Hirohito, Emperor Shōwa, the 124th
emperor of Japan
The emperor of Japan is the hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution of Japan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, his position deriving from "the will of ...
according to the traditional order of succession, died on 7 January 1989 at the
Fukiage Palace
The is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan, located in the Fukiage Garden on the grounds of the Tokyo Imperial Palace.
Building structure and role
Designed by Shōzō Uchii, it was completed in 1993 at a cost of billion (US$52 mi ...
in
Chiyoda, Tokyo
, known as Chiyoda City in English,
." ''City of Chiyoda''. Retrieved on December 28, 2008. is a S ...
, at the age of 87, after suffering from
intestinal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...
for some time. He was succeeded by his eldest son,
Akihito
Akihito (born 23 December 1933) is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 1989 until 2019 Japanese imperial transition, his abdication in 2019. The era of his rule was named the Heisei era, Hei ...
.
Hirohito's
state funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
was held on 24 February at
Shinjuku Gyo-en
or Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is a large public garden in Shinjuku and Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally a residence of the Naitō family in the Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in t ...
, when he was buried near his parents,
Emperor Taishō
, posthumously honored as , was the 123rd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1912 until his death in 1926. His reign, known as the Taishō era, was characterized by a liberal and democratic shift in ...
and
Empress Teimei
, posthumously honoured as , was the wife of Emperor Taishō and the mother of Emperor Shōwa. Her posthumous name, ''Teimei'', means "enlightened constancy". She was also the paternal grandmother of Emperor Emeritus Akihito, and the paternal ...
, at the
Musashi Imperial Graveyard
is a mausoleum complex of the Japanese Emperors in Nagabusa-machi, Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan. Located within a forest in the western suburbs of Tokyo and named for the ancient Musashi Province, the site contains the mausolea of Emperor Taishō ...
in
Hachiōji
is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 561,344, and a population density of 3,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is ...
, Tokyo.
Illness and death
On 22 September 1987, Hirohito underwent surgery on his
pancreas
The pancreas (plural pancreases, or pancreata) is an Organ (anatomy), organ of the Digestion, digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdominal cavity, abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a ...
after having digestive problems for several months. Doctors discovered that he had
duodenal cancer, but had refused to disclose this condition to the Emperor because it was considered taboo to do so at the time. He appeared to be making a full recovery for several months after the surgery. About a year later, however, on 19 September 1988, he
vomited blood and collapsed, and his health worsened over the next several months as he suffered from continuous internal bleeding.
On 7 January 1989, at 5:40 am, members of the
imperial family
A royal family is the immediate family of monarch, monarchs and sometimes their extended family.
The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or emperor, empress, and the term papal family describes the family of ...
gathered at the
Tokyo Imperial Palace
is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda district of the Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains several buildings including the where the Emperor h ...
, including Crown Prince
Akihito
Akihito (born 23 December 1933) is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 1989 until 2019 Japanese imperial transition, his abdication in 2019. The era of his rule was named the Heisei era, Hei ...
and his wife, Crown Princess
Michiko, after chief court physician Akira Takagi rushed in to attend to Hirohito. The Emperor died less than an hour later, at 6:33 am. His death was announced to the public at 7:55 am during a press conference by the
Grand Steward
The is the head department of the Imperial Household Agency of Japan.
History
The origins of the structure of the Imperial Household can be traced back to the reign of Emperor Monmu, with the organisation of the government structure in 701 AD ...
of Japan's
Imperial Household Agency
The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family, and the keeping of the Privy Seal of Japan, Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century ...
,
Shōichi Fujimori
Shōichi Fujimori () (December 26, 1926 – June 25, 2016) was Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Agency (1988–1996). He was born in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
Biography
Shōichi Fujimori was born on 26 December 1926, to a farmer's fami ...
, who also revealed details about his cancer for the first time. The Emperor was survived by his wife, five children, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Succession and posthumous titles
Hirohito's death ended the
Shōwa era
The was a historical period of History of Japan, Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the T ...
. He was succeeded by his son, Akihito, who was invested with the imperial regalia on the day of his accession. The
Heisei era
The was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, when his ...
corresponding to Akihito's reign began the following day (8 January 1989). The new Emperor's formal
enthronement ceremony was held in Tokyo on 12 November 1990.
