LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR: THE CHANGING

SENTIMENT TOWARDS JAPANS HIROHITO

APRIL 2, 2013
HISTORY SKILLS SEMINAR
Maren Ehlers
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For Americans it is hard to imagine living in a place where most political decisions are
heavily dictated by religious beliefs. But for the Japanese people it was engrained in their
culture to believe their emperor was, not only a political leader, but the Son of Heaven and the
Divine Ruler of the Empire destined to unite all of Asia and eventually the world. The
indigenous belief of State Shintoism and Emperor Worship is thought of by many historians as
the prelude to Japans Fifteen Year War. While Japan lay defeated, economically ruined, and
preparing for foreign occupation Emperor Hirohito remained untouched. On August 15, 1945 the
entire foundation of State Shintoism was disturbed when the Emperors voice was heard for the
first time in Japans imperial history on radio, revealing the fate of his people. This paper aims to
reflect on Emperor Hirohitos transformation from deity to human. Also, argue that during his
descent he lost his legitimacy to the people because of the lack of responsibility he took for his
war crimes. Written and oral accounts help reveal the Japanese attitude toward Emperor
Hirohito.
After the Meiji Restoration, Shinto was established as the official state religion and was
reorganized to focus less on Buddhism and concentrate specifically on honoring the Emperor as
a divine ruler.
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It was particularly supported by military men seeking to unify the Japanese
people. Liberalism and individualism was replaced with piety and loyalty.
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Japan evolved into a
state that emphasized kokutai, or national body, and Emperor Worship in homes and classrooms
country wide which, in turn, established the Japanese mentality throughout the war. The people
were strongly, spiritually united under their sovereign leader. The Emperors title of high priest
to the Shinto religion would also help the United Sates determine whether it would be beneficial

1
Helen Hardacre, Shinto and the State, 1868-1988, (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University
Press, 1989), 14-34.
2
John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, (New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 1999), 277-345.
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to abdicate the Emperors throne. This fanatical indoctrination of the Japanese people would
initiate the use of Imperial Ordinances such as the Peace Preservation Law that discouraged any
political opposition or diverse opinions. (Dower, Embracing Defeat, 282)
Japanese schools taught children the importance of the Emperor and their duty to perish
in his name. The government maximized its influence over Shinto and National Learning was
practiced to the highest degree. National Learning in Japan encouraged Shinto priests to teach
the common people to regain the spirit of early Japan and recover an idealized, pure
mentality and world view ascribed to the ancient Japanese, to return to the thought and
consciousness of the ancients before the country became polluted by contact with foreign
culture and religion. (Hardacre, Shinto and State, 16-17) As the war continued in the pacific and
the living conditions in Japan worsened, like the rationing of food and clothing and the frequent
air raids, there was still, surprisingly, a loyal determined aura about the citizens. State Shintoism
was the very essence of their life and was the cause of their extreme patriotism to their country
and to their leader. Soldiers would run into battle screaming banzai! to the Emperor before
they died (Banzai being a patriotic cry or shout meaning long live the King!).
During the Pacific War it is apparent that schools were the backbone of the nations
strong religious piety and loyalty to Hirohito. The strong incorporation of State Shintoism and
Emperor Worship in the classroom taught children from an early age their responsibility to their
nation and divine ruler. Sato Hideo told his story of being a third grader during World War II
that was evacuated to the countryside where he was taught nationalistic and militaristic ideas
from his teachers. He specifically recalls one particular teacher who was a great storyteller. The
teacher told the class:
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His Imperial Highness is a living god, he said. When he makes crucial decisions, he
withdraws to the Imperial Sanctuary and there communes with Amaterasu-Omikami,
goddess of the Sun, and other gods, in pitch-black darkness.
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The teacher told these kind of stories so convincingly and dramatically making them very
popular amongst the children. Sato Hideo also took part in the hoisting of the Japanese flag at
school daily where the children were taught to raise the flag as the national anthem played in the
background. If the flag was not raised with correct timing the children were sometimes beaten.
(Cook, Japan at War, 235) Satos childhood memory is an example of early indoctrination of
extreme patriotism, Shintoism and the belief in Emperor Hirohito being a living god. This will
later impact the views toward Hirohito upon defeat.
Another example that highlights this indoctrination is the experiences and views of
Tanaka Tetsuko, she was a high school student during the war who had a militaristic education
and whose father was a schoolteacher who also taught militarism. She began working making
balloon bombs when the students no longer went to classes but were forced into working for
the military in factories. She claims, We did our best. Our spirit was in it, but whenever we got
messages or packages from home, we always broke down. Tanaka also goes on to say that
When the war ended we felt that what we had done, all that effort, everything we had suffered,
had been in vain.(Cook, Japan at War, 191-192) Tanakas account provides a vivid picture of
what many people thought during and after the war. Children were convinced of the greatness of
Japan and they were positive that victory would be awarded to them but on August 15 everything
they knew and worked for was all for naught.

