Confucianism is at the heart of traditional Chinese culture as a whole and has influenced countless Chinese over thousands of years. Loyalty is a very important point in Confucianism, since ancient times loyal subjects have always been revered by people, as Confucius said in the "Analects" that "the king makes the subjects with courtesy, and the subjects are loyal", which later evolved into "the king wants the subject to die, the subject has to die", which also reflects the importance of loyalty to Confucianism.
With the development of the times, globalization has become the main theme of the world, and exchanges between countries have become closer and closer. Japan is a country with a very strong cultural export, they have excellent cultural works, and among many of Japan's traditional cultures, the most eye-catching is the samurai culture. As can be seen from some works of art, once the samurai did not complete the task, they would choose to kill themselves by cutting their stomachs, and regarded this as an honor.
After Japan's surrender in World War II, MacArthur asked the Emperor of Japan why he did not commit suicide by cutting his stomach like a samurai, to which the Emperor replied with only four words. The history of The Japanese people cutting their abdomen is very long, dating back to 989 AD, there is a famous Fujiwara family in Japan, and there is a person named Fujiwara Yoshi in the family. This man was an out-and-out criminal who burned and looted the local area, causing many injuries to the people, so the government and samurai vigorously hunted him down, and even the Fujiwara family wanted to get rid of it. Although Fujiwara was good at hiding, the pursuers were numerous and eventually surrounded.
Desperate, Fujiwara Yoshi actually sat directly on the ground, and at the same time picked up the flute and began to play, just when everyone was puzzled, Fujiwara Yoshi suddenly put down the flute, drew the knife from the sheath, and then directly inserted it into his stomach, and pulled it horizontally, the whole wound took on the shape of a word, and then Fujiwara Yoshi also threw the contents of the stomach directly to the crowd. Everyone was shocked by what they saw, and although Fujiwara eventually died, his behavior was deeply imprinted in everyone's minds, and since then the culture of cutting the abdomen has been popular in Japan.
Then the spirit of Bushido gradually rose, and the samurai introduced the cutting of the abdomen, which at first was only used as a means of fearing guilt and avoiding punishment. This behavior was then appended with some spiritual attributes, and people gradually used it as a kind of redemption, and if the mission failed, the samurai could kill themselves by cutting their stomachs, so that they could be forgiven. By the nineteenth century, Japan began the Meiji Restoration, and in order to strengthen Japanese nationalism, the rulers began to hype the cutting of the abdomen, rendering it a feat.
Although the Japanese became unprecedentedly united, they also went to an extreme, and militarism gradually sprouted in Japan, and it became a fascist country and waged war against the whole world. In World War II, Japan was the initiator of the Asian battlefield, they not only invaded Southeast Asia, but also secretly attacked pearl harbor in the United States, and fought with the US military in the Pacific, and finally Japan was defeated in the frontal battlefield, the United States saw that the time was ripe, it directly dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese mainland, countless Japanese people died, and finally they had to choose to surrender, ending this criminal war.
After the end of the war, the Japanese were naturally strictly controlled, and the American army even entered the Japanese mainland under the leadership of MacArthur and enjoyed extremely high treatment, and MacArthur was even more of a high status, and even the Japanese emperor needed to see his face. At that time, there was still an emperor system in Japan, and MacArthur often used this excuse to humiliate Emperor Hirohito, and once he even questioned him directly, asking him that the Japanese soldiers were very brave, and they chose to cut their abdomen when they failed. After hearing this, Emperor Hirohito naturally knew that the other party was humiliating himself, and he only replied with the words "powerless".
In fact, the reason for his answer is also very simple, first of all, the so-called cutting of the abdomen is a tool used to control the samurai class, in order to maintain the rule of the emperor, and it has no practical significance. What's more, Emperor Hirohito has always been pampered and treated well, has never experienced a harsh environment, and even if he is defeated and has not experienced any punishment, he naturally will not have the courage to cut his stomach and commit suicide. What's more, Emperor Hirohito is a spiritual symbol for the Japanese, and at this time, the japanese people's hearts have been broken, and if the emperor also commits suicide, I am afraid that the whole country will face a situation of loss of control, and even the United States is not willing to do this.
Obviously, MacArthur also knew this, he himself was tasked with rebuilding Japan, and he also knew in his heart that the Japanese personality was beautiful, and if the persecution was too tight, it would cause losses to the United States. Therefore, he only ridiculed Emperor Hirohito, and the two had been working closely together in private, and even MacArthur had directly absolved the emperor of his crimes and used him to achieve the goal of controlling Japan.
Resources:
The Analects of the Eight Nobles