Relatives Flock to Bedside of Ailing Hirohito

Imperial family members were summoned to Emperor Hirohito’s bedside Saturday as his temperature rose and doctors stepped up the pace of blood transfusions. The frail monarch appeared to improve slightly by nightfall.

Japan closed the first week of its vigil over the 87-year-old emperor, whose 62-year reign is a record for a living monarch. Thousands of people thronged the gates of the Imperial Palace. More than 175,000 have inked their names in registries throughout Japan praying for his recovery.

A steady stream of imperial relatives arrived in black sedans after the palace announced that Hirohito’s temperature was rising rapidly. By mid-afternoon it had hit 102.6 degrees, the highest since Hirohito vomited blood after an intestinal hemorrhage late Monday. The fever dropped to 100.2 on Saturday evening.

Physicians gave the emperor 1.28 pints of blood through the day after finding signs of more intestinal bleeding. They had given him 0.85 pints Friday, bringing the total since Monday to 4.68 pints.

Aside from two small ice cubes Thursday, the emperor has been unable to take food and continues to receive intravenous feeding through a vein in his arm.

For the first time since the crisis began, palace officials acknowledged that Hirohito’s condition is serious.

Imperial Household Agency spokesman Kenji Maeda chastised media reports that said the emperor is near death. The agency filed a complaint against the Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second-largest national daily, after it ran a story in its evening editions under the banner headline “Emperor In Serious Condition” saying Hirohito is dying of pancreatic cancer.

“The position of the Imperial Household Agency is not to allow such (speculation) while the emperor is still conscious and fighting his illness,” Maeda said.

Crown Prince Akihito, who assumed the imperial duties Thursday, continued his daily shuttles to his father’s Fukiage Palace from his nearby residence. Under the constitution, the emperor has no real power but signs documents already approved by the government and serves as a symbol of Japan.

Akihito was joined by Prince Mikasa, Hirohito’s younger brother; princesses Chichibu and Takamatsu, his widowed sisters-in-law, and Prince Hitachi, his second son.

Maeda said they spoke briefly with the emperor.

Prince Aya, Akihito’s son, plans to interrupt his studies at Britain’s Oxford University to return to Japan soon, the palace said.

Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno canceled plans to leave for New York today to attend the U.N. General Assembly, the ministry said.

Other Cabinet ministers have also canceled plans to leave Tokyo.