page_title: Hirohito
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Hirohito / Early life
caption_attribution_description: 大正天皇の皇子たち。左から、裕仁親王（昭和天皇 Hirohito）、崇仁親王（三笠宮 Takahito）、宣仁親王（高松宮 Nobuhito）、雍仁親王（秩父宮 Yasuhito）
context_page_description: Hirohito was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned as the emperor of the Empire of Japan from 25 December 1926 until 2 May 1947 and of the state of Japan from 3 May 1947 until his death on 7 January 1989. He was succeeded by his fifth child and eldest son, Akihito. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kojun, had seven children, two sons and five daughters. In Japan, reigning emperors are known only as "the Emperor." He is now referred to primarily by his posthumous name, Shōwa, which is the name of the era coinciding with his reign; for this reason, he is also known as the Shōwa Emperor or Emperor Shōwa. By 1979, Hirohito was the only monarch in the world with the highest monarchical title "emperor." Hirohito was the longest-lived and longest-reigning historical Japanese emperor and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world.
  At the start of his reign, Japan was already one of the great powers—the ninth largest economy in the world, the third-largest naval power, and one of the four permanent members of the council of the League of Nations.
context_section_description: Born in Tokyo's Aoyama Palace (during the reign of his grandfather, Emperor Meiji) on 29 April 1901, Hirohito was the first son of 21-year-old Crown Prince Yoshihito (the future Emperor Taishō) and 17-year-old Crown Princess Sadako (the future Empress Teimei). He was the grandson of Emperor Meiji and Yanagihara Naruko. His childhood title was Prince Michi. Ten weeks after he was born, Hirohito was removed from the court and placed in the care of Count Kawamura Sumiyoshi, who raised him as his grandchild. At the age of 3, Hirohito and his brother Yasuhito were returned to court when Kawamura died – first to the imperial mansion in Numazu, Shizuoka, then back to the Aoyama Palace. In 1908 he began elementary studies at the Gakushūin (Peers School).
caption: Emperor Taishō's four sons in 1921: Hirohito, Takahito, Nobuhito and Yasuhito
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