Retired Emperor, Grand Emperor, or Emperor Emeritus is a title occasionally used by the monarchical regimes in the Sinosphere for former emperors who had (at least in name) abdicated voluntarily to another member of the same dynasty, usually their sons. This title appeared in the history of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Although technically no longer the reigning sovereign, there were instances like the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty of China or several emperors of the Trần dynasty of Vietnam, where the retired emperor continued to exert considerable if not more power than the reigning emperor.
Retired Emperor | |||||||||
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Chinese name | |||||||||
Chinese | |||||||||
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Vietnamese name | |||||||||
Vietnamese alphabet | Thái thượng hoàng | ||||||||
Chữ Hán | |||||||||
Korean name | |||||||||
Hangul | 태상황 | ||||||||
Hanja | |||||||||
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Japanese name | |||||||||
Kanji | |||||||||
Hiragana | だいじょうてんのう だじょうてんのう | ||||||||
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China
editThe title is named in Chinese as Taishang Huang (Chinese:
Japan
editIn Japan the title was Daijō-tennō (kanji:
The last Daijō-tennō died in 1840. During the 2019 Japanese imperial transition, the term Jōkō was revived as a special exception to the house law on retirement, and given the official English translation "Emperor Emeritus".
Korea
editIn Korean the title was Sang-hwang (Hangul: 상황; Hanja:
Vietnam
editIn Vietnam the title was Thái thượng hoàng (Chữ Nôm:
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Liu Taigong is a common reference to him, but not his name. His name is disputed.