Symbol of the nation and the unity of the people

The parliament of Japan recently passed a special law that grants Emperor Akihito the right to abdicate and hand over power to his elder son, Crown Prince Naruhito. Since the emperor announced publicly in August 2016 about his intention to step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne, a special commission has been drawing up this law for year and Japanese society has seen heated debates over the possibility of this step. Conservative politicians and most academics categorically oppose this, fearing that it may eventually destabilize Japan’s well-established monarchic system.

The government of Japan is still to bring up the minutest details of the transfer of power, but it is planned that the era of Heisei, i.e. the era of “peaceful rule,” which began when Akihito ascended the throne, will end in late 2018.

Akihito, the 125th emperor of Japan, is the only reigning emperor today. He belongs to the oldest monarchic dynasty with a history of about 2,600 years. Supposedly, it was founded by the legendary Emperor Jimmu who ruled in the 7th century BC. According to the ancient chronicles Kojiki, he was a direct descendant of Amaterasu, the goddess of the Sun, from whom he received the right to rule the Japanese islands and the imperial regalia – a bronze mirror, a sword, and jasper pendants which symbolize wisdom, courage, and prosperity.

These regalia (which no one but the emperor has ever seen) are kept in three different places – the sword at the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya, the mirror at the Ise Shrine, and the jasper pendants, which the emperor always takes when going on a distant journey, at the imperial palace’s treasury.

In its long history, the imperial house of Japan has seen the epochs of patriarchal monarchy, military dictatorship, and the feudal empire of Tokugawa, when the emperor was assigned the role of the supreme priest only. But even when the emperor had no real power, he was traditionally worshipped and his “divine origin” was never doubted.

In general, the Japanese consider it polite to avoid eye contact with a person of a higher status. And it was practically impossible to see the emperor as recently as a century ago. He was separated from even his inner circle with a special screen during conversations because it was believed that the grace the goddess of the Sun’s descendent beamed could cause blindness.

The emperor’s “divine” status was enshrined in the Constitution of the Empire of Japan in 1889 after the Meiji Restoration. He was also proclaimed the supreme ruler, the supervisor of public administration bodies, and the guarantor of the constitution, and was vested with the power to approve the laws passed by parliament, to convene and dissolve the latter. The emperor’s rescripts could acquire the force of law even without being discussed in parliament in case of a danger to the state. In that case the emperor was becoming the head of the executive branch and the commander-in-chief of Japan’s armed forces, who had the right to declare war and conclude interstate agreements.

Historians have differing opinions about the role of Emperor Hirohito as formal commander-in-chief in 1930-45. Most of them maintain that he opposed the alliance with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy but was forced to make concessions to militarists who held sway in the government and the supreme command of the armed forces. But some are convinced that Hirohito actively supported the top generals’ policy, from the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 to the last years of World War Two.

Anyway, in August 1945, when Japan had to make a choice between admitting defeat and surrendering or continuing to resist the Allies (without any hope of victory), Hirohito sided with those who sought a peaceful settlement.

In an unprecedented radio message to his compatriots on August 15, 1945, he called on the army and the navy to stop resistance and on his subjects “to endure the unendurable.”

This speech of the emperor, whom the Japanese considered a God-man and whose voice they heard for the first time, is believed to have saved Japan from total ruination.

On January 1, 1946, the radio broadcast the Humanity Declaration which claimed that it was wrong to believe that Emperor Hirohito was of a divine nature. This document immediately triggered a host of heated debates that brought forth all kinds of interpretations of the text, most of which boiled down to the statement that the emperor had broken with the tradition to consider Japanese monarchs the direct descendants of the Sun goddess. At the same time, the emperor remained the supreme Shinto priest and continued to perform the traditional rites of worshipping, first of all, Amaterasu.

The new Constitution of Japan adopted in 1947 no longer comprised the provision on the emperor’s “divine essence,” and he just became a “symbol of the nation and the unity of the people.”

Real power belongs to the head of government – the prime minister of Japan – who is nevertheless formally appointed by the emperor as designated by parliament.

As Japan is a constitutional monarchy, the emperor performs representative functions, such as official meetings with heads of foreign states, formal convocations and dissolution of parliament, proclamation of general elections, presentation of governmental awards, ceremonial reception of credentials from foreign ambassadors, announcements of amnesty, etc.

The necessity for governmental and parliamentary decisions to be approved by the monarch could in theory empower the latter to postpone the procedure indefinitely, i.e., to virtually “veto” any document. But this has never occurred in the country’s contemporary history.

Not only aristocrats, who lost the exalted titles of princes and barons, but also the grassroots not always accepted readily and unconditionally the new status the emperor gained under the new constitution.

Half a century ago, the intention of Akihito, the crown prince at the time, to choose a fiancee outside the select society of kazoku daughters produced a bombshell effect and a feeling of rejection and inner protest in many. That a mere mortal will become a member of the world’s oldest reigning dynasty for the first time in about 2,000 years was a nice piece of news for those who hoped that the young fiancee’s charm would inject fresh blood into the life of the imperial court and strengthen the link between the “heavenly beings” and the grassroots, while the followers of old traditions strongly believed in arranged marriages only, considering them as inter-clan ties, not the unions of those in love.

What broke the centuries-old traditions was not only the prince’s marriage with Michiko Shoda, but also their decision to bring up their children by themselves, although Akihito himself had been raised separately from his parents since he was two years old.

The past 50 years have seen considerable changes in the imperial court’s long-established protocol. Now you can see the emperor (to whom it was once forbidden even to raise eyes), albeit at a distance, with his family at least once a year as he sends his New Year greetings.

In the most difficult moments for the country, the emperor and the empress are always in the places where their support in mostly needed. After a disastrous earthquake and tsunami in 2011, both of them visited the affected areas, spoke to the victims, and, disregarding the protocol, sat next to them on the tatami, which was viewed as a display of their heartfelt sympathy with the people.

The emperor grows rice on a small field next to his palace. It is not just a tribute to deep-rooted traditions but an ancient Shintoistic ritual and a symbol of stability and uninterrupted connection between generations.

Although the conservatives raise from time to time the question of reviving some provisions of the prewar constitution and suggest “increasing” the status of the emperor again, Akihito himself holds liberal views and categorically opposes any references to the “militarist” attitudes of the past and rejects the idea of updating the status of Shinto as a single official religion. Yet, according to public opinion polls, about five percent of the Japanese still regard the emperor as a direct descendant of Amaterasu, the goddess of the Sun.

I am convinced that, for 100 percent of the people, the emperor was and still remains, first of all, the greatest moral authority and a true symbol of the unity of the people – “the people with whom resides sovereign power” (Article 1 of the Constitution of Japan).