Introduction
When reading Morhiei Ueshiba’s (O‘Sensei‘s) dōka, the opening (I prefer primer) contains references to the Imperial Way or Way of the Imperial Nation. What lies below is an attempt contextualize this statement, and in no way offer apologetics to excuse nationalistic coordinative and cooperative efforts to support singular individuals, monarchies, dynasties, oligarchies, aristocracies etc. that can bring great harms to limitless lifeforms (including ecologies entire). First, some definitions, then context, spread, what it supposedly was meant to address, and then what happened after Allied forces arrived followed by a brief discussion/conclusion.
Definitions
皇國の道 (Kōkoku no Michi), literally “the Way of the Imperial Nation”, was a key ideological phrase in wartime Japan. In education policy, Japan’s Ministry of Education defined Kōkoku no Michi as the totality of the kokutai’s “essence” together with the moral path subjects should follow as set out in the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education; in short, it was glossed as the “way of supporting (assisting) the Emperor’s fortune” (皇運扶翼の道) (MEXT, n.d.-a).
To understand Kōkoku no Michi, one need understand kokutai. 国体 (kokutai) is a pre-1945 term translated as “national polity” or ”national essence” comprising Japan‘s unique national character and constitutional order centered on the Emperor and an “unbroken” imperial line, as well as underpinning state morality and citizenship education for the modern era (Asia for Educators, n.d.). Thus kokutai is foundational to Kōkoku no Michi.
Context
Under the Meiji Constitution (1889), the Emperor was defined as sacred and inviolable (Art. 3), where the sovereign head of state combined the rights of sovereignty (Art. 4), embodying the legal core of kokutai (National Diet Library, n.d.-b). The state then linked everyday ethics to kokutai via the Imperial Rescript on Education (1890), which demanded loyalty and self-sacrifice to “guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne”, making kokutai both a constitutional and moral program (World and Japan Database, n.d.-a).
It is important to distinguish kokutai from 政体 (seitai), which is a contingent “form of government”. Inoue Tetsujirō, a Meiji-Shōwa philosopher and educator who argued in support of state-centered “national morality”, along with other theorists argued that while seitai could change, kokutai could not, thus shoring up claims that loyalty to the Emperor stood above political debate (Davis, 1976; National Diet Library, n.d.-a, n.d.-b).
To popularize and police the vision of kokutai, the Ministry of Education issued Kokutai no Hongi (Cardinal Principle of Our National Polity), a widely distributed catechism of imperial ideology, and the Peace Preservation Law (1925), which criminalized organizations that sought to “alter the kokutai”, making ideological dissent prosecutable (Monbushō, 1937/1949; Program for Teaching East Asian, 2015). This lead to great debate where Minobe Tatsukichi, a constitutional scholar and leading theorist on Japanese constitutionalism, argued that the Emperor was an organ of the state, not a power behond it. Right-wing attacks surfaced and culminated in 1935–1936 with government statements “clarifying the kokutai” and repudiating Minobe‘s view, thus illustrating how kokutai functioned as a boundary of permissible thought (Minear, 2017.; National Diet Library, n.d.-d).
Entering Law and Schools (1941)
Kōkoku no Michi was written directly into the 1941 Kokumin Gakkō (National School) Order. Article 1 states that the National School, “in accordance with the Imperial Nation’s Way,” would provide elementary education and forge the basic character of the people (kiso-teki rensei)—making Kōkoku no michi the highest principle of compulsory schooling during the Pacific War. The same order reorganized subjects into kokumin-ka (civics/ethics-language-history-geography), math and science, physical training (explicitly including budō; girls could be excused), and arts/skills (MEXT, n.d.-b).
Ideological “Siblings”
Kōkoku no michi sat alongside two programmatic texts that articulated and popularized the state’s ideology for ordinary Japanese:
- 1937 – Kokutai no Hongi (Fundamentals of Our National Polity), commissioned by the Ministry of Education and mass-distributed (over two million copies), has been described (in modern teaching excerpts) as the most important of the state’s ideological documents on the eve of total war (Asia for Educators, n.d.).
- 1941 – Shinmin no Michi (The Way of Subjects), issued by the Ministry of Education’s Teaching Bureau, distilled expected conduct for imperial subjects. Contemporary summaries note it appeared mere months before Pearl Harbor on August 1, 1941 and was assigned as required reading in secondary schools and universities; the National Diet Library holds the bibliographic record for the booklet (University of Texas at Austin, n.d.; Monbushō Kyōgakukyoku, 1941).
Intent of Work In Practice
Ministry guidance framed schooling as rensei (forging/tempering) of “imperial citizens”—a total-school program meant to cultivate (1) conviction in the kokutai and Japan’s mission, (2) rational abilities directed to national progress, (3) robust bodies and a spirit of selfless service, (4) refined sentiment and practical arts, and (5) an ethic of productive, nation-serving labor—all “in accordance with the Imperial Nation’s Way” (MEXT, n.d.-a).
