The book offers a fascinating picture of the four emperors of modern Japan, their institution, their personalities and their impact on the history of their country. Leading scholars from Japan and other countries have contributed essays which treat this subject from various angles.
This important new and original study on the institution of the Japanese emperors focuses on the enigma of the institution itself, namely, the extraordinary continuity of the Japanese dynasty, which is unknown anywhere else in the world, yet which is now at risk on account of more recent laws of succession.
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Throughout, he presents rare photographs and woodblock prints to trace the image of the emperor from a mysterious figure secluded inside a palanquin to a grand public personage riding in an open carriage in Western military regalia.
Emperor Hirohito reigned for more than sixty years, yet we know little about him or the part he really played in the turbulent history of Showa Japan. Stephen Large draws on a wide range of Japanese and Western sources in his study of Emperor Hirohito's political role in Showa Japan (1926-89). This analysis focuses on key events in his career such as the extent to which he bore responsibility for Japanese aggression in the Pacific in 1941, and explains why Hirohito remains such a contested symbol in Japanese post war politics.
The renowned Japanese scholar “brings us as close to the inner life of the Meiji emperor as we are ever likely to get” (The New York Times Book Review). When Emperor Meiji began his rule in 1867, Japan was a splintered empire dominated by the shogun and the daimyos, cut off from the outside world, staunchly antiforeign, and committed to the traditions of the past. Before long, the shogun surrendered to the emperor, a new constitution was adopted, and Japan emerged as a modern, industrialized state. Despite the length of his reign, little has been written about the strangely obscured figure of Meiji himself, the first emperor ever to meet a European. But now, Donald Keene sifts the available evidence to present a rich portrait not only of Meiji but also of rapid and sometimes violent change during this pivotal period in Japan’s history. In this vivid and engrossing biography, we move with the emperor through his early, traditional education; join in the formal processions that acquainted the young emperor with his country and its people; observe his behavior in court, his marriage, and his relationships with various consorts; and follow his maturation into a “Confucian” sovereign dedicated to simplicity, frugality, and hard work. Later, during Japan’s wars with China and Russia, we witness Meiji’s struggle to reconcile his personal commitment to peace and his nation’s increasingly militarized experience of modernization. Emperor of Japan conveys in sparkling prose the complexity of the man and offers an unrivaled portrait of Japan in a period of unique interest. “Utterly brilliant . . . the best history in English of the emergence of modern Japan.”—Los Angeles Times
In this landmark exploration, one of Japan's most widely-read historians looks back over the past 70 years of his country's history. Examining the momentous changes that occurred during Emperor Hirohito's long reign (1926-1989), Irokawa reveals how the changing role of the imperial system affects Japanese life today.
In this first general study of the Japanese imperial institution throughout its history, Peter Martin brings together inaccessible material, much of it available only in Japanese. He surveys the history and political and religious status of the monarchy of Japan from its mythological origins to our own times.
This is a most important new work of Japanese scholarship on Emperor Hirohito, the English edition having been long delayed following the untimely death of distinguished American historian Marius B. Jansen (Emeritus Professor, Princeton) in December 2000, who had been actively collaborating with David Noble in the translation of Hata Ikuhiko's original study in Japanese, first published in 1984.