Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and

Scholarship

Volume 4 Issue 1 Article 5

2020

A Reexamination of Emperor Hirohito's Military and Political Role

in Wartime Japan, 1926-1945
Kazuaki Suhama
University of Washington Tacoma, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation
Suhama, Kazuaki (2020) "A Reexamination of Emperor Hirohito's Military and Political Role in Wartime
Japan, 1926-1945," Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 ,
Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/access/vol4/iss1/5

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 Suhama: A Reexamination of Emperor Hirohito's Military and Political Role

Acknowledgments

This paper would not have come into fruition without the people I have

consulted. I would like to thank Dylan Suher, librarians Suzanne Klinger and Azusa

Tanaka for referring me to great sources, Dr William Burghart and Dr Julie Nicoletta

for offering helpful feedback and guiding me in creating a strong and organized

paper. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Mary Hanneman, who has

been willing to listen to my questions and doubts, providing abundant amounts of

sources and giving me solid advice to improve the paper.

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Abstract

This paper discusses and reexamines Emperor Hirohito’s degree of

responsibility in Japan’s military aggression in China during the late 1920s and

1930s to the attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States during World War II.

Scholars have long debated the extent of Hirohito’s role as a warmonger due to his

ambiguous position as a head of state and the lack of primary evidence displaying

his actions and thoughts on the war. This paper will utilize the Constitution of the

Empire of Japan of 1889 (informally known as the Meiji Constitution) which

delineated the emperor’s supreme position in the government along with primary

sources by Hirohito’s aides and ministers referencing his thoughts on the war

situation and Hirohito’s personal statements. Scholars, particularly from a non-

Japanese perspective, support the interpretation that Hirohito was legally

responsible for the war effort, based on the evidence of the articles stipulating the

emperor having divine authority and supreme command over the military. In reality,

his powers were limited to a ceremonial role due to the political body structured by

the oligarchs who had established the Meiji Constitution. From a personal aspect he

was opposed to Japan’s war efforts, but he was unable to use his influence to

prevent the outbreak of the war as he was compelled by his top advisors, ministers,

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 Suhama: A Reexamination of Emperor Hirohito's Military and Political Role

and military leaders to limit his role to a ceremonial one and to support the war from

a national aspect as he thought it would serve the country’s best interests.

Japanese Terminology

Genro: Elder Japanese statesmen from the Meiji period acting as advisors to the

emperor who had the authority to appoint and dismiss prime ministers. A portion of

them was responsible in establishing the Meiji Constitution.

Kodo: “Imperial way,” an ultranationalist ideology revering the emperor and

advocating his imperial rule. It became prevalent in the 1930s with the rising

militarism.

Kokutai: “National essence” or “national polity.” Starting from the Meiji period, the

definition emphasized the emperor’s sovereignty and the values of an emperor-

centered state, becoming a fundamental concept in Japan’s ruling system until the

surrender in 1945.

Seidan: “Imperial decision,” the decision announced by the emperor which was

considered to be sacred.

Showa tenno: “Showa emperor,” referring to Hirohito’s posthumous name. Showa is

the name of the period of Hirohito’s reign from 1926 to 1989.

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Introduction

Hirohito reigned as the 124th Emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989,

overseeing the military aggression in China and the subsequent Pacific War against

Asia and the United States. For a long time, scholars in and out of Japan have been

engaged in an inconclusive and controversial debate on the emperor’s role in the

war and whether he should have been tried as a war criminal along with other

Japanese political and military leaders. Critics claimed Hirohito was legally

responsible for initiating the war, citing the Constitution of the Empire of Japan of

1889 (informally known as the Meiji Constitution, and hereafter referred to as such),

which articulated that the emperor had the ruling power over the country.

Furthermore, Hirohito issued an imperial decree leading to the surrender of Japan in

the Pacific War after the dropping of the two atomic bombs and the invasion of the

Soviet Union, demonstrating his ability to assert and impose his authority. The Meiji

Constitution and the imperial decree are provided as evidence by the critics that

Hirohito was the head of state and controlled the military, portraying him as an active

leader in instigating the war against China and the United States.1

On the other hand, there are those who argued that the emperor was not

responsible, pointing out that the articles specifying the emperor’s political and

1 Herbert P. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc.,
2000), 1.
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 Suhama: A Reexamination of Emperor Hirohito's Military and Political Role

military authority in the Constitution were not fully carried out in practice, putting the

emperor in an ambiguous role as a head of state. As a result, Hirohito did not have

the influential authority to prevent military aggression in China and was unable to

interfere with the decision-making process in the government Cabinet during the

diplomacy with the United States. His recorded statements and speeches also hinted

that he was against the actions of the military and the decision to go to war with the

United States.2

Using the Meiji Constitution as a framework and analyzing the primary

sources of government ministers, military leaders, and advisors highlighting their

dialogues with the emperor, I reexamine the debate and argue that while the articles

in the Constitution represented the emperor, including Hirohito, as a head of state

with an active role and decision-making authority, what happened in practice was

that his imperial powers was relegated to a ceremonial one, due to the fact that the

genro intended to emphasize the imperial rule of Japan using the emperor’s name as

they controlled the governmental bureaucracy behind the scenes. Additionally, the

rise of militarism caused by acts of insubordination in China during the 1930s

overshadowed Hirohito’s assertion of his constitutional powers. On a personal

aspect, while Hirohito opposed the war efforts against China and the United States,

2 Kajiyama Shigeru, Showa tenno wo omou (Tokyo: Soushisha, 1990), 23-24.

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he perceived that it was for the survival of the state, served the nation’s interests and

preserved the kokutai. When Hirohito became aware that Japan was suffering more

losses than gains and the war situation was not improving, he took the initiative by

issuing a decree calling for the surrender and the end of the war.

