Emperor Hirohito dies - Jan 07, 1989 - HISTORY.com Emperor Hirohito dies Publisher A+E Networks Showa Tenno Hirohito, the 124th Japanese monarch in an imperial line dating back to 660 B.C., dies after serving six decades as the emperor of Japan. He was the longest serving monarch in Japanese history. Made regent in 1921, Hirohito was enthroned as emperor in 1928, two years after the death of his father, Emperor Taisho. During his first two decades as emperor, Hirohito presided over one of the most turbulent eras in his nation’s history. From rapid military expansion beginning in 1931 to the crushing defeat of Japan in 1945, Hirohito stood above the Japanese people as an absolute monarch whose powers were sharply limited in practice. After U.S. atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was he who argued for his country’s surrender, explaining to the Japanese people in his first-ever radio address that the “unendurable must be endured.” Under U.S.

occupation and postwar reconstruction, Hirohito was formally stripped of his powers and forced to renounce his alleged divinity, but he remained his country’s official figurehead until his death in 1989. He was succeeded as emperor by his only son, Akihito. Related Videos Hirohito, 124th Emperor of Japan, Is Dead at 87 Hirohito, 124th Emperor of Japan, Is Dead at 87 By SUSAN CHIRA, Special to the New York Times Emperor Hirohito, the last of the World War II leaders and Japan's longest-reigning monarch, died today at the Imperial Palace. He was 87 years old. In his 62-year reign, the Emperor presided over the most tumultuous era in Japan's modern history, although like most of the 123 emperors before him, he watched more than he acted. During his reign, his nation embraced militarism, conquered much of Asia, waged war on the Allied Powers, suffered the world's first atomic bombing, and painfully rebuilt, rising in just four decades to become the world's most vibrant economic power.

Hirohito's death came at 6:33 A.M. (4:33 P.M. Friday, Eastern standard time) after more than a year of declining health. He had been confined to his bed for more than three months. Akihito Becomes Emperor Because Japanese tradition decrees that the Chrysanthemum Throne may not be empty, Crown Prince Akihito, Hirohito's 55-year-old son, became Japan's 125th Emperor. In a ceremony as ancient as his title, Akihito received two of the Imperial treasures - a sword and a jewel - and received the Imperial seal and the seal of state. Shoichi Fujimori, the grand steward of the Imperial Household Agency, announced the Emperor's death at 7:55 A.M. and revealed for the first time that Hirohito had been suffering from cancer of the duodenum, a section of the small intestine. ''The whole nation is deeply saddened by his death,'' the steward said, using a special honorific verb reserved for the death of an emperor.

''Despite the concerted efforts of medical treatment, finally today His Majesty passed away from a tumor in the duodenum.'' The Emperor's chief physician, Akira Takagi, told reporters this morning that doctors had known Hirohito had cancer in September 1987, after they had operated on his pancreas. But, he said, the doctors lied about that fact to prevent the Emperor from learning that he had cancer. In Japan, cancer patients are usually not told that they have the disease. Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, dressed in a black suit with black armbands, said: ''The sad news of the passing of His late Majesty the Emperor has left me grief-stricken. Our sincere prayers for his recovery were in vain, and I am at a loss for words.'' There has been no official announcement of the date of the funeral, but Government officials have decided that it will be held 40 to 50 days after Hirohito's death. This morning, the Cabinet decided to call a six-day official mourning period, during which all Government agencies will refrain from music and dancing and will fly flags. For private citizens and private companies, the Government is suggesting a two-day mourning period.

This morning, the flags outside the Imperial Household Agency were draped with black bunting. As news of Hirohito's death spread, many Japanese throughout Tokyo put flags outside their homes and businesses. An elderly woman hoisted a flag to half-staff outside a sushi shop, radio stations played classical music and a crowd gathered near the Imperial Palace. A large contingent of riot police officers were deployed to guard against anti-imperial demonstrations or the possibility that avid followers might commit suicide. No Shinto Rites Planned According to the Japanese television network NHK, the state funeral will not follow the Shinto rituals performed when the Emperor Taisho, Hirohito's father, died. Because Japan has since adopted a new, democratic Constitution, the Government wants to distinguish all the ceremonies surrounding Hirohito's death and Akihito's ascension from the past, when Shinto was the state religion. But many traditions are being honored. This morning at the Imperial Palace, Mr. Takeshita, members of his Cabinet, the speakers of both houses of the legislature and other officials, clad in morning coats, watched the brief and ancient ritual that passes to the new Emperor two of Japan's three sacred treasures.

As Akihito stood on a white rug in front of a white and gold throne, Imperial Household Agency chamberlains bowed twice, then held up a sword and a jewel, wrapped in embroidered cloth and tied with a purple cord. Another chamberlain then placed the Imperial and state seals, wrapped in purple coth and stamped in gold with the Chrysanthemum crest, before Akihito. He bowed, and then stood as Mr. Takeshita and other Government officials bowed deeply before him. Then a chamberlain picked up the sword with both hands and walked out, followed first by Akihito and then by other chamberlains bearing the jewel and the imperial and state seals wrapped in purple cloth and stamped in gold with the chrysanthemum crest. Japanese are now mourning the end of an era: Showa, or Enlightened Peace, the title by which Hirohito will henceforth be known. That was the title chosen for Hirohito's reign when he succeeded his father, the Emperor Taisho, at the age of 25 on Dec. 25, 1926.

This afternoon, the Government said the new era name will be Heisei, which roughly translates as ''the achievement of peace.'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Keizo Obuchi, explaining the choice, said the new coinage expressed the hope that ''both within the country and outside, on heaven and on earth, peace will be achieved.'' When Hirohito ascended the throne, his subjects revered him as a descendant of Amaterasu, the sun goddess who, according to Japanese mythology, created the Japanese archipelago from the drops of water that fell from her spear. Fueled by militarist propaganda that drew on these myths, more than two million soldiers died in his name. 'Endure the Unendurable' But on Aug. 15, 1945, that myth was shattered as his subjects heard Hirohito's voice for the first time. He announced Japan's surrender on the radio and called on the Japanese to ''endure the unendurable.'' Now, he told his countrymen in a second precedent-shattering announcement five months later, the people were sovereign and the Emperor was not divine.

