The Norman Conquest produced, in England, a royal family which, after a time, was thought to possess a Divine Right to the throne. Military conquest is stable only when it is followed by psychological conquest, but the cases in which this has occurred are very numerous.
Source： Bertrand Russell: Power, 1938.
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The Japanese imperial family, as it exists today in a symbolic and non-political form, can be seen as having a certain degree of cultural and historical significance. However, when suspicions arise that it is being used for political purposes by the government of the day, there are times when I feel that we should seriously reconsider whether the institution of the Emperor ought to be maintained. (Indeed, such exploitation occurred in prewar Japan.)
Religious beliefs such as those of fanatical Christians or Muslims who claim that "humanity (or their own nation or people) was created by God," or the view that "Japan is a divine nation," are not necessarily problematic as long as they remain in the realm of private faith. But once such beliefs begin to gain political power and influence national governance, they can no longer be ignored.
Looking back through history, we see countless examples around the world of rulers who initially came to power through military force but who later claimed that their authority had been granted by a divine being. These rulers often lived in luxury on taxes and tributes extracted from the people, and eventually rewrote their own family histories, depicting their ancestors as benevolent, noble, and cultured, in order to construct a favorable historical narrative. Such mythologizing has served as a means of clouding the people's perception and falsely legitimizing power.
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