, also known as the "Kumazawa emperor", was a Japanese businessman and Buddhist priest from

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

who publicly disputed the legitimacy of Emperor

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

's bloodline in the period shortly after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He claimed to be the 19th direct descendant of

Emperor Go-Kameyama (c. 1347 – May 10, 1424) was the 99th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He ruled from 1383 to October 21, 1392, becoming the last Emperor of the Southern Court. His personal name was . This 14th century sov ...

. In 1946–1947, Hiromichi was only the first of roughly nineteen men who put themselves forward as Japan's rightful Emperor. As a direct descendant of the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors ( Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitivel ...

emperors of the

Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...

, he argued that Emperor Hirohito was illegitimate. He pointed out that Hirohito's entire line is descended from the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. Even though the present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the ...

emperors. He produced a

koseki A or family register is a Japanese family register, family registry. Japanese law requires all Japanese households to make notifications of their vital records (such as births, adoptions, deaths, marriages and divorces) to their local Municipa ...

detailing his bloodline back to

Emperor Go-Daigo Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order o ...

in Yoshino, but his claims and rhetoric failed to inspire anything other than sympathy. Hiromichi's claims ultimately remained unsubstantiated.Maga, Timothy P. (2000)
''Judgment at Tokyo: the Japanese War Crime Trials''
pp. 40-41.

Notes

References

* Bix, Herbert P. (2000). ''Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.'' New York:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

. ; *

Dower Dower is a provision accorded traditionally by a husband or his family, to a wife for her support should she become widowed. It was settlement (law), settled on the bride (being given into trust instrument, trust) by agreement at the time of t ...

, John W. (1999). '' Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II.'' New York:

W. W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly '' The Norton ...

. ; * Lauterbach, Richard E
"The True Emperor of Japan,"
''Life'' (January 21, 1946). Vol. 20, No. 3, p. 33. * Maga, Timothy P. (2000). ''Judgment at Tokyo : the Japanese War Crime Trials.'' Lexington, Kentucky:

University Press of Kentucky The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was organized in 1969 as successor to the University of Kentucky Press. The university had sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. In 194 ...

. ; Occupied Japan 1889 births 1966 deaths Pretenders People from Aichi Prefecture {{Japan-bio-stub