3
Haruko Taya Cook, and Theodore F. Cook, Japan at War: An Oral History, (The New Press:
New York, 1992), 177-233.
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The end of the war for Japan was a mixture of confusion and grief as the people began to
realize all that had been lost in the war: fathers, sons, dreams, and childhoods. The voice of their
great leader publicly broadcasting their defeat; informing them of the Allied powers arriving to
occupy their land was just the beginning of the end for the Japanese people. In 1945, Japan was
left with 9 million people homeless, 3 million dead, and 7 million soldiers and civilians strewn
across what was once the Japanese empire. Even so, the Emperor refrained from words such as
defeat or surrender. As Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces (SCAP), Douglas
MacArthur began the political and social reform of Japan, most importantly leading to the
critical changes made to Meiji Constitution making Japan similar to a Constitutional Monarchy
in 1947 that would somehow magically transform the Emperor from deity to human.
Douglas MacArthur was advised by the Brigadier General, Bonner F. Fellers, during the
occupation that a trial or abdication of the Emperor would result in mass uprisings and prolonged
fighting. (Dower, Embracing Defeat, 280) Yet in journalists Edward Behrs book from
Cambridge University, Hirohito, it stated that,
Leading Japanese historians, and many Japanese who experienced the trauma of
surrender at first hand, agree in retrospect that a state of complete apathy prevailed
immediately after Hirohitos August 15

speech, and that Hirohitos removal would not
have led to any violent or lasting upheaval, especially if a regency had been established.
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This may prove the change in sentiment throughout the years towards Hirohito. Initially the
Japanese loyalty to the Emperor was still strong but as time passed and people began to look
back on the events in retrospect, a feeling of apathy and even bitterness would resonate. In the

4
Edward Behr, Hirohito, (New York: Villard Books, 1989), 349.
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end it was decided that it would be in the best interest of Americas future alliance with Japan to
allow Hirohito and his family immunity from all war crimes.
Once the Holy War ended an indifference towards its high priest began to rise. Most of
the accounts explaining the Emperors failures are from children who lived during the war. A
fifty-five year old woman, Mori Tazuko, reflects on her childhood and her thoughts after the
war:
I was a sixth grader when defeat came. Until then I had been taught that Japan was a
divine land, that in times of peril a divine wind would blow, that we should fight for the
Emperor, and rather than taste the shame of falling captive, we should dispatch our own
lives. With the undoubting heart of a young girl, I prayed earnestly at shrines and
struggled through the air raids. So when defeat came unexpectedly, I simply could not
understand why the Emperor and professional soldiers did not slit their bellies and die.
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Mori captures the thoughts of millions of other confused Japanese after the war. Account upon
account can be found in Norma Fields, In the Realm of a Dying Emperor of people confessing
their thoughts in response to a statement made by the mayor of Nagasaki right before Emperor
Hirohitos death in 1989. He comments on the lack of responsibility the Emperor took for his
misjudgments during the war. Mayor Motoshima Hitoshis public statement sent an uproar
throughout Japanese media as the Emperors impending death seemed to raise the veil of fear,
prohibiting freedom of speech. Disputes about Japans current neglect of honoring the soldiers
who died by deliberately withholding information in school textbooks and the unspoken

5
Norma Field, In the Realm of a Dying Emperor, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1991), 193-
211.
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censorship law making it hard for citizens to openly voice their opinions regardless the freedom
allowed by their constitution became a popular topic.
Nonetheless, there is still a few amount of people that honor the Emperor and view him
and the imperial family as Gods deserving the utmost respect, including refraining from
articulating malevolent notions towards Hirohito. A young man, Tanegashima Yasuo, would
rather the blame be aimed towards the western countries, whom he believed started the war. One
of the opposing letters to Mayor Motoshima read, The Emperor of Japan, who is not an absolute
monarch, only issued proclamations according to the decisions of the nations legally established
institutions. (Field, In the Realm of a Dying Emperor, 205) These ideas are mostly only
afforded to ultranationalists who have stubbornly held on to the Shinto beliefs. For example, the
words of an elderly woman wrote: I would like to beg of you, that through your repentance, you
will learn absolutely to refrain from speaking disrespectfully of the Gods, the Buddhas, the
Royalty, the Imperial Family, His Majesty the Emperor, and the princes and princesses. (Field,
c, 204)
There seems to be very few amount of people who believe in what the SCAP had tried to
convince the public despite their attempts of purifying the sovereign. The people most open
about the ashamed feelings towards Emperor Hirohito came from the children that were growing
up during the war and participated in National Learning. They have also been called the
Emperors Children. Author John W. Dower, with a Masters is East Asian Studies from
Harvard University, wrote it best in his book Embracing Defeat, Serious engagement with the
issue of war responsibility was deflected: if the nations supreme secular and spiritual authority
bore no responsibly for recent events, why should his ordinary subjects be expected to engage in
self-reflection? (Dower, Embracing Defeat, 278)
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In Japan, 1945, the unbelievable phenomenon takes place in the minds of the Japanese
people as the realization that the man taught in school books, prayed too at shrines, died for in
battle, and revered in the highest form possible is nothing but a man. A man who made a mistake
that was paid for with the lives of their loved ones along with millions others. Hirohito unified an
entire nation under his name and through the Shinto religion which was finally disestablished in
1946. The Japanese government have attempted to make it appear in many school teachings that
Hirohito was a victim of war and was always a constitutional monarchy. On January 7, 1989
Emperor Hirohito died and for the first time Japan was able to reflect on the events of World
War Two. This paper argues that the support and power once awarded to Emperor Hirohito
through State Shintoism and Emperor Worship vanished after August 15, 1945 because of his
immunity to war crimes.









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Bibliography
Behr, Edward. Hirohito: Behind the Myth. New York: Villard Books, 1989.
Cook, Taya Haruko and Theodore F. Cook. Japan at War: An Oral History. New York: The New
Press, 1992
Dower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 1999.
Field, Norma. In the Realm of a Dying Emperor. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991.
Hardacre, Helen. Shinto and the State, 1868-1988. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 1989.