Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Japan is the absolute ruler of Japan, the head of the Imperial Family of Japan, who historically was considered to be given the divine right to rule by the gods. The Emperor of Japan is the only world leader who maintains the title of “emperor.”

The Imperial House of Japan in the oldest in the world, reaching back some 1700 years into the late Kofun Period. However, traditional accounts push the time of the first emperors and the foundation of Japan back much further.

The Emperor of Japan has its origins around 600 CE. The Japanese word for this title written in Kanji — literally “Chinese characters” as the fundamental aspect of the Japanese writing system are the Chinese characters imported from China — using the characters for “heaven” and “child”.

Together, these characters for the Japanese title define the Emperor of Japan as the “Son of Heaven”, pronounced in Japanese as tenshi. Although is proper to apply the honorific -sama at the end — tenshi-sama.

(Although I don’t know this for sure, I bet that historically speaking, if you were one of the few who gained an audience with tenshisama and did not use the honorific — probably if you spoke in their presence at all unless specifically ordered to d so — this would cost your your life. Again, I don’t know this for sure … but I would bet on it, gun to my head.)

The Nihon Shiki remembers that Japan was founded by Emperor Jimmu in 660 BCE. Jimmu was the first descendent of the Japanese sun god, Amaterasu. Though modern historians generally regard this date as arbitrary, and recognize that the first emperor of Japan, and the eight that followed Jimmu, were mythical. [1]

The role of the emperor in Japan has oscillated between true imperial leader and a symbolic figurehead upholding ceremony and tradition. Since the establishment of the first shogunate in 1199 the Emperors of Japan have rarely taken the role of a leader in battle, unlike many Western monarchs. [1] In this way, while the divine authority of the emperor was absolute, in practice there were others powers who wielded more direct authority. Military power and political powers, such as held by the shogun warlords.

List of Emperors

1. Emperor Jimmu
2. a
3. a
4. a
5. a
6. Sujin [148 – 30 BCE] The first emperor with a real possibility of being put on historical foundations.
7. Emperor Keiko
8. Emperor Ingyo [376 – 453 CE] Emperors from Keiko to Ingyo are considered as possibly factual.
9. Emperor Kinmei [c.509 – 571] The first emperor to whom contemporary historiography