A number of people were killed, as these finatics attempted to find and destroy the Imperial rescript (a recording of the Emperor's capitulation for radio broadcast to the Japanese people). This recording was hidden for several days by a couple of very brave servants during the coup and eventually, after the coup began to fall apart, was spirited into the radio station, and transmitted.
Only then could the plotters no longer maintain that they were acting on behalf of Hirohito, who they had claimed was being "betrayed by a cabal of cowards in the cabinet."
The story of the coup itself makes fascinating reading, but I just can't remember the name of the book, after all these years. I'll bet it could be found on the internet, though.
RE: What may not be widely known is that after the first bomb was dropped, and the Emperor’s advisers were attempting to end the war, a coup was begun by a number of military field-grade officers.
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I think you are referring to the Kyujo Incident (Kuyjo Jiken). That was an attempted military coup d’etat in Japan at the end of the Second World War. It happened on the night of 14 August 1945, just prior to announcement of Japan’s surrender to the Allies. The attempted coup was put into effect by the Staff Office of the Ministry of War of Japan and by many from the Imperial Guard of Japan in order to stop the move to surrender.
The officers, in an attempt to block the decision to surrender to the Allies, killed Lieutenant General Takeshi Mori of the First Imperial Guards Division and attempted to counterfeit an order from Hirohito.
They attempted to place the Emperor under house arrest, using the 2nd Brigade Imperial Guard Infantry. They failed to persuade the Eastern District Army (Japan) and the high command of the Imperial Japanese Army to move forward with the action. Due to their failure to convince the remaining army to oust the Imperial House of Japan, they ultimately committed suicide in traditional Japanese form.
The following books give an account of this:
1) Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire Paperback by Richard B. Frank
2) Japan’s War: The Great Pacific Conflict, 1853-1952 Hardcover by Edwin Palmer Hoyt