Not to be confused with 皇道 (kōdō) / the Imperial Way faction
Outside schooling, kōdō (皇道, “Imperial Way”) referred to a 1930s army current—the Kōdōha—whose program and personnel (e.g., Araki Sadao) are a separate topic from the education-law phrase Kōkoku no michi (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2025).
After 1945
After the war, the Allied “Shinto Directive” (SCAPIN‑448, Dec. 1945) ordered the removal of State Shinto and related ultranationalist ideology from government and school materials, which ended official use of Kōkoku no Michi in education. The directive’s translation (published in Contemporary Religions in Japan in 1960) explicitly targeted such propaganda; postwar reforms then reorganized schooling under the 1947 School Education Act (GHQ/SCAP, 1945/1960; Japanese Law Translation, 1947/2024). The 1947 Constitution makes the emperor a symbol of the state, with sovereignty residing in the people (Art. 1). On January 1, 1946, Emperor Shōwa‘s New Year “Humanity Declaration” further distanced the throne from claims of divinity, helping to retire kokutai as a governing concept (National Diet Library, n.d.-c; World and Japan Database, n.d.-b).
Orthography note. Prewar materials often printed the phrase in traditional characters (kyūjitai), 皇國の道, whereas modern simplified characters are 皇国の道. You will see both spellings in period sources and later reprints (compare the 1937 Kokutai no hongi covers).
Conclusion
In conclusion, these changes going from a constitutional governance where the emperor was sovereign to the people as sovereign in going from Kōkoku no Michi to without are reflected clearly in Morhei Ueshiba’s dōka. I will leave further interpretation to more articulate scholars, however this is for assistance in understanding the “turn”. May this be of benefit to scholar-warriors and limitless beings.
References
Asia for Educators, Columbia University. (n.d.). Selections from the Kokutai no hongi (Fundamentals of our National Polity), 1937 [PDF]. Columbia University.
Davis, W. (1976). The civil theology of Inoue Tetsujirō. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 3(1), 3–31.
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2025). Imperial Way faction. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Imperial-Way-faction
General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ/SCAP). (1945/1960). The Shinto Directive (SCAPIN‑448) (transl. published in Contemporary Religions in Japan, 1(2), 85–89). National Diet Library digital edition. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/download/digidepo_9602130_po_CRJ-25.PDF
Government of Japan. (1947/2024). School Education Act (Act No. 26 of 1947) [English translation]. Japanese Law Translation. https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/link/272
Minear, R. H. (2017). The Tōdai Faculty of Law: Taboo and disgrace. In Tokyo University and the War (T. Takashi & R. H. Minear Eds.). University of Massachusetts Amherst Open Books.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [MEXT]. (n.d.-a). 一 国民学校令の公布 [Promulgation of the National School Order]. https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/html/others/detail/1317696.htm
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [MEXT]. (n.d.-b). 小学校令改正（抄）（昭和十六年三月一日勅令第百四十号） [Amendment to the Elementary School Order (extracts): The National School Order]. https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/html/others/detail/1318023.htm
Monbushō Kyōgakukyoku [Ministry of Education, Teaching Bureau]. (1941). 臣民の道 [The Way of Subjects]. Bibliographic record, National Diet Library. https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I000000663934
Monbushō [Ministry of Education]. (1937/1949). Kokutai no hongi: Cardinal principles of the national entity of Japan (J. O. Gauntlett, Trans.; R. K. Hall, Ed.). Harvard University Press. (Reprinted 1974). Internet Archive record.
National Diet Library. (n.d.-a). 井上哲次郎｜近代日本人の肖像 [Inoue Tetsujirō | Portraits of modern Japanese].
National Diet Library. (n.d.-b). 2‑19 里見岸雄「大日本帝国憲法改正案私擬」—on distinguishing kokutai and seitai. Birth of the Constitution of Japan digital exhibition.
National Diet Library. (n.d.-c). 3‑1 Emperor, Imperial Rescript Denying His Divinity (Professing His Humanity). Birth of the Constitution of Japan. https://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/shiryo/03/056shoshi.html
National Diet Library. (n.d.-d). 4‑4 Dispute over “Emperor as an Organ of Government Theory”. Japanese Modern History Portal. https://www.ndl.go.jp/modern/e/cha4/description04.html
National Diet Library. (n.d.-e). The Constitution of Japan (1947) [English translation]. Birth of the Constitution of Japan. https://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/c01.html
University of Texas at Austin. (n.d.). Shinmin no michi (The Way of Subjects), 1941 [PDF excerpt, Japan: A Documentary History]. LAITS
World and Japan Database. (n.d.-a). Imperial Rescript on Education (1890) [English translation]. Waseda University. https://worldjpn.net/documents/texts/pw/18901030.O1E.html
World and Japan Database. (n.d.-b). Rescript on the Construction of a New Japan (Humanity Declaration), January 1, 1946 [English translation]. Waseda University. https://worldjpn.net/documents/texts/docs/19460101.S1E.html
Further reading:
Toda, K. (1997). 国民学校：皇国の道 [The National School: The Imperial Nation’s Way]. Yoshikawa Kōbunkan. (Library listing).