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Japanese history
EMPEROR (Tenno)
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The earliest Japanese history books, the Kojiki and Nihon shoki, state that the first emperor was crowned in 660 BC (in reality it may have been several centuries later), and that he is a descendants of the Sun goddess, the most important goddess in Shinto. All emperors have been descendants of the same imperial family.
Almost throughout Japan's history, the power of the emperor (tenno) has been either limited or was purely symbolic. But all the actual rulers, from the Fujiwara and Hojo regents to the Minamoto, Ashikaga and Tokugawa shoguns have always respected the emperor and were keen in having the imperial legitimization for their position as rulers of Japan.

During the Edo period, nationalist scholars demanded that due to his heavenly descent, the emperor should be worshipped like a god and concluded that Japan is superior to other nations. Those theories were taught at Japanese schools until the end of World War II. From the restoration of emperor Meiji in 1868 until the end of World War II, the emperor was the constitutional and absolute leader over government and military. The effective power, however, first laid with the oligarchic genro and later the generals and admirals.

The constitution of 1946 states that the emperor has only a symbolic function. He now mainly participates at ceremonies and diplomatic meetings, but has no effective power in the government.

Since 1989, Akihito is the 125th Japanese emperor. His wife's name is Michiko. She is the first empress who did not come from the nobility. Akihito met her while playing tennis, and their love story is very famous among the Japanese.