Documents revealed about Taishō Emperor

My wife pointed out a very interesting article to me this morning about the Taishō Emperor, who was the emperor of Japan from 1912 to 1926. Specifically, the Imperial Household Agency released some of the official records from his reign. What makes the releasing of the documents news-worthy is that it is the first time the Imperial Household has ever admitted the mental and physical deficiencies of the Taishō Emperor. I couldn’t find the article at all anywhere in English (no surprise, the various Japanese news outlets seem to be very selective about what news they release to the ‘rest’ of the world), so I’ll give a quick translation.

大正天皇　「実録」３度目公開　病状の深刻化記す。
Newly released documents reveal health problems of the Taishō Emperor.

宮内庁は４日、大正天皇の動静を記録した「大正天皇実録」の一部（複製本）を公開した。０２、０３年に続く公開で、１９２１（大正１０）年７月から、死去して多摩陵に埋葬される２７（昭和２）年２月までが対象。深刻化する病状のほか、２１年に摂政となった裕仁皇太子（昭和天皇）の動静などが記されている。
On the 4th of this month, the Imperial Household Agency released reproductions of official Imperial records from the Taishō Emperor that contained details about the Taishō Emperor’s health. The released records cover a period of 2~3 years from July of 1921 until the burial of the Emperor at Tamaryo. In addition to the Emperor’s worsening condition, the documents also revealed that due to those conditions in 1921 Crown Prince Hirohito (later Showa Emperor) was placed as Regent on the Imperial throne.

実録は全８５冊で、今回は巻７７から巻８５の計９冊が公開された。宮内庁によると、「個人情報」を理由に塗りつぶした部分は、今回公開した全約１６万字のうち２％程度。これで即位から死去までが公開され、未公開は生まれてから即位までの４７冊となる。
The complete records contain a total of 85 volumes, of which the 9 volumes from number 77 to 85 have been released. According to the Agency, of the 160,000 characters contained in the released records, about 2% have been removed because it contained ‘personal information’. Including those just released, now all the records from the Taishō Emperor’s enthronement until his death have been released, leaving 47 more volumes covering the Emperor’s birth until his enthronement that have yet to be released.

今回公開分によると、２１年１１月２５日の裕仁皇太子の摂政就任時には「大正三年頃ヨリ軽度ノ御発語御障害アリ、其ノ後ニ至リ御姿勢前方ヘ屈セラルル御傾向アリ」「殊ニ御記憶力ハ御衰退アリ」などと病状について記されている。２３年９月１日の関東大震災の際には大正天皇は栃木県日光市にいたが、被災者のため１０００万円を寄贈したとの記述もある。
The released documents contain the following statements that detail the Emperor’s health problems around the time that Crown Prince Hirohito was inaugurated as the regent (note from Derek: these direct quotations are really hard for me to translate, because of the archaic style used in the official record, sorry if they’re not up to snuff): “His majesty’s speech impediment has become slightly worse since the the 3rd year of his reign (1915)、and recently his posture has shifted forward with a tendency to lean over.” “His majesty is developing pronounced memory problems.” The volumes also contain an account of the Taishō Emperor donating 10 million yen to victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, when the Emperor was residing in the city of Nikko in Tochigi prefecture at the time.

実録は、天皇の動静や政治、外交上の重要事項などを記した文書。大正天皇については、死去後の２７年７月に当時の宮内省が編さんに着手し、３７（同１２）年１２月に完成した。
The released volumes contain accounts of the Emperor’s condition and important political and diplomatic matters during the Emperor’s reign. The Imperial Household Department began compiling the official records in 1927 after the death of the Taishō Emperor, and were completed in December of 1937.

I personally found this article fascinating. It’s always been a bit of an open secret that the Taishō Emperor had considerable mental and physical problems, in fact if he were anyone but the emperor he almost certainly would have been institutionalized. However due to his station he was treated well, and continued to study and learn as much as he could (he had to be continually tutored in English most of his life, and tried unsuccessfully to learn Korean after touring the Korean peninsula in 1907). I’m still surprised that the Imperial Household Agency released these kind of documents at all, considering how draconian and close-mouthed they are about the imperial family.

So the next question I had was, “What do the Japanese people think of this?” Fortunately for me, the news site in question also has open commentary at the bottom. Some of the comments at least seem to be intelligent (not quite as bad as YouTube comments, but some are pretty vitriolic) so I’ll translate some of the more interesting ones. Even the ones where the commenter was obviously frothing at the mouth tell us a lot about the Japanese people. These comments are from the first page, and the comments follow a public ranking system, so the ones listed first are the ones that the most people agreed with.

2008年6月4日 18時29分 810点
宮内庁は古墳にしてもなかなか発掘許可を出そうとしない。もっと情報を公開して歴史の研究に力を貸すべきだ。
June 4, 2008 6:29 pm 810 points
“The Imperial Household Agency still won’t give permission to excavate the Kofun. They should be more of a help to historical research and release more information.”