Methodology

As this research involves the psychology behind Emperor Hirohito, primary

sources from his advisors, imperial attendants, military leaders, and ministers are

used, consisting of dialogues and statements mentioning or announced by Hirohito.

As of now, no records exist that Hirohito kept a diary or memoir, and the number of

archival sources pertaining to the emperor are extremely limited due to the restricted

access between the general public and the imperial family of Japan.3 The closest

source recording Hirohito’s statements is the Showa tenno dokuhakuroku (The

Showa Emperor Monologue) by Terasaki Hidenari, a diplomat based in the United

States who acted as a translator in Hirohito and General Douglas MacArthur’s

meeting after the surrender of Japan. The monologue reveals statements and

speeches made by Hirohito starting from the 1930s, although statements referencing

3 It is not clearly known if the sources were destroyed or lost during the wartime. However, there is a
possibility that some were kept confidentially to avoid political controversies. See “Emperor Showa
wanted to express ‘deep regret’ in speech, documents reveal,” NHK-World-Japan, Jan 23, 2020,
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/817/.
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 Suhama: A Reexamination of Emperor Hirohito's Military and Political Role

political and military matters are scarce.

Several secondary sources written by Japanese and non-Japanese scholars

are used to analyze how Hirohito and his decisions were interpreted and evaluated.

To better understand the context and argument of the topic, two main secondary

sources in the Japanese language are used. They are Irokawa Daikichi’s Showa-shi

to tenno (The History of Showa and the Emperor) and Kajiyama Shigeru’s Showa

tenno wo omou (Remembering Emperor Showa). A traditional theoretical framework

is applied in writing this paper to evaluate Hirohito’s thoughts behind his actions.

Literature Review

Scholarly discussions about Emperor Hirohito’s war responsibility were not

prevalent until his death in 1989. Since then, academic scholars and historians from

various backgrounds have been divided on the emperor’s role. The Western outlook

tends to be critical, with scholars arguing that Hirohito was a decisive factor in

initiating the war against China and the United States. Herbert P. Bix, one of the

prominent critics and author of Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, highlights

that the emperor was an authoritarian leader who exercised significant influence on

the decision-making process in the 1931 Manchurian Incident and the subsequent

attack on Pearl Harbor, arguing that he had the imperial influence to prevent it. 4

4 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 12.

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Others presented Hirohito’s personal statements after the war as evidence of

how he felt responsible for the conflict. In his article, “Hirohito and General Douglas

MacArthur: The First Meeting as Documented by Showa tenno jitsuroku,” Peter

Mauch shows how Hirohito confiding to his advisers and subsequently to MacArthur

expressing his guilt and the desire to take responsibility, hence acknowledging the

role he played during the war.5 Peter Li, author of In Search of Justice: Japanese

War Crimes, uses a legal framework to argue that according to the Meiji Constitution,

Hirohito possessed the imperial power to rule the country and move the military at

his will, making him accountable for the outbreak of the armed conflicts and the war

crimes that occurred. Additionally, Li analyzes Hirohito’s Imperial Rescript on

Surrender in 1945 and points out that he did not express remorse or guilt over the

war.6 Peter Wetzler’s Hirohito and War: Imperial Tradition and Military Decision

Making in Prewar Japan shifts the focus from legal and moral responsibilities of the

emperor to the imperial household, arguing that Hirohito wanted to preserve his

5 Peter Mauch, “Hirohito and General Douglas MacArthur: The First Meeting as Documented by
Showa tenno jitsuroku,”Diplomacy & Statecraft 28, no.4 (2017): 587-588.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09592296.2017.1386446.

6 Peter Li, “Hirohito’s War Crimes Responsibility: The Unrepentant Emperor,” in The Search of
Justice: Japanese War Crimes, ed. Peter Li (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2003), 63-
65.

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lineage and the kokutai. Therefore, he participated in the decision-making process of

the war efforts, sharing a responsibility with other political and military leaders in the

outbreak of war against China and the United States.7

On the other hand, Japanese scholars leaned more toward the idea of

Hirohito having a pacifist personality who cared for his people but was forced to

participate in the war efforts. Japanese scholars Irokawa Daikichi and Kajiyama

Shigeru stressed that Hirohito, his political powers being restricted by the Meiji

Constitution, was unable to control the military due to their acts of insubordination in

China. He expressed his concerns and worries of Japan getting involved in a large-

scale conflict with China and the United States.8,9 In Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific

War, author Noriko Kawamura takes a more balanced approach and reassesses the

two dominant positions she considers to be exaggerated – the emperor being a

pacifist constitutional monarch and an active commander during the war – arguing

that Hirohito was entrapped in an ambiguous political position which made it difficult

to draw the distinction between his personal opinions and his state decisions. Hence,

7 Peter Wetzler, Hirohito and War: Imperial Tradition and Military Decision Making in Prewar Japan
(Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 1998), 202.

