Trust and Deception

By Hannah K

The day when Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur met the Emperor Showa, Hirohito, was the day when the trust between MacArthur and the Emperor Showa, Hirohito, was established and the day when Japan started to recover from the disastrous situation after the Pacific War. Until then, under the name of the Japanese Empire, Japanese people suffered unreasonable orders from the military regime. Thanks to MacArthur's effort, Japan was able to make an outstanding recovery. You would be interested in what MacArthur knew about Japan.

This book will tell the readers that Japan had democratic elements dating back to ancient times. In addition to the above story, the readers could know the rough history of transition of the regimes in Japan. The Imperial system actually had the basis of democracy. In spite of a number of Samurai Regimes' rise and fall, the Imperial system, Tenno System, has been maintained.

Who built such a long sustainable political system? The key person was a female Emperor Jitoh (690-697), who had an unbelievably practical power of uniting competing tribal clans in Japan and call the country Nihon.

You may think Shinto priest would be a peace-loving person. However, Shinobu Origuchi is believed to be a folklore of Shintoist and priest. Actually, this person triggered the Japanese Empire to wage war against the United States. Seemingly, trustful person deceived ignorant people easily.

There have been a lot of wars and conflicts, which were caused by evil people. The author sincerely hopes this book could serve as a tip to recover a peaceful world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Jan 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781456626358

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Chapter 1: Prologue

~ When the national identity is lost, a true crisis arises in one nation and the crisis results in the loss of the national character. The loss of national identity causes endless political turmoils and conflicts. However, a lot of researchers, journalists, educators and those who are involved in educating younger generations these days create delusional discussions and only see the surface of an issue without getting to the bottom of the facts. Because of this lack of professionalism and honest pursuit of the real factors in the field of research, it seems that research study is just pieces of paperwork nowadays and has nothing to do with the real world.

Looking at the real world, you will be able to see various examples which have particular patterns of conflict. What do you think is the core of religious conflicts? What do you think was the case of Japan after 1945? What causes religious conflicts? This seems to have nothing to do with political conflicts from all appearances. However, social research and understanding of the social structure is essential to build peaceful society in a true sense.

During the Pacific War (1941-1945), Japan faced the issues of religious dispute. This was an ongoing conflict during the war and a lot of Shintoists were imprisoned because of the protest against the policy of Hideki Tojo, the Prime Minister who started the Pacific War and who was the Major General of the Japanese Empire Army. He imprisoned and executed Shintoists who strongly opposed the invasive activities into China and WWII. Furthermore, he not only imprisoned Christian politicians, but also did not inform the Emperor Showa, Hirohito, of the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

Japan is very unique from the viewpoint of one uninterrupted dynasty, which has lasted far more than one thousand years. However, there have been a lot of ideological changes in the imperial system throughout the Japanese history. For example, the Chinese Imperial System of the Qing Empire (1644-1912) was adopted when the Meiji Restoration (1867) took place, so Tenno (the Emperor) in Japanese was translated into the Emperor.

The original roles and the definition of Tenno have been different from those of Chinese Emperors. Throughout Japanese history, the roles of the Emperor in the country have not been absolute dictatorship of the nation like the emperors in China or those in Europe.

It would not be too much to say that the Emperors (Tennos) were never in the ruling position. However, the definition of Tennos’ position in Japanese society has been closer to the meaning of a moderator rather than that of a typical dictator. When it comes to dictatorship, you might come up with the regime ruled by Hitler in modern history or that by the Chinese Imperial System, during the Qing Empire. The Tenno’s role has been completely different from that.

Supreme Commander of the Pacific War (1941-1945), Douglas MacArthur was well aware of the importance of this traditional role of the Japanese Emperor or Tenno’s role. Therefore, in order to avoid the post-war political conflicts, which have so commonly occurred after every war such as Afghanistan or Iraq, MacArthur made the most of the Emperor, Showa and could manage to avoid internal conflicts right after the end of the Pacific War.

MacArthur knew what would happen if Japan were to be deprived of the Emperor after the Pacific War. MacArthur was also aware that the Imperial system had been transformed during the Meiji Restoration and that prevented the development of a democratic Japanese society. The educational system had been transformed so that children learned to accept and respect authority without question. This teaching method led to bloodshed behavior toward their enemies during the Pacific war. Japanese Imperial soldiers chose to die by suicide rather than surrender.

