Hirohito (裕仁) or Hiro-Hito , known from now on in Japan under its posthumous name of reign Shōwa Tennō (ja 昭和天皇) or Emperor Shōwa (born the April 29th 1901 with Tōkyō - deceased the January 7th 1989 with Tōkyō), was emperor Japan of the December 25th 1926 with its death.
Wire of the emperor Taishō and brother of the princes Chichibu, Takamatsu and Mikasa, it is the 124e emperor according to the tradition shintō. Its reign coincides exactly with the era Shōwa (ja 昭和) from where it draws its posthumous name.
The Shōwa emperor is one of the major characters of the Second world war. The question of its responsibility in the military activities for Japan in Asia then during the Second world war had a great political importance and is the subject of many historical work.
Youth and accession with the throne
Prince Hirohito is born the April 29th 1901 in the Aoyama palate with Tōkyō, first wire of the crown prince Yoshihito (the future emperor Taishō) and of the Sadako princess. He will be the first emperor since a hundred years whose biological mother is the official wife of her predecessor. Its personal name (First name), Hirohito, is composed of the Kanji ja 裕仁 meaning “richness, abundance, fertility” and “virtue”; this second character, hito enters the composition of the name of practically all the male children of the Japanese imperial family since the 11th century. Hirohito carries in its youth the title of prince Michi (Michi No Miya) .The death of the emperor Meiji on July 30th 1912 makes of him the heir to the crown. It is formally invested title of crown prince on November 2nd 1916. Hirohito becomes regent of Japan on November 29th 1921 following the health issues of his/her father. The January 26th 1924, it marries Kuni Nagako (the empress Kōjun). The same year, he undertakes a voyage from one six months duration in Europe, first on behalf of a prince of the Japanese empire, in particular visiting the the United Kingdom, the France, the Italy, the the Vatican, the Netherlands and the Belgium.
Died of the emperor Taishō, on December 25th 1926, Hirohito succeeds to him on the throne, and a new era is immediately proclaimed: Shōwa (radiant Peace). According to the Japanese use, the emperor does not bear a name during his reign and is usually appointed by the term Kinjō Tennō , that is to say “the current emperor”. The name under which it will be indicated after its death is however known at the beginning of its reign, since it is the name even of the era coinciding with its reign: Shōwa Tennō (ja 昭和天皇) i.e. Emperor Shōwa . Out of Japan, the books and the newspapers continue for the majority to appoint the emperor by his personal name “Hirohito” - even after its death -, when well even all the preceding emperors of Japan are commonly named by the same sources under their name of posthumous reign. This practice can be besides regarded in Japan as a lack of respect towards the late emperor. The new emperor is crowned on November 10th 1928 with Kyōto.
Invasion of China
Years 1920 and 1930 are remembered by continual violences between the two principal factions of right-hand side, Kōdōha and Tōseiha. One decisive moment is the assassination of the Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai in 1932, which marks the end of the control of the Armée with Guandong by the Council of Ministers.Previously, a succession of incidents orchestrated by officers of the army of Guandong had led to the invasion of the Mandchourie in 1931. The government and the Emperor show themselves initially irritated by the insubordination of the troops, but sanction finally the occupation because of the territorial profits carried out.
February 26th 1936, of young officers of Kōdōha organize an attempt at Coup d'etat. This insurrection answered the loss of influence of the military faction to the Diète following the elections. The attempt concluded by the murder from several senior officers and members from the government and falls through when the emperor opposes resolutely insurgent while threatening to take itself the head of the imperial guard.
In 1936, the Emperor authorizes by imperial decree, the expansion of the bacteriological research unit of Shiro Ishii and his incorporation within the army of Guandong. This “Unité 731” will carry out experiments and vivisections on several thousands of Chinese, Korean and Russian prisoners of which women and children.
The invasion of the remainder of China as from 1937 gives place to innumerable atrocities against the civil populations. These atrocities are in particular made possible by the decision taken by the Emperor in August 1937 to approve a directive proposing the suspension of the application of international conventions on the rights of the prisoners of war. Among these atrocities, most known are the Massacre of Nankin and the operation “kills all, steals all, burns all” ( sankō sakusen ) which results in, as from May 1942, the death of 2,7 million Chinese of the areas of the Heibei and the Shandong.
