The Emperor's Declaration of Humanity - Tennouningensengen

Emperor Showa issued this Imperial Rescript on January 1, 1946 (Showa 21), denying his own deity. After Japan's defeat in the Pacific War, as part of the democratization of education, Henderson of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers' (GHQ) Civil Information and Education Bureau and Bryce, a teacher at Gakushuin, came up with the idea of ​​the Emperor issuing an Imperial Rescript denying his deity. After review by Imperial Household Ministry officials and Prime Minister Shidehara, the Emperor proposed adding the Five Articles of Oath, and the draft Imperial Rescript was completed. Following the Shinto Directive, which instructed the abolition of State Shinto, this Imperial Rescript reformed the ideological aspects of the prewar Emperor System, and was also the first time that the term "people" (previously called "subjects") appeared in an Imperial Rescript.

[Shiro Akazawa]

"The Secret Envoys of the Imperial Family by Hiroshi Takahashi and Kunihiko Suzuki (1981, Gendaishi Publishing Co.)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1946年（昭和21）1月1日、昭和天皇が発した自己の神格否定の詔書。太平洋戦争の敗戦後、教育民主化の一環として、連合国最高司令部（GHQ）民間情報教育局のヘンダーソンと学習院教員ブライスが中心となって、天皇が神格否定の詔書を発表する構想がたてられた。宮内省関係者や幣原(しではら)首相などの検討を経たうえ、天皇の発意で五箇条の誓文が加えられ、詔書案は完成した。この詔書は、国家神道(しんとう)の廃止を指示した神道指令に続いて、戦前天皇制の思想的側面に改革を加えたもので、詔書中に「国民」の用語が登場（従来は「臣民」）した最初のものでもあった。

［赤澤史朗］

『高橋紘・鈴木邦彦著『天皇家の密使たち』（1981・現代史出版会）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例