Japan’s Late Empress Kojun Received Many Lectures: Records

Tokyo, Oct. 9 (Jiji Press)–The late Japanese Empress Kojun received many lectures from academics and other experts, according to official records of her life published Thursday. The lectures included some 250 sessions conducted by legal scholar Shigeto Hozumi from 1924 to 1950. The former Empress, known before her death as Empress Nagako, received lectures on various topics including war and diplomacy. “(The official records) show how eagerly she sought to broaden her knowledge,” an expert said. Hozumi, an expert on the Civil Code, was a professor of what is now the University of Tokyo. He served as dean of the university’s law faculty and a Supreme Court justice. His first lecture to Empress Kojun was held on Dec. 1, 1924, when she was crown princess, and it was about the family system. She listened to the lecture with Emperor Showa, who was crown prince at the time. Hozumi also gave a lecture on women’s roles on Dec. 8 that year. From 1933 onward, the then Empress received lectures alone or with other female members of the Imperial Family. Topics included foreign affairs and diplomacy, with a May 1935 lecture focusing on a statement by then German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and a November 1940 lecture on the Tripartite Pact among Japan, Germany and Italy. In a lecture in February 1942, after Japan entered war with the United States, Hozumi explained to Empress Kojun speeches delivered to the Imperial Diet by then Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo. Other war-related lectures followed, such as a December 1943 session on the mobilization of students and an April 1944 session on evacuations of citizens from urban areas. Right before the end of World War II, Hozumi was appointed steward and chamberlain to the then crown prince, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, upon the establishment of a department dedicated to him. The scholar’s lectures to Empress Kojun after the war included sessions in December 1945 about the education of the crown prince and about thoughts on monarch by Chinese ancient philosopher Mencius and Japanese thinker Yukichi Fukuzawa. A lecture on women’s suffrage in Britain was held in February 1946. Hozumi’s lectures were held regularly until 1947. He stepped down as the crown prince’s steward and chamberlain in 1946. After Hozumi’s resignation, lectures given to Empress Kojun by academics and others focused on nonpolitical topics such as traditional culture and literature. Hozumi became a Supreme Court justice. He gave his final lecture to Emperor Showa and Empress Kojun in November 1950, after his return from a trip to study the U.S. judicial system. He died in July 1951. The Imperial Household Agency said that documents of the Hozumi family, which contain records of lectures given by the scholar, were used for the first time. The agency added that it is unclear how the topics of the lectures were decided. Seishin Funabashi, a researcher at the Institute of Politics and Economy, said that Empress Kojun likely hoped to learn about social and international situations as Emperor Showa was the head of state and generalissimo under the Imperial-era Constitution. Emperor Showa’s transition to a symbol of the nation after World War II “changed the role of the Empress and the content of lectures.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]