8 Irokawa Daikichi, Showa-shi to Tenno (Tokyo: Iwanami Seminar Books, 1991), 157-160.

9 Kajiyama, Showa tenno wo omou, 23-24.

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Kawamura highlights that Hirohito was neither a staunch pacifist nor an aggressive

militarist.10 The historiography looks to be an inconclusive debate between the two

sides, but with the possibilities that more sources on the emperor could be unearthed

in the future, there is hope that Hirohito’s true role in the war can be comprehended.

The Meiji Constitution

Before the American-drafted and current Constitution of 1947 (still in effect

today) that stipulated the emperor as the “symbol of the state and the unity of the

people”, the Meiji Constitution was established in 1889, using a combination of

Prussian-influences and Japanese imperial models. Several articles in the

Constitution mentioned the role of the emperor as the head of the state. They were:

Article I: “The Empire of Japan shall be reigned over and governed by a line of

Emperors unbroken for ages eternal”.

Article III: “The Emperor is sacred and inviolable”.

Article IV: “The Emperor combined in his being the supreme rights of rule”.

Article XI: “The Emperor has the supreme command of the army and navy”.

Article XII: “The Emperor determines the organization and the peace standing of the

army and navy”.

10 Noriko Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War (Seattle: University of Washington Press,
2015), 12-13.
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Article XIII: “The Emperor makes war, makes peace, and conclude treaties”.11,12

These articles delineated the emperor as an influential supreme leader in managing

diplomatic relationships with other states and commander of the military. However,

the Constitution also ensured the emperor does not shoulder all of the

responsibilities. Article LV “called for the various ministers of state to advise and

assist the emperor within their respective areas of responsibility”.13 This signified that

the ministers had to reach a consensus on decision and policymaking, which would

be forwarded to the emperor who would give the green light to pass it through.

Nevertheless, with the majority of articles referring to the emperor as the supreme

commander of Japan, scholars critical of Hirohito have pointed out that he had

utilized these powers to initiate military aggression against China and the United

States.

However, what happened in practice, as it developed over the course of the

Meiji period, was rather different. The Meiji Constitution was created by the genro,

and in accordance with Article I and LV, the genro intended to stress the imperial

11 Wetzler, Hirohito and War, 5.

12 Li, “Hirohito’s War Crimes Responsibility,” 63.

13 Wetzler, Hirohito and War, 5.

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tradition that the state of Japan was “reigned” by the emperor eternally. 14 At the

same time, the genro handled the administrative affairs of the government body not

only to reduce the emperor’s workload but also to avoid having him shoulder all the

responsibilities. Hence, the Constitution was structured in a way that leaned toward a

mixture of absolute and constitutional monarchy. As the genro became took charge

of domestic and foreign politics – some of them having a military background that

gave them the authority to mobilize troops - the emperor’s role was reduced into a

passive one of not being able to directly command the ministers or the military, but

he was able to attend and discuss political and military decisions.15 This practice

demonstrated that issuing government policies under the name of the emperor was a

façade to emphasize the imperial will that sought to safeguard and serve the national

interests of Japan.16

Since 1890, an imperial policy known as the Imperial Rescript on Education

was issued by Hirohito’s grandfather, Emperor Meiji, calling for the Japanese people

to serve their country and protect the emperor. The Rescript announced that “Should

14 Wetzler, Hirohito and War, 182.

15 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 32.

16 Wetzler, Hirohito and War, 5.

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emergency arise, offer yourselves courageously to the State; and thus guard and

maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth.”17

Along with the imperial will, this rescript became the building block of the kokutai that

Hirohito strongly desired to preserve regardless of his personal convictions. He

associated the imperial household and the state of Japan as one entity, and if either

one collapses he perceived that it would mean the end of the country.18 In the 1930s,

the definition of kokutai was officially formalized by the Ministry of Education, who

published a booklet called Kokutai no hongi (Fundamentals of our national polity). A

revised version on the Imperial Rescript on Education, it called for Japanese citizens

to “serve the emperor and to receive the emperor’s great august Will…[Japan] is a

great family nation, and the Imperial Household is the head family of the subjects

and the nucleus of national life.”19

Hence, the scholarly view of Hirohito being legally responsible for the war was

partly derived from the fact that the articles in the Constitution denoted him as a

17 Cabinet Office of Japan, Kyouiku ni kansuru chokugo. Japan, 1890, National Archives of Japan
Digital Archive. https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/DAS/meta/Detail_F0000000000000087481
(accessed February 11, 2020).

18 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 183-184.

19 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 68.

