FAMILY OF THE JAPANESE EMPEROR

Family of the Japanese Emperor
– original photo feature from May 1954

photographs by Ian Mutsu

Hirohito, Emperor of Japan, is one of the very few persons who have spent most part of their lives as God and the rest as human being, enjoying about the same amount of popularity in both roles.

The free nations crushed Japan in August 1945. On April 29, Hirohito had become 44, “the unluckiest year in a man’s life” since the words four-four in Japanese also mean “double death.”

Up till then, the Japanese had been indoctrinated to refer always to their monarch as “The Sacred One.” Disrespectful acts, even slight and involuntary ones, had been severely punished. Japanese soldiers in battle, when about to die, were supposed to shout, “Long Live The Emperor.”

An edict from Allied headquarters in Tokyo quickly removed Hirohito from his pedestal, although he was exonerated from war guilt. Communist agitation for his abdication was answered by a statement from the Emperor that he had decided to remain on the throne. Since then, Hirohito has been living, under Article 1 of the New Constitution, as “symbol of the state and of the unity of the people.” His position is derived from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power.

Although the Emperor was symbol of Japan during the war too, and could have been blamed for her defeat, he has remained as popular as ever among his subjects. It is not inconceivable that some day he may again be deified – although this is unlikely.

Hirohito lives in a modest home near the centre of the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo, which is the largest private park in Japan. The Imperial Palace proper was destroyed in the B-29 raids and has not yet been rebuilt. He and Empress Nagako are the parents of two sons and three daughters – two of whom have married commoners since the end of the war. Those who live at the Imperial Palace now are:-

Emperor Hirohito, the 124th ruler of Japan. First son of the late Emperor Taisho. Born April 29th, 1901. Educated at the Peers School in Tokyo and in 1921 made a trip to England and other European countries. Became Prince Regent in November 1921. Married on January 26th, 1924. Has been Emperor since December 25th, 1926, when the name of the era changed in Japan to the present Showa – ‘Radiant Peace.’

Empress Nagako. Born March 6th, 1903. Her father was a prince. She went to the girls’ department of the same Peers School in Tokyo. A Japanese writer says she “is noted for her wifely virtues” and that people close to her remark that she always stood by the Emperor when he was deeply depressed at the end of the war and that nobody knows what might have happened to him had it not been for her presence. She is the Honorary President of the Japanese Red Cross.

Crown Prince Akihito, the second most popular Japanese next to the Emperor, was born December 23rd, 1933. In 1953, Akihito made a world tour including a London visit where he attended the Queen’s Coronation.

Prince Yoshi (Masahito), the Emperor’s second son, was born in 1935. He is now a student at the Peers School. The name of the school survives although the Japanese peerage was abolished after the war.

Princess Suga, born in 1939, was two years old when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. She is also a student at the Peers School.