The deceased Emperor was initially referred to as . His
posthumous name
A posthumous name is an honorary Personal name, name given mainly to revered dead people in East Asian cultural sphere, East Asian culture. It is predominantly used in Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand. ...
, , was officially determined on 13 January and formally released on 31 January by Prime Minister
Noboru Takeshita
was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989.
Born in Shimane Prefecture, Takeshita attended Waseda University and was drafted into the army during the Pacific War. He was first elected to the National Diet ...
.
State funeral

Emperor Shōwa's state funeral was held on 24 February 1989. Unlike that of his predecessor, although formal it was not conducted in a strictly
Shinto
, also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...
manner.
It was a funeral carefully designed both as a tribute to the late Emperor and as a showcase for the peaceful, affluent society into which Japan had developed during his reign.
Unlike
Emperor Taishō
, posthumously honored as , was the 123rd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1912 until his death in 1926. His reign, known as the Taishō era, was characterized by a liberal and democratic shift in ...
's state funeral 62 years earlier, there was no ceremonious parade of officials dressed in military uniforms, and there were far fewer of the Shinto rituals used at that time to glorify the Emperor as a near-deity. These changes were meant to highlight that Emperor Shōwa's funeral would be the first of an emperor under the post-war
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
. It was also the first imperial funeral to be held in daylight.
The delay of 48 days between his death and the state funeral was about the same as that for the previous Emperor, and allowed time for numerous ceremonies leading up to the funeral.
The late Emperor's body lay in three coffins; some personal items such as books and stationery were also placed in them.
Ceremony at the Imperial Palace
The ceremonies began at 7:30 a.m. when Emperor Akihito conducted a private farewell ceremony for his father at the
Imperial Palace.
Funeral procession through Tokyo
At 9:35 a.m., a black motor hearse carrying the body of Emperor Shōwa left the Imperial Palace for the two-mile-long drive to the
Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, where the Shinto and state ceremonies were held.
The hearse was accompanied by
traditional music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
played on the , a Japanese free reed aerophone; the crowd was largely silent as the hearse bearing the Emperor's coffin drove over a stone bridge and out through the Imperial Palace gates. A brass band played a dirge composed for the funeral of Emperor Shōwa's great-grandmother in the late 19th century, and cannon shots were fired in accompaniment.
The motor hearse was accompanied by a procession of sixty cars. The route of the cortege through Tokyo was lined by an estimated 800,000 spectators and 32,000 special police, who had been mobilized to guard against potential terrorist attacks.
The path of the funeral procession passed the
National Diet
, transcription_name = ''Kokkai''
, legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet
, coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg
, house_type = Bicameral
, houses =
, foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...
(parliament) and the
National Stadium
Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...
, where the Emperor opened the
1964 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...
.
Ceremonies at Shinjuku Gyoen Garden
The 40-minute procession, accompanied by a brass band, ended when it pulled into the
Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, until 1949 reserved for the use of the Imperial family and now one of Tokyo's most popular parks.
At the Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, the funeral ceremonies for Emperor Shōwa were conducted in a Sojoden, a specially constructed funeral hall. The funeral hall was constructed of
Japanese cypress
''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' (Japanese cypress, hinoki cypress or hinoki; or , ) is a species of cypress native to central Japan in East Asia, and widely cultivated in the temperate northern hemisphere for its high-quality timber and ornamental qua ...
and held together with
bamboo nails, in keeping with ancient imperial tradition.
Official guests were seated in two white tents located in front of the funeral hall. Because of the low temperatures, many guests used chemical hand-warmers and wool blankets to keep warm as the three-hour Shinto and state ceremonies progressed.
Palanquin procession
Emperor Shōwa's coffin was transferred into a
palanquin
The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...
made of cypress wood painted with black lacquer. Attendants wearing and bearing white and yellow banners, shields and signs of the sun and moon, led a 225-member procession as musicians played traditional court music (). Next came gray-robed attendants carrying two sacred trees draped with cloth streamers and ceremonial boxes of food and silk cloths to be offered to the spirit of the late Emperor.