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supreme commander of the country. However, as the contradiction between theory

and practice of the Constitution has revealed, the role of supreme commander has

been misinterpreted at a face value.

The 1930s: Early Years of Reign and the Rising Military Influence

When Hirohito took the imperial throne in 1926, Japan was becoming one of

the major economic and military power states in the world along with Great Britain

and the United States.20 Since the 1890s, Japan experienced military victories over

China and Russia, becoming a colonial power by gaining Taiwan from the former and

had also annexed Korea. World War I provided Japan an opportunity to further

extend its sphere of influence into China, but its efforts were inhibited by the Allied

powers. Hence, the Japanese military devised other ways to gain control of China,

causing political tensions.21 In 1927, a year into Hirohito’s reign where he was still

new to the throne, China’s Nationalist Party led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek

unified the country that had been divided and ruled by local warlords, a situation

Japan had taken advantage of. To protect their people and interests residing in

China, Japan sent troops to fight against Chiang’s army, ushering in the series of

20 Irokawa, Showa-shi to Tenno, 141.

21 Irokawa, Showa-shi to Tenno, 146-147.

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military skirmishes that gradually culminated into a large-scale conflict.

Also in the 1920s, Japan faced domestic difficulties and was plagued

by an economic crisis following the destruction of the capital Tokyo by the Great

Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and subsequent bank closures.22 This was aggravated by

the Great Depression beginning in 1929, when Japan’s economy, which had been

heavily dependent on imports and exports between Europe and the United States,

was deeply affected.23 As dissatisfaction toward the civilian government for being

ineffective in solving the nation crises surfaced, various sociopolitical groups and

ideologies surfaced to with proposed solutions to Japan crises. A debate emerged on

how the kokutai should be upheld. Nationalists conceptualized the “imperial way” -

the kodo - to bring effective reforms to the country by using the emperor’s powers. It

signified the ideology that the Empire of Japan was manifested in the emperor

himself and, hence, rule with the emphasis on Japanese traditions and moral codes

by abolishing Western sociopolitical ideologies.24 Kodo became increasingly

22 Osanaga Kanroji, Hirohito: An Intimate Portrait of the Japanese Emperor (Los Angeles: Gateway
Publishers, 1975), 111.

23 Ben – Ami Shillony, Revolt in Japan: The Young Officers and the February 26, Incident, (New
Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1973), 3-4.

24 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 11-12.

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prevalent in the military, as it sought to displace the civilian government that had

been ruling Japan in a Western-influenced liberal approach. These national issues

created a turbulent era for Hirohito as he observed the increasing military influence

both in domestic and foreign politics.25

On a personal level, Hirohito hoped to reign over the country by leaning more

toward a constitutional monarchy and with relative peace, influenced by his 1921 trip

to Europe when he was a Crown Prince. There he witnessed the close relationship

King George V of Britain had with his citizens as well as the ruins of cities caused by

the destruction of World War I.26 However, the political situation during his reign

prompted him, reluctantly, to think otherwise. As discussed previously, mentioned in

the Meiji Constitution, the emperor supposedly had supreme command over the

military, but because of his relegation to a ceremonial role contributed by Article LV

stating that political duties were to be carried out by ministers, Hirohito had no direct

control of the army who were moving at their discretion.

In 1927, a military skirmish occurred between the Japanese forces and

Chiang’s army, who had recently unified China. When Hirohito was signing an

25 Irokawa, Showa-shi to Tenno, 146-147.

26 Irokawa, Showa-shi to Tenno, 144-145.

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agreement allowing Japanese troops to enter China so as to protect Japanese

residents there, Hirohito expressed concern of a possible armed conflict at a larger

scale. One of Hirohito’s imperial attendants, Osanaga Kanroji, heard from the

emperor’s aide that as Hirohito was about to sign the document, he hesitated for a

while and questioned: “How will the Japanese residents be evacuated safely? Won’t

this be a repetition of the Nikolaevsk Incident?”, referring to the 1920 Siberian

expedition during the Russian civil war that killed a large number of Japanese

nationals. This episode demonstrated to Osanaga that the “mind of the emperor was

always focused on the welfare of the people.”27

A year later in 1928, a group of army officers from the Japanese Kwantung

Army, who were stationed in China, instigated an explosion as an act of

insubordination with the intention of extending Japanese influence in Northeast

China. The explosion killed the Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin, the governor of

Manchuria. Hirohito was upset that the army had acted without the government’s

permission and that requested prime minister Tanaka Giichi investigate the incident

27 Osanaga, Hirohito, 111-112.

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and identify the culprits.28,29 Tanaka promised to emperor that the perpetrators would

be severely punished.30 However, upon identifying the culprits, a group of military

leaders and right-wing nationalists expressed their opposition to the severity of the

punishment, pressurizing Tanaka to report to the emperor that the perpetrators’

punishments had been reduced to a lighter one.31 In response, Hirohito reprimanded

Tanaka: “What you have reported to me initially is different, isn’t it?!” He then told his

imperial attendant that “I do not understand a single thing Prime Minister Tanaka is

telling me. I do not wish to hear from him again.”32

Subsequently, Tanaka and his cabinet announced their resignation,

demonstrating how the emperor had used his imperial authority to influence the

government. Genro Saionji Kinmochi was concerned about this movement and

advised to Hirohito: “For Your Majesty to directly compel a prime minister to resign is

28 Kojima Noboru, Tenno 2: Manshuu Jihen. vol. 2 (Tokyo: Bungeishunjuu, 1981), 52.

29 Kawai Yahachi, Showa shoki no tenno to kyuuchuu: Jijuu jicho Kawai Yahachi nikki [Dai 2 kan], vol.
2 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1993), 221.

