How did Chinese emperors address the emperors of Japan?

中国皇帝怎么称呼日本皇帝的？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Lynne Li

Thanks for asking.

At an earlier time, they used King of Wa, or Queen of Wa, or 倭王 in Chinese. Centuries later, they used King of Japan, or 日本国王 in Chinese. The following are few examples.

谢谢关心。

早期中国皇帝用“倭国王”，或“倭国王后”，或“倭王”来称呼日本皇帝，几个世纪后开始称他们日本国王。下面我举一些例子。

In the History of the Kingdom of Wei, or 魏志 in Chinese, from the Records of the Three Kingdoms, or 三国志 in Chinese, 倭王 was mentioned. Here is a picture from that book. As you see, in the third vertical line, there were Chinese characters, 亲魏倭王卑弥呼, which could be translated as Pimiko, Queen of Wa, a friend of Kingdom of Wei. Here is a picture from the Records of the Three Kingdoms.

《三国志》中的《魏国史》，中文译名《魏志》中提到了倭王。这是那本书里的一张图片。在第三列竖线文字中，有几个汉字“亲魏倭王卑弥呼”，译为魏国的朋友，倭后皮米子。这是《三国志》里的一幅图。

In the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan sent a letter to Japan. Here is a photo of this letter. As you see, King of Japan, or 日本国王 in Chinese appeared on this document. These four Chinese characters were on the third vertical line in the upper picture.

元朝时，忽必烈给日本写了一封信。这张图片中就是这封信。这份文件上出现了“日本国王”的字样，在图片的第三列竖线上。

In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle sent a letter to Japan. As you see, in the second vertical line, there were Chinese characters, 尔国王. 尔 means you in classcial Chinese. Since the word Japan, or 日本 in Chinese, already appeared in the first vertical line, 尔国王 here means King of Japan, or 日本国王 in Chinese. Actually, in this letter, what the King of Japan, or 日本国王 in Chinese, referred to was Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate.

明朝永乐皇帝给日本写了一封信。在第二列竖线中，有汉字“尔国王”。尔在古典汉语中是你的意思。因为第一列竖线上已出现了“日本”一词，所以这里的“尔国王”便是日本国王的意思。但实际上这封信中的日本国王指的是足利幕府的第三任幕府将军足利义满。

Western Decline

The emperor of China addressed the leader of Japan as king.

There is only one emperor, and the leaders of other countries are kings.

中国皇帝称日本领导人为国王。

世界上只有一个皇帝，其他国家的领导人都是国王。

Mark Ericson

I believe they called them kings, if they called them at all, as per protocol in the Chinese tributary system of international relations. The Chinese emperor was the only “emperor” and every other ruler was a subordinate “king.” However, no Japanese political ruler accepted this Chinese subordinate kingly status after the 5th century (except the Shogun Yoshimitsu for a few years in the early 15th century). Reminds me of the famous greeting sent to the Chinese emperor on behalf of Empress Suiko which read “from the Emepror in the land of the rising sun to the Emperor in the land of the setting sun.” The Chinese emperor was not amused.

我相信他们称日本皇帝为王，这是依据中国附属国关系体系的约定礼节。中国皇帝是天下唯一的“皇帝”，其他统治者都是从属的“国王”。但在5世纪之后，日本的统治者就不再接受中国的从属国王地位了(除了15世纪初的幕府将军足利义满接受过几年)。这让我想起了推古天皇写给中国皇帝的那句著名的问候：“日出处天子致日落处天子。”中国皇帝很是不悦。

Takeru Iseya

A2A

King of Japan, 倭国王 or 日本国王. In their Sinocentrism, the only emperor is the Chinese emperor. Other countries are subordinate to “Chinese” dynasties. So their rulers are subordinate to the “Chinese” emperors and used the world 王, king, instead of 皇, the emperor.

谢邀。

日本王，倭国王或日本国王。在他们的以中国为中心的思想中，天下唯一的皇帝就是中国皇帝，其他国家只能从属于“中国”王朝，所以其他国家的统治者从属于“中国”皇帝，只能称王、国王，而非皇、皇帝。

But the Japanese used the word 天皇 (ten-no), emperor, for their own rulers in letters to Chinese dynasties since at least the 7th century. But since the 9th century, there were no diplomatic relations between the two countries, so there is no letter.

但至少从7世纪开始，日本在给中国各王朝的信件中就用天皇来尊称他们自己的统治者。但自9世纪以来，两国之间没有外交关系，也没有书信往来。

William Tang

They never met. Communicate through emissaries. Japan was considered a tribute state.

他们从未见过面，只是通过使者交流。日本被视为中国的朝贡国。

Gwydion Madawc Williams

Related

What is the difference between Chinese emperor and Japanese emperor?

