- Taikun
Taikun (大君) is an archaic Japanese term of respect derived from Chinese
I Ching which once referred to amonarch . Its literal meaning is "Great Lord/Prince" or "Supreme Commander". In theEdo Period the word was used as a title designating theShogun ofJapan in relations with foreign countries.The term was first used by the
Tokugawa shogunate in an attempt to extricate Japan from the Sino-centric system of relations. As Shogun, he certainly could not call himself Emperor (天皇, "Tennō"), but he also could not use the term "king" (国王, "kokuō"). "Kokuō" was the term used by the kings of states which were tributaries of China, and which formally submitted politically to theChinese emperor . As formal language is extremely important in diplomacy, the connotations of most alternative terms were found to be inappropriate, and so "taikun" was chosen to best represent the shogun in formal diplomatic communications.A modified version of this word appears in the
English language as "tycoon ", referring to a wealthy business manager. The term is notable as one of the few Japanese words to have entered the English language that do not refer specifically to unique aspects of Japanese culture.
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