30 Irokawa, Showa-shi to Tenno, 148.

31 Irokawa, Showa-shi to Tenno, 148.

32 Harada Kumao, Saionjikou to seikyoku: Dai 2 kan – Ji Showa 6 nen 7 gatsu shi Showa 8 nen 1
gatsu. vol. 2 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1950), 10-11.

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not ideal in accordance to the Constitution.”33 Saionji, the last surviving genro, had

been an mentor of Hirohito, teaching him the significance of upholding the imperial

family and tradition for the country.34 Heeding Saionji’s advice, Hirohito, from then

on, refrained from voicing opinions that would significantly influence politics.35 As the

ringleaders involved in the explosion incident were let off with a light punishment, it

emboldened a portion of the military to believe they could act without permission

from their commanding officers and the emperor.36

Although Hirohito expressed his concerns whenever he was able to, the

international situation gradually escalated into a conflict that forced Hirohito to move

away from a more pacifist position. Emboldened by the assassination of Zhang

Zuolin, in 1931, officers in the Japan’s Kwantung Army, without the tacit agreement

of the generals in the Tokyo headquarters, staged an explosion - another act of

insubordination - that became a casus belli in Northeast China, known as the

Manchurian Incident. In the aftermath of the incident, the Army seized control of

33 Kawai Yahachi, Showa shoki no tenno to kyuuchuu: Jijuu jicho Kawai Yahachi nikki [Dai 3 kan] vol.
3 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1993), 113.

34 Wetzler, Hirohito and War, 2-3.

35 Kajiyama, Showa tenno wo omou, 19.

36 Irokawa, Showa-shi to Tenno, 149-150.

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Manchuria and set up the puppet state Manchukuo, which the League of Nations

called an act of aggression and refused to recognize.

Upon hearing about the incident, Hirohito sought an explanation from the

Army General Staff, asking why the army had entered Manchuria without his

permission.37 An imperial conference consisting of the ministers discussing on the

incident was subsequently held. They reached a consensus on how the military

commands were not obeyed. The emperor reportedly stated that the government

was making the effort to quell the situation, implying his demonstration of support for

the ministers’ consensus.38,39 However, this action drew ire from a group of military

officers in the Army intending to expand their influence in China as they interpreted

that the government was attempting to sway the emperor’s opinion.40 The ministers

were prompted to prove that this was not the case. Kido Koichi, one of the ministers

in the government who later become the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, the chief

advisor for Hirohito, noted in his diary that “[U]nless there is no alternative, it would

37 Kido Koichi, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 1931-45: Selected Translations into English (Maryland:
University Publications of America, 1984), 5.

38 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 237.

39 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 5.

40 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 237.

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be best not to have the Emperor’s word from now.”41 The conference concluded that

Hirohito was to accept the actions of the army. Cases pursuing the relationship of the

emperor and the military should be stopped so as to avoid conflict with the latter. The

way the Manchurian Incident was dealt with demonstrated how the military’s power

had more influence than the governmental Cabinet.42 From this point onward until

1945, the military would be in control of Japan’s foreign policy; the Manchurian

Incident had led to what historian Peter Duus called the “diplomatic revolution”.43

With the chain of command between the imperial palace, government, and the

military in disorder state, some of the military officers – in another act of

insubordination - took matters in their own hands to eliminate targets who were

against the war efforts in China. On February 26, 1936, a group of nationalist army

officers, assassinated several ministers and nearly killed the prime minister. The

officers proclaimed the Showa Restoration – the aim to overthrow the current

political order and to put the emperor back into his authoritative imperial role, thereby

restoring the kokutai. They claimed to be acting for the sake of Emperor Hirohito.44

41 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 5.

42 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 237.

43 Peter Duus, The Rise of Modern Japan (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976), 205.

44 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 298.

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Realizing the incident had cost the lives of prominent men and had the potential to

tarnish Japan’s reputation in the world, Hirohito took a tougher stance on the

military.45 He rebuked Kido, “whatever [the army officers’] excuses are, I am

displeased with this incident. It has brought disgrace on the fundamental character of

our kokutai [national polity].”46 Kido noted that the emperor said “Suppress the

insurgents as soon as possible. Hold your post with sincerity until peace and order

are restored.”47 This exemplified Hirohito’s use of his constitutional powers of having

supreme command over the military, although the circumstances were

unconventional given that Hirohito wanted to assure that he was not the political

leader that the army officers claimed to be advocating for.48 In addition, his vehement

response to the incident portrayed his pacifist characteristic as he did not want his

country to be engaged in a civil conflict. Hirohito told Honjo Shigeru, his chief aide-

de-camp, that the senior statesman and generals whom I have trusted the most as

my hands and feet have been killed…Their actions have violated the

45 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 64-65.

