Showa Emperor Hirohito In Hiroshima

In Emperor Hirohito’s historic broadcast to the Japanese people – the first by a Japanese Emperor – on August 15, 1945, which announced the unconditional surrender of the Japanese military to the Allied forces, the Showa Emperor (as he is posthumously known in Japan), referred to the use of a “cruel bomb, causing immense and indiscriminate destruction, the extent of which is beyond all estimation.”

This was, of course, the nuclear weapons that had been unleashed on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6th and 9th.

According to Chugoku Shimbun, Hirohito dispatched one of his chamberlains to review the damage a few weeks after the bombing, and the Emperor had been shown photographs of the devastation. It was, however, not until two and a half years later, on December 7, 1947 – the anniversary of the day that Japan launched its audacious attack on Pearl Harbor – that he visited the city. Rebuilding was underway, but the city and those who had survived the bombing and its aftermath still bore the scars of the bombing.

A man, no longer divine still viewed with awe

It had been almost two years since the January 1, 1946, Humanity Declaration (ningen-sengen), which declared that Hirohito was not a living god and renounced the concept of the divinity of the Japanese Emperor. The Hiroshima visit was part of a humanization campaign, during which the emperor toured the length and breadth of the country, interacting with his subjects in a way that had never been seen before.

In his autobiography A-bomb Mayor: Warnings and Hope from Hiroshima, the Mayor of Hiroshima at the time, Shinso Hamai, says that a request that the Emperor visit to attend the 1947 Peace Festival, the city’s first official commemorative event on the 2nd anniversary of the bombing, was deemed out of the question. The city, however, successfully lobbied for the Emperor to visit on a tour of the surrounding Chugoku region.

Despite affection towards remaining strong, as indicated in a survey in October 1945, which, according to John Dower, revealed “widespread enthusiasm or deep awe and veneration comparable to that of the war years,” the success of the Hiroshima visit was not perhaps a foregone conclusion.

Hiroshima’s mayor revealed that, when he visited Tokyo to express his gratitude for the visit, a senior Imperial Household official stated that the Emperor had been somewhat anxious and preoccupied on his way to the city. Indeed, Hamai himself confesses that while awaiting the arrival of the imperial train at Miyajima-guchi Station, from where he would go to his lodgings at Iwaso Inn on Miyajima Island, the welcome delegation shared amusing stories about the erstwhile living god.

All that changed, he said, as soon as the imperial personage came into view, and “emotion surged through us.”

The following day, on his way from Miyajima-guchi, the Emperor stopped at a home for war orphans and a seafood testing factory, his motorcade greeted with cries of “Banzai! Banzai” from crowds lining the route.

Hirohito greets a huge crowd, meters from Hiroshima ground zero

When he arrived in the grounds of the original Gokoku Shrine, now laid bare, a short distance from the ground zero hypocenter, the Emperor was greeted by a sea of people, estimated to have been approximately 50,000. Eager to catch a glimpse of the imperial personage, Hamai says that despite the efforts of the Imperial Household staff, the Emperor was knocked and jostled by the crowds as he made his way to a raised platform from where he was to speak.

From the platform, with the ruins of the A-bomb Dome looming behind the gathered crowds, Hirohito said, “I am delighted by the enthusiastic welcome I have received from everyone. I feel satisfied to see firsthand signs of Hiroshima City’s recovery. I cannot help but feel sympathy for the catastrophe Hiroshima City experienced.” He concluded his short speech with the words, ”Rather than letting this sacrifice go to waste, we must construct a peaceful Japan that will contribute to world peace.”

After listening quietly, the crowd erupted in cheers of “Hail to the Emperor!” (Tenno-heika banzai!) – captured in newsreel footage from the time.

 

After the Emperor once more negotiated the ebullient crowd to his car, Mayor Hamai recalls being initially shocked when a man who poked his head through the door wished the Emperor farewell, without using honorific language, in words akin to, “So long, Your Majesty!” The man’s eyes were filled with tears, and Hamai saw that the unthinkable level of familiarity was not a sign of disrespect, but of devotion.

For some, bitterness and anger

Although local news reports mention that war victims were also in the crowd, not all were thrilled with the visit from the descendant of the sun goddess. An eight-year-old, Keiji Nakazawa, who has lost his father and two siblings to the A-bomb, and would go on to write the manga classic Barefoot Gen, wrote in his autobiography that seeing people waving flags at the Emperor made him tremble with anger. One wonders how many more had similar feelings.

“A city crawling with new life and energy”

For the most part, however, Hirohito’s first visit to the A-bombed city seems to have been well received. The joyous reception appears to have been a relief, even to Hirohito himself – the official who had expressed unease before the visit also told Mayor Hamai that the Emperor left Hiroshima in much better spirits.

The visit was positively reported in the overseas press, which focused on Hirohito’s rejection of the nation’s militaristic imperialist project, of which it might be said that he had personified.

Many current residents of Hiroshima will surely identify with the way Herald Tribune Tokyo correspondent, Allen Raymond, described Hiroshima and its people – bear in mind this is just two and half years after the unleashing of the A-bomb:

“This was no beaten people who welcomed the Emperor to their city. I have seen most of the war-damaged sections of the world, and one could not find a healthier, stronger, more cheerful population anywhere than that of Hiroshima. The city is simply crawling with new life and energy.

Subsequent visits to Hiroshima

Hirohito was to return to Hiroshima on two more occasions, in 1951 and 1971.

Five years after his first visit, he attended the Kokutai National Athletic Meet. Reconstruction was proceeding, and Kenzo Tange’s “Peace Center,” which described the development of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the 100m-wide Peace Boulevard were nearing completion and a wooden replica of Hiroshima Castle’s main keep, complete with rollercoaster, was constructed was built for occasion (the sports meet not the imperial visit).

His 1971 visit was in the midst of an increasingly acrimonious battle between left and right centered on the Hiroshima bombing. He paid his respects at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims for the first time and commented, “Standing in front of the cenotaph, I remember, after all these years, what happened in the old days. My heart still aches.”

Chugoku Shinbun reports that, as he gazed over the city from the top of Hijiyama Hill (the current location of the Museum Of Contemporary Art – seen at the end of the video above), he was overcome by emotion and said that he was amazed Hiroshima had been reconstructed to this extent.

He, however, caused some consternation at a news conference in 1975, when a reporter from Hiroshima asked Hirohito about the atomic bombing of the city, the emperor said, “I’m sorry for the people of Hiroshima, but I think the atomic bombing was unavoidable.”

Sources: Chugoku Shimbun | Asahi Shimbun | Embracing Defeat by Jon Dower | National Library of Australia | A-Bomb Mayor by Shinso Hamai