Tenno Dies, Tenshi Lives

Commerce halted and impending Death hushed the people of Japan last week into a dread dull stillness. Their Emperor lay dying at Hayama (TIME, Nov. 22 et seq.). They knew that the shades of his 122 imperial ancestors were assembling at Tokyo in awful conclave round the Imperial Shrine in the Chiyoda Palace. It was as though the people of the U. S. should suspend all activity, believing that Washington, Lincoln, Pierce, Arthur and the 23 other dead Presidents had gathered, majestic ghosts, at the Capitol.

Rest. Dusk came. As lamps were lighted the Emperor received an ounce of liquid food administered through a tube. He was approaching the last stages of pneumonia, and his lungs have always been weak. At his bedside a physician administered oxygen whenever he seemed sinking. The pulse, constant for some time at 126,* became too fast to count. The respiration mounted to 84;/- the Emperor's feet swelled markedly.

At midnight hope was abandoned. At 1 a. m. Death was a matter of moments. At 1:25 a. m. His Imperial Majesty, Yoshihito Haru-no-miya, found rest at last.

Sun Goddess. A Shinto archpriest, bearded and stately, heralded the Tenno's death to his ancestors at Tokyo. Locked within the Imperial Shrine, the archpriest communed with the 122 dead Emperors. When he emerged his face was ashen but beatified. Thousands who had gathered to pray believed that the archpriest might even have talked with the Sun Goddess from whom the Emperors are traditionally descended.

The imperial "lying-in-state" began, to last for at least 50 days, during which all Japanese will wear tokens of mourning.

Heavenly King.** Immediately after Yoshihito Tenno's death his eldest son Hirohito (since 1921 Prince Regent on account of his father's invalidism) assumed imperial rank in a room adjoining the death chamber. He will not be crowned until 1928, since the period of mourning in the Imperial Household will be protracted one year after the Tenno's death. None the less Hirohito Tenno received last week the Privy Seal and various imitations of the sacred symbols of his office--the sword, the mirror and the beads--the originals of these treasures reposing in various shrines throughout Japan.

Finally the 25-year-old Son of Heaven, his visage grief-stricken, repeated, as he assumed his rank a traditional formula:

"Confronting the imperial death unexpected, we are bowed in grief. The throne, however, cannot be left vacant even for a day. We hereby accede to the mandate of the gods, accepting the imperial throne of Japan. Seated upon this throne, invariable and immovable from time immemorial, we acknowledge our heritage of the great power to rule. We pledge to uphold the glorious traditions of our imperial ancestors. We pledge to uphold the constitution and work for the glory and greatness of Japan in compliance with the vast program of our imperial ancestors."

Throughout the week Prince Chichibu, second son of Yoshihito Tenno, was vainly racing to his father's bedside from his studies at Oxford (TIME, Sept. 27). Returning to Japan across the U. S., he landed at Manhattan from the Majestic last week.

*Normal 70-75.

/-Normal 17.

**Japanese ordinarily refer to the Emperor as Tenno (Heavenly King) or Tenshi (Son of Heaven) and speak of him as Kotei (a Chinese title meaning Emperor) in discussing his relation to non-Japanese affairs. Only foreigners employ in conversation the poetic title Mikado.