MacArthur was convinced that the Emperor Showa, Hirohito, was a key person to carry out the peaceful post-war process. MacArthur knew he had to restore the concept of Tenno as it was before the Meiji Restoration.

I would like to note here the main role of Tenno (the Emperor) has been the duty of carrying out religious ceremonies to serve the most important deities who created Japan. This role was being carried out during the period of isolationism under the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868). This role was being conducted by Tenno after the forced opening of a port for foreign trade by Commodore Matthew Perry.

As a matter of fact, opening Japan to trade with the West was a great opportunity for Japan, the nation, and her people. I should say, interacting with Western nations as well as Western cultures energized the Japanese Empire. However, many Japanese journalists today and those who are involved in the field of education regard this as the destruction of Japanese culture and identity. In my opinion, the Meiji bureaucratic system, which was based on neo-Confucianism, led to tragedy of Japan.

At the same time, the end of the period of isolationism was the start of the new age and also the end of the period of feudalism in Japan (about 1190-1868). The Japanese owe a lot to Commodore Perry. Without his visit to Japan, Japan would have become the colony of Western Super Powers. Douglas MacArthur, in his autobiography, called Perry’s visit the beginning of the friendship between the United States of America and Japan.

Douglas MacArthur knew that Hideki Tojo’s Regime (1941-1948) in Japan was the true enemy of the United States, not the nation of Japan itself. It is not too much to say that that was why Hideki Tojo was executed as the first-class war criminal but the traditional Japanese Tenno System (Usually translated as Imperial System of Japan) was protected by MacArthur. According to MacArthur, the United States and Japan have been creating an atmosphere for rapprochement between the two nations since Perry’s visit. He knew the Emperor Showa had never met Hitler or had even been a friend of Hitler.

As I mentioned before, after the Meiji Restoration, the role of the Emperor or Tenno in the Japanese term was completely redefined and became close to that of the emperors in the Chinese Imperial system, the Qing Empire (1616-1912). Furthermore, the founders of the Meiji Regime spoke highly of the Emperor Tenji, who was the 38th Tenno and the first Emperor of Japan (668-672). The founders of the new government tried making the most of the existence of the Emperor Tenji.

The first Japanese Emperor, Tenji, played the role model of the Emperor for the Meiji Regime. Another important element is that the basis of the Meiji Regime was the Chinese imperial system of the Qing Empire (1616-1912) based on neo-Confucianism. Based on the value system of neo-Confucianism, there was a complete transformation of the definition of the role of the emperor in the Imperial System in Japan. The Emperor Meiji became the head of the bureaucratic government, that is to say the Emperor.

Let me review the brief history of the Imperial System in Japan. In the Ancient times, Tenno existed as a moderator to bridge the conflicts among clans. The first Emperor, who introduced the enthronement ceremony of Chinese emperors, was the Emperor Tenji (668-671), who founded Ohmi Capital (667), which was located adjacent to Lake Biwa, across from Kyoto. Before him, almost all ancient capitals were located in the Nara Basin (present Nara Prefecture); several hundred miles from Ohmi Capital.

However, Ohmi Capital was discarded by Tenmu Tenno (672), who wanted to restore the traditional united-clan-tribal kingship system, and ended the imperial system that the Emperor Tenji wanted to establish. Most aristocratic clan leaders supported Tenmu Tenno, the Emperor Tenji’s brother, but the Emperor Kobun, the Emperor Tenji’s son, attempted to be the successor to the Emperor Tenji under the Tenji’s Imperial system. The Emperor Kobun, who was the son of the Emperor Tenji, was expelled from the throne and later killed himself.

Thereafter, Tenmu Tenno restored the ancient Tenno System, the united-clan-tribal kingship system with the help of his queen, Jitoh Tenno, in Nara, which I will explain in the later chapter. The document, which could be seen in Nihon-Sho-Ki (the first and the oldest government-sponsored compilation of Japanese history), said that Tenmu Tenno was Tenji’s younger brother, who had the legitimate right to succeed to Tenno’s throne. Furthermore, Tenmu’s queen, Jitoh, was the Emperor Tenji’s daughter, and a half-sister of the Emperor Kobun. Jitoh later became Jitoh Tenno, the successor of Tenmu Tenno. In Japanese, there is no distinction of gender or the singular or plural forms, so she became Tenno (The Empress).

