Japanese Imperial Institution Essay

The earlier history of the imperial institution explains the peculiar position which it occupied among the institutions of Tokugawa Japan, and helps to account for the particular mixture of political and non-political characteristics which the throne came to assume. The antiquity of the institution is its most striking feature and it is the oldest hereditary office in the world. The exact age of the Japanese imperial throne is indeterminable. Japanese mythology assigns as exact date, February 11, 660.BC to the accession of the first emperor. The earliest emperor recorded in Kojiki and Nihon Shoki is Emperor Jimmu, who is said to be a descendant of Amaterasu’s grandson Ninigi who descended from Heaven. According to the Nihon shoki, the emperors have an unbroken male lineage that goes back more than 2600 years. One of the special characteristics of the Emperor was that his position is held by the authority of Heaven’s Command or Mandate. Great stress was laid on signs and omens which might indicate heaven’s approval or the opposite. Natural catastrophes could be taken as proof of the son of Heaven’s failure to regulate the elements. The concept of the way of the King involved the nature of the ruler, the nature of sovereignty and the method of administration. The ruler was

Prince Shotoku and Empress Suiko created Japan’s first constitution and established Buddhism as the country’s dominant religion. Emperor Kammu established a new capital in Kyoto and made efforts to free the emperor from the web of entrenched bureaucracy and the court’s increasing preoccupation with the pursuit of arts and literature led to a situation where the real powers were occupied by the posts of regent. During the 14th century, Japan was ruled by a number of shoguns and until Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun the Japan was united and the imperial institution regained some of it past