The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family

The Yamato Dynasty brilliantly and painstakingly describes Hirohito's Golden Lily project. As the war progressed, the emperor ran low on funds. One day a kuromaku recommended he organize an asset-stripping plan for occupied countries, rather than letting the commanders continue to randomly loot and pocket the spoils. The Japanese had financial needs _ didn't all conquerors? World War II cost plenty. Fortunately, Hirohito's glamorous brother, Chichibu Yamato, realized the vanquished countries teemed with gold and treasure; he delighted in taking charge of an operation codenamed Golden Lily. The emperor trusted his Chichibu-san, unlike his other brothers. Chichibu pretended to need medical leave from the army owing to tuberculosis, claimed he repaired to a sanitarium near Mt. Fuji, where his wife assisted in nursing him back to health. His people prayed for his recovery, bowing before flickering candles and bowls of billowing incense. He walked in the dust of ancient roads in occupied China and Southeast Asia, his piglet hands clutching at every piece of gold he found. Some were large, for example a dozen solid gold Buddhas, each weighing over a ton. He collected fine Asian art, and he appreciated jewelry, though not as much as his brother the Emperor. Chichibu gathered up the bounty and sent it off on fake hospital ships to various locations. With his cultivated taste and love of souvenirs, he did save some pretty jewels for his wife and daughters, not to mention a few objects to freshen up his palace.His belief in the sacred also motivated him to collect religious artifacts for the emperor. Hirohito responded to esthetics, or so he said, provided the objects were fabricated from gold or jade and encrusted with precious gems. He favored Shakyamunis, (Buddha, the lion of the Shakya tribe), Padmapanis, (queens of heaven), Tao-tieh (tiger-god) masks, and dragons. In time Chichibu seized so much treasure, it became physically impossible to move it to Japan, so he conscientiously stashed it in the Philippines, hiding it in over two hundred church vaults, bunkers, and underground tunnels. The hills were alive with the sound of coins clinking. In Ipoh, Malaysia, Chichibu melted gold and created bars of bullion bearing the stamp of the Golden Lily logo he helped design. The bounty still lurks in caves, and every so often, someone discovers a bit of it. A recently unearthed solid gold Philippine Buddha weighing close to a ton reportedly resides in a Zurich vault. - Ann Seymour, author of "I've Always Loved You"

Here you get 2 stories. The first is real which is a history of the imperial family in Japan from pre-Meiji to the current day (1998) and the origins of Japan Yakuza (mafia) and the founding principles that tie big business, the politicians and organized crime together. It's a worthwhile read as there is too little material about them. The story is interesting and nuanced. Seagrave's pace and confident claims make this a fun and easy book to read.How the imperial family was resurrected and the people who surrounded them in the 1860's through to the modern day is fascinating. As are the roots of Japan's politics, industry and organized crime all based on two rival clans from Kyushu competing and fighting for the past 1000 years. There are great sections early on about Japan 1850 to 1900 which I just had not had a chance to read elsewhere.This story shines a light on Hirohito and his brothers on just how active they were and complicit in the build up before and during WWII particularly in some of the major atrocities at Nanjing and the overall policy of complete and total war which entailed far greater death, torture and cruelty than ever seen before. This is a worthwhile account.The second story is a joke. Seagrave goes off into numbers neverland claiming the Japanese mined or stole and then hid 8,000 tons of gold. This is the amount that sits in Fort Knox and unlikely that the countries of Asia pre-1940 had accumulated anywhere near this amount of wealth. He claims that Sagawa delivery company was able to pay $1 billion in bribes on politicians in the 1960 and 1970's because they were the secret courrier of much of this pilfered wealth during the war (they did not exist in any form before 1960). And of course MacArthur is implicated with profiteering for hundreds of millions of dollars.On almost every page there are exaggerations or unsubstantiated hyper-claims that undermine any credibility Seagrave might have. He talks about Guaranty Trust as being part of JP Morgan since the 1920's which is definitely not the case. It merged in 1959 and the 2 companies had hardly known each other. His conversions between Yen and $'s is off by many many multiples and thus inflating at every opportunity.The footnotes are very selective. In one passage he claims MacArthur's staff was on the take and that Intelligence Officer Willoughby was on secretly selling Japan's gold (on whose behalf is never said). But in the footnotes Seagrave says in can never be proven but it must be the case! No where does he discuss whether or source is more or less credible. Given all the wild claims in the book this would seem to be required.Overall it is entertaining. There are some good discussion points but with factual errors on every page this cannot be taken seriously. Too bad. The subject deserves a good historian.

I bought this book to confirm my earlier suspicions about Japans' real objective in WWII. I was not disappointed and indeed believe it had nothing to do with empire building or being threathened but plain and simple LOOTING. I find that the imperial family of Japan is just a tool used by the political parties to pursue their goals even to this day.One should also read "Gold Warriors" by Sterling Seagrave for a broader understanding of how I have arrived at this conclusion. To confirm the real objective of Japan, then to find out that the United States of America and their CIA took advantage of the situation by recovering the looted treasure from the Philippines and used it to rebuild Japan after the war, instead of returning it to the counties they were looted from, is appaling. Makes you wonder where America's real interest are which requires more reading into U.S. investments in Japan prior to the war.

One of the hardest things is to get information about The powers behind the throne in Japan. In this well researched book, Sterling Seagrave has done his homework. We see how the emperors of Japan have been used and manipulated since Meiji Era (and before as well) but also we see their own personalities and flaws. We meet the true power brokers and learn why they have done the things they have ... to keep and accumulate more power. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about modern Japan from it's founding to present day.

Very well researched book on an almost secret subject

Very interesting book, however as others have pointed out there are some shaky facts here. This is a great book when used in conjunction with other study material.

It's hard to read this book as there is so much information in it to process.... You will probably need to take notes to keep track of who's who. Also, the print is so small in the edition I had that I had eyestrain all day.I don't think foreigners should talk about the book too much with the Japanese. You'll just make enemies. They don't need to hear about how evil their country and their 1% were until after the war.