Born 26 April 1901, first of the four sons of Crown Prince Yoshihito and his consort Sadako, Hirohito was an intelligent and serious boy, an early reader whose meticulously ordered bookshelf was a harbinger of the tendencies towards cognitive rigidity he later displayed as Emperor.

Those tendencies were only reinforced by his education. carefully tailored to prepare him for his future role of monarch and commander-in-chief. As the latter part of this schooling coincided with WWI, in which Japan was allied with Britain and closely followed European military and political developments, Hirohito could not fail to see how the privations of war, starvation in Germany in particular, had led to the Hohenzollerns, Hapsburgs and Romanovs&em;and the Ottoman emperors as well&em;all having been ejected from power by their own people. Indeed, one of Hirohito's essays written at this school whose content has been made public was an analysis of Kaiser Wilhelm's failures as a monarch.

So the most vital "Lesson of History" for Hirohito wws obviously that a monarch who feels his greatest duty is to ensure the continuation of a royal line with a nominal 2,600 year history had better not continue a futile war to the point that where large numbers of his subjects are dying of starvation.

This was reflected in his second "Sacred Decision" which led at last to surrender at war end, in which he said in opposition to the hardliners who wanted to continue the fight (solely to get softer surrender terms) that, "The critical issue is the faith and resolve of the people, ..." (要は、国民全体の信念と覚悟の問題であると思うから、この際先方の回答を、そのまま、受諾してよろしいと考える。).