The military files and the newspaper of the Sugiyama general, with accompanying notes by several Japanese historians like Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno, just as Herbert Bix, indicate moreover than Shōwa reserved the control of the chemical weapons of which it on several occasions authorizes the use against civilians, in particular in China. These authorizations are done by the means of specific imperial directives ( rinsanmei ) transmitted to the generals via the chief of staff of the army (the Prince Kan' in, then the general Sugiyama as from 1940). From September in October 1938, the Emperor thus authorizes the use of pollutant gases on 375 occasions during the invasion of Wuhan. In March 1939, the general Yasuji Okamura, as for him, is authorized to employ: 15000 pollutant gas demi-johns to the Shandong.
In spring 1939, the incident of Nomonhan leads to an attack of the Soviet Union. This attempt at invasion shows one cooking failure of the imperial forces and obliges the Emperor to conclude a non-aggression pact which carries Japan to be moved definitively towards the south, then towards the United States.
Second world war
From 1938 to 1940, the Shōwa emperor adopts the position of the staff of the navy and resists temptation to open a new face like would have wished it the staff of the army. In 1941, after the successes gained by the Wehrmacht in Europe, it is finally let convince by the partisans of a military alliance with the Nazi Germany to which her Yasuhito brother belonged, prince Chichibu.The autumn 1941, whereas Japan must face the consequences of the embargo on the oil products which finally the United States for its refusal imposed to him to withdraw itself from China, the emperor asks for the behavior of conference series imperial to discuss the possibility of declaring the war with other countries that China.
September 4th 1941, the Japanese cabinet meets to discuss the plans of war prepared by the imperial general headquarter and stops what follows:
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“Our Empire, to ensure its own defense and to preserve, will prepare with the war…
est … determined to enter in war with the the United States, the Great Britain and the Netherlands so necessary. In parallel, our Empire will undertake all the possible diplomatic initiatives with respect to the United States and of Great Britain, and will thus endeavor to achieve its goals… In the possibility where these diplomatic negotiations would not leave a hope see our requirements filled before the first ten days of October, we will decide the immediate release of the hostilities to the United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands. ”
The “objectives” to reach are clearly clarified: freehands to continue the conquest of the China and the South-East Asia, not of increase in the American or British military forces, and the co-operation of the Occident with regard to “the acquisition of the products which our Empire needs”.
September 5th, the Prime Minister Konoe submits in an abstract way this draft Resolution to the Emperor, the day before the imperial conference which was to ratify it. This last then convenes the chiefs of staff of the army and the navy to a deprived meeting, during which it informs them of his uncertainty as for the relevance to open a new face against the Occident. Apostrophizing the Sugiyama general, he recalls in particular that its staff promised to him that the war with China would be finished in three months. The admiral Osami Nagano, chief of staff of the navy, former minister for the navy and very experienced officer, will report later to a colleague confidence: “I never saw the Emperor us réprimander thus, its face had been empourpré and it raised the voice”.
At the time of the imperial conference of the following day, the speakers show themselves rather divided, the navy judging a war with premature large scales whereas the Army is in its favor. The chiefs of staff make, as for them, common front for the war. The baron Yoshimichi Hara, president of the Council imperial and representing of the emperor, then question them carefully, obtaining ones the answer which the war must be regarded as the last recourse, and others silence.
It is at this time that the monarch surprises the assembly while addressing himself to it in person. The Emperor stresses the importance to continue the international negotiations, then recites a poem written by his grandfather the emperor Meiji.
A few weeks later, Konoe, opposed to the war against the Occident, its resignation gives to the emperor. To replace it, the unanimous choice staff is made on the prince Higashikuni, uncle of the Emperor. This last rejects this choice by indicating that the imperial family was not to be exposed to take the blame in the event of armed conflict. It rather chooses the general Hideki Tōjō, Minister for the army and in favor of a hard policy but famous for its devotion to the imperial institution.
After having required of Tōjō to revalue the relevance to open a new face, Shōwa lines up in the opinion of the warmongers at a held meeting on November 2nd during which Tōjō, Sugiyama and Nagano make the point to him that the revision of the national policy led to the same conclusion. The following day and in the weeks which follow, the Emperor analyzes in detail with his staff the plan of attack against the “United States, Great Britain and Holland” whose implementation is stopped in imperial conference December.
December 8th 1941 (December 7th for Hawaii), a combined attack of the Japanese forces strikes the American fleet stationed with Pearl Harbor and starts the invasion of the South-East Asia.
Once the nation completely committed in the war, the Emperor is interested of close with progress of military operations and seeks to support moral its troops. The first phase of the war brings only good news to the Japanese. Starting from the backward flow (towards end 1942 - beginning 1943) and until the time of rendering, it continues to receive soldiers a precise description of the situation.
