Reigning under his personal name of Hirohito, he became the 124th Emperor of Japan and ruled from 1926 until his death in 1989. His posthumous name, Showa, is the name of the era of his reign and means "Enlightened Peace." He's shown here at his accession, wearing the traditional sokutai of tunic, scepter and lacquered hat.

As Emperor, Showa presided over Japan's increasing militarism and imperialism, culminating in losing the Second World War against America and its Allies. During the immediate postwar occupation, rationalizations, justifications and excuses were made to deflect any war responsibility from the Emperor. He officially disclaimed his legendary descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu, stating that he was not a 'manifest deity' (akitsumikami). This, however, did not preclude him from going to the Grand Shrine at Ise to report to her that sovereignty had been restored to Japan by the USA in 1952.

After the war, the Emperor made himself more accessible to the people and presided as head of state over Japan's postwar economic recovery and expansion.

In the drawing, I have him depicted as a fox on the assumption that the sun goddess Amaterasu was a nine-tailed kitsune. Why does he have only one tail? Simple! he's the 124th in the Imperial lineage, so you figure that things do slip a bit over the centuries of marriage and breeding.



Emperor Showa © Dai Nihon

Art done at Megaplex 2021 by  Gen, and is part of my Historical Furries folder.


Note: Some of the source material above comes from Embracing Defeat by John Dower (New York; W.W. Norton & Company, © 1999).