46 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 131.

47 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 133.

48 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 302-303.

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constitution…blackened the national polity (kokutai) and defiled its purity. At this time

the army should be cleansed thoroughly, and steps should be taken to prevent such

a disgraceful incident from ever occurring again.49

However, Honjo, an army officer himself and sympathetic to the incident, did not take

heed of Hirohito’s advice, maintaining the military’s status quo.50

Diplomacy with the United States

Following the outbreak of the full-scale Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937

and the subsequent invasion of French Indochina in 1941 that Hirohito and the

Japanese civilian government was unable to prevent due to the results of the military

skirmishes occurring since the 1931 Manchurian Incident, the United States imposed

a trade embargo on Japan, cutting off their oil supply. Importing 80% of its oil from

U.S. owned oil companies, the embargo was to compel Japan to withdraw their

troops from China.51 During this period from 1938 to 1941, Army and Navy generals,

along with the ministers in the Cabinet, were discussing the possibility of attacking

the United States in order to cripple the U.S. Naval fleet and morale.52

49 Honjo Shigeru, Honjo nikki (Tokyo: Hara Shobo, 1987), 44.

50 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 301.

51 Walter J. Levy, Oil Strategy and Politics, 1941-1981 (Boulder: Westview Press, 1982), 24-35.

52 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 91.

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Hirohito had hoped to make peace with Great Britain and the United States,

but the intensifying war situation in China initiated by the army and exacerbated by

Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro made it difficult for Hirohito to voice his concerns.

Konoe had escalated matters by advocating for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity

Sphere and forming the one-party state of the Imperial Rule Assistance

Association.53 Hirohito opposed the invasion of French Indochina, reminding Army

Minister Sugiyama Hajime: “Do not provoke an armed conflict. Prioritize efforts to

settle the situation as peacefully as possible.”54 However, knowing he could not

directly intervene in the war decisions, Hirohito started to raise concerns about

Japan’s survival. He told the military department that the French Indochina operation

should be treated with caution for the sake of national policy, and asked Kido, Lord

Keeper of the Privy Seal, whether the suggestion to invade both the Soviet Union

and Southeast Asia would be sustainable, demonstrating his priority toward the

country’s interests.55,56

53 Irokawa, Showa-shi to Tenno, 174-175.

54 Tanaka Shinichi, Daitoa senso he no doutei 1 (Tokyo: National Institute for Defense Studies, 1941),
44.

55 Kajiyama, Showa tenno wo omou, 22-23.

56 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 285.

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Hirohito remained adamant in opposing a war with the United States, and

expressed his dissatisfaction with Konoe’s diplomatic approach on negotiating with

the United States on the surface but building up the military behind the scenes.

Hirohito requested Konoe prioritize negotiations over armed conflict, but Konoe

responded that it was impossible to do so.57 Kido explained the rationale of going to

war by stating how the oil supplies in Japan would only last for another one to two

years following the embargo. Hence, he highlighted that Japan should get hold of

resources in Southeast Asia, while maintaining its peaceful relations with the United

States using a strategic approach.58

On September 6, 1941, an imperial conference was held to discuss the

directions Japan was going to take toward Great Britain and the United States,

consisting of the decision to attack Pearl Harbor.59 A day before, Hirohito had looked

into the agenda report for the conference, remarking to Konoe that the process

57 Terasaki Hidenari and Mariko Terasaki Miller, Showa tenno dokuhakuroku: Terasaki Hidenari,
goyo-gakari nikki (Tokyo: Bungeishunju, 1991), 62.

58 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 299-300.

59 The imperial conference was a national meeting of the government ministers and military leaders,
in which Hirohito participated to observe the outcome and was not allowed to influence the decision-
making process. See Wetzler, Hirohito and War, 38.

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appeared to be using war as a means to negotiate, and wanted to question the Army

and Navy general staffs – Sugiyama and Nagano Osami respectively - on the

rationale. Konoe reiterated that the government would engage in diplomatic

negotiations, and if it failed, they would start preparing for the war.60

Hirohito asked Sugiyama if he was confident about being able to resolve the

war efforts against the United States. Sugiyama said he would plan to resolve in

three months. Hearing this, Hirohito probed Sugiyama: “You were the Army Minister

during the outbreak of the Second-Sino Japanese War. I remember you said it will be

resolved in a month. But it has been four years now. Why has it not concluded yet?

