Eli5: Why is the Japanese emperor an emperor if Japan is not an empire and doesn’t have a king or multiple Kings below him?
In: Other
One part of it is the title puts the Japanese Emperor on a par with the Emperor of China. So technically equals. Since China refused to recognise any other state as equal, this made diplomacy awkward, but avoided any formal recognition of subordination on the part of the Japanese (so it put them above Korean or other ‘kingdoms’).
Under the Tokugawa, Ming and later Manchu would not receive Japanese diplomats, so the two sides conversed through intermediaries – Tsushima, Ryukyu and frequent meetings at the Korean court.
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