Who is Tenno, Japanese Emperor?

Is Tenno Japanese Emperor?

Who is Tenno? It is a politically sensitive topic in Japan, so I will try to approach it without being political. Current Japanese political system is similar to the U.K.; it has a monarchy and an elected parliament (which is called Japanese Diet). Both the British royal family and Japanese Tenno family are a family of a monarch.

However, there is an interesting difference as to where the family came from. In Britain, the first King was Egbert (Ecgberht), who was king of the West Saxons from 802 to 839. He was a REAL person whose father was king in Kent. On the other hand, Japanese Tenno claimed that his family members were descendants of mythological deities.

Tenno as descendants of mythological deities

Unlike monarchs (kings or emperors) in other regions who rose to power by conquering people and other states, ancient Japanese Tenno claimed that his supremacy was a given, as he inherited the blood lines of mythological deities that created his country. Turn back the clock to 8th century when then-Tenno ordered some intellectuals to compile mythological legends to solidify the roots of his families. One of such literature is 古事記 (Kojiki, 712 AD), that has the story known as the “country making legend.” It goes like this: in ancient world, the land was just wobbly, spongy mass drifting in the ocean. The gods in the celestial place decided to send some of their people down to stabilize the land so that a fertile country can be created. Two of them, Izanagi and Izanami, came down to this world, landed on a bridge, and stirred the ocean. They splashed some droplets, which became a small island. So they landed on it, got married, and “gave birth” to a series of islands, which became the major Japanese islands as we know today. That was the narrative the ancient Japanese Tenno used as to how Japan was “created.” It’s totally different from the rest of the world, in which the origin of a country is based on real events such as a regional leader X becomes king by winning war Y. But the ancient Tenno wanted people to believe that the deities of Mother Nature created Japan.

Izanagi and Izanami, the two deities who came from the celestial place, continued giving birth to more deities, who were assigned different tasks to grow the newly-created country. Among them was Amaterasu Omikami, (the Goddess of the Sun), who is believed to be the direct ancestor of the Tenno family.

It’s important to remember that Tenno’s status as the supreme being in Japan was given, not fought for. Because of that, the only thing that mattered was the blood line. The notion helped shape ancient Japanese regime in which Tenno’s status was never to be contested. For Japanese, trying to deny Tenno’s blood line almost meant denying the roots of your own country.

Tenno as the leader of the Chotei administrations

The influence of the ancient regime that had Tenno as the supreme leader was limited to Western Japan. But in 6th century, the ruling families started introducing more advanced ancient Chinese bureaucratic administration system and became increasingly powerful. By 8th century, the system was called 朝廷 (chotei), created by copying ancient Chinese bureaucratic administrative system. Chotei was located in capital (Nara until 8th century and Kyoto after that) and included Tenno, the ultimate decision maker, and a couple hundred of high-ranking bureaucrats called 貴族 (aristocrats) who worked for Tenno on different areas. The status of aristocrats was inherited by blood lines just like Tenno.

One of the peculiar aspects of chotei system was that Tenno and aristocrats basically had to rely only on their blood lines to justify their supremacy. They didn’t really have their own armed forces. This is another stark difference between Tenno and other monarchs who were almost always their respective clan’s commander-in-chief. It has to do the fact that Tenno family was believed to be descendants of natural deities. Their supremacy couldn’t be contested. When conflicts happened, Tenno and aristocrats used local leaders that controlled armed groups (who were often peasants). Local groups obeyed supreme leaders most of the time, but as the time went on, the relationships started changing.

The emergence of samurai

In the beginning, local armed groups were scattered in different regions, and their influence was limited. But over time, they became more affluent, organized and powerful. By the Middle Ages, leaders of these groups became real threats to Tenno and chotei. They were called 武士 (bushi, or better known as samurai outside Japan), meaning warrior. It’s obvious that armed groups can dominate non-armed groups. Samurai groups started to overwhelm chotei. Eventually, a clan called Minamoto eventually took power in 12th century and started 幕府 (bakufu) administration system. The top of the bakufu was called 将軍 (shogun), virtually the most powerful man in the country.

However, no shoguns tried to topple Tenno to become the sole ruler of the country. Even the most powerful ones never dared to do so. For them, denying Tenno’s blood line meant denying their own country, which was the most un-patriotic thing. They never wanted to be remembered a traitor. As a result, they run their administration separate from chotei. At least, bakufu and shogun pretended that their administration wasn’t messing with chotei and claimed that they only regulated samurai people. They maintained a delicate balance so that Tenno and chotei could believe that bakufu respected them, even when in reality they implemented as many rules as possible to limit Tenno and aristocrats’ power.

Tenno as Japan’s symbol

Shogun and Tenno’s relationships hang on a delicate balance for hundreds of years during the era of bakufu administration (from 12th to 19th century). More than often, shogun had more power. But even so, no shogun had eternal supremacy like Tenno; regional samurai leaders had to keep fighting to maintain or increase their influence. They came and went, and different clans took power during the bakufu era. Whenever power struggles among samurai clans intensified, they fought hard. When they fought, it became really important which side Tenno was on. If Tenno himself supported clan A, clan B sought support from Tenno’s son who had a chance to be the next Tenno. For samurai leaders who lacked authentic blood lines, Tenno meant legitimacy. 

Tenno in modern era

The sentiment that the Tenno family symbolizes Japan has been shared by many people. I will discuss more about it in the next post.