Hiraizumi Kiyoshi: Sanctification of National History in Wartime Japan and Beyond

The prewar theory of National Polity (kokutai) stated that one imperial line ran from the beginning of history to the present without interruption because of the “moral virtues of the emperors and imperial loyalists who sacrificed themselves defending it.” In reality, there were only a few times when emperors governed the nation. The Kenmu Restoration of 1334 was such a moment when Emperor Godaigo (1288-1339) defeated the warrior regime and established the Southern court with assistance of Kusunoki Masashige (d.1336). However, after only four years, the court was “tragically” defeated and the Northern court became legitimate.

Although subsequent emperors were all descendants of the Northern court, some schools of thought, over the centuries, developed the “Southern court view of history” (Nanchô seitôron shikan) and supported its legitimacy. When the imperial rule was again restored in 1868, its “modern” government adopted this view of history as the historical foundation of the moral education of imperial subjects under State Shinto which sanctified “spirit” (seishin), or the “ethics and morality” of these emperors and imperial loyalists; the Kenmu Restoration became revered as “the main pillar of National History.”

This paper explores how this view of medieval history was exercised to construct/secure the “sacredness” of National History and the “inviolability” of National Polity in the 20^th century. Hiraizumi Kiyoshi (1895-1984), Professor of the Study of National History at Tokyo Imperial University, disseminated this view of history. As a Rankean he “scientifically” studied the historicity of Southern court narratives. As a devout Shintoist, he reinvigorated the sanctification of the “spirits” at State Shinto shrines, commemorations and “historic” sites where he invited individuals to sympathize, reviving the “spirits” in their hearts and living inside History. Today some of these “sacred” spaces/events still seek the continuity afforded by timeless National History and retain these “historical” memories.