Original surrender of Emperor Hirohito of Japan

August 1945 15 is called "the longest day in Japanese history" by some people. Since this morning, Japanese radio stations have repeatedly broadcast the news that there will be an important broadcast of the Emperor at noon 12. Emperor Hirohito has never spoken directly to the Japanese since he ascended the throne for 20 years, so people have all kinds of speculations about the content of his speech. Although some people have some ominous premonitions about whether the Emperor will announce his acceptance of the Allied Declaration, more people believe that the purpose of the Emperor's speech is still to inspire the Japanese to continue the "jihad" just like the imperial edict read by others in those years. Others believe that after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion, the emperor may announce the final decisive battle.

According to the memories of the Japanese who experienced the moment of Japan's defeat, at noon on August 15, people all over Japan, whether at home, at work or on their way out, would find a nearby radio and stand waiting for the "Jade Sound of the Emperor" to play. Many people in Tokyo even knelt in front of the palace and waited devoutly, regardless of the scorching sun overhead. At that time, the emperor was a "present god" in their minds, so they should listen to his voice respectfully. 12 o'clock sharp, the radio station began to broadcast the "imperial edict" read by Emperor Hirohito himself in the form of so-called "reverberation broadcast".

The emperor said in this imperial edict:

I am deeply worried about the general trend of the world and the status quo of the empire, and want to take extraordinary measures to clean up the situation. I hereby inform you and your loyal subjects:

I have instructed the Empire to inform the United States, the Soviet Union, China and Britain to accept their joint statement.

(Editor's Note: N Wu) I have inherited the legacy of the emperor's ancestors and have been fighting for the peace of the imperial subjects and sharing prosperity and happiness with other countries. Therefore, declaring war on the United States and Britain really stems from the self-existence of the empire and the peace in East Asia. I have no intention of invading the territory of other countries. However, the war has lasted for four years. Although our soldiers and sailors are brave and good at fighting, our hundreds of officials have made great efforts to govern, and our 100 million ordinary people have done their utmost to do their duty, the war situation has not improved, and the general trend of the world is not good for me. The new sadistic bomb used by the enemy frequently hurts innocent people, and its shape is unpredictable. If the war continues, it will eventually lead to the demise of our nation and spread to human civilization. So, why should I protect my billionaire son, and why should I thank the gods of Wei Emperor's ancestors? This is why the empire responded to the joint statement to me.

I can only express deep regret for the allies who have been working with the empire to liberate East Asia. Every time I consider the imperial subjects who died in battle, died in the line of duty and their survivors, I often feel divided within five; Being injured by the war, suffering from disasters and losing the happiness of my family is my deep concern. The future suffering of the empire is extraordinary, and I know how people feel. However, the general trend, for the sake of world peace, I will be embarrassed, I will bear unbearable feelings.

I firmly believe that I am with loyal ministers who defend the state system, and I should not be emotional and indiscriminate, crowding out each other among my compatriots and disturbing the forces of the current situation. It is even more taboo to go astray and lose faith in the world. At this time, it is appropriate for the whole country to be one family, and the descendants will be one after another, confirming the immortality of China and mindful of the long way to go; Do your best for the future construction, believe in morality, aim high, and swear to carry forward the essence of the national sports system in order to advance the world.

This is what I expect and what I hope my subjects will pay attention to.

The reason why this imperial edict of the Emperor is quoted in full is that people often regard the imperial edict published by the Emperor in the form of "Jade Sound" as a symbol of Japan's surrender. In fact, Japan's postwar period began with the announcement of this imperial edict by the Emperor. However, the complicated situation of Japanese society's understanding of war history after the war can be said to have started from this time. Because the imperial edict did not mention "defeat" or "surrender" once, it actually laid the groundwork for the Japanese to understand the history of war.

