Hello, and welcome to your Japanese history of today, 31 August. Well... not all events of today. I don't have the time for that, tho it is something I'd love to do if I could get enough support. The most interesting event or events from the history of today, then :)

Today is the birthday of Emperor Taisho, the 123rd emperor of Japan, who reigned from 30 July 1912 until his death on 25 December 1926. Born Yoshihito in 1879, he was a sickly child and his schooling was often difficult because of his frequent fevers and poor health. His poor health would haunt him all his life. He had an aptitude for languages and learned both French and Chinese to some proficiency. He would often sprinkle French words into conversation, to the great annoyance of his father, Emperor Meiji. He also studied Korean, tho he never became proficient at it.

By the time he became emperor, he was suffering from a variety of neurological problems that made it virtually impossible for him to carry out his duties and he was kept out of view of the public as much has possible. As an example of his handicap, there is a famous story of one of the rare events he was seen publicly at, the 1913 opening of the Diet (the Japanese parliament). He was seen to have rolled up his prepared speech into a cylinder and was staring through it as if it were a spyglass. Whether there was more to this story or not, it convinced many that he had serious problems.

As his health became worse and worse, various people in the government started manipulating him and this soon became common knowledge. Finally in 1921 his son, Hirohito, was named regent and started ruling in his father's name, though he may have been unofficially doing this since 1919, possibly before.

He died of a heart attack in the early morning of December 25th, 1926. His funeral procession was 4 miles long, in which 20,000 mourners follower a herd of sacred bulls and an ox-driven cart containing his coffin.

Emperor Taisho has been called the first Tokyo emperor because he lived his entire life at or near the capital. His father, Emperor Meiji, had been raised in Kyoto, which was the old capital before his government moved it.

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	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More?