Imperial family loses witness to century's turbulent events

Japan Policy & Politics, June 19, 2000

TOKYO, June 16 Kyodo

Empress Dowager Nagako, who died Friday afternoon at age 97, saw firsthand the sweeping changes that engulfed the imperial system after World War II as wife of the late Emperor Hirohito, known posthumously as Emperor Showa.

She was born March 6, 1903, the eldest daughter of Prince Kuni and Princess Chikako, who was the seventh daughter of Tadayoshi Shimazu, former feudal clan chief of Satsuma, now Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

In 1918 she was unofficially picked as the future bride for then Crown Prince Hirohito at the tender age of 14 while a student at Gakushuin Women's Middle School. At that time, only daughters of imperial family members could marry princes.

Five years of private tutoring in history, French, needlework and flower arrangement at the Kuni residence followed to prepare her for her tasks at the side of the future emperor.

On Jan. 26, 1924, the wedding ceremony of the imperial couple took place at the Imperial Palace. She was 20, while her husband, who had become prince regent in November 1921 because of his father's illness, was 22.

She gave birth to four daughters -- princesses Shigeko, Sachiko, who died as an infant, Kazuko and Atsuko -- before the long-awaited heir to the throne, Crown Prince Akihito, now the emperor, was born Dec. 23, 1933, nearly 10 years after the wedding.

Emperor Hirohito had abolished the tradition of emperors having concubines. His father, Emperor Taisho (1879-1926), was the son of a concubine.

However, some aides to Emperor Hirohito, after seeing his wife giving birth to only princesses, reportedly proposed to the then Imperial Household Ministry that it reintroduce concubinage.

When she finally had the first prince, Koichi Kido, then chief secretary to a high-ranking minister, wrote in his diary, "At last, the zealous hope of the citizens is fulfilled. The big problem is resolved. I am speechless with emotion, and cannot hold back my tears."

The imperial couple had another son, Prince Hitachi, in 1935 and another daughter, Princess Takako, in 1939.

In line with time-honored court rules, the children lived separately from their parents, with Crown Prince Akihito moving to his own palace at the age of 3.

Emperor Hirohito ascended the chrysanthemum throne Dec. 25, 1926, at the age of 25, with his wife becoming empress. Under the prewar Constitution, the emperor was "sacred and inviolable."

As air raids on the capital increased during the war, the imperial offspring were evacuated to Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, and other places.

In a letter to the evacuated crown prince and his siblings, then Empress Nagako wrote at the time, "The war has become fiercer, there are air raids almost every day. But please don't worry, since we are fine. May you all make efforts to keep your spirits up despite these difficult times."

On Jan. 1, 1946, four months after Japan's surrender, Emperor Hirohito declared himself human, denying his supposed divinity.

When he embarked on a tour across the war-ravaged country in February that year, the empress visited war orphans and bereaved families in Tokyo.

Imperial officials at the time said the empress wanted to accompany her husband to console citizens who had lost loved ones in the war, but was dissuaded from doing so since food shortages and impaired transport and lodging facilities made it difficult to expand the entourage.

The 1947 Constitution stipulates the emperor as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people."

The empress was apparently among those who at first opposed a commoner, not the daughter of one of the old aristocratic families, marrying then Crown Prince Akihito.

According to a diary entry by an attendant of Emperor Hirohito on Oct. 11, 1958, shortly before Michiko Shoda was officially picked as the bride, she lamented in a chat with princesses Chichibu and Takamatsu, her sisters-in-law, "something to the effect that it is outrageous" to choose a commoner.

She accompanied her husband on two trips abroad during an 18-day tour to seven European countries -- Denmark, Belgium, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany -- in the fall of 1971 and a 15-day trip to the United States four years later.

While in Belgium, a local newspaper described her smile as "angel-like."

Under the pseudonym "To-en," or Peach Garden, she created a number of traditional Japanese-style paintings, specializing in still life and landscapes. She presented a painting of grapes to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II when the imperial couple visited that country in 1971.

Two collections of her paintings have been published. As empress dowager in her later years she also enjoyed cultivating roses in the palace garden and raising silkworms.

Ailing from symptoms of old age, such as a weak heart and memory loss, the empress became confined to a wheelchair.

After her husband died at age 87 Jan. 7, 1989, she lived a reclusive life at the couple's residence, the Fukiage Palace, looked after by some 40 court ladies and medical experts.