The ideological origin of the Emperor as symbol can be found in Walter Bagehot’s book On the Imperial Family (1867) which proposed that monarchs be symbols of national unity. At a young age, Emperor Showa visited King George V and learned of this theory. While promoting the symbolic nature of the monarch, Bagehot also advocated the three rights of the monarchy, including the “right to warn” when necessary for the monarch to intervene in politics. Emperor Showa had this “right” in mind as he replaced the Army Minister selected by the army. Although this action could have put him at risk for “war responsibility,” even in the postwar period, the Emperor continued this stance. As Emperor Heisei also learned about Bagehot and King George V, he engaged in the tendency to speak about the war in political terms. While studying Bagehot’s theory, Yukichi Fukuzawa developed an alternative theory on the monarchy. In his work On the Imperial Family he quotes Bagehot but he does not mention the “right to warn.” Rather he explains that the Emperor should honor scholarship and focus on the protection of traditional culture, without regard to politics. Whether the Reiwa Emperor will follow the path of political “warning” advocated by Walter Bagehot or adopt the cultural course promoted by Fukuzawa will be a crucial issue for the Imperial Family and Japan.

中文翻译：

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天皇制的标志性转折点：白宫，昭和天皇和福泽的《皇室论》

皇帝作为象征的意识形态起源可在沃尔特·巴格霍特（Walter Bagehot）的《皇室》（1867）一书中找到，该书提出君主是民族团结的象征。昭和天皇很小的时候就拜访了乔治五世国王并了解了这一理论。巴格霍特（Bagehot）在宣传君主的象征性的同时，还倡导君主制的三项权利，包括在必要时让君主介入政治的“警告权”。昭和天皇取代了陆军大臣后，就想到了这一“权利”。尽管此举可能使他有承担“战争责任”的风险，即使在战后时期，皇帝仍保持了这一立场。当平成天皇也了解了白热特和乔治五世时，他开始倾向于用政治术语谈论战争。在研究巴格霍特的理论时，福泽由吉（Yukiichi Fukuzawa）就君主制提出了另一种理论。他在《皇室成员》一书中引用了白热浩，但没有提到“警告权”。相反，他解释说，皇帝应该尊重奖学金，并专注于保护传统文化，而不考虑政治。灵岩天皇是否将遵循沃尔特·巴格霍特（Walter Bagehot）倡导的政治“警告”道路，还是采用福泽（Fukuzawa）倡导的文化路线，对于皇室和日本来说都是至关重要的问题。