Image:
Before the defeat of Japan by Allied
forces in 1945, Hirohito, as commander of the Japanese armed
forces, was frequently pictured in military uniform atop his
white horse. He cultivated a stern, unsmiling, and god-like
image, since, in the Shinto religion, the Emperor was thought
to have descended from the Sun-Goddess. Photographs which
showed the Emperor smiling or laughing or made him appear
shorter than those around him (he was slight in stature) were
forbidden to be shown to the public. As he did no public speaking,
the sound of his voice was unknown to his people. (credit:
by arrangement with Corbis-Bettmann Archive)
Sound: DOF anthropologist Kyung-Koo
Han sings a stanza from a Japanese military song entitled
Sakura. The words to the song are:
--Load time: ~14
sec.
"You and I,
we are cherry-blossoms of the same class,
we fight for the army and navy air-wing,
Like the cherry blossoms which fall,
we will fall,
but we will fall in glory and in fashion."
hear
the instrumental version!
--Load time: ~22 sec.
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