Tenno is the Chinese-style designation for sover!.
eign. The designated Emperor, or Tenno, ruled by divinity and heredity. The Emperor was believed to be the direct descendant of the kami. Thus it was sacrilege to violate this divinity. The Japanese people believed this since no Emperor had ever been overthrown; however his position is mostly symbolic and he portrays a figurehead status. Though limited in power, all dominant statutes of power such as the Fujiwara and Hojo regents to the Minamoto, Ashikaga and Tokugawa shoguns have all respected the Emperor.
Today the imperial palace continues to reside in the Japanese capital city of Tokyo, formally known as Edo. As a result of World War II defeat, the Emperor declared his humanity and thus in the Japanese constitution the Emperors position is one of state symbol not divinity. Today's Emperor Heisei (Akihito) is the 125th Emperor and was crowned on November 12th, 1990.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL LINE:.
The very beginning of the Japanese imperial line was said to have been started by the mythical Divine Warrior Jimmu Tenno. Jimmu Tenno was believed to have been in direct blood line to the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu. As history unfolds the early accounts of Japanese history remains quite unclear. There are general notions of events, but because the Japanese did not have a writing system until the Heian Period, the Chinese were the ones who created many of the historical details. At the time in China, the Han Dynasty had written accounts of the once matriarchal society. One such account was the "History of the Wei Kingdom", or in Japanese it was "Gishiwa Jinden" (247 AD), in which describes Queen Himiko of Yamatai.
This historical account included the description of a hundred states, or tribes that seemed to be unified under the imperial clan headed by kings or queens, in which Queen Himiko in the Yayoi period, was mentioned.