Jitoh Tenno was an extremely talented Tenno with wisdom in making decisions and taking action, and started the project of compiling the oldest Japanese historical records in the form of books called Nihon-Sho-Ki (about 690-720): Nihon-Sho-Ki was the oldest historical record of Japan. Sho-Ki means books of compiled historical document, in order to make it clear that Tenmu and Jitoh Tenno had the legitimacy to succeed to Tenno’s throne because the Emperor Tenji completely destroyed and ignored the traditional united-clan-tribal kingship system. She tried to justify the restoration of the ancient Tenno System, which was rather the kingdom of united aristocratic clans than the empire based on the bureaucratic system.

After several female Tenno and male Tenno, about a hundred years later, the Emperor Kanmu tried to restore the Imperial System, which the Emperor Tenji had established in Ohmi, and so he moved the capital in current Nara Prefecture to Kyoto Prefecture very close to Ohmi, which thereafter came to be called Heian Kyou (Capital: 794-1868), the last capital of Japan until the Meiji Restoration.

The Emperor Kanmu was able to build the capital of Japan with the help of discontented members of the clans who opposed the Tenno system, but it was too late to restore the Imperial system, because the Manorial System had already been established, and manorial land lords had had the right of no tax or no-entrance principle supported by the legal system of those days. This result could be called Japanese version of Magna Carta.

This right provided the basis for democratization after the Pacific War. This is because the right could also give rise to the traditional Right of Resistance established by manor land lords (the latter 9th century). Thanks to this right, the post-war democratization by GHQ measure was relatively easily accepted by the Japanese civilians.

In fact, even after the Meiji Regime was established and introduced neo-Confusianism, the general public, some of whom belonged to the former Samurai class, could protest against the power of the government, not by direct violence, but by the legal procedures, such as the requirement of establishing the National Diet.

Before the Meiji Restoration, Samurai Regime (Tokugawa Bakfu) could not rule any other people, who resided in the other manor lands’ territories. Shogun, the ruler of Tokugawa Regime, was only the chairperson of assemblies of the Samurai landlords within the territories of the Tokugawa Household.

By the way, China and Korea established the absolute Imperial systems. Therefore, the empires in two countries could govern all the public directly through their bureaucratic system. All peoples in those countries had to absolutely obey emperors’ orders. The interesting point of these countries was every civilian had the equal right to take the qualification test to become a beureaucrat. However, they had no Right of Resistance at all. This lack of Right of Resistance is still seen in communist China and communist North Korea.

I think that, in terms of imperial systems, these countries far exceeded Japan. In return, however, it is very difficult for them to establish democratic legal system. These two countries have historically lacked the legal tradition of the Right of Resistance to rulers from the sides of the common people, some of whom have tried to protest against the present regimes’ have been oppressed every time they attempt to democratize the countries.

The Tenno System, which the Empress Jitoh established, continued until the Meiji Restoration (1868). However, Emperors after the Meiji Restoration until 1945 came to be defined as absolute dictators of the country and all the public in the nation had to obey the orders defined by the Meiji Regime.

Here, I would like to discuss the political situation of the Meiji Period making use of well documented historical facts. The distinctive political system of the Meiji Era was the beginning of the advent of the bureaucratic governmental system. All the lords of the manors returned their territories to the Emperor Meiji (November 11th, 1867). You would be surprised at the reasons why such an unbelievable process occurred.

One reason was that the last Shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa understood the threat of colonization which occurred in China to some extent. How could this last Shogun come to understand a little about the necessity of returning political power to Tennno? There was a key person who realized the importance of modernization of Japan. This samurai’s name was Kaishu Katsu (1823-1893). This wise vassal was a low ranking vassal (Hatamoto) of the Shogun, but whose wisdom led him to acquire the real political power in the Tokugawa Regime.

Still, during the reign of Tokugawa Regime before the Meiji Restoration, Kaishu Katsu sailed to San Francisco (1860) to study and observe American culture and technology. He sailed in the first steam engine ship, Kanrinmaru, built for the Shogunate by the Dutch. From Kaishu’s choice to visit the United States of America over the other European Super Powers, you could tell how close the United States was to Japan in those days. From this point of view, it was a great honor that Douglas MacArthur reminded the Japanese people of the friendly relationship between the both counties.