中国皇帝和日本皇帝有什么不同?

Two major difference:

有两个主要区别：

The Emperor of China claimed to be Universal Ruler. The Emperor of Japan did not.

Anyone could become Chinese Emperor, without descent from previous rulers. Indeed, I think the Han dynasty was the only one to get restored, and that after a break of less than a generation. Whereas Japan had a single dynasty and only fairly direct descendants. (There was a period with two rival Emperors.)

中国的皇帝声称自己是世界的统治者。但日本天皇不是。

任何人都能当中国皇帝，甚至和前任皇帝没有血缘关系也可以。事实上，我认为汉朝是唯一一个在中断了不到一代人的时间内又恢复了正统的朝代。而日本只有一个王朝，只有直系后裔。(历史上有过一段两个皇帝并立的时间)

It was also true that the Japanese Emperors were for much of history replaced by Shoguns when it came to actual power.

还有个事实是，在历史上大部分时间日本天皇都被幕府将军所取代。

Bharat Bhushan Wadhwa

Chinese emperors traditionally addressed the emperors of Japan as "King of Wa" or "King of Japan". "Wa" is the Chinese term for Japan, and it was used as a way to express China's hegemony over Japan and its belief that China was the center of the civilized world. The Chinese emperor considered himself the "Son of Heaven" and the ruler of all under heaven, and thus in his eyes, the Japanese emperor was considered a subordinate ruler.

中国皇帝传统上称日本皇帝为“倭王”或“日本王”。“倭”是中国对日本的称呼，曾经用于表示中国对日本的霸权，以及中国是文明世界中心的观点。中国皇帝认为自己是“天子”，是天下的统治者，因此在他眼里，日本皇帝只是一个从属统治者。

During the Edo period, Japan's relations with China were limited and controlled by the Tokugawa shogunate, which sought to maintain its own power and independence by limiting contact with the outside world. This included limiting the way Japan was addressed by China and other foreign countries. Japan adopted a policy of "Sakoku" (closed country) and the Chinese-Japanese relations were limited to the tribute system, where Japan sent envoys to China to pay homage to the Chinese emperor and reaffirm the tributary relationship.

在江户时代，日本与中国的关系受到德川幕府的限制和控制，幕府试图通过限制与外界的接触来维持自己的权力和独立。他们禁用中国和其他国家对日本的称呼日本。日本执行了“闭关锁国”政策，中日关系仅限于朝贡，日本派遣使臣到中国朝拜中国皇帝，重申朝贡关系。

Yonghan Ching

Related

In terms of position and powers, etc., what were the major differences between a Chinese emperor and a Japanese emperor?

For a centuries, until the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese Emperor does not hold real power. The real power resides in the Shogun's court.

The Emperor's power was returned during the Meiji era. A Constitution was enacted during that time as well, but the Emperor has a lot of power similar to the German Kaiser.

在地位和权力等方面，中国皇帝和日本皇帝有什么主要区别？

明治维新前的几个世纪日本天皇一直没有实权。真正的权力都掌握在幕府将军手中。

日本天皇的权力在明治时代得以恢复。当时日本制定了宪法，但皇帝拥有类似于德国皇帝的很多权力。

It is until after WW II did the American occupying forces forced the amendment of the Japanese Constitution and made the Japanese Emperor a figurehead, vesting powers to three branches of government similar to the west.

Before the constitutional amendment, the Japanese Emperor was regarded as a deity.

第二次世界大战后，美国驻军迫使日本修改宪法，日本天皇成了一个有名无实的元首，将权力让渡给了与西方国家类似的三个政府部门。

在修宪之前，日本天皇被视为神。

China lost its Emperor when the last Emperor, Aisin Gioro Puyi, abdicated the throne in 1911.

Before that, Emperors have been consolidating power little by little. An Emperor in the Tang dynasty had less nominal power than his counterpart in the Ming or Qing dynasty.

1911年，中国历史上最后一位皇帝溥仪退位，中国自此不再有皇帝了。

在此之前，皇帝们一直在逐步巩固自己的权力。唐朝皇帝的权力就不如明朝或清朝皇帝的权力。

Because a Qing emperor has tremendous power, he needs to call the shots daily, reading and responding to petitions from every corners of the country. Some Emperors actually died of overworking.

The Chinese Emperors were not regarded as deities. They were refered to as 'sons of heaven' but their power comes with a condition, that they must take care of the ordinary people's wellbeing. Else, power could shift to someone else - a concept known as “Mandate of Heaven”.

