Hirohito and Meiji/Taisho/Showa Japan

Emperor Hirohito, whose rule spanned more than half of the twentieth century (1926-89) and who witnessed Japan's military imperialism and post World War II economic expansion during his rule, was a good testimony to modern Japanese history: both its opportunities and its dilemmas.   His upbringing and rule highlighted the paradoxical structure of the Meiji Constitution, where the emperor was given almost supreme power and  was presented as the giver of the constitution as a gift to the people, in a constitutional government.  Against a treatment of Hirohito who was viewed as a constitutional monarch and a passive accomplice in the war against the United States in 1941,  Herbert Bix presents Emperor Hirohito as an assertive emperor who revived the power of the emperor established during the rule of Emperor Meiji (r.1868-1912), his grandfather, and lost during the short reign of his own father, Emperor Taisho (r.1912-1926).  Of course, this view is not without controversy, which you will find in Apr.7's online critique of Herbert Bix.  

The evaluation of Hirohito underwent several changes from World War II to the present.  During the war, wartime documentaries of Japan often depicted Hirohito as a conniving emperor who goaded his people to war against the U.S.  In the 1970s and 1980s, this view was changed, and Hirohito was more depicted as a constitutional monarch who passively agreed to war because he had to agreed to the majority view in his government.  The Bix interpretation is a recent reversal of that judgment, and it is with some controversy, especially in Japan.  This is just an example to show that historical depictions of persons and events are subject to change from historian to historian and over time.  And that as students of history, it is important to know where you stand regarding historical figures and events by amassing historical knowledge and exercising your own interpretative skills.

1. The role of the emperor in the Meiji Constitution (1889).

The Meiji constitution enabled an autocratic emperor to exist in a constitutional government.  The founding fathers of modern Japan, primarily the samurai leaders from the domains of Satsuma and Choshu (the Satcho clique), did not sincerely welcome constitutional politics, but wanted to bring about a modern reform of Japan via strong policies of the emperor.  Therefore the emperor was put in the paradoxical position of being a constitutional monarch and as the bestower of the constitution to the people.  

The emperor's role of joining the court and the cabinet.(28)

The court here also includes the emperor's Privy Council, his advisers who were often the "genro,"--founding fathers of the Meiji Restoration.  The genro's advice, however important, could never be conveyed to the cabinet, which consisted of a prime minister and various ministers, except for by the emperor himself.

The emperor's role in the Diet: the latter was to reflect the "imperial will." (28)

Even though the emperor gradually agreed to give up some power over the cabinet and the Diet to the rising political parties, he wanted to retain the power to appoint all cabinet members, which he did. (29)

The emperor's authority also rested on his ancient and "divine" lineage. (29)

One of the creations of the Meiji Restoration was State Shinto.  Shintoism was the most ancient Japanese religion, close to primitive animism, that believed in the magical powers of natural objects, e.g. mountains, trees, rocks, sea, etc.  Only in much recent times were emperors and imperial families worshipped as possessors of this magical power (kami).  State Shinto was a branch of Shintoism developed upon the Meiji Restoration that required a unity of Rites and governance through the emperor: recognition that the emperor was one of those to be worshipped in the Shinto religion, and household registration of religious affiliation with a deity, who were all subordinated to the ancestral goddess of the imperial house, Amaterasu, the sun goddess. (31)

The Imperial Rescript on Education (1890). (30)

Reiterating Confucian values of filial piety and obedience to the emperor in all Japanese schools, now reformed based on the European and American educational systems.  Children continued to be taught the foundation myths (that the first Japanese emperor Jimmu Tennu was the descendant of the grandson Ninninji of the sun goddess Amaterasu).  And the imperial house was described as a parent to the Japanese people.

2. Hirohito’s experience and upbringing.

A. Hirohito’s education.

Notice the content of his instructions (both physical and intellectual) and the rigid hierarchical treatment of him and the rest of the imperial household in the school (49-50).

B. The world Hirohito lived in. (34-

One of the consequences of the death of Meiji was Hirohito was made crown prince and given the ranks of second lieutenant in the army and ensign in the navy at the age of 11! Imagine the impact of this event on the young and timid boy, not to mention his loaded education. (39)

3. The decline of Taisho emperor's political and divine clout and Hirohito's early experience to resurrect the power of the emperor.

Because of the Taisho emperor's ill health, both physical and mental, and because of the establishment of a constitutional government that did grant the people certain rights (although it also cautioned people not to exercise them), the world was changing in Japanese politics in the 1910s and early 1920s.  Peasants often complained about universal conscription.  (55) There was also public criticism of the wealth of the imperial house.  There were many workers' strikes and peasants' food riots in the 1910s and 1920s, as Japan started to undergo industrialization and was experiencing some of its universal after-effects, such as long working hours, low wages, no protection of workers, and pollution.  And as the Japanese government, typical of any industrializing country, used agriculture to subsidize the industrial sector.
A. Hirohito’s engagement and court politics (95-100)

One example of how the emperor's clout declined was many cabinet members tried to intervene with Hirohito's engagement to Princess Nagako, though out of a legitimate concern that genetic defects should be avoided. 

B. Power of the emperor and left-right wing in the government.

What complicates the marriage controversy of Hirohito was the participants were divided along left-right wing lines.  Those who supported upholding the engagement, which Hirohito's mother Empress Sadako made, also supported the emperor's divinity and that no member of the constitutional government should mess with the decisions of the imperial household.  This left-right confrontation was to  continue well into the Second World War.  In 1921, Prime Minister Hara Kei was stabbed to death by a right wing fanaticist simply for endorsing the  crown prince's trip to Europe in the preceding months! (122)  Prime Minister Hara was one of the first leading cabinet members to suffer this fate from the right wing, which was going to be repeated in the late 1920s and 1930s.

C. Hirohito's visit with King George V of England and learning of the assertive power of the monarch. (115-122)

Hirohito's trip to Europe, planned by the "left wing" genro and cabinet members, was to initiate him into popular politics and let him witness how European monarchs dealt with it. (104)  From King George V of England, a typical constitutional monarch, Bix believes Hirohito learned how to assert authoritative power in an informal way.  This is a point that the Japanese critics do not agree with.