Humanity Declaration (人間宣言, Ningen-sengen?) is an imperial rescript issued by the Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) as part of a New Year’s statement on January 1, 1946 at the request of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. In the rescript, which follows the Five Charter Oath of 1868, the Emperor denied the concept of his being a living god, which would eventually lead to the promulgation of the new Constitution, under which the Emperor is “the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people.”
The rescript is not officially titled, but apart from its popular name, “Humanity Declaration” or “Ningen-sengen”, it is also known as Imperial Rescript on the Construction of a New Japan (新日本建設に関する詔書, Shin Nippon Kensetsu ni Kan suru Shōsho?) and Imperial Rescript on National Revitalization (年頭、国運振興の詔書, Nentō, Kokuun Shinkō no Shōsho?).
Read more about Humanity Declaration: The Declaration, Interpretation
Famous quotes containing the words humanity and/or declaration:
“That hour in the life of a man when first the help of humanity fails him, and he learns that in his obscurity and indigence humanity holds him a dog and no man: that hour is a hard one, but not the hardest. There is still another hour which follows, when he learns that in his infinite comparative minuteness and abjectness, the gods do likewise despise him, and own him not of their clan.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation.”
—French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (Sept. 1791)