Thus Akihito becomes the first Emperor to be installed since Japan was transformed into a constitutional democracy under the American Occupation at the end of World War II. Eleven years old at the end of the war, the young Crown Prince diligently prepared himself to become Emperor in the new democratic era, studying English with an American tutor and becoming the first heir to the throne to marry a commoner. The new Emperor is only the fourth in 120 years since Japan opened itself to the world, abandoned feudalism and began its industrial drive under his great-grandfather, the Emperor Meiji. Hirohito's long illness left his nation prepared for his death. Until the last two years, he had been vital, pursuing his avocation as a marine biologist, walking in his garden, and waving at the public a few times a year from the balcony at the Imperial Palace. Surgery in 1987 But in September 1987 he underwent surgery on his pancreas, the first operation ever performed on a Japanese emperor. He appeared to rally from the operation successfully. But last year, he began to grow thinner and had to cancel several public appearances. On the night of Sept.

19 he vomited blood, and the nation began a tense, televised vigil. Crews of reporters camped out at the Imperial Palace, reporting his temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration rate throughout his final illness. As the Emperor's condition worsened, Government officials canceled trips abroad, public figures put off weddings and other celebrations, and cities around the country canceled autumn festivals. For a while, Japan seemed suspended in time, forced to face the prospect of life without the only emperor most of the nation had ever known. As Hirohito lingered, receiving blood transfusions almost daily, his erratic blood pressure and other vital signs dutifully reported several times a day, the public's initial wave of emotion subsided somewhat. This morning, Mr. Takeshita said: ''Our country has since pursued the realization of peace and democracy under the new constitution. It has achieved remarkable progress by virtue of the untiring efforts of our people and has now become an important member of the international community. I feel most keenly that these achievements have been made possible by the presence of His Late Majesty as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people.'' REAGAN SENDS CONDOLENCES WASHINGTON, Jan.

6 (Special to The New York Times) - President Reagan tonight extended condolences to the Emperor's family and to the people of Japan after Hirohito's death was announced. ''His Majesty's 62-year reign spanned one of the most tumultuous, and yet at the same time constructive, eras in the history of mankind - an age of unprecedented economic collapse, and most vicious war, astonishing scientific achievement, and dramatic political and social changes throughout the world,'' said Mr. Reagan, who added that he had enjoyed several meetings with the Emperor, most recently in Tokyo in 1986. Saying the Emperor played a ''truly heroic role'' in bringing an end to the war, Mr. Reagan added, ''We shall long remember him for his contributions which strengthened the United States-Japan relationship and set a future course of continued close and friendly relations.'' The statement was issued after the President entered Walter Reed Army Medical Center for surgery. Marlin Fitzwater, the White House press secretary, said no decision had been made on who would represent the United States at the Emperor's funeral.

He noted that the funeral would probably be scheduled for ''some period that would take us into the next Administration.'' Hirohito | emperor of Japan | Britannica.com emperor of Japan Alternative Titles: Kinjō, Michinomiya Hirohito, Shōwa Hirohito Hirohito, original name Michinomiya Hirohito, posthumous name Shōwa (born April 29, 1901, Tokyo , Japan—died January 7, 1989, Tokyo), emperor of Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989. He was the longest-reigning monarch in Japan’s history. Hirohito, 1982. © Bettmann/Corbis Hirohito was born at the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo , the son of the Taishō emperor and grandson of the Meiji emperor . He was educated at the Peers’ School and at the Crown Prince’s Institute. Early in life he developed an interest in marine biology , on which he later wrote several books. In 1921 he visited Europe , becoming the first Japanese crown prince to travel abroad.

After his return he was named prince regent when his father retired because of mental illness. In 1924 Hirohito married the princess Nagako Kuni . Hirohito became emperor of Japan on December 25, 1926, following the death of his father. His reign was designated Shōwa (“Bright Peace,” or “Enlightened Harmony”). The Meiji Constitution (promulgated 1889) had invested the emperor with supreme authority, but in practice he generally gave his assent to policies formulated by his ministers and advisers. On occasion, however, he asserted his authority, most notably when he ordered the suppression of an attempted coup by several military officers in February 1936. Hirohito at his enthronement ceremony, 1926. Hirohito, c. 1925–35. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (cph 3a40859) There has been considerable debate among historians about the role Hirohito played during Japan’s militaristic period from the early 1930s to 1945, the end of World War II .

Many have asserted that he had grave misgivings about war with the United States and was opposed to Japan’s alliance with Germany and Italy (the Axis Powers ) but that he was constrained to go along with the militarists who increasingly came to dominate the armed forces and the government. Other historians have claimed that Hirohito was actively involved in the planning of Japan’s expansionist policies from the Japanese invasion of Manchuria (now northeastern China ) in 1931 to the end of the war. Still others posit that the truth lies somewhere between those two interpretations. Hirohito, 1939. UPI—Bettmann/Corbis Nonetheless, in August 1945, when Japan was facing defeat and opinion among the country’s leaders was divided between those advocating surrender and those insisting on a desperate defense of the home islands against an anticipated invasion by the Allied Powers , Hirohito settled the dispute in favour of those urging peace. He broke the precedent of imperial silence on August 15, when he made a national radio broadcast to announce Japan’s acceptance of the Allies’ terms of surrender.

In a second historic broadcast, made on January 1, 1946, Hirohito repudiated the traditional quasi-divine status of Japan’s emperors. Britannica Stories Hirohito - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) (1901-89). The longest-reigning monarch of modern times, Hirohito became the emperor of Japan on Dec. 25, 1926. His reign was given the name Showa, meaning "Enlightened Peace." His 60th anniversary on the throne was celebrated in 1986. Tradition says that Hirohito was the 124th direct descendant of the fabled first emperor, Jimmu, and therefore a member of the oldest imperial family in the world. In Japan he was considered sacred and referred to as Tenno Heika, meaning "son of heaven." So significant is the role of the emperor in Japanese society that, when Japan surrendered in World War II, he was allowed to retain his position and title.