If we make a concrete analysis of the above-mentioned imperial edicts, we can see that: first, the imperial edicts only say that "the general trend of the world is not conducive to me", while the allied side used a "cruel bomb" and had to announce its acceptance of the Sino-British Joint Statement of the United States and the Soviet Union for the sake of "the son of one trillion", and made no mention of the fact that Japan was defeated; Secondly, the imperial edict emphasizes that declaring war is not his own intention, but for Japan's "own survival" and East Asia's "peace", so he still stands on the position of "liberating East Asia", but regrets that this goal has not been achieved at present; Third, the war referred to in the imperial edict is a war with Britain and the United States that has been "read for four years" since 194 1, but the war of aggression against China is silent and seems to have never happened. Based on the above three points, we can see that Japan's so-called "national system", like the imperial edicts in the past, is still particularly prominent here and still adheres to the view of imperial history. If we explain the intention of the imperial edict more clearly, that is, although Japan has encountered temporary twists and turns, as long as Japan's national system is protected, although it has a long way to go, Japan cannot perish, and there is still hope.

Japan's major newspapers received the imperial edict of the Emperor announcing the end of the war at midnight in August 14, and published it in a prominent position in the newspapers the next day. The headline of the Daily News is: "The Great East Asian War is over; The imperial edict was issued to clear up the current situation, and under the headline of "safeguarding the national system", it was written: "When we listen to the imperial edict to end the war, we grass people should give full play to the essence of the national system and build a new Japan. The Yomiuri Shimbun, the predecessor of the Yomiuri Shimbun, published an imperial edict with the title "May the world be peaceful", and at the same time published an editorial saying: "As the Proclamation on the Declaration of War in the Great East Asia War said, the war we are waging is a just war and a war of self-defense. The purpose of the war is for the liberation of East Asia and the well-being of one billion people. "These reports and editorials did not mention' surrender' or' unconditional', or even criticized the defeated army and * * *. Although the Asahi Shimbun admitted that "the future peace faced by the Japanese people is not reciprocal, but a unilateral defeat", it made no mention of the responsibility of the army and * * *. The tone of these newspapers is quite consistent, because just the day before, the Intelligence Bureau, which is in charge of news control, just released the Public Opinion Guide at the End of the Great East Asian War to the media.

On August 16, according to the situation after the announcement of the imperial edict, the Intelligence Bureau issued instructions again, asking the media to "publish official statements on the enemy's situation, but delete all the contents about the investigation of those responsible for the war, the responsibility of the military departments and their influence on the domestic situation" and "use the concept of' Japan's surrender' without saying' unconditional'".

In fact, by August 1945, Japan's defeat was an undeniable and irreversible fact for anyone who had a little knowledge of the international situation. However, it is an indisputable fact that the emperor issued such a final imperial edict and refused to admit defeat. Although it "ended" the war, it led to the confusion of Japanese social thought.

Yoichi Komori, a professor at the University of Tokyo, once pointed out that the imperial edict is an answer to the palaces and parks of the Potsdam and Berlin Declarations put forward by the United States, Britain, China and the Soviet Union, and naturally it should involve the war against China. However, the imperial edict "only regards' declaring war on the United States and Britain' as a problem" and "excludes China and the Soviet Union, which clearly shows that its intention is to limit the war to 194 1 year later". Some scholars have clearly pointed out that "the most fundamental purpose of imperial edict is to evade the emperor's war responsibility and to' protect the country'". Because in the so-called imperial edict, only the war between Japan and the United States and Britain is mentioned, and there is no "knowledge of defeat" in its content. As for "invasion of China is ignored". Therefore, the so-called "imperial decree" is just a "declaration to continue the imperial system"

Japanese people who have experienced that era will never forget the shock after listening to The Voice of the Jade Emperor. Although the Emperor announced that Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration in the form of classical Chinese, all Japanese people first understood it from the perspective of their own war experience, which caused great ideological confusion.

An elderly woman who lived in Jiafu was a middle school student at that time. She wrote in her diary:

August 15

Thunderbolt! !

What's going on here?

June 65438, 2007

thunder and lightning

Such a life is really hard for the Japanese. We were fighting for victory until we heard the imperial edict of 15. I didn't expect this result.