When Kaishu Katsu went to the United States of America, Yukichi Fukuzawa was hired as an interpreter. He later became the founder of Keio University. As a result of his visit to the United States, Kaishu Katsu realized that the Tokugawa Regime had no power to modernize Japan. The whole system of Tokugawa Regime became inflexible in the course of enjoying 300-year long peaceful isolationism. Kaishu Katsu came to conclude the necessity of the new system which energized to modernize Japan. Kaishu Katsu persuaded Yoshinobu Tokkugawa to surrender to the Emperor’s Army (1868). According to the historical document, he said to Yoshinobu Tokugawa, It is not the time to have the civil war in Japan.

Another key person to modernize Japan was Nariakira Shimazu, who governed the southernmost region of Japan, the domain of Satsuma. The domain of Satsuma is now called Kagoshima Prefecture. He studied the tremendous industrial power of the Western World. He studied Western civilization very hard and built modern factories such as an iron smelting furnace, a shipyard, a Roman glass factory and so on. He wanted to modernize his domain.

Another key person, Takamori Saigo, was a charismatic leader. He was a subject of one of the greatest landlords, Nariakira Shimazu, described above. Takamori Saigo showed the great ability when he was very young and was patronized and instructed by Nariakira Shimazu. Even though Saigo was born in a low-class local swordsman family, Nariakira loved his talent and started to teach the necessity of modernizing Japan. Takamori Saigo absorbed Nariakira’s ideas and dreams of making Japan a strong country and preventing the western powers from colonizing Japan.

Takamori Saigo became the Major General of the Tenno’s Army, and won a lot of battles against the Tokugawa Shogunate Army. His army finally reached the capital of the Tokugawa Regime in Edo, now called Tokyo. His army surrounded the Castle of Edo and was about to attack it.

Fortunately for Japan, Kaishu Katsu persuaded Yoshinobu Tokugawa, the last Shogun, to surrender to the Tenno’s Army. Yoshinobu delegated authority to Kaishu to negotiate surrender to Takamori Saigo at Edo Castle. Takamori Saigo accepted Kaishu’s proposal (1868). Japan could avoid a disastrous civil war and the destruction, so commonly resulting from any kind of wars. Japan experienced dangerous situations in every stage of her history, but there appeared great leaders to keep Japan a peaceful country except for World War II.

Now, I would like to go back to the main topic of Shinto. The regrettable thing is a lot of historians and political analysts have been making up stories about Shinto. They have been on TV and have told these false stories. The lamentable fact is that the number of the researchers who have real knowledge about Shinto is so small and the majority of the researchers of Shinto have seldom tried to pursue the real origin of Shinto.

As a result, in the Western nations, the wrong impressions have been created about Japanese people, culture, and religion including Shinto and its political history. At the same time, this kind of misunderstanding has been caused by the major media, as well.

One example is that mass media treats the system of the succession to the throne of Tenno (the Emperor) as a traditional legal custom throughout history. However, the current system of the succession to the throne itself was created after the Meiji Restoration. The right of succession to the throne did not go to the first eldest son of Tenno traditionally. In most cases, the throne was not inherited after the death of Tenno as it was in Chinese empires.

In spite of this fact, in the history books and relevant news stories, the Japanese researchers and correspondents never discuss the topic according to the facts. They have made up the system of the succession to the throne according to Dr. Origuchi’s theory and have never studied the traditional succession ceremony. Could it be their job or business? What do you think is the role of journalism and research work? I would like to question many researchers and journalists as to this topic.

A lot of students of 1950s to early 70s boycotted or disrupted the lectures at their own universities, and never studied during their university years. Furthermore, the extreme left-wing Japanese radicals or communists in those days, later became political journalists or researchers and started to write their own point of view in spite of their ignorance. Nowadays, their students are dominating the educational system and the publishing business. The ideas of odd communism have never gone from Japanese society to my disappointment.

The Imperial system was reformed by the lawmakers apart from the will of the Emperor Meiji (Meiji Tenno, Mutsuhito) after the Meiji Restoration in 1868. All the tributary relationships based on neo-Confucianism were introduced to the Japanese Imperial System, and the Meiji Imperial system was actually born after the Meiji Restoration.

