The river of history often makes unforeseen turns, surmounts incredible rapids and waterfalls, and runs through precipices. This also applies to the destiny of monarchy and monarchs – the former God on the throne, the Messenger of Heaven, etc., may have his rights noticeably restricted due to abrupt social cataclysms and become a far from omnipotent symbol of national political unity and the guarantor of stability and peace. Without real power. No more and no less.
An amazing and illustrious example of this is the history of the Japanese monarchy, the first, incidentally, constitutional monarchy in Asia (if we do not take into account Thailand, which is a special case). A colorful and very ancient legend has it that emperors of Japan are direct descendants of the Sun goddess Amaterasu. This goddess inherited Earth and, some time later, sent her grandson Ninigi to rule the Japanese archipelago. When Ninigi was going to leave heaven, Amaterasu gave him three objects that were supposed to make his way easier: a bronze mirror, a precious stone necklace, and a sword. After receiving the things that were destined to become Japanese imperial regalia, Prince Ninigi descended from heaven onto the peak of Mount Takachiho on the island of Kyushu. He got married and, after some time, handed over the regalia to his grandson Jimmu, the first terrestrial emperor of Japan. Legend has it that Emperor Jimmu mounted the throne in 660 BC (!), but the first documental proof of the rule of this emperor as head of the Japanese state dates back to the early 5th century AD. Astonishingly, Japanese historiography claims that this dynasty is still reigning.
As a matter of fact, what is translated into English as “emperor” is rendered in the Japanese hieroglyphic original as tenno (“heavenly sovereign” – quite a characteristic definition). According to the Annals of Japan, an ancient historical source, Prince Regent Shotoku was the first to apply the title of tenno to a Japanese monarch in 608 AD. In all probability, the use of title of tenno by the leaders of the ancient Japanese state of Yamato was supposed to emphasize their divine origin and the sacral nature of their power. In addition to the main official title, the Japanese powers that be were also called arahitogami (“living god”), akitsumikami (“incarnation of a deity”), and hinomiko (son of the Sun”). Besides, Japanese emperors have no surnames (Akihito is a given name, the name of the current monarch). What is more, their lifetime names are tabooed – they are never mentioned in official sources in the Japanese language. After death, emperors are called with posthumous names that consist of two parts – the new personal name that glorifies the late emperor’s virtues and the title of tenno (“emperor”). For example, Emperor Mutsuhito (lifetime name) became to be called Meiji Tenno (“Emperor of Enlightened Rule”), Hirohito (emperor in 1923-89) was declared as Showa Tenno (“Emperor of the Enlightened World”) after 1989. Likewise, the whole era of his rule is referred to as Showa.
Here is a brief political history of the Japanese monarchy. There were times (e.g., in the 15th-16th centuries), when, in spite of the divine prestige that legitimized emperors, they were in fact debarred from ruling the country. Even the throne succession ceremony was conducted without any official protocol in those centuries. The ritual of appointing the monarch’s heir – the Great Son of the Emperor – was not performed from the 16th century on for 315 years. All the imperial ceremonies were restored as late as the 18th century in the era of the Tokugawa shogunate (a shogun was the first minister, the real ruler of the state).
The situation changed radically in 1868, when the shogunate was abolished (the so-called Meiji Restoration or Meiji Revolution). The direct imperial rule was restored. The state’s capital and the monarch’s residency were moved from Kyoto to Edo (now Tokyo). Almost like in ancient times, the emperor began to wield the highest political, religious, and military power in the country. (Interestingly enough, it is the Meiji Revolution that gave a noticeable impetus to Japan’s Westernization and Europeanization.) Tenno was proclaimed as the supreme autocratic ruler of the Japanese Empire, the divine and untouchable personality of arahitogami. He was granted the right to approve and promulgate laws passed by parliament, convene or dissolve the latter. The emperor himself, who was responsible for the observance of laws, could alter them at his own discretion “to increase the wellbeing of individuals.” He was also the head of executive power and the supreme commander of the armed forces, had the right to declare war and conclude international treaties. A new official cult of venerating the emperor’s Celestial ancestors was established.
Then there were the Russo-Japanese and the Japanese-Korean wars, the occupation of a major part of Asia – from China and Indonesia to the borders of Australia and British India, and, finally, a crushing defeat by the US (and by the USSR in 1945) in World War Two. There were Hiroshima and Nagasaki… Under the 1947 Constitution (one of the real authors of which was General MacArthur, commander of the US occupational army), the emperor of Japan was declared the “symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese nation,” but he was stripped of the right to interfere into governmental affairs. (Two years before that, Emperor Hirohito issued the Declaration of Humanity, whereby he voluntarily gave up his “divine nature.”) From then on, the Japanese monarch could only perform ceremonial functions and was to coordinate his actions with the government. It should be emphasized, though, that the nation is paying profound and sincere respect for both Hirohito (Showa) and his son, the current Emperor Akihito (on the throne since January 1989; he is expected to abdicate in the next few months for age and health reasons. A special law has been passed to this effect – Crown Prince Naruhito will become emperor for the first time in the country’s history), for they are true moral role models. For it is really not so little to be the guarantor of stability and national unity in a time of chaos and postmodernist “earthquakes” in human minds, political and philosophical confusion…
