Hirohito

Hirohito , 1901-89, emperor of Japan. He was made regent in 1921 and succeeded his father, Yoshihito (the Taishō emperor), in 1926. He married (1924) Princess Nagako Kuni (1903-2000); a son and heir, Prince Akihito , was born in 1933. For 20 years he reigned as sovereign as Japan went to war in China and the Pacific, and in 1945 he made an unprecedented radio broadcast announcing Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies. Under Allied occupation, he retained the throne, but was transformed from imperial sovereign to democratic symbol. The constitution of 1946 made him "symbol of the state and of the unity of the people," and he became familiar as a marine biologist, family figure, and greeter of foreign heads of state. His Showa ( "enlightened peace" ) reign was the longest and one of the most turbulent in Japan's history.

Bibliography: See D. Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito (1995); H. P. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (2000).

Hirohito (1901–89) emperor of Japan (1926–89) during World War II, though the military controlled the government and conducted the war in his name. It was Hirohito, however, who eventually brought about the peace by intervention in a government deadlock and a broadcast to the nation (1945) announcing Japan's surrender. After the war he was retained on the throne in a purely ceremonial capacity.

Hirohito was the longest reigning monarch in Japan's history, and the first Japanese crown prince and the first reigning Japanese monarch to travel abroad.

Hirohito (born Michinomiya Hirohito) (1901–89) Emperor of Japan (1926–89). Regarded as the 124th direct descendant of Jimmu, he ruled as a divinity and generally refrained from involvement in politics. In 1945, however, he was instrumental in obtaining his government's agreement to the unconditional surrender which ended World War II. He was obliged to renounce his divinity and become a constitutional monarch by the terms of the constitution established in 1946.