as Prince Chichibu, Prince Asaka, Prince Higashikuni and Prince Hiroyasu Fushimi from criminal prosecutions[23] Before the war crimes trials actually convened, the SCAP, the IPS and Shōwa officials worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the imperial family from being indicted, but also to slant the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the Emperor. High officials in court circles and the Shōwa government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals, while the individuals arrested as Class A suspects and incarcerated in Sugamo prison solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility.[24] Thus, "months before the Tokyo tribunal commenced, MacArthur's highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for Pearl Harbor to Hideki Tōjō"[25] by allowing "the major criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the Emperor would be spared from indictment."[26] According to John Dower, "This successful campaign to absolve the Emperor of war responsibility knew no bounds. Hirohito was not merely presented as being innocent of any formal acts that might make him culpable to indictment as a war criminal. He was turned into an almost saintly figure who did not even bear moral responsibility for the war."[27] According to Bix, "MacArthur's truly extraordinary measures to save Hirohito from trial as a war criminal had a lasting and profoundly distorting impact on Japanese understanding of the lost war."[28]

The Emperor was not put on trial, but he was forced [29] to explicitly reject (in the Ningen-sengen (人間宣言?)) the traditional claim that the emperor of Japan was an akitsumikami, an incarnate divinity. [30] There is however consensus amongst authors such as Dower and Bix that Hirohito never rejected the claim that he was a descendant of Amaterasu. Immediately after the Imperial Rescript usually regarded as a repudiation of divinity, he asked the occupation authorities for permission to worship the Sun Goddess. Some have seen this as an implicit reaffirmation of the claim to divine status; others have seen it as simply an expression of the emperor's personal religious beliefs, with no political or social implications. In any case, the "renunciation of divinity" was noted more by foreigners than by Japanese, and seems to have been intended for the consumption of the former.

Although the emperor had supposedly rejected claims to divine status, his public position was deliberately left vague, partly because General MacArthur thought him likely to be a useful partner to get the Japanese to accept the occupation, and partly due to behind-the-scenes maneuverings by Shigeru Yoshida to thwart attempts to cast him as a European-style monarch.

Emperor Shōwa in 1983 with President Ronald Reagan
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Emperor Shōwa in 1983 with President Ronald Reagan

While Emperor Shōwa was usually seen abroad as a head of state, there is still a broad dispute about whether he became a common citizen or retained special status related to his religious offices and participations in Shinto and Buddhist calendar rituals. Many scholars claim that today's tennō (usually translated