The emperor of Japan is the hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution of Japan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people,his position deriving from "the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power". The Imperial Household Law governs the line of imperial succession. Pursuant to his constitutional role as a national symbol,and in accordance with rulings by the Supreme Court of Japan,the emperor is personally immune from prosecution. By virtue of his position as the head of the Imperial House,the emperor is also recognized as the head of the Shinto religion,which holds him to be the direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu. According to tradition,the office of emperor was created in the 7th century BC,but the first historically verifiable emperors appear around the 5th or 6th centuries AD.
The word emperor can mean the male ruler of an empire. Empress,the female equivalent,may indicate an emperor's wife,mother/grandmother,or a woman who rules in her own right and name. Emperors are generally recognized to be of the highest monarchic honour and rank,surpassing kings. In Europe,the title of Emperor has been used since the Middle Ages,considered in those times equal or almost equal in dignity to that of Pope due to the latter's position as visible head of the Church and spiritual leader of the Catholic part of Western Europe. The emperor of Japan is the only currently reigning monarch whose title is translated into English as "Emperor".
The Chinese sovereign was the ruler of a particular monarchical regime in the historical periods of ancient China and imperial China. Sovereigns ruling the same regime,and descended from the same paternal line,constituted a dynasty. Several titles and naming schemes have been used throughout Chinese history.
Throughout Chinese history,"Emperor" was the superlative title held by the monarchs who ruled various imperial dynasties or Chinese empires. In traditional Chinese political theory,the emperor was the "Son of Heaven",an autocrat with the divine mandate right to rule all under Heaven. Emperors were worshiped posthumously under an imperial cult. The lineage of emperors descended from a paternal family line constituted a dynasty,and succession in most cases theoretically followed agnatic primogeniture. The emperor of China was an absolute monarch.
Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of the Sinosphere for the purpose of ancestor worship. The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during the Shang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by other dynastic regimes in the Sinosphere,with the notable exception of Japan. Temple names should not be confused with era names (年號),regnal names (尊號) or posthumous names (謚號).
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom,or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract,this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism,which advocates a monarchical system of government,but not necessarily a particular monarch. Most often,the term royalist is applied to a supporter of a current regime or one that has been recently overthrown to form a republic.
Korean monarchy existed in Korea until the end of the Japanese occupation and the defeat of Japan. After the independence and the installation of the Constitution that adopted republic system,the concept of nobility has been abolished,both formally and in practice.
For most of its history,China was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs. Beginning with the establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great c. 2070 BC,and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in AD 1912,Chinese historiography came to organize itself around the succession of monarchical dynasties. Besides those established by the dominant Han ethnic group or its spiritual Huaxia predecessors,dynasties throughout Chinese history were also founded by non-Han peoples.
A queen regnant is a female monarch,equivalent in rank,title and position to a king. She reigns suo jure over a realm known as a kingdom;as opposed to a queen consort,who is married to a reigning king;or a queen regent,who is the guardian of a child monarch and rules pro tempore in the child's stead or instead of her husband who is absent from the realm,be it de jure in sharing power or de facto in ruling alone. A queen regnant is sometimes called a woman king. A princess,duchess, or grand duchess regnant is a female monarch who reigns suo jure over a principality or (grand) duchy;an empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns suo jure over an empire.
The empress of Japan is the title given to the wife of the Emperor of Japan or a female ruler in her own right. The current empress consort is Empress Masako,who ascended the throne with her husband on 1 May 2019.
Son of Heaven,or Tianzi,was the sacred monarchial and imperial title of the Chinese sovereign. It originated with the Zhou dynasty and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. Since the Qin dynasty,the secular imperial title of the Son of Heaven was "Huangdi".
The House of Yi,also called the Yi dynasty,was the royal family of the Joseon dynasty and later the imperial family of the Korean Empire,descended from the Joseon founder Yi Seong-gye. All of his descendants are members of the Jeonju Yi clan.
This is a family tree of Chinese monarchs from the Yuan dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty.
Reigning Emperor or Majesty,according to protocol,is the honorific title used in Japan to refer to the current Emperor of Japan instead of using their personal name,as is done in the West. The only context where the personal name is used is when referring to their time before taking the throne.
Emperor at home,king abroad was a system of conducting relations between states within the Chinese cultural sphere. Rulers of lesser regimes would adopt the title of emperor and/or other imperial titles domestically,and adopt the title of king when dealing with the dominant Chinese regime. Instead of using the styles Imperial Majesty and Majesty (陛下),rulers of lesser realms were styled as Highness (殿下). This system was applicable to Japan,Korea and Vietnam,as well as less powerful Chinese states,among others.
The following is a family tree of Korean monarchs.