Article Contributors Emperor of Japan | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia The Imperial Household Agency The Emperor of Japan is the ceremonial monarch in Japan 's system of constitutional monarchy and is the head of the Japanese Imperial Family and the symbolic head of state. According to Japan's 1947 constitution, which dissolved the Empire of Japan, he is "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is also the highest authority of the Shinto religion as he and his family are said to be direct descendants of Amaterasu . [1] The Emperor is called the Tennō (天皇) in Japanese, which means "heavenly sovereign". He is also referred to in English as the Mikado (帝) of Japan . Currently, the Emperor of Japan is the only remaining monarch in the world reigning under the title of "Emperor". The Imperial House of Japan is the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world. [2] In Kojiki or Nihon Shoki , a book of Japanese history finished in the eighth century, it is said that the Empire of Japan was founded in 660 BC by Emperor Jimmu .

The current Emperor is Akihito , who has been on the Chrysanthemum Throne since his father the Showa Emperor (Hirohito) died in 1989. The role of the Emperor of Japan has, historically, alternated between a largely ceremonial symbolic role and that of an actual imperial ruler. Since the establishment of the first shogunate in 1192, the Emperors of Japan have rarely taken on a role as supreme battlefield commander, unlike many Western monarchs . Japanese Emperors have nearly always been controlled by external political forces, to varying degrees. In fact, from 1192 to 1867, the shoguns , or their shikken regents in Kamakura (1203–1333), were the de facto rulers of Japan, although they were nominally appointed by the Emperor. The Emperor was, officially, the embodiment of all sovereign power in the realm, from 1889 to 1947, under the Meiji Constitution (and de facto from the end of the shogunate in 1867).

His current status as a figurehead dates from the 1947 Constitution, which dissolved the Empire of Japan . Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Imperial Palace has been called Kyūjō (宮城), then Kōkyo (皇居), and is located on the former site of Edo Castle in the heart of Tokyo. Earlier, Emperors resided in Kyoto for nearly eleven centuries. The Emperor's Birthday (currently celebrated on 23 December) is a national holiday. Contents Edit Unlike most constitutional monarchies, the Emperor is not even the nominal chief executive. The Constitution states that the Emperor "shall perform only such acts in matters of state as are provided for in the Constitution and he shall not have powers related to government." ( article 4 ) It also stipulates that "the advice and approval of the Cabinet shall be required for all acts of the Emperor in matters of state" (article 3). Article 4 also states that these duties can be delegated by the Emperor as provided for by law. Article 65 explicitly vests executive power in the Cabinet, of which the Prime Minister is the leader.

For example, while the Emperor formally appoints the Prime Minister to office, article 6 of the constitution requires him to appoint the candidate "as designated by the Diet" (in practice, the candidate designated by the House of Representatives ), without any right to decline appointment. Also, he is not the (ceremonial) commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Forces , as in some other monarchies. The Japan Self-Defense Forces Act of 1954 explicitly vests this role as commander-in-chief with the Prime Minister. This is similar to the system in Germany, where article 65a of the Basic Law makes the Federal Minister of Defence commander-in-chief. The other detailed regulation of the Emperor's duties is laid down in article 7 of the constitution, where it is stated that the "Emperor with the advice and approval of the Cabinet, shall perform the following acts in matters of state on behalf of the people: Promulgation of amendments of the constitution, laws, cabinet orders, and treaties. Convocation of the Diet. Attestation of instruments of ratification and other diplomatic documents as provided for by law. Receiving foreign ambassadors and ministers.

Performance of ceremonial functions." Regular ceremonies of the Emperor with a constitutional basis are the Prime Minister investitures in the Imperial palace throne room and the Speech from the Throne ceremony in the House of Councillors in the National Diet Building . The latter ceremony opens ordinary and extra sessions of the Diet. Ordinary sessions are opened this way each January and also after new elections to the House of Representatives. Extra sessions usually convene in the autumn and are opened then. [3] History Edit Although the emperor has been a symbol of continuity with the past, the degree of power exercised by the Emperor of Japan has varied considerably throughout Japanese history. In the early 7th century, the Emperor began to be called "Son of Heaven" (天子, tenshi or ? , 天子様 tenshi-sama). [4] Origin Main article: List of Emperors of Japan The earliest Emperor recorded in Kojiki and Nihon Shoki is Emperor Jimmu . The key to knowing the origin of the Japanese imperial line may lie within the ancient imperial tombs known as kofun .

However, since the Meiji period, the Imperial Household Agency has refused to open the kofun to the public or to archaeologists, citing their desire not to disturb the spirits of the past Emperors as justification for their refusal. But, in December 2006, the Imperial Household Agency reversed its position and decided to allow researchers to enter some of the kofun with no restrictions. Factional control Edit There have been six non-imperial families who have controlled Japanese emperors: the Soga (530s–645), the Fujiwara (850s–1070), the Taira (1159-1180s), the Minamoto (and Kamakura bakufu) (1192–1333), the Ashikaga (1336–1565), and the Tokugawa (1603–1867). However, every shogun from the Minamoto, Ashikaga, and Tokugawa families had to be officially recognized by the emperors, who were still the source of sovereignty, although they could not exercise their powers independently from the Shogunate.

Disputes Edit The growth of the samurai class from the 10th century gradually weakened the power of the imperial family over the nation, leading to a time of instability. Emperors have been known to come into conflict with the reigning shogun from time to time. Some instances, such as Emperor Go-Toba 's 1221 rebellion against the Kamakura shogunate and the 1336 Kemmu Restoration under Emperor Go-Daigo , show the power struggle between the Imperial House and the military governments of Japan. Territorial matters Edit Until recent centuries, Japan's territory did not include several remote regions of its modern-day territory. The name Nippon came into use only many centuries after the start of the current imperial line. Centralized government only began to appear shortly before and during the time of Prince Shōtoku (572-622). The emperor was more like a revered embodiment of divine harmony than the head of an actual governing administration. In Japan, it has always been easy for ambitious lords to hold actual power, as such positions have not been inherently contradictory to the Emperor's position.