This feeling is not strange at all. For example, the survey report of Osaka Prefecture said: "Seventy percent of the people expected the Emperor to express his determination to carry out the war to the end in his speech, but they did not expect to announce the end of the war and achieve peace. Many people immediately felt overwhelmed and filled with indignation. " A survey in Kanagawa Prefecture said: "Most people in the prefecture thought they were going to take an oath of resistance, so they stayed there for a while listening to the jade sound published by the emperor and could not speak for a long time." Tottori county police even found: "on the surface, people listened to the lingering words, but in their hearts, they were just thinking:' it is too early to end the war' and' ignoring the wishes of the people'. Some people expressed criticism, while others even spread rumors of disrespect for the emperor and the royal family. " From these circumstances, we can see to what extent the Japanese people have been fooled by militarism!

Although the imperial edict did not directly touch the fact of Japan's defeat, the emperor himself declared the final battle, which was tantamount to admitting that the jihad advocated in the past had not achieved corresponding results. The failure of the war led to the collapse of the jihad thought, so Japanese society felt strongly deceived and there was an ideological vacuum for some time.

Chang and Mori Yoshiro, who later became a Japanese birch writer, once recorded: 13 In August, I heard a friend who worked in the library of the House of Representatives say that he wanted to publish important news. At that time, people who had realized that the development of the war situation was unfavorable to Japan thought that the emperor might, on the one hand, review himself and, on the other hand, personally encourage the people to fight against Japan with all their might. If the emperor does that, all Japanese people will be grateful to the emperor and take an active part in the war. However, people "suddenly lost their breath" and "don't know what to do" after listening to the "Aftersound Broadcasting" on June 5438+05.

Gao Jianshun, who participated in the anti-war movement before the war, but "turned" to join the literary newspaper congress and served as censor after the war began, recorded in his diary in August 10: "The war seems to be finally over, but I can't tell what I feel in my heart. Are you happy? No. But there is no other feeling. "

1994 when I visited Japan, Mr. Mei Jingsan, who retired from Hosei University, talked about the experience of Japan at the beginning of its defeat:

1June, 945, I have received the draft, which was called "red paper" at that time. According to the regulations at that time, once the young people received the "red paper", they should pack up and report according to the time and place determined on the paper. Of course, I am no exception, although my elderly parents are very worried. When the school assembled for standby, the emperor's "Jade Sound" was published. Two days later, we were told to stop sending troops and disband and go home. Hearing this decision, our hearts are really greatly relieved. But in the political environment at that time, we couldn't show our joy on our faces. At home, my mother couldn't help holding me in her arms and crying.

Mr. Mei added: Although many people still said they didn't want to fail, they were really pleased. Because at the end of the war, the war is not so sacred in people's hearts, and only at the end of the war can people dare to express this feeling.

It can be seen that ordinary people do not want the war to continue from the bottom of their hearts, but under strong political pressure, they can only hide their feelings. The result is a vacuum of thought and a breakdown of spirit.

1995, the 50th anniversary of the war, Japan's "Daily News" published a photo collection of 50 years after the war. The first page of the album is a huge photo folded in half, with a bird's-eye view of Osaka after the 1945 air raid. Dense and dotted buildings constitute the gloomy Osaka Castle. Even a huge building is just a dot in the photo. But the three huge craters and countless smaller craters in the photo are striking, really like craters on the moon, vividly showing the scene of the city after being bombed. So the title of this photo is: "Japan started from the ruins similar to the surface of the moon after the war." In fact, not only Osaka, but also Japan's economy and society, including Japanese ideology and historical understanding, were in ruins with the collapse of Japanese militarism this year. The Japanese experienced unimaginable social collapse and unimaginable mental collapse. Japan's thought and historical understanding after the war were also built on such ruins.

In this way, with the announcement of1August 5, 945, all Japanese people woke up overnight and had to face the cruel reality of defeat, but at the same time they also faced a complicated historical understanding of the war. As the spiritual pillar of Japan during the war, the concept of imperial history should have died out, but after the war, a series of questions and disputes about historical understanding were triggered. In this sense, we can think that the imperial edict laid a "foreshadowing" for Japan's historical understanding.