page_title: Hakkō ichiu
section_title: Concept
hierarchical_section_title: Hakkō ichiu / Concept
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 孝明天皇の冕冠
context_page_description: Hakkō ichiu or Hakkō iu was a Japanese political slogan meaning the divine right of the Empire of Japan to "unify the eight corners of the world." It was prominent from the Second Sino-Japanese War to World War II, popularized in a speech by Prime Minister of Japan Fumimaro Konoe on January 8, 1940.
context_section_description: The term was coined early in the 20th century by Nichiren Buddhist activist and nationalist Tanaka Chigaku, who cobbled it from parts of a statement attributed in the chronicle Nihon Shoki to legendary first Emperor Jimmu at the time of his ascension. The Emperor's full statement reads: "Hakkō wo ooute ie to nasan" (八紘を掩うて宇と為さん, or in the original kanbun: 掩八紘而爲宇), and means: "I shall cover the eight directions and make them my abode". The term hakkō (八紘), meaning "eight crown cords" ("crown cords" being the hanging decorations of the benkan (冕冠), a traditional Chinese-styled crown), was a metaphor for happō (八方) or "eight directions".
  Ambiguous in its original context, Tanaka interpreted the statement attributed to Jinmu, as meaning that imperial rule had been divinely ordained to expand until it united the entire world. While Tanaka saw this outcome as resulting from the emperor's moral leadership, many of his followers were less pacifist in their outlook, despite some intellectuals' awareness of the inherent nationalist implications and reactions to this term. Koyama Iwao (1905–93), disciple of Nishida, and drawing off the Flower Adornment Sutra, proposed the interpretation "to be included or to find a place". This understanding was rejected by the military circles of the nationalist right.
caption: The "benkan" of Emperor Komei
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