Parliamentary government today continues a similar coexistence with the Emperor as have various shoguns, regents, warlords, guardians, etc. Historically the titles of Tennō in Japanese have never included territorial designations as is the case with many European monarchs. The position of emperor is a territory-independent phenomenon—the emperor is the emperor, even if he has followers only in one province (as was the case sometimes with the southern and northern courts). Shoguns Edit From 1192 to 1867, sovereignty of the state was exercised by the shoguns , or their shikken regents (1203–1333), whose authority was conferred by Imperial warrant. When Portuguese explorers first came into contact with the Japanese (see Nanban period ), they described Japanese conditions in analogy, likening the Emperor, with great symbolic authority but little political power, to the Pope, and the Shogun to secular European rulers, e.g. the Holy Roman Emperor. In keeping with the analogy, they even used the term "Emperor" in reference to the shogun/regent, e.g.

in the case of Toyotomi Hideyoshi , who missionaries called "Emperor Taicosama" (from Taiko and the honorific sama ). Meiji restoration Main article: Meiji restoration After the United States Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry 's Black Ships forcibly opened Japan to foreign trade and the shogunate proved incapable of hindering the "barbarian" interlopers, the Emperor Kōmei began to assert himself politically. By the early 1860s, the relationship between the imperial court and the Shogunate was changing radically. Disaffected domains and ronin began to rally to the call of sonnō jōi , or "revere the emperor, expel the barbarians." The domains of Satsuma and Chōshū, historic enemies of the Tokugawa, used this turmoil to unite their forces and won an important military victory outside of Kyoto against Tokugawa forces. In 1868, imperial "restoration" was declared, and the Shogunate was dissolved.

A new constitution described the Emperor as "the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty", whose rights included to sanction and promulgate laws, to execute them and to exercise "supreme command of the Army and the Navy". The liaison conference created in 1893 also made the Emperor the leader of the Imperial General Headquarters . World War II Edit The role of the emperor as head of the Shinto religion was exploited during the war, creating an Imperial cult that led to kamikaze bombers and other fanaticism . This in turn led to the requirement in the Potsdam Declaration for the elimination "for all time [of] the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest". Following Japan's surrender, the Allies issued the Shinto Directive separating church and state within Japan, leading to the Humanity Declaration of the incumbent Emperor. Subsequently, a new constitution was drafted to define the role of the emperor and the government. Current constitution Edit The constitution provides for a parliamentary system of government and guarantees certain fundamental rights. Under its terms, the Emperor of Japan is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people" and exercises a purely ceremonial role without the possession of sovereignty.

The constitution, also known as the "Constitution of the State of Japan" (日本國憲法, Nihonkoku-Kenpō ? ), "Postwar Constitution" (戦後憲法, Sengo-Kenpō ? ) or the "Peace Constitution" (平和憲法, Heiwa-Kenpō ? ), was drawn up under the Allied occupation that followed World War II and was intended to replace Japan's previous militaristic and absolute monarchy system with a form of liberal democracy. Currently, it is a rigid document and no subsequent amendment has been made to it since its adoption. Addressing and naming Edit There are two Japanese words equivalent to the English word "emperor": tennō (天皇, lit. "heavenly sovereign"), which is used exclusively to refer to an emperor of Japan, and kōtei (皇帝, the title used for Chinese emperors), which is used primarily to describe non-Japanese emperors. Sumeramikoto (lit. "the Imperial person") was also used in Old Japanese .

The term tennō was used by the emperors up until the Middle Ages; then, following a period of disuse, it was used again from the 19th century. [5] In English, the term mikado (御門 or 帝 or みかど), literally meaning "the honorable gate" (i.e. the gate of the imperial place, which indicates the person who lives in and possesses the place), was once used (as in The Mikado , a 19th-century operetta ), but this term is now obsolete. [6] (Compare Sublime Porte, an old term for the Ottoman government.) Traditionally, the Japanese considered it disrespectful to call any person by his given name, and more so for a person of noble rank. This convention is more relaxed in modern age and now it is acceptable among friends to use the given name, but use of the family name is still common. In the case of the imperial family, it is still considered inappropriate to use the given name. Since Emperor Meiji, it has been customary to have one era per emperor and to rename each emperor after his death using the name of the era over which he presided, plus the word Tennō.

Prior to Emperor Meiji , the names of the eras were changed more frequently, and the posthumous names of the emperors were chosen in a different manner. The Emperor of Japan giving a New Year's address to the people in 2010. Outside of Japan, beginning with Emperor Shōwa , the emperors are often referred to by their given names, both whilst alive and posthumously. For example, the previous emperor is usually called Hirohito in English, although he was never referred to as Hirohito in Japan, and was renamed Shōwa Tennō after his death, which is the only name that Japanese speakers currently use when referring to him. The current emperor on the throne is typically referred to by the title Tennō Heika (天皇陛下, literally "His Majesty the heavenly sovereign") or Kinjō Heika (今上陛下, literally "his current majesty") or simply Tennō when speaking Japanese. The current Emperor will be renamed Heisei Tennō (平成天皇) after his death and will then be referred to exclusively by that name in Japanese.

Non-Japanese speakers typically refer to him now as Akihito, or "Emperor Akihito", and will almost certainly continue to do so after his death. It is considered a major faux pas to refer to a living emperor by his posthumous name, though. Origin of the title Edit The ruler of Japan was known as either 大和大王/大君 (Yamato-ōkimi, Grand King of Yamato ), 倭王/倭国王 (Wa-ō/Wakoku-ō, King of Wa, used externally), or 治天下大王 (ame-no-shita shiroshimesu ōkimi or sumera no mikoto, Grand King who rules all under heaven, used internally) in Japanese and Chinese sources prior to the 7th century.

The oldest documented use of the word "tennō" is on a wooden slat, or mokkan, that was unearthed in Asuka-mura, Nara Prefecture in 1998 and dated back to the reign of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō .[ Clarification needed ] Marriage traditions The current empress, Michiko The current crown princess, Masako Throughout history, Japanese emperors and noblemen appointed the position of chief wife, rather than just keeping a harem or an assortment of female attendants. The Japanese imperial dynasty consistently practiced official polygamy, a practice that only ended in the Taishō period (1912–1926). Besides the empress, the emperor could take, and nearly always took, several secondary consorts (" concubines ") of various hierarchical degrees. Concubines were allowed also to other dynasts ( Shinnōke , Ōke ). After a decree by Emperor Ichijō , some emperors even had two empresses simultaneously ( kōgō and chūgū are the two separate titles for that situation).