In parallel, propaganda presents to the public the battles at the conclusion undecided or lost like great victories. Reality, much less reluisante, appears only gradually to the inhabitants of the archipelago. The air raids launched starting from 1944 by the United States reveal finally the phantasmagoric aspect of these victories. Later in the same year, the government of Hideki Tōjō must give its resignation. Two Prime Ministers follow one another to continue the effort of war, Kuniaki Koiso and Kantaro Suzuki, always with the approval of the Emperor. None of both can entreat the approach of the defeat.
Following the bombardment of Hiroshima, of that of Nagasaki and in direct reaction to the invasion of the Mandchoukouo by the Soviet Union, the Emperor asks for the behavior of an imperial conference in the night from August 9th to 10th during which he announces his intention to go to the ultimatum of Potsdam to the condition that the declaration of rendering “does not carry not reached to the prerogatives of Its Majesty as Sovereign”.
August 12th, the Emperor informs the imperial family of his decision and, the August 14th 1945, it is addressed for the first time directly on its subjects during a broadcast speech in which it recognizes the defeat of Japan. It appoints finally his uncle the prince Higashikuni at the post of Prime Minister to manage the capitulation of Japan.
Post-war period
As supreme commander of the allied forces, Douglas MacArthur meets the Shōwa emperor on September 27th, 1945. During maintenance, it made him understand that the allies could be shown “understanding” if the imperial entourage showed full and whole collaboration. By this collaboration, the emperor and the family members imperial will be exonerated from any criminal continuation in front of the Tribunal of Tōkyō. January 1st 1946, in a broadcast speech, the emperor gives up his divine ascent. A new constitution (available in French) is installation the May 3rd 1947, which deprives the emperor of any political power, and even of the title of Head of the State , replaced by that of Symbole of the State . The first chapter defines the role of the Emperor:
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Chapter I. the Emperor
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Article 1. the Emperor is the symbol of the State and the unit of the people; he owes his functions with the will of the people, in which reside the sovereign capacity.
- Article 2. the imperial throne is dynastic and the succession is done in accordance with the Law adopted by the Diète .
- * Promulgation of the amendments to the Constitution, laws, decrees of the Cabinet and treaties;
Article 8. No property could be yielded to the imperial Family, neither accepted nor yielded by it, without the authorization of the Diet.- * Convocation of the Diet;
- * Dissolution of the Room of the Representatives;
- * Proclamation of the general elections of the members of the Diet;
- * Certificate of the nomination and the revocation of the ministers of state and other civils servant, under the terms of the law, as well as full powerss and letters of accreditation of the ambassadors and ministers;
- * Certificate of the amnesty, general or special, of the commutation of sorrow, the grace and the rehabilitation;
- * Décernement of the honorary distinctions;
- * Certificate of the instruments of ratification and other diplomatic documents, under the conditions envisaged by the law;
- * Reception of the ambassadors and foreign ministers;
- * Representation of the State to the official ceremonies.
- Article 2. the imperial throne is dynastic and the succession is done in accordance with the Law adopted by the Diète .
Until 1951, MacArthur can be regarded as the effective leader of Japan. With the suspension of the American occupation, the Emperor, private of his role of commander-in-chief, becomes a character symbolic system, in conformity with the role which the legend allots to him during the war.
The Shōwa Emperor was impassioned and very with the fact of the Biologie marinades, the imperial palace contains a laboratory where it publishes several articles in this field. Its contributions include/understand the description of several dozen species of Scyphozoa (jellyfishes) hitherto unknown.
As from 1978, the Emperor puts an end to his visits with the Sanctuaire Yasukuni, dedicated to the dead soldiers for the fatherland. The polemic on the reason for this stop rebounded recently with the publication by the daily newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun of a note of the principal intendant of the Agency of the imperial businesses, Tomohiko Tomita, which put in writing the remarks of the Shōwa emperor justifying the end of its pilgrimage in this sanctuary by the transfer into 1978 of the names of the partisans of alliance with the Nazi Germany who were condemned as war criminal of class has by the Court of Tōkyō. I learned the transfer from ashes of war of class has, including Matsuoka and Shiratori two savage partisans of alliance with Hitler and Mussolini. I however heard that serving Tsukuba of the sanctuary had treated this file transfer with prudence. The son of Matsudaira Minister for the imperial House, current serving of Yasukuni, carried out this transfer without reflecting. I think that Matsudaira was due much to peace, but his/her son was unaware of the spirit of his father. For this reason, since, I do not go there more in pilgrimage; here is my feeling.
