Page 22 - Chinese works of art and paintings, March 19 Bonhams

Hidenari Terasaki, the transcriber of Emperor Hirohito’s
famous Dokuhakuroku, sold Bonhams New York, Voices of
the 20th Century, lot 1254, was a fluent English-speaking
Japanese diplomat, married to an American, who on
February 20 1946 assumed the special post of ‘Liason
Officer to the Imperial Household’. He had the responsibility
of interpreting for Emperor Hirohito and advising him on his
dealings with General Douglas MacArthur (Herbert P. Bix,
“The Showa Emperor’s ‘Monologue’ and the Problem of
War Responsibility’, The Journal of Japanese Studies, 18/2
Summer 1992, p. 357). Terasaki was an elite Japanese
diplomat who played a pivotal role in relations between his
country and the United States, first in 1941 and again in
1946. In 1931, Terasaki married Gwen Harold, an American
from Tennessee, and following postings in Shanghai,
Havana and Beijing, was appointed in 1941 head of Western
Intelligence and transferred to Washington, where, despite
his position, he is thought to have tried to make a desperate
failed attempt to have a cable sent directly from President
Roosevelt to the Emperor, appealing for peace. After Pearl
Harbor, he, his wife and daughter Mariko were interned and
then repatriated to Japan in 1942. He moved away from
diplomatic life, living in a mountain village, often close to
starvation, but after Japan’s unconditional surrender, Terasaki
was recalled to Tokyo and, with his experience, became the
liaison between Emperor Hirohito and General MacArthur.
Terasaki and his wife Gwen became a useful bridge
between the two sides in these opening years of American
occupation and they were visited by many of the senior
American officers. Terasaki retired from his post in 1948 for
health reasons, his wife and daughter returned to the US
the following year. He died in Japan in 1951. Gwen wrote a
biography of their life together, and a 1961 movie, Bridge to
the Sun, took the book’s name as its title.

The following two lots, figure of Maitreya (lot 8028) and the
rare jun-type purple glazed bowl (lot 8029) were acquired
by Terasaki sometime prior to 1941, when he was stationed
in Shanghai and Beijing. The Maitreya is recorded in Gwen
Terasaki Bridge to the Sun, Rock Creek Books, 2017, p. 204.

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