With the help of all this polygamy, the imperial clan thus was capable of producing more offspring. (Sons by secondary consorts were usually recognized as imperial princes, too, and could be recognized as heir to the throne if the empress did not give birth to an heir.) Of the eight female tennō (reigning empress) of Japan, none married or gave birth after ascending the throne. Some of them, being widows, had produced children prior to their reigns. In the succession, children of the empress were preferred over sons of secondary consorts. Thus it was significant which quarters had preferential opportunities in providing chief wives to imperial princes, i.e. supplying future empresses. Apparently, the oldest tradition of official marriages within the imperial dynasty were marriages between dynasty members, even half-siblings or uncle and niece. Such marriages were deemed to preserve better the imperial blood or were aimed at producing children symbolic of a reconciliation between two branches of the imperial dynasty.

Daughters of others than imperials remained concubines, until Emperor Shōmu (701-706) — in what was specifically reported as the first elevation of its kind — elevated his Fujiwara consort Empress Kōmyō to chief wife. Japanese monarchs have been, as much as others elsewhere, dependent on making alliances with powerful chiefs and other monarchs. Many such alliances were sealed by marriages. The specific feature in Japan has been the fact that these marriages have been soon incorporated as elements of tradition which controlled the marriages of later generations, though the original practical alliance had lost its real meaning. A repeated pattern has been an imperial son-in-law under the influence of his powerful non-imperial father-in-law. Beginning from the 7th and 8th centuries, emperors primarily took women of the Fujiwara clan as their highest wives—the most probable mothers of future monarchs. This was cloaked as a tradition of marriage between heirs of two kami (Shinto deities): descendants of Amaterasu with descendants of the family kami of the Fujiwara.

(Originally, the Fujiwara were descended from relatively minor nobility, thus their kami is an unremarkable one in the Japanese myth world.) To produce imperial children, heirs of the nation, with two-side descent from the two kamis, was regarded as desirable—or at least it suited powerful Fujiwara lords, who thus received preference in the imperial marriage market. The reality behind such marriages was an alliance between an imperial prince and a Fujiwara lord, his father-in-law or grandfather, the latter with his resources supporting the prince to the throne and most often controlling the government. These arrangements created the tradition of regents ( Sesshō and Kampaku ), with these positions held only by a Fujiwara sekke lord. Earlier, the emperors had married women from families of the government-holding Soga lords, and women of the imperial clan itself, i.e. various-degree cousins and often even their own sisters (half-sisters). Several imperials of the 5th and 6th centuries such as Prince Shōtoku were children of half-sibling couples.

These marriages often were alliance or succession devices: the Soga lord ensured his domination of a prince who would be put on the throne as a puppet; or a prince ensured the combination of two imperial descents, to strengthen his own and his children's claim to the throne. Marriages were also a means to seal a reconciliation between two imperial branches. After a couple of centuries, emperors could no longer take anyone from outside such families as primary wife, no matter what the expediency of such a marriage and power or wealth brought by such might have been. Only very rarely did a prince ascend the throne whose mother was not descended from the approved families. The earlier necessity and expediency had mutated into a strict tradition that did not allow for current expediency or necessity, but only dictated that daughters of a restricted circle of families were eligible brides, because they had produced eligible brides for centuries. Tradition had become more forceful than law. Fujiwara women were often Empresses, and concubines came from less exalted noble families. In the last thousand years, sons of an imperial male and a Fujiwara woman have been preferred in the succession.

The five Fujiwara families, Ichijō , Kujō , Nijō , Konoe , and Takatsukasa , were the primary source of imperial brides from the 8th century to the 19th century, even more often than daughters of the imperial clan itself. Fujiwara daughters were thus the usual empresses and mothers of emperors. This restriction on brides for the emperor and crown prince was made explicit in the Meiji-era imperial house laws of 1889. A clause stipulated that daughters of Sekke (the five main branches of the higher Fujiwara) and daughters of the imperial clan itself were primarily acceptable brides. That law was repealed in the aftermath of World War II . The present emperor, Akihito , became the first crown prince for over a thousand years to marry a consort from outside the previously eligible circle. Burial traditions Edit During the Kofun Period, so-called "archaic funerals" were held for the dead emperors, but only the funerary rites from the end of the period, which the chronicles describe in more detail, are known.

They were centered around the rite of the mogari, a provisional depository between death and permanent burial. [7] Empress Jitō was the first Japanese imperial personage to be cremated (in 703). After that, with a few exceptions, all emperors were cremated up to the Edo Period. [7] It has been decided that Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will be cremated after they die. [8] Succession Tokyo Imperial Palace The Japanese imperial dynasty bases its position in the expression that it has "reigned since time immemorial " (万世一系 bansei ikkei). It is true that its origins are buried in the mists of time: there are no records of any emperor who was not said to have been a descendant of other, yet earlier emperors. There is suspicion that Emperor Keitai (c. 500 AD) may have been an unrelated outsider, though the sources state that he was a male-line descendant of Emperor Ōjin .[ citation needed ] However, his descendants, including his successors, were according to records descended from at least one and probably several imperial princesses of the older lineage.

The tradition built by those legends has chosen to recognize just the putative male ancestry as valid for legitimizing his succession, not giving any weight to ties through the said princesses.[ citation needed ] Millennia ago, the Japanese imperial family developed its own peculiar system of hereditary succession. It has been non-primogenitural, more or less agnatic, based mostly on rotation. Today, Japan uses strict agnatic primogeniture , which was adopted from Prussia , by which Japan was greatly influenced in the 1870s. The controlling principles and their interaction were apparently very complex and sophisticated, leading to even idiosyncratic outcomes. Some chief principles apparent in the succession have been: Women were allowed to succeed (but there existed no known children of theirs whose father did not also happen to be an agnate of the imperial house, thus there is neither a precedent that a child of an imperial woman with a non-imperial man could inherit, nor a precedent forbidding it for children of empresses). However, female accession was clearly much more rare than male.

Adoption was possible and a much used way to increase the number of succession-entitled heirs (however, the adopted child had to be a child of another member agnate of the imperial house). Abdication was used very often, and in fact occurred more often than death on the throne. In those days, the emperor's chief task was priestly (or godly), containing so many repetitive rituals that it was deemed that after a service of around ten years, the incumbent deserved pampered retirement as an honored former emperor. Primogeniture was not used—rather, in the early days, the imperial house practised something resembling a system of rotation. Very often a brother (or sister) followed the elder sibling even in the case of the predecessor leaving children. The "turn" of the next generation came more often after several individuals of the senior generation. Rotation went often between two or more of the branches of the imperial house, thus more or less distant cousins succeeded each other.