In a nine-minute procession, 51 members of the
Imperial Household Agency
The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family, and the keeping of the Privy Seal of Japan, Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century ...
, clad in traditional gray Shinto clothing, carried the 1.5 ton (
Imperial Palanquin) containing the three-layered coffin of the Emperor Shōwa into the funeral hall, as they walked up the aisle between the white tents where guests were seated.
Behind the coffin walked a chamberlain dressed in white, who carried a platter with a pair of white shoes, as it is traditionally held that the deceased Emperor would wear them to heaven.
His son and daughter-in-law, Emperor Akihito and
Empress Michiko
is a member of the Imperial House of Japan. She was Empress of Japan as the wife of Akihito, the 125th Emperor of Japan reigning from 7 January 1989 to 30 April 2019.
Michiko married Crown Prince Akihito and became Crown Princess of Japan i ...
carrying their own large umbrellas, followed the palanquin with other family members.
The procession passed through a small wooden gate, the Shinto symbol marking the entrance to sacred space, and filed into the Sojoden.
Shinto ceremony
The events in the Sojoden were divided into a , followed by a .
When the procession entered the funeral hall, the Shinto portion of the funeral began and a black curtain partition was drawn closed. It opened to reveal a centuries-old ceremony. To the accompaniment of chanting, officials approached the altar of the Emperor, holding aloft wooden trays of sea bream, wild birds, kelp, seaweed, mountain potatoes, melons and other delicacies. The foods, as well as silk cloths, were offered to the spirit of the late Emperor.
The chief of the ceremony, a childhood classmate and attendant of the late Emperor, then delivered an address, followed by Emperor Akihito.
The funeral continued as the black curtain closed, signalling the end of the Shinto portion of the funeral.
State ceremony
Chief Cabinet Secretary
Keizō Obuchi
was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000.
Born in Gunma Prefecture, Obuchi graduated from Waseda University and was first elected to the National Diet in 1963, becoming one of the youngest legislators i ...
opened the state portion of the funeral shortly before noon. A
minute of silence
Minuta Molchanya () known for its full title as To the Bright Memory of the Fallen in the Fight Against Fascism () is an annual simultaneous broadcast aired at 18:00 UTC annually on 9 May dedicated to the victims of Great Patriotic War. It broa ...
was observed throughout the country.
Prime Minister
Noboru Takeshita
was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989.
Born in Shimane Prefecture, Takeshita attended Waseda University and was drafted into the army during the Pacific War. He was first elected to the National Diet ...
delivered a short eulogy, in which he said that the
Shōwa era
The was a historical period of History of Japan, Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the T ...
would be remembered for its eventful and tumultuous times, including
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the
eventual reconstruction of Japan.
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Kenzaburo Hara, President of the House of Councillors and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Koichi Yaguchi also delivered short eulogies.
Foreign dignitaries approached the altar one at a time to pay their respects.
Internment at the Imperial Graveyard

Following the state ceremony, the Emperor's coffin was taken to the
Musashi Imperial Graveyard
is a mausoleum complex of the Japanese Emperors in Nagabusa-machi, Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan. Located within a forest in the western suburbs of Tokyo and named for the ancient Musashi Province, the site contains the mausolea of Emperor Taishō ...
in the
Hachiōji
is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 561,344, and a population density of 3,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is ...
district of Tokyo for burial. At
Emperor Taishō
, posthumously honored as , was the 123rd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1912 until his death in 1926. His reign, known as the Taishō era, was characterized by a liberal and democratic shift in ...
's funeral in 1927, the trip to the Musashi Imperial Graveyard was carried out as a three-hour procession. The trip for the Emperor Shōwa's coffin was made by motor hearse and cut to forty minutes.
Several hours of ceremonies followed there, until the internment took place at nightfall, the traditional time to bury emperors.
Visitors and guests
An estimated 200,000 people lined the site of the procession – far fewer than the 860,000 that officials had projected.
The Emperor's funeral was attended by some 10,000 official guests, including foreign representatives from 163 countries and 27 international institutions.