The January 7th 1989, the Emperor dies in the imperial palace of Tōkyō. His/her son, the prince Akihito succeeds to him immediately and, the very same day, the Shōwa era ends, replaced by the era Heisei (the Achievement of Peace). The emperor deceased is officially called Taikō Tennō (ja 大行天皇, the “emperor on the Big departure”), until the January 31st where the Japanese government announces its name of final reign formally: Shōwa Tennō . Without surprise, this name is in conformity with the tradition established since 1912 to give as name of reign to the emperor the name of the era during which it reigned.
Question of the personal liabilities of the Emperor
Many people in China, Korea and in the South-East Asia estimate that the Shōwa emperor is the person in charge of the atrocities made by the imperial army in Asia during the Second world war and that, just as a good number of members of the imperial Famille, it should have been judged for War crimes. This family consequently is still considered with hostility by many inhabitants of the countries occupied by the Japanese during the war.The crucial question is that of the effective capacity exerted by the Emperor on the Japanese soldiers during the war. The version most commonly allowed in Japan and in Occident until in the years 1990 presents it like an impotent spectator in the political arena, marginalized by a military staff the Almighty and politicians warmongers.
The debate on the effective role of the Emperor was eluded at the end of the war because the general MacArthur, governor supreme of the allied forces, wanted not only to preserve the imperial institution like symbol and guarantor of the cohesion of the country but more to still make sure of flexible collaboration of the imperial person. Sweeping the pressures of many Japanese dignitaries and family members imperial like princes Takamatsu, Mikasa and Higashikuni which wished the abdication of the Shōwa Emperor and the installation of a regency, he refused the setting in examination and even the hearing of the Emperor at the time of the lawsuit of Tōkyō. In order to protect this last as well as possible, this exemption extended to all the members from his family. As from 1954, the successive Japanese governments supported the diffusion of an official image of a isolated emperor, being opposed without success to clicks militarist.
This vision of the things however was shaken since the years 1990 by the analysis of the Japanese files of which in particular documents compiled by the general Sugiyama, the prince Konoe, prince Takamatsu and it Minister of Justice Kido. The redécouverte of the monumental work of the historian Shirō Hara, former member of the imperial army, published in five volumes in 1973 and 74 pennies the title Daihon' I.E.(internal excitation) senshi , also contributed to this revision.
These files show a direct involvement and constant of the Emperor, not only in the management of the businesses of the State, but also in the control of the war. According to several historians whose Akira Fujiwara, Akira Yamada, Peter Wetzler and Herbert Bix, the Emperor was not nor a warmonger, even less one pacifist, but primarily opportunist who controlled in collegial structure. In accordance with the tradition, each decision of importance was thus weighed up by the staff and the Council of Ministers then submitted to the emperor for approval.
The outstanding years of the reign of the Shōwa Emperor (between 1926 and 1945) transfer the increase in the influence of the partisans of the expansionism colonial eager to make of Japan equal Western great powers. The Emperor, initially reticent, let himself little by little convince and guaranteed an aggressive policy which was going to lead to the invasion of the Mandchourie in 1931, then remainder of China in 1937 (called Second Sino-Japanese War) like on an alliance with the fascistic Italy and the Nazi Germany (tripartite pact) and an invasion of the Southeast Asia which involved the Second world war.
This current also gave rise to a nationalist ideology according to which Japan was a nation guided by the descendant of the goddess Amaterasu Omikami and made to dominate its neighbors. As of the beginning of the year thirty, ideologists like Sadao Araki, Minister for Education in 1938 and 1939, sought to revitalize the traditional doctrines of the Hakko ichiu (eight corners under only one roof), and to make of it the heart of a “Shôwa Restoration”. The basic principles of these doctrines support that Japan is the center of the world and controlled by a divine being and that Japanese people, protected by the kami is higher than the different one. The divine mission of Japan east thus to link the eight corners of the world under only one roof. Politicians like the Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe ordered the distribution thus, in particular in the schools, of lampoons like the Kokutai No hongi (bases of the national policy) taking again these principles. This design of the Japanese superiority had deep repercussions at the time of the war. Thus, the orders emanating of the imperial district-general frequently used the term kichibu (cattle) to describe the Allies, contempt which supported according to certain authors violence against the prisoners, leading until the practice of the cannibalism.
With the passing of years, the Shōwa Emperor became increasingly directing and interventionist, in particular by the means of the imperial district-general, instituted in October 1937. Whereas the imperial armed and the imperial marine had a right of Veto on the constitution of the cabinets since 1900, the Emperor imposed his choices as from 1939 unilaterally.
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