Emperor Go-Saga even decreed an official alternation between heirs of his two sons, which system continued for a couple of centuries (leading finally to shōgun-induced (or utilized) strife between these two branches, the "southern" and "northern" emperors). Towards the end, the alternates were very distant cousins counted in degrees of male descent (but all that time, intermarriages occurred within the imperial house, thus they were close cousins if female ties are counted). During the past five hundred years, however, probably due to Confucian influence, inheritance by sons—but not always, or even most often, the eldest son—has been the norm. Historically, the succession to Japan's Chrysanthemum Throne has always passed to descendants in male line from the imperial lineage. Generally, they have been males, though of the over one hundred monarchs there have been nine women (one pre-historical and eight historical) as Emperor on eleven occasions. See the male line of the Yamato dynasty. Over a thousand years ago, a tradition started that an emperor should ascend relatively young. A dynast who had passed his toddler years was regarded suitable and old enough.

Reaching the age of legal majority was not a requirement. Thus, a multitude of Japanese emperors have ascended as children, as young as 6 or 8 years old. The high-priestly duties were deemed possible for a walking child. A reign of around ten years was regarded a sufficient service. Being a child was apparently a fine property, to better endure tedious duties and to tolerate subjugation to political power-brokers, as well as sometimes to cloak the truly powerful members of the imperial dynasty. Almost all Japanese empresses and dozens of emperors abdicated, and lived the rest of their lives in pampered retirement, wielding influence behind the scenes. Several emperors abdicated to their entitled retirement while still in their teens. These traditions show in Japanese folklore, theater, literature, and other forms of culture, where the emperor is usually described or depicted as an adolescent. Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan had eleven reigns of reigning empresses , all of them daughters of the male line of the Imperial House. None ascended purely as a wife or as a widow of an emperor.

Imperial daughters and granddaughters, however, usually ascended the throne as a sort of a "stop gap" measure—if a suitable male was not available or some imperial branches were in rivalry so that a compromise was needed. Over half of Japanese empresses and many emperors abdicated once a suitable male descendant was considered to be old enough to rule (just past toddlerhood, in some cases). Four empresses, Empress Suiko , Empress Kōgyoku (also Empress Saimei), and Empress Jitō , as well as the mythical Empress Jingū , were widows of deceased emperors and princesses of the blood imperial in their own right. One, Empress Gemmei , was the widow of a crown prince and a princess of the blood imperial. The other four, Empress Genshō , Empress Kōken (also Empress Shōtoku), Empress Meishō , and Empress Go-Sakuramachi , were unwed daughters of previous emperors. None of these empresses married or gave birth after ascending the throne.

Article 2 of the 1889 Meiji Constitution (the Constitution of the Empire of Japan) stated, "The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by imperial male descendants, according to the provisions of the Imperial House Law." The 1889 Imperial Household Law fixed the succession on male descendants of the imperial line, and specifically excluded female descendants from the succession. In the event of a complete failure of the main line, the throne would pass to the nearest collateral branch, again in the male line. If the empress did not give birth to an heir, the emperor could take a concubine, and the son he had by that concubine would be recognized as heir to the throne. This law, which was promulgated on the same day as the Meiji Constitution , enjoyed co-equal status with that constitution. Article 2 of the Constitution of Japan , promulgated in 1947 by influence of the U.S.

occupation administration and still in force, provides that "The Imperial Throne shall be dynastic and succeeded to in accordance with the Imperial Household Law passed by the Diet." The Imperial Household Law of 16 January 1947, enacted by the ninety-second and last session of the Imperial Diet, retained the exclusion on female dynasts found in the 1889 law. The government of Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru hastily cobbled together the legislation to bring the Imperial Household in compliance with the American-written Constitution of Japan that went into effect in May 1947. In an effort to control the size of the imperial family, the law stipulates that only legitimate male descendants in the male line can be dynasts; that imperial princesses lose their status as Imperial Family members if they marry outside the Imperial Family; [9] and that the Emperor and other members of the Imperial Family may not adopt children. It also prevented branches, other than the branch descending from Taishō, from being imperial princes any longer. Current status Main article: Line of succession to the Japanese throne Succession is now regulated by laws passed by the Japanese Diet. The current law excludes women from the succession.

A change to this law had been considered until Princess Kiko gave birth to a son . Until the birth of Prince Hisahito , son of Prince Akishino , on September 6, 2006, there was a potential succession problem, since Prince Akishino was the only male child to be born into the imperial family since 1965. Following the birth of Princess Aiko , there was public debate about amending the current Imperial Household Law to allow women to succeed to the throne. In January 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed a special panel composed of judges, university professors, and civil servants to study changes to the Imperial Household Law and to make recommendations to the government. The panel dealing with the succession issue recommended on October 25, 2005 amending the law to allow females of the male line of imperial descent to ascend the Japanese throne. On January 20, 2006, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi devoted part of his annual keynote speech to the controversy, pledging to submit a bill allowing women to ascend the throne to ensure that the succession continues in the future in a stable manner.

Shortly after the announcement that Princess Kiko was pregnant with her third child, Koizumi suspended such plans. Her son, Prince Hisahito, is the third in line to the throne under the current law of succession. On January 3, 2007, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced that he would drop the proposal to alter the Imperial Household Law . [10] See also ↑ "Report: Japan to drop plan to allow female monarch" . USA Today. McLean, VA: Gannett. January 3, 2007. ISSN 0734-7456 . . Retrieved October 20, 2011. References Asakawa, Kan'ichi (1903). The Early Institutional Life of Japan . Tokyo: Shueisha . OCLC 4427686 ; see online, multi-formatted, full-text book at openlibrary.org Screech , Timon (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon .

ISBN 0-7007-1720-X ; ISBN 978-0-7007-1720-0 . This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911) Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.) Cambridge University Press External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emperors of Japan . Works related to at Wikisource Hirohito - World War II - HISTORY.com Google Hirohito: The Early Years Hirohito, the eldest son of Crown Prince Yoshihito, was born on April 29, 1901, within the confines of the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo. According to custom, imperial family members were not raised by their parents. Instead, Hirohito spent his early years in the care of first a retired vice-admiral and then an imperial attendant. From age 7 to 19, Hirohito attended schools set up for the children of nobility. He received rigorous instruction in military and religious matters, along with other subjects such as math and physics.