正因为清朝皇帝拥有着很大的权力，每天都需要发号施令，批阅全国各地呈递上来的奏折，导致有些皇帝死于过度劳累。

中国皇帝不是神。他们被称为“天子”，但他们的权力是有条件的：他们必须担负普通百姓的福祉。否则，权力可能会转移到其他人身上——这就是所谓的“天命”。

PubliusKa

Chinese Emperors simply did not address Japanese Emperors mostly, because Japanese Emperors were mere figureheads most of the time and held no power. Japanese Shoguns were addressed as Kings a few times, because they were the ones who had real power.

中国皇帝基本上不会跟日本皇帝对话，因为日本皇帝大多数时候都是有名无实的领导人，没有实权。中国曾将日本将军称为国王，因为他们才是拥有实权的统治者。

Hantani Sadahiko

Related

Why hasn’t Japan changed emperors frequently like China?

That's because the Emperor is a Shinto pope.

The grandson of Amaterasu Omikami, a Shinto god, is the emperor's ancestor.

In other words, the emperor's most important job is to enshrine his ancestor, the god of Shintoism.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the Edo Shogunate, also believed deeply in Shinto and did not interfere with the emperor's Shinto festivals.

And it continues to this day.

为什么日本不像中国那样频繁更换天皇？

那是因为天皇是神道教教皇。

日本神道教之神——天照大神的孙子是天皇的祖先。

换句话说，天皇最重要的工作是供奉他的祖先——神道教之神。

建立江户幕府的德川家康也深信神道教，不干涉天皇的神道节日。

这种情况一直延续到今天。

"京(Kyo)" means "帝都(Teito)," that is, "the capital where the Imperial Palace is.".There used to be Fujiwara-kyo, Heijo-kyo, Nagaoka-kyo and Heian-kyo in Japan. This is modeled after Changan in China.

Therefore, there is a theory that the current Imperial Palace in Tokyo is too small for the Emperor to live in, so the capital of Japan may still be Kyoto.

The Emperor lived in Kyoto Imperial Palace until the Meiji Restoration.

The current location of Kyoto Imperial Palace was built in 1331 and used for about 500 years until Emperor Meiji in 1869.

“京”的意思是“帝都”，即“皇宫所在的都城”。过去日本仿照中国的长安建造了藤原京、平祖京、长冈京和平安京。

所以学者们提出一种理论，认为目前东京的皇宫太小，天皇无法居住，所以日本的首都可能仍然是京都。

直到明治维新前，天皇一直住在京都皇宫。

京都皇宫的现址建于1331年，使用了大约500年，直到明治天皇于1869年登基。

Mayumi Suzuki

Related

Is the Emperor of Japan popular?

The current Emperor is hugely popular in Japan.

He first won the hearts of the Japanese people by marrying a non-royal. Then he decided that he and the (then) Crown Princess would be directly involved in the raising of their children, rather than handing them off to wet nurses to be raised separately.

日本天皇受到民众欢迎吗？

现任天皇在日本非常受欢迎。

他先是因为迎娶了平民太子妃而赢得了日本人民的心。他还决定要和(当时的)皇太子妃亲自参与抚养他们的孩子，而不是把孩子交给奶妈分开抚养。

As the Crown Prince, he visited Okinawa as part of the Royal Family’s unofficial apology for what the Okinawans had gone through during the war and, despite being attacked by leftist extremists during the visit, insisted on following his original itinerary. Together with the Empress, he has made it his mission to tour various locations that were devastated by WWII to pay his respects.

作为王储，他访问了冲绳，以皇室成员身份为冲绳人在战争期间的经历进行了非正式道歉。尽管在访问期间遭到了左翼极端分子的袭击，但他仍坚持进行原定行程。他和皇后一起，将巡视二战中遭受破坏的地区作为自己的使命，借此来表达他的敬意。

He has taken his role as the “symbol” of Japan (as set out in the constitution) to heart, being quick to visit areas hit by natural disaster, and made headlines by kneeling and sitting on the floor to listen to survivors—a practice that he continues to this day despite his advanced age.

他将自己作为日本“象征”的责任铭记于心（这是宪法规定的），他毫不犹豫地前往遭受自然灾害的地区，并因跪在地上或坐在地上和幸存者交流而成为头条新闻——尽管年事已高，他依然这么做。

When Tokyo was hit by rolling blackouts after the earthquake in 2011, he insisted on powering down the Imperial Palace at the same time as the blackouts so that he could share the difficulties borne by ordinary citizens.

2011年地震后，东京出现轮动停电，他也坚决要求在停电时为皇宫断电，与普通市民共渡难关。

He is so popular, in fact, that when he went public with his desire to abdicate last year, the public’s reaction was to express gratitude and sympathy for all his hard work.

The Crown Prince has some pretty big shoes to fill.

他太受民众欢迎了，所以在他公开表示考虑退位时，民众都对他的辛勤工作表示感激和体恤。

王储要承担繁重的工作职责。