The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-07-19
The HirOhit0 Myth

Reference was recently made in these col
umns to Undersecretary of State Crews de-
NAL of reports he favored doing business with
Hirohito and explanation that he believed we
could well wait until we were in Tokyo be-
fore determining what to do with him.
With American warships Smelling japan and
American air power blasting Japan's war in
dustries and communications even more Sc
verely than was done in Germany preceding
the invasion, it appears proper to give Star
News readers an outline of the efforts in ia
pan to create a believable myth concerning
the emperors alleged celestial dynasty
For upwards of go years, Japanese histori-
ans, writers, and government propag andists
have been assiduously disseminating informa-
ton regarding the institution of hereditary
ruler in Japan which is palpably untrue and
without historical foundation So skillfully
have they disseminated their falsehoods con-
corning the true history OF Japan that ma
ioritv of people in the Occident actually &C
cept as historical fact Japanese claims that
the Japanese emperor is the descendant OF
an unbroken dynasty which has Lasted over
$500 years Actually, japanese history dis
closes an entirely different state OF affairs.
The real history of the emperors OF JAPAN
since fairly authentic historic times, 6oo A'D.'
refutes the idea that he was always consld-
cred a sacred person. 1t is record OF sub
stitution to the succession of children born OF
concubinage-of emperors rebeled against,
deposed assassinated, and exiled. During the
reign of the Emperor Meji Q868-191O two
rebellions occurred, which were suppressed
with great slaughter. An attempt to assassi-
nate the present emperor was made but
few years ago.
The process OF fabricating the cult OF the
emperor's divine lineage and the worship OF
his person is actually a matter of approx
mately 60 years effort, coinciding with the
determination of certain groups in Japan to
make Shintoism, with the emperor at its head,
a truly japanese national rel gion as part of
a plan for welding Japan into strong ma
ton, capable OF avenging intervention by
foreigners in the affairs of Nippon and the
creation of nation which would actually
make Japan the most powerful nation in the
world. Shinto is thus an exceedingly impor-
tant part of the structure of the Japanese
Imperial system and of the japanese dynastic
state.
Concurrent with it's foreign propaganda, de-
signed to hoodwink Europeans and Ameri-
cans, the Japanese government has spared
no effort to indoctrinate the population of the
Empire with ideas confirming the ancient
lineage and celestial origins of the imperial
house.
Basically, the structure of japanese feudal
society rested upon submission to higher au-
thority: the peasant and artisan to the
samurai; the samurai to the overload the
overload to the shotgun. For hundreds Of years,
during the Shogunate, the emperor was of
no importance whatever in the affairs of the
country but after the decision had been
reached by British and japanese elements in
1858 to install a modern monarchy in ia
pan, the factors enumerated above made
transference of these allegiances to the en-
peror not too difficult.
Thus, it is apparent that the present ''adora-
ton of the emperor as the son of heaven
is device created to hold the Japanese
masses in line for greater war service.