2008年6月4日 12時33分 722点
実録と言っても公式記録だからある程度の脚色はあるでしょう。しかし、あまりにも表に出ている情報が少ない大正天皇についての記録だけに非常に興味深いものです。編集発行されることを期待したいです。
June 4, 2008 6:29 pm 722 points
“Even though they say it is an ‘authentic account’, because it is more of an ‘official account’ it almost certainly is glossing over a lot of things. Even so, because there is so little information directly concerning the Taishō Emperor I find this extremely interesting. Hopefully they will publish some kind of compilation.”

2008年6月4日 18時47分 351点
日本の天皇家は「男系」で１２７代続いた他に類をみない世界一の血筋。それを支えるのに、年間国民一人頭200円。それを安いと見るか高いと見るか唯言える事は、一度失われれば二度と取り戻せないということ。貴重な外交資源としてもこれほどの人物はいないというのに。それをいらないとは、何たる無知か・・・悲しくなるね。
June 4, 2008 6:47 pm 351 points
“The Japanese Imperial family is a patriarchal line that has continued for 127 generations and is unmatched anywhere in the world. Supporting the Imperial family only costs 200 yen per person per year. Whether you think think that’s cheap or expensive, if we lose the imperial line it is gone forever. I don’t think there anyone more valuable to the nation as a diplomatic resource. The ignorance of people that say we don’t need the imperial family… it saddens me.”

2008年6月4日 19時37分 232点
天皇陛下に対する言葉としては甚だ疑問を感じる物が多い。赤い工作員ですか？はたまたどっかの「市民団体」？そんなに気に入らないなら 日 本 か ら 出 て 行 き な さ い 。 ここはあなた方に相応しい国ではありません。礼節を重んじる「日本人」の治める国ですよ。
June 4, 2008 7:37 pm 232 points
“I have a lot of problems with the way that you were speaking about His Majesty the Emperor. Are you some kind of Communist Spy? Or maybe just some kind of “citizen’s group”? Well, if you don’t like the way things are here, THEN JUST LEAVE JAPAN. You’re not worthy of this country. This is a country for Japanese, those that honor and respect propriety.”

(Note: since they are not in chronological order, I can’t figure out who this particularly harsh commenter is replying to. Sorry.)

This is just a few, but I think it gives you an idea of the differing opinions found within Japan itself. There are conservatives that consider the Emperor and the Imperial Family to be the symbol of Japan and must be preserved (even to the point of disenfranchising the Crown Prince, who has no male heir) to those that think the entire imperial system is antiquated and should be done away with. Many of the higher-scoring comments criticize those that say ‘who cares?’ or those that say the Imperial system should be abolished. Some of the comments are obviously trolls and have been voted town to the bottom. There are also a lot of comments defending the Imperial system because of it’s 1000 year history and being the oldest dynasty in the world. One commenter said, “Without the Imperial Family, Japan would just be another 1st world nation.”

It seems to me that the imperial family with it’s unbroken line and long history is a special point of pride for many Japanese. They see it as a great symbol to the rest of the world, something that really sets Japan and the Japanese people apart. From another comment:

アメリカがどんなに金があっても買えないし科学でも創れない。また中国やインドに歴史があってもこの様な伝統は無く、しかも日本国民の先祖はみな皇室からの分かれといわれている。つまり国民の総本家です。
“This is something [referring to the Imperial family and it’s history] America can’t buy no matter how much money it has, and can’t make no matter how advanced their science is. No matter how old India and China’s history may be, they can’t match this ancient tradition. Beyond that, it’s thought that all of Japanese are descended from the Imperial family, which means the Imperial family is the founder of the Japanese people.”

Such patriotic/nationalistic thoughts are pretty normal for pretty much any country, and in general this probably isn’t that big a deal. However, what I don’t think many of these Japanese realize is that, well, the rest of the world really doesn’t care. Most other people say, “Oh, Japan has an royal family too. And it’s a long unbroken dynasty. That’s interesting.” And that’s about it. This is probably not unique, though. Things about America that Americans take pride for are probably things that those from other countries don’t care about, or can easily pick apart. For example: “America is the land of the free!” is replied with: “What about the disenfranchised lower classes, what about the secret prisons and illegal imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay?” etc.

P.S. I found one other really interesting comment:
359：2008年6月5日 9時23分 4点
「昭和天皇は誰の子か、わからない」と親がよく言ってたなあ。
#359. June 5, 2008 9:23 am. 4 points.
My parents often said, “I wonder who’s son the Showa Emperor (Emperor Hirohito) really is?”

This is something I’ve thought about before. Is it possible that the Showa Emperor wasn’t the son of the Taisho Emperor at all, but someone else entirely (perhaps some other male in the royal household)? Considering that the Taisho Emperor was physically and mentally handicapped from a young age (the official story is that he had meningitis when a young child which contributed to his physical and mental problems, but given the genetic problems that royal lines inevitably fall into he could easily have just been born that way) one could imagine that the Meiji Emperor (who was still alive when his son got married and lived to see 3 grandsons born) or some other power in the imperial household ensuring that the future Empress Teimei had sons that were from a strong, healthy father. I think it’s a little far-fetched, but it is an intriguing possibility.