On 2 December 1945, General Douglas MacArthur, the military governor of Japan during the American occupation, ordered the arrest of Prince Nashimoto as a "class A" war criminal, largely for his role in supporting State Shintoism (Prince Nashimoto was the chief priest of the Grand Shrine of Ise from 1937 until 1947). Prince Nashimoto was also the second most senior member of the Imperial Family (after Prince Kan'in Kotohito) during World War II.