Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan [ペーパーバック]

 「本書の主な関心は、国家の元首および軍の最高指揮官としての彼の名で、その積極的な指揮のもとで行われた戦争の道義的、政治的、法的な説明責任を、天皇が公的に認めずに済んだ点にある」。著者は「ヒロヒト」執筆の動機をこう説明する。つまり東京裁判で免れた昭和天皇の「戦争責任」を改めて問い直そうというのである。そのためにビックスは1500余点にのぼる膨大な文献資料を集め、それを「証拠」として「独裁的天皇制の枠組みにおける単なる御輿であり、軍部の操り人形にすぎなかった」という従来の定説を否定している。

   確かに、満州事変から大平洋戦争にいたるいわゆる「十五年戦争」の政策決定プロセスで、国際協調を配慮しながら軍部の拡大政策に引きずられていく天皇の苦悩を生々しく描き出してはいる。しかし、けっきょくは「日本が国外で行ったことに対して、どんな個人的責任も自覚せず、13年11カ月にわたって多くの人命を奪った侵略戦争の罪を1度として認めなかった」という天皇像を導き出している。その前提は「十五年戦争」をパリ不戦条約（ケロッグ・ブリアン条約）に違反した「侵略戦争」と断じた東京裁判判決と軌を一にしているようにみえる。

 「満蒙は日本の生命線」といった松岡洋右や「戦争の原因は領土、資源の不公平な分配」とする近衛文磨の考えを、ビックスはいとも明快に「誇大妄想のナショナリズム」「誇張された利己的な国際情勢の解釈」と決めつけている。そして、戦争原因を「領土拡大と戦争への情熱にとらわれていった天皇」に求めるのだが、「列強は人種的な対立につき動かされており、日本がアジアにおける有力な国家として台頭することを望んでいない」という近衛の言葉（論文「世界の現状を改造せよ」）と、それを信じた天皇の国際情勢認識を被害妄想として片づけるほど、あの戦争は単純なものだったのだろうか。そんな疑問が残るのである。（伊藤延司） --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose sixty-three-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix shows what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status. Influenced by an unusual combination of the Japanese imperial tradition and a modern scientific worldview, the young emperor gradually evolves into his preeminent role, aligning himself with the growing ultranationalist movement, perpetuating a cult of religious emperor worship, resisting attempts to curb his power, and all the while burnishing his image as a reluctant, passive monarch. Here we see Hirohito as he truly was: a man of strong will and real authority.

Supported by a vast array of previously untapped primary documents, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan is perhaps most illuminating in lifting the veil on the mythology surrounding the emperor's impact on the world stage. Focusing closely on Hirohito's interactions with his advisers and successive Japanese governments, Bix sheds new light on the causes of the China War in 1937 and the start of the Asia-Pacific War in 1941. And while conventional wisdom has had it that the nation's increasing foreign aggression was driven and maintained not by the emperor but by an elite group of Japanese militarists, the reality, as witnessed here, is quite different. Bix documents in detail the strong, decisive role Hirohito played in wartime operations, from the takeover of Manchuria in 1931 through the attack on Pearl Harbor and ultimately the fateful decision in 1945 to accede to an unconditional surrender. In fact, the emperor stubbornly prolonged the war effort and then used the horrifying bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, together with the Soviet entrance into the war, as his exit strategy from a no-win situation. From the moment of capitulation, we see how American and Japanese leaders moved to justify the retention of Hirohito as emperor by whitewashing his wartime role and reshaping the historical consciousness of the Japanese people. The key to this strategy was Hirohito's alliance with General MacArthur, who helped him maintain his stature and shed his militaristic image, while MacArthur used the emperor as a figurehead to assist him in converting Japan into a peaceful nation. Their partnership ensured that the emperor's image would loom large over the postwar years and later decades, as Japan began to make its way in the modern age and struggled -- as it still does -- to come to terms with its past.

Until the very end of a career that embodied the conflicting aims of Japan's development as a nation, Hirohito remained preoccupied with politics and with his place in history. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan provides the definitive account of his rich life and legacy. Meticulously researched and utterly engaging, this book is proof that the history of twentieth-century Japan cannot be understood apart from the life of its most remarkable and enduring leader.