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In accordance with Chinese practice, the term ''tenshi'' (lit. "son of Heaven") was also common. In fact, a famous communication said to have been issued to the Chinese emperor by [[Shotoku Taishi|Shôtoku Taishi]] in [[607]], in which he wrote "from the Son of Heaven of the land of the rising sun, to the Son of Heaven in the land of the setting sun," this is the term used for both emperors.<ref name=shillony>Ben-Ami Shillony, "Restoration, Emperor, Diet, Prefecture, or: How Japanese Concepts were Mistranslated into Western Languages," ''Collected Writings of Ben-Ami Shillony'', Synapse (2000), 69-71.</ref>
In accordance with Chinese practice, the term ''tenshi'' (lit. "son of Heaven") was also common. In fact, a famous communication said to have been issued to the Chinese emperor by [[Shotoku Taishi|Shôtoku Taishi]] in [[607]], in which he wrote "from the Son of Heaven of the land of the rising sun, to the Son of Heaven in the land of the setting sun," this is the term used for both emperors.<ref name=shillony>Ben-Ami Shillony, "Restoration, Emperor, Diet, Prefecture, or: How Japanese Concepts were Mistranslated into Western Languages," ''Collected Writings of Ben-Ami Shillony'', Synapse (2000), 69-71.</ref>
The term ''tennô'' (C: ''tian huang'') is said to have originally had a strong association with the [[Taoist]] worship of the North Star, and was only ever used in China briefly, from around [[675]] to around [[705]]. Of course, it was during this period that the [[Yamato court]] adopted many aspects of Chinese political ideology. More standard terms for "emperor" in China include ''huang-di'' (J: ''kôtei'') and simply ''di'' (J: ''tei''), but in Japanese, these terms are only used to refer to non-Japanese emperors (e.g. including not only Chinese emperors, but also emperors of Rome or of the Holy Roman Empire).<ref name=shillony/>
The term ''tennô'' (C: ''tian huang'') is said to have originally had a strong association with the [[Taoist]] worship of the North Star, and was only ever used in China briefly, from around [[675]] to around [[705]]. Of course, it was during this period that the [[Yamato court]] adopted many aspects of Chinese political ideology. More standard terms for "emperor" in China include ''huang-di'' (J: ''kôtei'') and simply ''di'' (J: ''tei''), but in Japanese, these terms are almost exclusively only used to refer to non-Japanese emperors (e.g. including not only Chinese emperors, but also emperors of Rome or of the Holy Roman Empire). The term ''kôtei'' was only used to refer to the Japanese emperor, in Japanese, for a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and then only in communication with China, before the title ''tennô'' was formally adopted in 1936.<ref name=shillony/>
Regardless of which of these terms was employed, however, for much of Japanese history, Japanese rulers made a point of emphasizing that Japan, too, possessed a Son of Heaven, an "emperor," and not a "king" (国王, J: ''kokuô'', C: ''guo wang''). Regardless of how we might translate it (as "king" or otherwise), to be ruled by a ''koku-ô'', as [[Korea]] and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]] were, meant submission to Chinese suzerainty. The ''koku-ô'' of Korea and Ryûkyû received investiture from Chinese envoys, meaning that their legitimacy was, at least in some sense, derived from or dependent upon the Chinese emperor. Furthermore, in order to engage in official trade relations with China, one had to be a [[tribute|tributary]] state; that is, one had to pay tribute. This was something most shoguns, and Japanese emperors alike, refused to do, instead insisting upon their equality with the Chinese emperor, or their exclusion from the Sinocentric system entirely.
===In English===
===In English===
In present-day English, the "emperor of Japan" refers to the ''tennô'' 天皇, the monarch who has reigned over (but not necessarily ruled) Japan for virtually all of recorded history. However, it only became standard in English sometime after [[Perry|Perry's]] visit in [[1853]].
In present-day English, the "emperor of Japan" refers to the ''tennô'' 天皇, the monarch who has reigned over (but not necessarily ruled) Japan for virtually all of recorded history. However, it only became standard in English sometime after [[Perry|Perry's]] visit in [[1853]]. Indeed, the formal letters from US Presidents Fillmore and Pierce carried to Japan by Commodore Perry and [[Townsend Harris]] respectively all used the term "emperor" to refer to the shogun.<ref name=shillony/>
The 16th-century [[Jesuits]] more commonly used terms such as "nobleman," "king," or "prince," to refer to the ''tennô'', but hardly ever the term "emperor," if at all. Borrowing or imitating Japanese terms, they also often used terms such as ''mikado'' and ''dairi'' 内裏, the latter literally referring to the imperial palace, in much the same way we might today say "Washington" or "the White House" to mean the President of the United States. (The "emperor" doll in the [[Doll Festival]] set is still called the ''dairi'' today.)
