WORLD RELIGIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -Many cultures have attributed divinity or significant spiritual gifts to their rulers. The rulers of ancient Egypt and Rome were treated as gods, and medieval kings (including England’s Henry VI) were regarded as having the ability to cure diseases with the royal touch.

Detailed explanation-2: -The title is an indirect reference to life before World War II, a time when the Japanese still believed that their emperor was descended from the gods. When the very human voice of the defeated emperor announced the Japanese surrender, the illusion of divinity was shattered forever.

Detailed explanation-3: -An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title) are worshipped as demigods or deities. “Cult” here is used to mean “worship", not in the modern pejorative sense.

Detailed explanation-4: -According to the traditional belief, the Emperor is directly descended from the Sun Goddess; the Japanese people are all in some degree descended from the same line; hence the entire Japanese nation comprises a great patriarchal family in which the Emperor is the father and his subjects are his children.