The sacred sword itself was housed in the Atsuta Grand Shrine and the jewel, in the imperial palace sanctuary. The third part of the regalia, the sacred mirror, was housed in Ise Grand Shrine; a replica never left the imperial palace sanctuary.
‘Shōwa’ is often translated as ‘enlightened peace.’ But ‘illustrious peace’ is used here, to better distinguish it from the translation for ‘Meiji’, the reign name of Hirohito’s grandfather, which is usually rendered in English as ‘enlightened rule’. The term, ‘Shōwa’, selected by the privy council in an emergency meeting soon after the Taishō Emperor died, was an adaptation of a passage from the Chinese Shu Ching, or Book of History, which reads, ‘The hundred clans are illustrious, the ten thousand nations are in harmony’ (Kawahara 1990:45, italics Kawahara’s). Note that ‘Taishō' signified ‘great justice’.
The daijōsai was preceded by the sokui-rei, a ceremony in which the emperor appeared in his first official audience. There is a throne in Japan, the takamikura, used in the sokui-rei ceremony. But because the Japanese sovereigns do not otherwise use a throne, the terms ‘throne’ and ‘enthronement’ are best used metaphorically.
The books by Inoue, Bergamini, and Behr have been widely criticized for seriously distorting evidence in portraying the Shōwa Emperor. Sheldon’s critique is the most revealing on Inoue (Sheldon 1978). Of the many equally negative reactions to Bergamini’s work, James Crowley’s is especially recommended (Crowley 1971). The main problem with Behr’s study, apart from the fact that because he does not read Japanese, he had to rely on a team of Japanese researchers whose use of sources was highly selective, is its over-reliance on inference (Large 1991b).
The phrase is suggested by Eric Hobsbawm. Broadly, it refers to the ‘formalization’ and ‘ritualization’ of values and institutions to achieve the legitimation of power and authority (Hobsbawm 1985). David Cannadine has written an intriguing essay on ‘invented tradition’ in the evolution of the British monarchy from 1820 to 1977 (Cannadine 1985).
The following quotations from the constitution and the edict of promulgation are from Meiji Japan Through Contemporary Sources, Vol. 1 (Center for East Asian Cultural Studies 1969).
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Publication Information: Book Title: Emperor Hirohito and Showa Japan: A Political Biography. Contributors: Stephen S. Large - author. Publisher: Routledge. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1992. Page Number: 223.
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