And on what basis do you say that you can resolve the war with the United States in

three months?”61 Sugiyama was unable to answer, and Nagano offered an

explanation stating they would do their best to reach a negotiation, but would resort

to force if diplomacy breaks down, encouraging Hirohito to agree with the

conference’s agenda. In response, Hirohito asked: “The military command will place

emphasis on the diplomacy. Is that right?” Both of the generals replied affirmatively.62

60 Konoe Fumimaro, Ushinawareshi seiji (Tokyo, Asahi Shinbunsha, 1946), 120.

61 Konoe, Ushinawareshi seiji, 121.

62 Konoe, Ushinawareshi seiji, 122.

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The next day Hirohito told Kido he wanted to ask some questions in the

conference council, but Kido said that the council president would ask the crucial

questions regarding Japan’s policy to the United States, and advised the emperor

there was no need to do so, possibly reflecting a concern that Hirohito might go

against the Constitution by politically influencing the government again.63 Later that

day, Kido asked the emperor about the progress of the conference, and Hirohito

replied “that the supreme command had not answered the question of the president

of the Privy Council as to whether they were attaching importance to the diplomatic

negotiations with the U.S.A.”64 Disappointed, Hirohito recited a poem written by

Emperor Meiji, his grandfather, on the country’s predicament: “In a world where all

the seas are brethren, why do wind and wave so stridently clash?” Then, he

announced to the conference: “I make it a rule to read this poem by Emperor Meiji

every day, with the hope of emulating his spirit of peace. However, matters have now

reached this truly regrettable state.”65 This was seen from the audience in the

conference as an attempt by Hirohito to stop the outbreak of the war, portrayed in the

63 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 304.

64 Ibid.

65 Osanaga, Hirohito, 128.

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medium of poetry to ensure he was not making political statements to sway

governmental decisions, and also to demonstrate his hopeless appeal for peace.

Ultimately, the ambiguous power relationship between the imperial palace,

government and the military command, which resulted from the uncontrolled power

the latter had since the Manchurian Incident and the contradictory practices in the

Constitution, undermined the consensus regarding diplomacy with the United

States.66 This portrayed Japan attempting to reach a negotiation with the United

States on the surface while making war preparations behind the scenes. Konoe, who

took a moderate position on the war situation, resigned as prime minister shortly

thereafter due to his failure to keep up on the deadline for going to war.67 He was

replaced by General Tojo Hideki who had been pushing for the war efforts. With this

change in leadership, Hirohito gradually accepted the fact that Japan was preparing

for war against the United States.

On December 1, an imperial conference was held to formally declare war

against Great Britain and the United States, with Hirohito announcing the imperial

order of approval. A day before, Kido noted in his diary that “The Emperor said that,

66 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 96.

67 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 100.

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to his great anxiety…[he had hoped] for the avoidance of war as much as

possible.”68A week later, Japanese army forces commenced the attack on Pearl

Harbor, initiating war with the United States. Osanaga noted that “when Tojo and

Sugiyama reported the complete success of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the emperor

sat impassive, showing no signs of gratification.”69 From then on to the last days of

the Pacific War, the emperor made no references to the pacificism that he had

voiced before, instead focusing all he could on the war situation to preserve Japan.70

The Imperial Decision to Surrender and Hirohito’s Reflection

In mid-1942, following the defeat from the Battle of Midway, Japan’s military

strategy turned into a defensive one that began to favor the United States. With

further major defeats beginning in 1945 such as the Battle of Iwo Jima and Okinawa,

Japan was pushed to the losing edge of the war. A faction of the government

advocated for the end of the conflict as soon as possible. Hirohito, observing the

hopeless situation his country was entrapped in, began to voice his concerns as

well.71 He told his military aide that “I believe that this war is certainly winnable if we

68 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 321.

69 Osanaga, Hirohito, 129.

70 Bix, Emperor Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 434-435.

71 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 141-142.

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make our best efforts, but I am anxious about whether or not the people will able to

endure until then.”72 Kido thought the only way for Japan to end the war was to

surrender unconditionally, reporting to Hirohito on the grave military situation and

suggesting he should use his imperial authority, the seidan, to end the war when it

became necessary.73

With the defeat of Germany in May and the Potsdam Declaration demanding

Japan’s unconditional surrender in July, Hirohito “earnestly [urged] concluding peace

with the Allies” despite the army’s insistence on fighting.74 However, as was the case

with the failed diplomacy with the United States before the war, the lack of

consensus between the military and government caused tensions and delays in the

decision-making process regarding surrender. In August 1945, the two atomic bombs

on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, combined with the Soviet Union’s declaration against

Japan, became the catalyst for the ending the war.75 Hirohito, with the help of his

closest advisers, required a seidan so that the military had to obey the emperor’s

72 Togo Shigenori, Togo Shigenori gaiko shuki (Tokyo: Hara Shobo, 1967), 340.

73 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 145-146.

74 Kido, The Diary of Marquis Kido, 441-442.

75 Kawamura, Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War, 161.

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orders, thereby forcing a national consensus.76 The reason the seidan was not used

to prevent the attack on Pearl Harbor was due to the fact that the majority of the

government at the time, dominated by military leaders, was leaning toward war, and

Hirohito, who was not supposed to use his personal opinions to influence politics,

agreed to it in the name of preserving the kokutai. Now that the kokutai was on the

brink of disintegration, and with a handful of imperial and political officials advocating

for peace, the advisors used this dire predicament to turn Hirohito’s opinion into a

state decision.77 At the imperial conference on August 14, Hirohito appealed to

everyone, with tears in his eyes that “If we continue the war, Japan will be altogether

destroyed… I cannot express the sorrow I feel as I think of all who were killed on the

battlefield or in the homeland and of their bereaved families… I will do everything in

my power to help .”78

The next day, the imperial rescript on surrender was broadcast on the radio,

and for the first time, the Japanese people heard the voice of their emperor. In the

broadcast, Hirohito announced that “the war situation has not developed necessarily

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid.

