A Look Into the Educational Process of Emperor Hirohito

The education of Crown Prince Hirohito, before and during his regency period, demonstrated the need of an activist emperor who was knowledgeable in the art of being an effective political actor. His instructions also included the belief in his own familial line of divinity and the cult of personality that centered particularly on his grandfather, Emperor Meiji. This education gives us particular insight into the view the ruling elites held both on the world and Japan's respective place in it. As we look at the education of Emperor Hirohito, we shall take into context the identifiable themes that play a pertinent role in cultivating a future activist emperor, capable of ruling the modern Japanese state.

Prior to his ascension to Crown Prince in 1912, the education of the young Hirohito focused on a number of subjects. Martial studies, in particular, were of extreme importance, particularly to those whom had a stake in the future Emperor's education. General Nogi, whom oversaw the education of the Young Hirohito up until his ritual suicide, gave no favor to the position of the young prince, and focused not only on academic achievements, but physical education and development as well.¹ Certain virtues and characteristic traits that were deemed important for an active emperor were ordained into the mind of the young Hirohito by his instructors, such as frugality, diligence, patience, self-control, and masculinity.² Other duties such as loyalty and traditional military morality were indoctrinated to construct the ideal monarch for the Japanese state. It was at this time that Hirohito came to believe that an ideal education can overcome one's own physical/mental shortcomings.