Having taken a quarter-century to compile, the project relied on some 40 new sources, most notably the diary and notes of Saburo Hyakutake, an admiral who served as Court Chamberlain from 1936 to 1944. But, while acknowledging the enormous scale of the undertaking, specialists seem to agree that the new account offers no earth-shattering findings or innovative interpretations concerning Hirohito’s many and changing roles in the most tumultuous period of Japan’s modern history.
裕仁实录的编纂经历了四分之一世纪，其材料包括40多项新资料，其中最令人瞩目的是1936—1944年担任天皇侍从长的百武三郎的日记和笔记。但是，专家们尽管认可裕仁实录规模之浩大，但似乎也一致认为这份新实录并没有提出震撼性发现，或对裕仁在日本现代史最喧嚣时期中的众多变化的角色提出创新性解读。