78 Osanaga, Hirohito, 132-133.

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to Japan’s advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against

her interest…should we continue to fight, it would only result in an ultimate collapse

of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human

civilization.”79

When General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied

Powers who oversaw the occupation of Japan after its defeat, met with Hirohito, he

was astonished by the emperor’s willingness to take responsibility for the war.

MacArthur recalled that Hirohito told him: “I accept total responsibility for initiating the

war in the political and military aspects. I leave it up to your representative of the

country to decide on my judgment.”80 Although scholars debate the validity of the

emperor’s statements, it is likely that Hirohito did feel a sense of guilt for not being

able to use his imperial authority to prevent the military aggressions but was able to

end the war.81 Tajima Michiji, one of the stewards in the Imperial Household,

possessed documents on how Hirohito wanted to express his remorse over the war

79 Emperor Showa, Daitoasenso shuuketsu ni kansuru shoushou. Japan, August 15, 1945, Imperial
Household Agency Official Website.
https://www.kunaicho.go.jp/kunaicho/koho/taisenkankei/syusen/pdf/syousyo.pdf (accessed February
15, 2020).

80 Kajiyama, Showa tenno wo omou, 54.

81 Peter Mauch, “Hirohito and General Douglas MacArthur”, 589-590.

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to the public. Hirohito told Tajima that “the military, the government, the public – they

all have things to feel remorse for, such as overlooking the military’s arbitrary

actions.”82

Influenced by the fact that Hirohito did not act accordingly on what was

stipulated in the Meiji Constitution and his personal guilt, MacArthur decided it was

best not to criminalize the emperor for war crimes, in addition to the reason that “his

indictment will unquestionably cause a tremendous convulsion among the Japanese

people, the repercussions of which cannot be overestimated. He is a symbol which

unites all Japanese. Destroy him and the nation will disintegrate”.83 Hirohito was then

prompted to renounce his status as a living god and declare his humanity in his

second radio broadcast on January 1, 1946. The revised Constitution drafted by the

United States changed the emperor into a “symbol of the state and of the unity of

people”, stripping the imperial institution of political powers.

Conclusion

Due to the limited number of primary sources pertaining to Emperor Hirohito

and his course of actions during wartime, along with the inconclusive scholarly

82 “Emperor Showa wanted to express ‘deep regret’ in speech, documents reveal,” NHK-World-Japan,
Jan 23, 2020, https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/817/.

83 Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, 568.

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debates which are partially clouded by political positions, the true extent of Hirohito’s

accountability might never be known. The articles written in the Meiji Constitution

portray the emperor as being legally responsible for military actions, but this paper

has demonstrated that in keeping with the pattern established by his grandfather

Emperor Meiji, Hirohito did not perform the roles to the fullest extent, contributed by

the genro’s intent to place the emperor into a de jure position. Emperor Meiji had a

close working relationship with the genro, but most of them were gone by the time of

Hirohito’s reign, prompting Hirohito to consult with other advisors, ministers and

military leaders. Additionally, the military’s acts of insubordination in China in the

1930s emboldened them and increased their influence in the Japanese government,

weakening and overshadowing the Cabinet’s decision-making powers. This became

apparent in the diplomacy toward the United States in 1941 where the imperial

household, the government and the military were working at odds with one another,

with the military eventually prevailing.

From a personal dimension, Hirohito had long been against the war efforts,

influenced by his tour of post-World War I Europe. However, announcing his opinions

to influence politics was deemed to be against the Constitution, and thus he had to

remain as an observer for most of the time, except during the war, so as to preserve

Japan’s kokutai. In retrospect, Hirohito expressed guilt and remorse over the war,

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believing he should shoulder all the responsibilities.84

Understanding that Emperor Hirohito acted more as a ceremonial leader

helps to reduce the biased view of him as an active warmonger. This perspective

also shows that the initiation of military aggressions was mostly attributed to the

army and navy, and to a certain extent, the government. While this is not to claim

that Hirohito is completely absolved, the unwarranted prejudice toward the Japanese

imperial household in contemporary society could be mitigated to clear the

inaccurate representation of an imperial ruler that was aggressive and warlike.

Additionally, it makes the public opinion realize that the head of state is not always

necessarily the head of government, and that the issue of accountability does not

solely focus on a single leader – but must also consider other figures or movements

surrounding the leader.

84 The article “Emperor Showa wanted to express ‘deep regret’ in speech, documents reveal,” during
the postwar period was further evidence that Hirohito was “pushed around” by his government. In
1952, Hirohito wanted to announce that the war was against his will, but since the declaration of war
was signed under the Emperor’s name, imperial steward Tajima Michiji compelled Hirohito to say that
he went along with “the momentum”.
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