It would be fascinating to know what was going on in Hirohito's mind when he went from being a divine entity to an ordinary mortal sovereign almost overnight.
I remember when there were protests by WWII veterans at the visit of the Emperor of Japan to the UK as late as the 90s. Perhaps things have softened since Japan has made statements recognizing the sufferings of the other people in Asia during the time of Japanese expansion before and during WWII.
So the Emperor's religious title (tenno) is the one that he's known by in Japan. Does this mean that the people see him primarily as a Shinto high-priest, and not as a non-political national symbol? Does one role outweigh the other, in other words?
It would be fascinating to know what was going on in Hirohito's mind when he went from being a divine entity to an ordinary mortal sovereign almost overnight.
Yes, it would be very interesting. There are many biographies of Hirohito around but, unlike Henry Pui who wrote about his own thoughts re: his life in his memoir after the end of the WWII, it seems very difficult to have an insight into Hirohito's mind because he was a man of very few words.
It's only my analysis but I do not think that Hirohito ever really regarded himself as "divine" in the western sense. The image of the 現人神 Arahitogami or the human god was heavily promoted by the Japanese military who were fanatic nationalists. Hirohito having been a marine biologist, I suspect that he knew that he was not a living god as in the western sense at least. If my understanding is correct, according to the Shintoism which is a pantheism, people in general may become gods after their deaths. Another thing is that, until the Meiji Restration, the Imperial House practised Buddhism as well as Shintoism. The Emperor Mutsuhito's predecessor (his father) the Emperor Komei's funeral was carried out in a Buddhist ceremony and is burried in 泉涌寺 Sennyuji or Sennyu Buddhist temple in Kyoto. It was also customary among many imperial princes and princesses to become Buddhist priests and nuns rather than establishing their own 宮家 miyake or imperial cadet branches in those days.
However, the Meiji government separated the Shintoism and the Buddhism that from that time onwards the Imperial House lost their long tradition of Buddhist practise.
I remember when there were protests by WWII veterans at the visit of the Emperor of Japan to the UK as late as the 90s. Perhaps things have softened since Japan has made statements recognizing the sufferings of the other people in Asia during the time of Japanese expansion before and during WWII.
Well, when Hirohito and Nagako state-visited the Netherlands, there was so much protest against Hirohito which disquieted Nagoko so terribly, so I read in one of the writings about Hirohito. I think it was 1998 when Akihito state-visited the UK with Michiko. They hired up the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, London, for their stay. (It's a nice hotel and I have stayed there before though I prefer nearby Dorchester Hotel.) Again, there was a protest carried out by some of the former POWs but the scale was a lot smaller than the Dutch protest against Hirohito. I think the media then was more sympathetic towards Akihito because he was only a school boy when the war was ended.
Around at that time, I met one of the former POWs from the WWII who was imprisoned in Thailand by the Japanese Imperial Army. He, too, was very sympathetic towards Akihito but his fellow ex-POWs were still very much bitter about everything Japanese.
So the Emperor's religious title (tenno) is the one that he's known by in Japan. Does this mean that the people see him primarily as a Shinto high-priest, and not as a non-political national symbol? Does one role outweigh the other, in other words?
Yes, the Emperor of Japan in Japanese is 日本国天皇 Nippon Koku Tenno. People just call him 天皇陛下 Tenno Heika (HM the Tenno) or 今上天皇 Kinjo Tenno (Present Tenno). Well, because the religion and the state are separate quite strictly by the present constitution of Japan, it is very vague re: the Tenno's function in his religious activities. The government does/can not support the Imperial House's religious activities financially that the Imperial House employ 掌典職 Shoten shoku (the office of the religious/liturgical activities) and carry out their Shinto ceremonies in their private capacity.
Re: the perception of the Tenno by the general public of Japan
People in general appear to be quite indifferent when it comes to the monarchy in Japan. However, the office of tenno seems to be understood as a constitutional monarchy by many rather than a religious figure. The National Constitution of Japan does not state the head of state of Japan that, technically/theoretically, The tenno is not a head of state of Japan either. For this reason, he does not receive military salute/honour guard. Another thing is that the tenno is not the sovereign of Japan. He remains as the symbol of the Japanese national unity and the sovereignty of Japan dwell upon individual Japanese nationals according to the Constitution of Japan. 国民主権 kokumin Shuken or the popular sovereignty is the term used to describe the situation. This very ambiguous position of Tenno seems to cause so much dispute re: its function among some politicians and others who have interests in the office. Some say that the constitution should state the Tenno as the Head of State and some argue that there is no need to specify the head of state.