This required placing Tokyo under an unprecedented blanket of security. Because of security concerns and threats from Japanese left-wing extremists to disrupt the funeral, authorities decided to scrap many of the traditional events that normally accompany funerals for Japanese monarchs. Officials also overrode protocol to give United States President
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
a front-row seat, even though tradition would have placed him toward the back, because of his short time in office. Bush, who arrived in Tokyo on the day before the funeral, attended the funeral on 24 February and departed for China the next day.
Japanese officials said it was the biggest funeral in modern Japanese history, and the unprecedented turnout of world leaders was recognition of Japan's emergence as an economic superpower.
Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita held meetings with roughly forty visiting world leaders, in what was described as an act of "".
Pardons
To mark the funeral, the government pardoned 30,000 people convicted of minor criminal offenses. The pardons also allowed an additional 11 million people to recover such civil rights as the right to vote and run for public office, which they had lost as a punishment for offenses.
Reactions
Domestic
The government observed a mourning period of six days as flags flew at half-mast or were decorated with black ribbons.
With virtually all television stations having suspended normal schedules, major Japanese
video rental stores saw a surge in customers. The stock market was shut down on the day of the funeral.
Some Japanese, including a small Christian community, constitutional scholars and opposition politicians, denounced the funeral ceremonies and the Shinto-based portion of the funeral as a return to past imperial exaltation, arguing that the inclusion of Shinto rites violated Japan's post-war separation of state and religion. This separation had been especially important in Japan because the Shinto faith was used as a religious basis for the ultra-nationalism and militaristic expansion of wartime Japan. Some opposition party delegates to the funeral boycotted that part of the ceremony.
Some anti-monarchy groups staged small protests on the day of the funeral, with eight hundred in Tokyo calling on the government to apologize for war crimes committed in the Emperor's name. Roughly three thousand people also protested in
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
.
During the funeral procession in Tokyo, a man stepped into the street as the cortege approached. He was quickly apprehended by police who hustled him away.
At 1:55 pm, half an hour before the hearse carrying the late emperor's casket passed by, policemen patrolling the highway leading to the Musashi Imperial Graveyard heard an explosion and found debris scattered along the highway. They quickly cleared away the rubble, and the hearse passed without incident. In total, the police also arrested four people, including two for trying to disrupt the procession.
International
Many world leaders conveyed their condolences, and some states announced a period of mourning. In France, an international conference on chemical weapons was preceded by a
minute of silence
Minuta Molchanya () known for its full title as To the Bright Memory of the Fallen in the Fight Against Fascism () is an annual simultaneous broadcast aired at 18:00 UTC annually on 9 May dedicated to the victims of Great Patriotic War. It broa ...
as a mark of respect.
The
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
also observed a minute of silence, as is customary following the deaths of state leaders.
Although President
Roh Tae-woo
Roh Tae-woo (, ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean army general and politician who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. In 1987, he became the first president to be directly elected under the cur ...
of South Korea issued a statement expressing condolences, a government official added, "We reserve further comment, considering
the unhappy past and the current
Korea–Japan relationship."
Many South Koreans called on the Japanese government to issue an official apology for the
Japanese colonial rule of Korea.
In Taiwan, the
United Evening News said it was "an irony that while Hirohito apologized to the United States and Europe for
the war, he did not direct a single word to China to show his sorrow."
Many viewed the burial of the Emperor, the last remaining major leader during World War II, as the nation's final break with a militaristic past that plunged much of Asia into war in the 1930s.
Many
Allied veterans of World War II regarded Emperor Shōwa as a
war criminal
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
and called upon their countries to boycott the funeral.
Nevertheless, of the 166 foreign states invited to send representatives, all but three accepted.
See also
*
Chrysanthemum taboo
The is the Japanese social taboo against discussion or criticism of the Emperor of Japan and his family, especially Emperor Hirohito (1901–1989). The taboo also extended to discussion of the Emperor's declining health.
The term came into use i ...
References
External links
* {{YouTube, 7E6Nfx5UGmo, NHK announcement of Emperor Shōwa's death
1989 in Japan
January 1989 in Japan
February 1989 in Japan
Hirohito
, Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
Hirohito
, Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
Hirohito
, Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
Hirohito
, Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
Japanese monarchy
Empire of Japan
Death and state funeral