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The Heaven-Emperor : The mythological word in Japanese Constitution
Masanori Asami ( masanoriasami@lycos.com )
(May 23th, 2005)
English translation
of Japanese constitution translated by Japanese government(*1)
is not correct. For
the English translation translated by Japanese government of the name of the
Japanese
monarch(*2) is "the Emperor".
But correct traslation of the name of the Japanese monarch "
"
should be translated with "the Heaven-Emperor" or should
not be translated and be described as "Tennnou" acoording to Japanese
pronunciation . ("The Heaven-Emperor"means
"the Emperor from Heaven".For, according to
Japanese myth, Great Goddess of Sun-Shine in heaven send her grandson Ninigi to
govern human world, and his grandson is the first Heaven-Emperor
(*3))
Now, there are some free translators on the world-wide-web, I will explane it by the aid of the free translators.
English translation translated by Japanese government of " "
is "the Emperor".
Fig.1 Japanese constitution
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/etc/j01.html (HP of National Diet Library of Japan)
Fig.2.English translation of Japanese constitution translated by Japanese government
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/c01.html (HP of National Diet Library of Japan)
But, the Japanese logogram "天" means "heaven".Please copy & paste it into free translators below and translate it.
Dictionary.com-Translator ( http://dictionary.reference.com/translate/text.html )
AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation ( http://world.altavista.com/ )
Free Translation and language services ( http://free.translated.net/ )
SYSTRAN Language Translation Technology( http://www.systransoft.com/index.html )
And the Japanese logogram "皇" means "emperor".Please copy & paste it into free translators above and translate it.
Fig.3.translation of "天" by Dictionaru.com-translator
Fig.4.translation of "皇" by Dictionaru.com-translator
So, the Japanese logograms "天皇" should translate "the Heaven-Emperor", or should not be translated and be descibed as "Tennnou" acoording to Japanese pronunciation .
In Japanese, "the Emperor" of other empires are translated with or described as "皇帝"(*4). For example, the Emperor of Chinese Empire, the Emperor of Roman empire, the Emperor of Russian Empire, the Emperor of Indian empire (Mughal_Empire), the Emperor Napoleon of France, the Emperor of German Empire, the Emperor of Austro-Hungarian Empire are all translated with "皇帝".And Japanese people understand "天皇" is a kind of "the Emperor"or quite similar word.
Moreover, the ex-Japnese monarch (ex-Heaven-Emperor) Hirohito declared that he was not a living god(*5) in January 1st of 1946, the next year of Japanese surrender of world war II, so the mythological word "天皇"("the Heaven-Emperor") should not be used in Jpanese constitution, and the term "皇帝"("the Emperor"), or the term "国王"("the King of the country") should be used for the Japanese monarch instead of "天皇"("the Heaven-Emperor") in the constitution of Japan（November 3rd,1946).
But, as far as I know, no Japanese legal scholar of constitution mention about it.
Footnotes
(*1) See the HPs below.
HP of Official website of Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet of Japan
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html
HP of National Diet Library of Japan
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/etc/c01.html
(*2) Some of Japanese legal scholar of constitution think Japan is not a monarchy, and think there is no monarch in Japan now.
(*3) Ôno Yasumaro "Kojiki": the oldest book in Japan written in 8th century, in which Japanese history and myth were written.
English translation : Basil Hall Chamberlain "Records of Ancient Matters"
Japan has no accurate history before 6th centry, And the Imperial
Household Agency seldom permit archaeological excavation of the grave hill of
the ancient "
", and as far as I know the present ""his
majesty of Akihito does not cooperate mitochondrial DNA investigation
of cultural anthropology. And the crown prince of Japan, his highness of Naruhito
does not have mitochondrial DNA of so-called "Tensonzoku (from-heaven-people)",
for the ancestors of the mother of his highness were not ancient aristcrats.(
I think the ancestors of "
" came from the foot of Himalayan mountins, but it is very difficult to
get scientific evidence.)
And Japanese myth is written in one of the government recognized textbooks of history for junior-highschool, so some of Chinese and Korean People get angry about it.
(*4) "皇帝(the Emperor)" at Japanese Wikipedia
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/皇帝
"Emperor" at English Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor
"皇帝" at Chinese Wikipedia
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/皇帝
(*5) "Ningen-sengen (Declaration of human being)"(January 1st, 1946)
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/shiryo/03/056shoshi.html (English pge of National Diet Library HP)
> This Imperial Rescript was released on January 1, 1946.
> In it, Emperor Hirohito declares that he is not a living god and that the concept of the Emperor's divinity is not true.
http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/shiryo/03/056/056tx.html (Japanese page of National Diet Library HP)
The meaning of "
(Akitsumikami)" is "a living god",
same to "Arahitogami"(a god who is a human being).
See "Arahitogami" at English Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arahitogami