Editing Hirohito (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:Michi-no-miya Hirohito 1902.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Hirohito as an infant in 1902]]
Hirohito was born on 29 April 1901 at [[Takanawa Residence|Tōgū Palace]] in [[Aoyama, Tokyo]] during the reign of his grandfather, [[Emperor Meiji]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/hirohito_emperor.shtml |title=Historic Figures: Emperor Hirohito (1901–1989) |website=BBC History}}</ref> the first son of 21-year-old Crown Prince Yoshihito (the future [[Emperor Taishō]]) and 16-year-old Crown Princess Sadako, the future [[Empress Teimei]].{{sfn|Ponsonby-Fane|1959|p=337}} He was the grandson of Emperor Meiji and [[Yanagiwara Naruko]]. His childhood title was Prince Michi.

Ten weeks after he was born, Hirohito was removed from the court and placed in the care of Count [[Kawamura Sumiyoshi]], who raised him as his grandchild. At the age of 3, Hirohito and his brother [[Yasuhito]] were returned to court when Kawamura died&nbsp;– first to the imperial mansion in [[Numazu]], [[Shizuoka Prefecture|Shizuoka]], then back to the Aoyama Palace.{{sfn|Bix|2001|pp=[https://archive.org/details/hirohitomakingof00herb/page/22 22–23]}}

In 1908, he began elementary studies at the [[Gakushūin]] (Peers School).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Long and Eventful Reign of Hirohito |url=https://pearlharbor.org/the-long-and-eventful-reign-of-hirohito/ |website=Pearl Harbor |access-date=12 November 2021 |date=13 March 2018}}</ref> Emperor Mutsuhito, then appointed General [[Nogi Maresuke]] to be the Gakushūin's tenth president as well as the one in-charge on educating his grandson. The main aspect that they focused was on physical education and health, primarily because Hirohito was a sickly child, on par with the impartment or inculcation of values such as frugality, patience, manliness, self-control, and devotion to the duty at hand.{{sfn|Bix|2016|pp=36–37}}

[[File:Emperor Taisho's sons 1921.jpg|thumb|[[Emperor Taishō]]'s four sons in 1921: Hirohito, [[Takahito, Prince Mikasa|Takahito]], [[Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu|Nobuhito]], and [[Yasuhito]]]]
During 1912, at the age of 11, Hirohito was commissioned into the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] as a Second Lieutenant and in the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] as an Ensign. He was also bestowed with the Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Chrysanthemum]].<ref>{{cite web |last=PacificWrecks.com |title=Pacific Wrecks - Emperor Hirohito 裕仁 (Shōwa) |url=https://pacificwrecks.com/people/leaders/hirohito/ |access-date=27 November 2022 |website=pacificwrecks.com}}</ref> When his grandfather, [[Emperor Meiji]] died on 30 July 1912, [[Yoshihito]] assumed the throne and his eldest son, Hirohito became [[heir apparent]].

After learning about the death of his instructor, General Nogi, he along with his brothers were reportedly overcome with emotions. He would later acknowledge the lasting influence of Nogi in his life. At that time he was still two years away from completing primary school, henceforth his education was compensated by Fleet Admiral Togo Heihachiro and Naval Captain Ogasawara Naganari, wherein later on, would become his major opponents with regards to his national defense policy.{{sfn|Bix|2016|p=43}}

Shiratori Kurakichi, one of his middle-school instructors, was one of the personalities who deeply influenced the life of Hirohito. Kurakichi was a trained historian from [[German Empire|Germany]], imbibing the positivist historiographic trend by [[Leopold von Ranke]]. He was the one who inculcated in the mind of the young Hirohito that there is a connection between the divine origin of the imperial line and the aspiration of linking it to the myth of the racial superiority and homogeneity of the Japanese. The emperors were often a driving force in the modernization of their country. He taught Hirohito that the [[Empire of Japan]] was created and governed through diplomatic actions (taking into accounts the interests of other nations benevolently and justly).{{sfn|Bix|2016|pp=70–74}}