In 1921, Hirohito and a 34-man entourage traveled to Western Europe for a six-month tour; it was the first time a Japanese crown prince had ever gone abroad. Did You Know? Hirohito’s son Akihito, the current emperor of Japan, broke with 1,500 years of tradition by marrying a commoner in 1959. Upon his return to Japan, Hirohito became regent for his chronically ill father and assumed the duties of emperor. In September 1923, an earthquake struck the Tokyo area, killing about 100,000 people and destroying 63 percent of the city’s houses. Rampaging Japanese mobs subsequently murdered several thousand ethnic Koreans and leftists, who were accused of setting fires and looting in the quake’s aftermath. That December, Hirohito survived an assassination attempt, and the following month he married Princess Nagako, with whom he would have seven children. At around the same time, he ended the practice of imperial concubinage. Hirohito officially became emperor when his father died in December 1926.

He chose Showa, which roughly translates to “enlightened harmony,” as his reign name. Hirohito as Emperor and the Rise of Japanese Militarism When Hirohito assumed the throne, a universal male suffrage law had just passed, and political parties were near the height of their prewar powers. However, a plunging economy, rising militarism and a series of political assassinations soon caused a crisis for the pro-democracy movement. Hirohito, who as emperor was the nation’s highest spiritual authority and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, essentially fired the prime minister in 1929. The next prime minister was shot and mortally wounded, and in 1932 yet another prime minister was assassinated by naval officers upset about a treaty limiting the number of Japanese warships. From then on, almost all prime ministers came from the military rather than from the political parties, which were disbanded altogether in 1940. More political violence occurred in 1935, when a lieutenant colonel slashed a general to death with a samurai sword.

And in 1936, over 1,400 soldiers mutinied in Tokyo, seizing the army ministry and murdering several high-ranking politicians. Meanwhile, Japan’s conflict with China was growing. In 1931, Japanese army officers initiated the so-called Manchurian Incident by detonating a railway explosion and blaming it on Chinese bandits. They then used the event as an excuse to take over Manchuria in northeastern China and set up a puppet state there. Excursions into other areas of the country soon followed, and by 1937 war had broken out. That winter, the Japanese army massacred an estimated 200,000 civilians and prisoners of war in and around the city of Nanking. Rape is thought to have been commonplace, and women throughout Japanese-controlled regions of Asia were brought in to serve as prostitutes. Hirohito did not condone the invasion’s more repugnant aspects, but—perhaps because he worried the military would make him abdicate—he failed to punish those responsible. He also sanctioned the use of chemical warfare and the uprooting of peasants.

Japan’s Involvement in World War II In September 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, in which they agreed to assist one another should any of them be attacked by a country not already involved in the war. Japan sent troops to occupy French Indochina that same month, and the United States responded with economic sanctions, including an embargo on oil and steel. A little over a year later, Hirohito consented to the decision of his government to battle the Americans. On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes bombarded the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii , destroying or crippling 18 ships and killing almost 2,500 men. The United States declared war one day later. Over the next seven months, Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies, British Singapore, New Guinea, the Philippines and a number of other locations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. But the tide started turning at the June 1942 Battle of Midway and soon after at Guadalcanal.

By mid-1944, Japan’s military leaders recognized that victory was unlikely, yet the country did not stop fighting until after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki the following August. On August 15, 1945, Hirohito made a radio broadcast announcing Japan’s surrender. Life for Hirohito After the War A postwar constitution preserved the monarchy but defined the emperor as a mere symbol of the state. All political power went to elected representatives. Unlike many among his top military brass, Hirohito was not indicted as a war criminal, in part because U.S. authorities feared it could throw their occupation into chaos. From 1945 to 1951, Hirohito toured the country and oversaw reconstruction efforts. The American occupation ended in 1952, after which Hirohito served largely in the background while Japan went through a period of rapid economic growth. He died on January 7, 1989, having spent nearly 64 years on the throne—the longest imperial reign in Japanese history. To this day, Hirohito’s wartime record remains a subject of much debate.

Tags Japan - The Status of the Emperor The Status of the Emperor Japan Table of Contents In the Meiji Constitution, the emperor was sovereign and was the locus of the state's legitimacy. The preamble stated, "The rights of sovereignty of the State, We have inherited from Our Ancestors, and We shall bequeath them to Our descendants." In the postwar constitution, the emperor's role in the political system was drastically redefined. A prior and important step in this process was Emperor Hirohito's 1946 New Year's speech, made at the prompting of MacArthur, renouncing his status as a divine ruler. Hirohito declared that relations between the ruler and his people cannot be based on "the false conception that the emperor is divine or that the Japanese people are superior to other races." In the first article of the new constitution, the newly "humanized" ruler is described as "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power." The authority of the emperor as sovereign in the 1889 constitution was broad and undefined.

His functions under the postwar system are narrow, specific, and largely ceremonial, confined to such activities as convening the Diet, bestowing decorations on deserving citizens, and receiving foreign ambassadors (Article 7). He does not possess "powers related to government" (Article 4). The change in the emperor's status was designed to preclude the possibility of military or bureaucratic cliques exercising broad and irresponsible powers "in the emperor's name"--a prominent feature of 1930s extremism. The constitution defines the Diet as the "highest organ of state power" (Article 41), accountable not to the monarch but to the people who elected its members. The use of the Japanese word shocho, meaning symbol, to describe the emperor is unusual and, depending upon one's viewpoint, conveniently or frustratingly vague. The emperor is neither head of state nor sovereign, as are many European constitutional monarchs, although in October 1988 Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed, controversially, that the emperor is the country's sovereign in the context of its external relations. Nor does the emperor have an official priestly or religious role.

