On a day when self-declared nationalist, prime minister Shinzo Abe, has again made a political statement by sending an offering to Yasukuni, it’s worth remembering the attitude of Emperor Hirohito. As revealed in a document in 2006, because of the enshrinement of war criminals there he made a decision never to worship at the shine again. (The article below comes from The Telegraph, July 21, 2006.)
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Why Hirohito snubbed the Yasukuni Shrine By Colin Joyce in Tokyo (21 Jul 2006)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1524492/Why-Hirohito-snubbed-the-Yasukuni-Shrine.html?fb
The late Emperor Hirohito stopped paying respects to Japan’s war dead at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo because he objected to the enshrinement there of war criminals.
(Photo courtesy The Telegraph)
Yesterday’s disclosure, contained in a recently discovered memo, is a devastating blow to nationalists who believe Yasukuni is the only proper place for Japanese to honour countrymen killed in wars since the mid-19th century.
The document, written by one of Hirohito’s closest aides, shows that he shared concerns that the shrine was sullied by the inclusion of the 14 Class A war criminals deemed most responsible for leading Japan into the Second World War.
The men, including the wartime prime minister Hideki Tojo, were either executed by the Americans after the war or died in prison. They were enrolled at Yasukuni in a secret Shinto ceremony in 1978.”After that enshrinement I never worshipped there again. That was my conscience,” Hirohito is quoted as saying in the document from 1988, the year before his death.
There is little doubt about the authenticity of the memo, found among the notebooks of Tomohiko Tomita, the former head of the Imperial Household Agency. Mr Tomita, who died in 2002, was a confidant of the emperor.
The Showa Emperor, known in the West as Hirohito
Hirohito did not visit Yasukuni after 1978 and his son, Emperor Akihito, has never visited since he succeeded. Until now the reason for this has been a matter of debate but nationalists must face the fact that their views clash with those of Hirohito, whom they revere.
Hirohito had particularly objected to the enshrinement of the wartime foreign minister Yosuke Matsuoka and Toshio Shiratori, the former ambassador to Rome who was instrumental in allying Japan to Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Experts say Hirohito rarely criticised individuals yet the memo quotes him saying: “They even enshrined Matsuoka and Shiratori.”
Japanese emperors are not simply heads of state but central figures in the Shinto religion. Hirohito’s views will strengthen the argument for the inclusion of the criminals at Yasukuni to be reversed.
“There will be no solution unless Class A war criminals are worshipped separately or if another memorial facility, which has no links to a particular religion, is built,” said Taku Yamasaki, from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Long may the Yamato Dynasty reign on the Crysanthemum Throne!!
(Personally, I do NOT hold the Showa Mikado to have been guilty of War Crimes, partially because even Grover Cleveland strongly opposed the illegal annexation of Hawaii, (this is an analogy, BTW), & sympathized with the Queen but wasn’t able to stop the absolutely ATROCIOUS behavior of the criminals who unlawfully deposed the monarchy in the name of the welfare of the U.S.A., & the President of the U.S.A. has historically held FAR MORE political power than the Japanese Monarch has had/has currently, so saying he was somehow guilty of war crimes strikes me as completely ridiculous & absurd)!!