Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-01-02
A Divinity Steps Down

There is no more striking evidence
of the revolution from above"
staged by Gen. Macarthur in the
brief months of his rule over
conquered Japan than the New
Year message of Emperor Hirohito
to his. people. A year ago, such
message would have been simply I'M
thinkable. Today, it can be consid-
cred less as a spontaneous gesture
than as a frank bow to the inevi-
table.
Uttered with the indisputable au-
thority of an Imperial Rescript."
Hirohito tells his subjects to stop be-
lieving what they had been sys-
tematically taught all their lives to
believe. This is the myth-cycle that
Japan is truly the Land of the
Gods" ruled by a dynasty "unbroken
through ages eternal" descended
from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu
O-Mikami, which not only makes
each ruler divine in nature but also
reflects such effulgence upon land
and people that Great Japan and
its "Yamato Race" are predestined
ultimately to dominate the entire
word under the mystical doctrine of
"Hakko-i-chi-u"- eight corners
of the earth brought under the one
Impe,ial Roof.
The Emperor now orders his
people to forget all that, assuring
them that the ties between him and
them "do not depend upon mere
legends and myths. They are not
predicated on the false conception
that the Emperor is divine Tin the
original japanese the words are:
'The Tenno is not living godD, and
that the japanese people are SUI
perior to other races and fated to
rule the world"
The impact Of this shattering alb
dication is, however, somewhat soft
ened by the context wherein it is
presented Placed toward the end of
the message, it is preceded by a re-
statement of the historic declaration
of the Emperor Meiji, Hirohito's
grandfather, made in 1868, which
abolished the feudal regime and laid
the foundations of modern Japan.
1t is interesting to note that the pro-
visions of the Meiji declaration could
have made possible a liberal, pro-
greSsive Japan instead of the mill
taristic, aggressive Japan which
tried to hack path to world do
minion by the samurai sword. Those
perversions were imposed upon the
Meiji Era after it's beginning in 1868
by the evil master minds who di-
rected Japan's national evolution.
1t is those baneful perversions, such
as official Shinto, exaggerated EN-
peror worship, and Yamato-race
fanaticism, which had already been
banned by Gen. Macarthur previous
to Hirohito's New Year message.
The Emperor can therefore con-
Jenu tnat ne Is engaged in a res
toration rather than an innovation.
by barking back to the declaration
OF his revered ancestor, Meiji. That
is important with japanese psy-
chology; because the basic argument
behind the Meiji declaration of
1853 was that it did away with
feudal abuses and established the
rightful authority of the dynasty.
BY invoking historical continuity,
Hirohito hopes to rescue his people
from that slough of despond" and
minimize those radical tendencies
IN excess" whose spread he so de-
plores. His program is thus the at
tainment of peaceful and progress
sive Japan under the spiritual au-
thority of the Imperial House work.
ing for constructive ends, as the
Emperor Meiji had in mind from
the beginning.