Lasting for 2680 years and experiencing 126 emperors, where is the longest-lived dynasty in history?
After the Xia Dynasty, our China has gone through twenty-three dynasties and the change of the chaotic period of division, and the basic life expectancy of each great unified dynasty is about 300 years, of which the Spring and Autumn Warring States of the Zhou Dynasty, the two Han Dynasties and the two Song Dynasties are all reorganized dynasties, which profoundly interprets the general trend of the world that must be divided for a long time and must be divided for a long time.
However, this world trend seems to be established only in China, and both Europe and our neighbor Japan have a completely different situation. For example, Japan's Chrysanthemum Dynasty has never changed dynasties since its inception, after 126 emperors, it has lasted for 2680 years, and it still exists today, is Japan's feudal system better than China's, so it can be maintained for such a long time?
The world's longest-lived dynasty, known as the "Chrysanthemum Dynasty", continued in 2680 with 126 emperors
The Japanese Chrysanthemum Dynasty of the Wanshi lineage
According to the Nihon Shoki, in 660 BC, that is, during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in China, the first emperor, Emperor Shenmu, gathered soldiers and people in Japan to establish the country and establish the Chrysanthemum Dynasty, and he himself was said to be the grandson of the god Amaterasu (sun god), who died at the age of 126, and his life expectancy was quite high in that era. In many japanese ghost legends, there has been a description of the god Amaterasu, the most original version is that the ancestors on the barbaric island of Japan suffered the cruelty of the fierce god, and one day an eight-foot god bird led Emperor Shenmu to the island, saving the ancestors from the water and fire, so as to gain the followers of the ancestors, and finally establish a dynasty.
Is this set of tricks familiar?
Yes, because this is exactly the old trick that the feudal dynasties of our country have played, such as the Destiny of Heaven Xuan Bird, descending to give birth to the Shang, it is said that the daughter jian di of the Lou clan accidentally ate the eggs of the god Xuan Bird while bathing in the wild, thus conceiving and giving birth to the merchant ancestor, and finally established the Shang Dynasty in shang tang and xia, and found a divine brilliance for the royal family of the Shang Dynasty from mythological worship. And this set of tricks, whether it is the Xia Shang Zhou or the Qin Dynasty or the Red Emperor Liu Bang slashing the White Snake Rebellion to establish the Han Dynasty, is in the same vein, with a strong feudal superstition.
Japan's Emperor Shenmu strengthened feudal rule by the superstition of "divine right of kings" through the superstition of the god Amaterasu, and established his own unquestionable supremacy and irreplaceable status. Since then, the Chrysanthemum Dynasty has been passed down for 126 generations, and emperor Naruhito has never stopped, and is currently the longest surviving royal family in the world, and the only dynasty in Japan, so it is known as the "One Lineage of Ten Thousand Generations".
Of course, due to the archaeology of the key dynastic "relics" strictly restricted by the Japanese government, the origin of the emperor lineage of the Chrysanthemum Dynasty has not been clearly stated and proved, and its first generation of emperors belongs to myths and legends, which is very untrustworthy, and there is still a little in the archaeological community, and many people regard it as an exaggeration of the Japanese themselves and forcibly gild it.
In fact, there is another saying about Japan's first-generation emperor, Emperor Shenwu, in China's folk and wild history, that is, Japan's first-generation emperor was actually Xu Fu, a famous qi practitioner and alchemist during the Qin Dynasty in China. It is said that after Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, he dreamed of seeking immortality in the Immortal Path, so he sent Xu Fu to lead thousands of virgin boys and girls to the sea with craftsmen, soldiers and various rare treasures to seek immortals, and as a result, Xu Fudong crossed to Yingzhou at that time, which is now Japan, searching for immortals and fruitless, and fearing that returning to the Qin Kingdom would be held accountable by Qin Shi Huang, he made his home in Yingzhou and established a kingdom, and finally attacked and conquered the natives of Yingzhou, established the Chrysanthemum Dynasty, and became the first generation of Shenwu Emperor himself.
Why is it called the "Chrysanthemum Dynasty"?
The family crest of the Japanese Imperial Family is a 16-petal chrysanthemum, so it has always been called the Chrysanthemum Dynasty, which is actually said to be true. Japan has always been a rather "traditional" people, and the Japanese worship of chrysanthemums has never changed for thousands of years, and the Symbol of Bushido in Japan is the sword. Chrysanthemums and knives are two completely different images, one is weak and the other is strong, just like the national character of the Japanese nation, for us it is considered to be "bullying soft and afraid of hard", but in the eyes of the Japanese themselves, this is a profound artistic conception of wen can appreciate chrysanthemums and martial arts can raise swords, both a delicacy of appreciating the beauty of nature, and a kind of iron blood that is unyielding in the face of cruel environments.
It is worth mentioning that the Chrysanthemum Dynasty of the "Ten Thousand Generations" has also almost ended several times, the most serious time is like the end of World War II, the victors led by the Soviet Union and the United States consider the extremely terrible leadership and cohesion of the Japanese Imperial Family, and want to abolish the Japanese emperor system, end the rule of the Chrysanthemum Dynasty, and even bring the Japanese Emperor to trial and make him pay for war crimes. Unfortunately, because the Japanese Imperial Family has become the spiritual symbol of the Japanese people in all aspects for thousands of years, the abolition of the Japanese Imperial Family and the trial of the Emperor may lead to the crazy Japanese people falling into riots and jade fragments, resulting in the continuation of the war, and finally can only be eliminated, allowing the Japanese Chrysanthemum Dynasty to continue to exist.
In fact, the reason why the Chrysanthemum Dynasty was able to survive for so long, without internal collapse, or even suffered a fatal blow from external forces, was closely related to its indigenous religion and geographical location.
First, Japan's native religion Shinto respects Amaterasu as the supreme god, and the Chrysanthemum Dynasty is the descendant of Amaterasu, so the Japanese emperor has been endowed with divinity by shinto myths and legends, and in the psychology of the people for more than two thousand years, he has added a "should be so" recognition of the legitimacy of the theocracy, and the royal family of the Chrysanthemum Dynasty is therefore very detached, even if the power has fallen many times in history, the emperor has become a puppet, and the royal family has not suffered destructive killings, but has occupied a very revered position.
Second, Japan's geographical location is very special, not only surrounded by the sea on all sides, there is no land connected to the outside world, and the internal terrain is very complex, which naturally formed a barrier in ancient times when navigation technology was not developed, isolating the invasion from China's powerful feudal dynasty. In history, for example, the powerful Yuan Dynasty army attacked Japan twice, but both because of the sea storm caused heavy casualties in the navigation fleet, it was eventually lost.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, China had a powerful navigation fleet, but because Japan was narrow and barren, it would become a burden to the feudal dynasty dominated by agricultural society, so it did not cross the sea to conquer, otherwise it would not be difficult for Japan to conquer Japan and destroy the Chrysanthemum Dynasty with the maritime military power of the Ming Dynasty Zheng He going to the West and the Qing Dynasty Shi Lang to conquer Taiwan. It can only be said that the barrenness of Japan saved the life of the Chrysanthemum Dynasty.