The 16th-century [[Jesuits]] more commonly used terms such as "nobleman," "king," or "prince," to refer to the ''tennô'', but hardly ever the term "emperor," if at all. Borrowing or imitating Japanese terms, they also often used terms such as ''mikado'' and ''dairi'' 内裏, the latter literally referring to the imperial palace, in much the same way we might today say "Washington" or "the White House" to mean the President of the United States. (The "emperor" doll in the [[Doll Festival]] set is still called the ''dairi'' today.)
[[William Adams|Will Adams]], an Englishman who arrived in Japan in [[1600]], referred to [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], who became the first [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]] [[shogun]] in [[1603]], as "king" in a [[1611]] letter to his wife, and as "emperor" in a pamphlet of the same date. "Emperor" in Europe referred to someone who ruled over kings, so in the latter he was clearly indicating that Ieyasu ruled over all the various "kings" (i.e. the daimyô) who Europeans knew existed in Japan. The Englishmen who arrived in Japan with the [[British East India Company|East India Company]] in [[1613]] also referred to the then-retired shogun Ieyasu and the shogun [[Tokugawa Hidetada|Hidetada]] as "emperor," both in public and private.
[[William Adams|Will Adams]], an Englishman who arrived in Japan in [[1600]], referred to [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], who became the first [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]] [[shogun]] in [[1603]], as "king" in a [[1611]] letter to his wife, and as "emperor" in a pamphlet of the same date. "Emperor" in Europe referred to someone who ruled over kings, so in the latter he was clearly indicating that Ieyasu ruled over all the various "kings" (i.e. the daimyô) who Europeans knew existed in Japan. The Englishmen who arrived in Japan with the [[British East India Company|East India Company]] in [[1613]] also referred to the then-retired shogun Ieyasu and the shogun [[Tokugawa Hidetada|Hidetada]] as "emperor," both in public and private.
[[Richard Cocks]] mentioned the "''dairi''" in [[1616]], and [[Engelbert Kaempfer]], who came to the [[Dejima|Dutch settlement]] in [[1690]], referred to the ''tennô'' as the "Ecclesiastical Hereditary Emperor," though more frequently his use of the term "emperor" (as in "Embassy to the Emperor's court") referred to the shogun.
[[Richard Cocks]] mentioned the "''dairi''" in [[1616]], and [[Engelbert Kaempfer]], who came to the [[Dejima|Dutch settlement]] in [[1690]], described Japan as possessing "two Emperors at the same time, the one secular, the other ecclesiastical."<ref name=shillony/> Thus, he does refer to the ''tennô'' in [[Kyoto]] as the "Ecclesiastical Hereditary Emperor," though more frequently his use of the term "emperor" (as in "Embassy to the Emperor's court") referred to the shogun, in [[Edo]].
One sometimes comes across statements to the effect that during the [[Edo period]] the secretive Japanese told the Dutch that the shogun was the emperor, hiding the existence of the real emperor, but such statements are misconceptions deriving from a lack of familiarity with the history of early Japanese-European contact. It is clear that the Europeans, though they knew of the ''tennô'', chose "emperor" as the word most suitable to their minds to describe the shogun.
One sometimes comes across statements to the effect that during the [[Edo period]] the secretive Japanese told the Dutch that the shogun was the emperor, hiding the existence of the real emperor, but such statements are misconceptions deriving from a lack of familiarity with the history of early Japanese-European contact. It is clear that the Europeans, though they knew of the ''tennô'', chose "emperor" as the word most suitable to their minds to describe the shogun.
Today, the Emperor of Japan is the only reigning figure in the world to be called "emperor." Historian Ben-Ami Shillony, citing the fact that the ''tennô'' scarcely had any political power for the majority of the period [[1192]]-[[1867]], and that outside of [[1895]]-1945 Japan has never possessed an "empire," argues that the English-language term "emperor" is inapplicable. He suggests instead that ''tennô'' be used as is, just as foreign terms such as shah, tsar, sultan, and Dalai Lama are employed in English. There is considerable validity to this argument, as it pertains to the contemporary situation.<ref name=shillony/> However, as discussed above, there is great historical significance to Japan's possessing an "emperor," rather than a "king," in its hierarchical position in the region, relative to the Emperor of China and the Kings of [[Korea]] and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]]. So long as these terms are to be used for other states in the region, there is an argument to be made for the use of such terms for Japan as well.
==Notes==
==Notes==