Emperor Hirohito ruled over Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989. He saw Japan through World War II, its defeat and resurrection from the ashes to become a world-renowned industrial and economic power. He was the grandson of the famed Emperor Meiji, who was generally considered to be one of the best emperors of Japan. Emperor Hirohito was the center of controversy during his lifetime and after it as well. During the Majority of the post war period. He was considered to have no legal responsibility for Japan’s actions during World War II. The Occupying American forces after World War 2 decided not to put Emperor Hirohito on trial during the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. The Tribunal and the American and Japanese Government took the position that Emperor Hirohito was a Constitutional Monarch and that he had had no real power during World War 2. They state that he was forced to accede to the wishes of an expansionist military or face a military coup, which would depose the Imperial house. Only later during the last few years of Emperor Hirohito’s life and after his death have any serious investigations into his role during World War 2 occurred. Historians had found several facts that put serious doubts in the idea that Emperor Hirohi
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Oversupervision made him painfully self-conscious and, like Taisho, he developed a lifelong craving to escape his keepers, even for a day. Simultaneously, sect leaders carefully wove state ideology into their teachings. “For Ito and his colleagues, the Constitution of the Empire of Japan announced Japan’s modernity to the world, exemplified the nation’s enlightened progress, and established new concepts of political authority, all delicately wrapped in the legacy of the past and legitimated by ancient values. In practice the thirteen sects remained separate from the hierarchy of shrines that made up State Shinto, but they could claim to be legitimate religions whose creeds represented a variant strain of orthodox Shinto.
The American Government then proceeded to cover up knowledge of Hirohito’s War Crimes within Japan and Abroad. They decided to do so because any attempt to depose or try the Emperor would make the Occupation much more difficult as the Japanese people would rise up and fight the occupation to their last breath. While some sources, such as “The Yamato Dynasty” by Sterling and Peggy Seagrave believe that court factions or the military was really manipulating Hirohito. He carefully avoided saying anything outrageous, and rarely revealed his personal feelings. To discover the true nature of Hirohito’s involvement in the war, they first conducted a series of secret interviews with Japanese officials and indicted war criminals at Sugamo prison. As stated before, the Meiji Constitution gave the Emperor enormous power within the government. This gave him a large amount of religious power among the people of Japan. As the new religions tailored themselves to fit the state’s conception of what a religion ought to be, the Meiji government reciprocated by recognizing Tenri, Kurozumi, and eleven other independent sects as constituting Sect Shinto. As consensus was only an illusion, this put the Son of Heaven at a great disadvantage, for when it came to personality he was neither here nor there. ” “ The document itself was clearly the repository of tradition and the embodiment of modernity.
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