As the governor of Japan during the US occupation following World War II, General Douglas MacArthur attempted to force the Japanese to adopt a constitution in which the Emperor was reduced from the status of a living deity to that of "a lawn ornament". After a series of public protest demonstrations, and the ritual suicide of three high-ranking samurai in MacArthur's patch of prize rose bushes, the General accepted a version of the constitution that designated the Emperor "the symbol of the state".