For example, before the Meiji Restoration, there had been no rule that only the male eldest son of Tenno had the right to inherit the throne of the Emperor in Japanese Tenno System. Sei means system in Japanese. Anyway, by calling the Imperial System, Tenno-Sei, the extreme left-wing activists tried to provoke the feeling of anti-Tenno System among the public.

This anti-Tenno campaign was triggered by the order of Stalin in Soviet Russia. Stalin wanted to export Communist Revolution to other counties including the democratic nations, and the extreme lef-wing activists worldwide were attracted to his message. In the later chapter, I will discuss more in detail regarding the definition of Tenno in the present Constitution of Japan.

I would like to introduce one fact, which resulted in the presence of the Chapter of the present Imperial System in the Japanese Constitution. When the Emperor Showa visited Douglas MacArthur soon after the surrender to the Allied Nations, Showa Tenno’s intention was very clear.

The Emperor Showa, Hirohito, wanted Douglas MacArthur to keep Japan as peaceful as possible at the cost of his own life. Seeing Tennno’s honesty and gentle nature with his courage and determination, Douglas MacArthur decided to make use of him to recover peace in Japan. This meaningful talk led to drafting the constitution with a clear definition of the role of the Emperor. In other words, Tenno has become the symbol of peace of Japan.

Defining the Emperor in Article 2 of the new Constitution of Japan was the decision of Douglas MacArthur and the GHQ, not the Emperor’s decision. In my opinion, this decision should not be subject to Douglas MacArthur’s personal humiliation or personal preference. It was the thoughtful decision made by MacArthur, which took control of the post-war process in Japan. However, Japanese media and political analysts were critical of the existence of the Imperial Family in spite of possessing the knowledge of the background stories of the present imperial system.

At the same time, since media insisted that the Emperor was responsible for all the acts of the Pacific War, a lot of people who experienced the War still believe that the Emperor was the very person who was responsible for the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the rest of the atrocities. Clarifying the accountability as to who was responsible for causing the disasters has been more than crucial even in current Japanese society.

There are a lot of questions regarding the motives of the major Japanese media for writing articles which seem to defy the abundant documented facts about the causes of the Pacific War. At the same time, I wonder why the major Japanese media has had to make up stories to justify themselves.

It is because it is not just about the Emperor. Later in the chapter, I will discuss the summary of the conversation between Douglas MacArthur and the Emperor Showa. The Emperor did not even mention that the ordinary citizens had accountability for causing Attack on the Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War, which was the headline of the major Japanese media, who was primarily responsible for the war, have created and insisted.

The definition of the Emperor under the present Japanese Constitution was changed by MacArthur. Even though there was a major amendment in the Constitution of Japan, the major legal system under the Constitution was left untouched. The present Imperial System was introduced on January 10th, 1947 and came into effect on January 16th in the same year.

When people are asked the role of the Emperor, people are often unaware of his roles in the society. The Emperor is in the highest ranking position among Shinto priests. Therefore, there are rituals held by the Imperial Family, which are related to Shinto.

Before and after the amendment of the Constitution, the role of the Emperor, as a Shinto Priest, has never been changed. The ceremonies and rituals were untouched by GHQ. I will analyze the structure of the enthronement ceremony of the Emperor in the later chapter.

The sad fact is that the background stories of the reason why Tenno is defined as such in the current Constitution is never taught properly. At the same time, major Japanese media carried out an anti-Tenno System and an anti-U.S. Military campaign and some news media even supported communist ideology after the Pacific War. Those media changed their policies but they have been on the far left side and have never discussed relevant topics fairly in the news or newspapers.

In my opinion, if Douglas MacArthur had not been in Japan to resolve the disastrous situation after the War, the whole society would have been thrown into chaos like Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, MacArthur considered that ordinary citizens were the victims of the War. Douglas MacArthur also understood the circumstance that the Emperor faced. He clearly wrote this in his memoir.

Despite these facts, the efforts made by GHQ under MacArthur were reported as if MacArthur had been a dictator because Japanese researchers and journalists described him that he took advantage of the surrender of Japan to the United States. I consider this as an inappropriate interpretation. This was a strained understanding of the post-war history made up by them. Douglas MacArthur wanted to change the Meiji Constitution into a more idealistic one according