Although he continues to perform ancient rituals, such as ceremonial planting of the rice crop in spring, he does so in a private capacity. Laws relating to the imperial house must be approved by the Diet. Under the old system, the Imperial Household Law was separate from and equal with the constitution. After the war, the imperial family's extensive estates were confiscated and its finances placed under control of the Imperial Household Agency, part of the Office of the Prime Minister and theoretically subject to the Diet. In practice remains a bastion of conservatism, its officials shrouding the activities of the emperor and his family behind a "chrysanthemum curtain" (the chrysanthemum being the crest of the imperial house) to maintain an aura of sanctity. Despite knowledge of his illness among the press corps and other observers, details about the late Emperor Hirohito's state of health in 1988 and 1989 were tightly controlled. The use of the masculine pronoun to describe the emperor is appropriate because the Imperial Household Law still restricts the succession to males, despite the fact that in earlier centuries some of Japan's rulers had been females.

The emperor's constitutional status became a focus of renewed public attention following news of Hirohito's serious illness in late 1988. Crown Prince Akihito became the first person to ascend the throne under the postwar system. One important symbolic issue was the choice of a new reign title under the gengo system-- borrowed originally from imperial China and used before 1945-- which enumerates years beginning with the first year of a monarch's reign. Thus 1988 was Showa 63, the sixty-third year of the reign of Hirohito, the Showa Emperor. The accession of a new monarch is marked by the naming of a new era that consists of two auspicious Chinese characters. Showa, for example, means bright harmony. Critics deplored the secrecy with which such titles were chosen in the past, the decision being left to a governmentappointed committee of experts, and advocated public discussion of the choice as a reflection of Japan's democratic values. Although the gengo system was accorded official status by a bill the Diet passed in June 1979, some favored the system's abandonment altogether in favor of the Western calendar.

But on January 7, 1989, the day of Hirohito's death, the government announced that Heisei (Achieving Peace) was the new era name. The first year of Heisei thus was 1989, and all official documents were so dated. Still more controversial were the ceremonies held in connection with the late emperor's funeral and the new emperor's accession. State support of these activities would have violated Article 20 of the constitution on the separation of state and religious activities. Rightists, such as members of the Society to Protect Japan (Nihon o Mamoru Kai), a nationwide lobbying group, demanded full public support of the ceremonies as expression of the people's love for their monarch. Walking a tightrope between proconstitution and rightist groups, the government chose to divide Hirohito's state funeral, held February 24, 1989, into official and religious components.

Akihito's accession to the throne in November 1990 also had religious (Shinto) and secular components: the Sokuino -rei, or Enthronement Ceremony, was secular; the Daij sai, or Great Thanksgiving Festival, traditionally, a communion between the new monarch and the gods in which the monarch himself became a deity, was religious. The government's decision to use public funds not only for the Sokui-no-rei but also for the Daijosai, justified in terms of the "public nature" of both ceremonies, was seen by religious and opposition groups as a serious violation of Article 20. In the early 1990s, an array of such symbolic political issues brought attention to the state's role in religious or quasireligious activities. Defenders of the constitution, including Japanese Christians, followers of new religions, leftists, and many members of the political opposition, considered any government involvement in religious aspects of the enthronement to be a conservative attempt to undermine the spirit, if not the letter, of the constitution.

They also strongly criticized the 1989 Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture's controversial directive, which called for the playing of the prewar national anthem ("Kimigayo," or "The Sovereign's Reign") and display of the rising sun flag (Hinomaru, the use of which dates to the early nineteenth century) at public school ceremonies. Although since the late 1950s these activities had been described by the ministry as "desirable," neither had legal status under the postwar constitution. Another issue was state support for the Yasukuni Shrine. This shrine, located in Tokyo near the Imperial Palace, was established during the Meiji era as a repository for the souls of soldiers and sailors who died in battle, thus a holy place rather than simply a war memorial. Conservatives introduced bills five times during the 1970s to make it a "national establishment," but none was adopted.

On the fortieth anniversary of the end of World War II in Japan, on August 15, 1985, Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro and members of his cabinet visited the shrine in an official capacity, an action viewed as a renewed conservative effort, outside the Diet, to invest the shrine with official status. Despite the veneer of Westernization and Article 20's prohibition of state support of the emperor's religious or ceremonial activities, his postwar role was in some ways more like that of traditional rather than prewar emperors. During the Meiji (1868-1912), Taisho (1912-26), and early Showa (1926-89) eras, the emperor himself was not actively involved in politics. His political authority, however, was immense, and military and bureaucratic elites acted in his name. The "symbolic" role of the emperor after 1945, however, recalled feudal Japan, where political power was monopolized and exercised by the shoguns, and where the imperial court carried on a leisurely, apolitical existence in the ancient capital of Kyoto and served as patrons of culture and the arts.

Emperor Akihito, in an effort to put a modern face on the Japanese monarchy, held a press conference on August 7, 1989, his first since ascending to the throne. He expressed his determination to respect the constitution and promote international understanding. The Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan By Namiko Abe Updated November 10, 2015. In the Constitution of Japan, it is stipulated that "the Emperor shall be the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people." The current emperor (天皇), Akihito, is the 125th emperor, counting from Jinmu Tenno, who was the first to be enthroned in 660 B.C.. In this span, the role of the emperor was at times one of real power, and at times only the nominal sovereign. In the Meiji Constitution (the Constitution of the Empire of Japan) which was proclaimed in 1889, the emperor was made the chief of state with political and military power; but he lost that power with the Constitution of Japan which went into effect following the defeat in the World War II.

From then until now, the emperor exists as a symbol without function in the administration of government, and only carries out affairs of state at national ceremonies. The family headed by the Emperor is called koshitsu (皇室) or kozoku (皇族). The imperial family has no surname but uses the appellation miya (meaning "prince," or "princess") granted by the Emperor. continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge For example, the current Crown Prince is called Hironomiya Naruhito and he is commonly known overseas by the friendly name, Prince Hiro. After the Constitution of Japan went into effect, the laws of the country applied to the imperial family in the same way as to ordinary citizens, with the exceptions of the Family Registration Act, the right to vote or stand for election, and the right to adopt children. Although the imperial line is determined by a hereditary system whereby male heirs succeed to the throne, in a few cases, when the death of a reigning emperor left no heirs who could satisfy the requirements for imperial succession, the empress, imperial princess, or the crown princess acceded to the throne. Click here for Japan's national holiday "Greenery day".

This was the birthday of the Showa Emperor Hirohito who died in 1989.

Question: Who was the Emperor of Japan who died in 1989
Answer: Hirohito