The tenno who ruled Japan the longest: Who is Hirohito?

Hirohito; He was born on April 29, 1901, in the Aoyama imperial palace in Tokyo, as the first son of the then prince Yoshihito. His mother is Princess Sadako.

Hirohito started his education life at Gakushuin Boys' School in 1908. He received the title of prince after the death of his grandfather in 1912. In 1914, he was removed from Gakushuin and began to receive education at Togu-gogakumonsho, a private prince training school for members of the empire. After studying here until 1921, he planned a trip across Europe. Thanks to his trip, he became the first prince to go abroad.

Hirohito (29 April 1901 – 7 January 1989), posthumously honored as Emperor Shōwa, was the 124th emperor of Japan, reigning from 1926 until his death in 1989. His reign of over 62 years is the longest of any historical Japanese emperor and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world.

After his father became ill while he was abroad, he returned to his country and started helping with work. He got married to Princess Köjün in 1924. Two and a half years after this marriage, on December 24, 1926, upon the death of Emperor Yoshihito, he was officially declared Emperor of Japan (Tenno). He would go down in history as the 124th emperor of Japan and his longest reign.

Hirohito chose the slogan "şova" (Enlightenment and Peace) for his reign. Although Tenno called the Hirohito period a period of enlightenment and peace, he continued his policy of expansion and invasion, following in the footsteps of the emperors before him.

First of all, let's take a brief look at what Japan did within the scope of its expansion policy before Hirohito:
*1910 Capture of Korea,
*1918 Declaration of war against Russia,
*1919 Seizure of German colonial islands in the South Pacific.
*1919 Declaration of war against China.
These were the works done until the Hirohito period.

Japan's goal was to become the superior power in Asia. Nationalist imperial soldiers and emperors continued on this path without making any concessions. The logic of unconditional obedience originating from the Shintoist belief also made the emperors' job easier and strengthened their power to do what they wanted. Moreover, the idea that the members of the empire came from the sun and were divine beings prohibited even questioning their absolute authority.

By 1931, he captured Manchuria and by bringing together the other regions he captured, a state called Manchukuo was established. By 1933, Japan's expansion policy was subject to international protests, so it had to leave the League of Nations. When Japan parted ways with the League of Nations, Hirohito got closer to Hitler's Germany and signed the Anticomintern Pact in 1936. Japan, which had slowed down due to reactions to this pact, launched an attack on China again in 1937 on the orders of Hirohito, after the signed agreement. Japanese forces, which achieved great success in a short time, captured more than half of China, and by 1940, China was left defenseless. A coup attempt was carried out by those who did not find it appropriate to make an agreement with Hitler in domestic politics. This initiative, which was not difficult for Hirohito to suppress, strengthened Hirohito's power and silenced the opposition.

Returning to foreign policy, World War II broke out and Japan joined the war on the same side as Germany and Italy. In the first period of the war, Japan was the most powerful state in East Asia. In December 1941, after Britain and America joined the war, the balance of power changed and the war began to pass under difficult conditions. In 1941, Japan achieved great success by raiding Pearl Harbor and destroying the entire US Navy and military force near the island.

In August 1945, atomic bombs were sent to Hiroshima and Nagasaki by order of Harry Truman. Japan was forced to accept defeat by suffering huge losses. Japan did not achieve much success after Pearl Harbor. The war was progressing in favor of the USA until 1945, but they tried not to reflect this to the Japanese people, and despite all the defeats, Japan did not withdraw from the war. A week after the nuclear attack, Tenno Hirohito broke another first in the history of the empire by declaring their surrender via live radio broadcast. It was the first time a Japanese emperor made a public speech.

Accepting the conditions of post-war surrender, Hirohito failed in his developmental policy and began to take responsibility for the loss of the war by informing the US commander-in-chief, General Douglas MacArthur, that he had given up his claim to divinity. According to the constitution prepared under US pressure in 1946-47, the Japanese rulers now assumed a representative role. Then, in 1948, he was tried for war crimes but was acquitted because none of the accusations against him could be proven. After 1948, Hirohito, who was condemned to only a symbolic duty, decided to withdraw from politics and focus on his hobby, marine biology. As a result of these studies, many of his articles were accepted and published by the scientific community and he had the honor of writing his name in history as a marine scientist.

Hirohito, who generally preferred a simple life after the war, decided to travel abroad in 1971. Hirohito, who first went to the Federal Republic of Germany, later visited other European countries and made his first official visit to the USA in 1975. Hirohito broke new ground once again by becoming the first Japanese emperor to travel abroad. By 1978, Hirohito, who had abandoned the claim of divine origin after the war, once again emphasized divinity in the Tenno celebrations, causing turmoil in domestic politics. After the celebration, he declared himself the highest representative of the Shinto religion and decided to appear in front of people less and deal with them less.

Hirohito, who could not recover from the brain hemorrhage he suffered in 1988, died in Tokyo on January 7, 1989, at the age of 87. He was buried in the Musashi Mausoleum and was succeeded by his son Akihito Tenno, who was 55 years old. When Hirohito died, he broke new ground and became the Tenno who remained in power for the longest time in the history of Japan, with 62 years.