WHY?

>Emperor Jimmu is based of the Yellow Emperor. . .
Interesting. I've never heard of this before. Can you point me to a source about this idea?

Because Qin Shi Huang is quite literally the first Emperor of Chinese history. He was the first 皇帝 (Huangdi). Which in English translates as emperor. Solely because the title is above 王 (Wang), which means "King." Or plainly "monarch of any other kind."

For starters: Pre-Qin China isn't even considered Imperial China. The Shang were ruled by Priest-Kings. The Zhou were ruled by Feudal Kings of the Jin Clan. Then you had the subsequent states ruled by their individual Kings. We have no idea who the fuck were the once that preceded these people- memefully just called Xia- and they were probably tribal nignogs or some shit. Second, in those times China wasn't, well, China, it was the Shang Kingdom/Zhou Kingdom/ Bajillions of Kingdoms of the Post-Zhou period.

During the Warring States- when China resembled warring kingdoms of medieval Europe- increasing numbers of people envisioned the land as one unified centralized state which would be better than the feudal clusterfuck that was the states. This came to fruition when Qin unified the states into one empire, along with a new title he introduced so that people understood that his rule and the state he's gonna build mattered more than the local divisions of the realm. Hence 皇帝 translates to Emperor.

As for Japan, the "Empire" really only started following the ascendancy of Yamataikoku (The Yamato State) over much of Southwestern Japan by the 200s AD. However Japan didn't really have an "Emperor" until contact with China, who called Japan's Monarch a 王 (King). This would've been fine for Japan, however Old Japan does use the Chinese script and Classical Chink lingo, and it places 王 below the title of Chinese Emperor, which didn't sit well with them. Since they can't use the Chinese term for Emperor, they have to come up with some lofty sounding, imperial titile. Coming up with 天皇 (Tenno) or "Heavenly Sovereign" instead sometime by the 600s-700s AD.

>The Shang were ruled by Priest-Kings
I've heard they used "Oracle bones" or whatever to ask ancestors various questions. I do recall learning that they used to this predict "crops" and whatnot, but is there any information on the more expanded use of these oracle bones? Like making political decisions?

contd. though for all of Japan's efforts at putting up imperial airs, internationally in Asia, the Emperor of Japan was known as the "King of Wa" or "King of Japan" for a very long time, up until the late 1800s.

Making matters worse is the fact that the Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, and other foreigners don't know what the fuck to call the Shogun of Japan, so they also called him "King of Japan." Even the Europeans did: the Spaniards in the Philippines called the Shogun of Japan "King of Japan," mistaking Hideyoshi's name with the capital of Japan (Kyoto, also called Miyako back then), and calling Toyotomi "King Miaco of Japan."

>-1911
delete this now
t. Admiral Tojo

But why legendary Japanese Emperors elovated at the same level as Qin ShiHuangDi?
Hell, Seeker Daily made a video about oldest countries in the world where Japan was older than China because they count Jemmu as the same as Shi HuangDi...

The Shang were a highly theocratic society centered along the worship of chief deity of the Shang pantheon: 上帝 (Shangdi: meaning primordial sovereign).

The Kings pretty much are theorized to have come from a bunch of Shamans whom prehistoric proto-Chinese looked continuously for answers regarding the will of the gods. Over time, with the growth of the Shang state, these Shamans eventually became Kings, whose primary duty besides governance was also to interpret the will of the gods in every damn thing they do.

Agricultural matters? Divination.
Going to war? Divination.
Is it nice to build a city here? Divination.

And so on.

Largely because the Emperors of Japan are an unbroken line descended from the tribal chiefs of Early Yamataikoku. So by the time Japan had an imperial title in the 500s-700s AD, the Emperors of Japan posthumously titled their ancestors as well out of meme ancestral piety.

That is, unless you get into the controversy surrounding the Northern/Southern Courts division that was the Nanbokucho Period and who really is the unbroken descendant between the two.

That's cool. Now regards to Zhou, they were the ones to originate the idea of the mandate of Heaven, yes? Also how did the Zhou maintain order among other vassals. IIRC the Zhou first gave feuds/land to their family members, yes? But after that, they gave them to various officers and generals. The question is, how did they maintain order among non-family members? Or did they fail entirely in that and that's why the Spring and Autumn period happened?

great post, thanks for clearing that out

>Can you point me to a source about this idea?
Emperor Jemmu is not mentioned before the 8th century, when Japan had contact with the Tang Dynasty and was heavenly influenced. His first mentioning occur even after the Taika Reform.

>WHY?

It's fucking Wikipedia, not holy writ. Any tard can change it for any reason or no reason at all. go on Wikipedia and make your desired change yourself.

The Zhou basically was a more organized Holy Roman Empire in that there was an "Empire" - that is the Zhou Kingdom- composed of component states like (Sub)Kingdoms, Duchies, Marches, and so on.

The Zhou pretty much bound all these niggers together via marriage to the Jin Clan, the ruling house of Zhou. By all possible means like marrying spare princes/princesses to other families so the royal houses of Pre-Imperial Chinese states were one big happy family. In addition clans kept throwing princesses to the harem of the Zhou king.

Mandate of Heaven was more like a justification the Zhou had philosophize with when they overthrew Priest Kings everyone believed to be chosen by gods to rule the Proto-Chinks.

Alright. So what exactly led to the Spring and Autumn period if the Zhou did all of this to try and keep every substate connected? Corruption? Disloyalty to the Zhou kingdom (not paying tributes etc.)?

>change
>get banned for vandalism
>wiki page get reset
Funny how no people know this

This. Years ago I tried changing a part in the battle of Grunwald article, needless to say that shit was changed in a matter of 5 minutes. I tried like 3 more times but it still got changed and I got banned.
Not to mention there are articles that are "semi-protected" to prevent constant spam changes and vandalism

Spring and Autumn period was still Zhou period. Eastern Zhou to be exact.

Also the traditional explanation is basically the blood relations of the Zhou with the Nobles waned over time, leading to Nobles spitting over their family oaths with the Zhou. In addition the Zhou Clan itself fell into infighting, culminating with a big civil war in the 700s BC between the King and his allies and the relatives of a jilted queen that divided the Zhou period into Western/Eastern Zhou (They moved the capital to the east after the war). Afterwards the very decentralized system of the Zhou really just made the component states powerful overtime to stop minding the King entirely. The problem with the Zhou is that it didn't divide and rule their subjects, leading to the Dukes and the Subkings becoming powerful, so much so that rule of the country was agreed upon via the Vassals Conference, in which the King increasingly found himself on equal footing with his vassals.

The whole thing came to an end during the Chaos of Prince Dai, when the King of Zhou for the first time had to beg a vassal more powerful than him for help. It was at that moment when everyone is convinced the Zhou was finished as an empire, and each went their separate ways.

The Zhou actually lasted as tiny Kingdom up until the Qin Armies invaded it during Qin Shi Huang's Unification Wars.