中、日自古皆有神聖化帝王的傳統。不過，中國自西漢中期以後，之稱所蘊涵的神格為「天子」的人格所取代，天子自天承受「天命」統治人間。日本則把天皇的血緣上溯至「天照大神」，認為天皇本來具備「天」之神性，重視 其「神格」。此「天皇」與「神國」的思想左右了日本正統意識的形成過程，「祭政合一」的統治模式自古使具體呈現在天皇一身。這種精神核心與政治核心的統一，令神道信仰具備兩種社會文化功能：一是為皇族血緣為主的權力系統提供合法性的支援；二是通過神譜的連結，讓天皇具備了凝聚人心和動員社會的能力。近代日本的漢學者主要結合儒家的「天命」、「天道」、「玉道」論述，來對天皇進行神聖化。這三個辭彙/概念，關涉了「天」與「道」的普遍性與絕對性，漢學者透過文本的詮釋，結合「王道」論與「血統」論，淡化君主的「德治思想」，把天皇塑造為「神之子」，恆久受到「天道」 的佑護，有絕對的能力成就「天命」。本文的寫作思路是由中、日神聖化帝王的傳統出發，先說明中、日歷史與皇帝、天皇制度相關的理念。繼而聚焦於近代，分析帝王如何透過「天命」、「天 道」、「王道」三個概念，把天下為公的理想轉化為私天下的現實，而漢學者又如何展開其獨特的論證，比較中/日、近世/近代對這三個概念的論述內容與策略「皇帝」之差異。

　　　　　 The traditions of deification of emperors have long existed in China and Japan. In China, however, since the mid-Western Han dynasty, the implied deified status of huangdi, "emperor," had been replaced by a more humane tianzi, "son of god," who ruled the world with heaven's mandate (tianming). Japanese emperors were thought to be descendants of the goddess Amaterasu, so the tennou (emperor) was born divine. The concepts of tennou and shinkoku (spiritual state) informed the formation of Japanese orthodoxy. The tennou always embodied the unity of sacrificial and political domains (zaisei gouichi). The spiritual and political union of Shinto performed two social and cultural functions: it legitimized the core power system built on the emperor's blood relations; and, with his "divine lineage," the emperor had the power to summon his people and rally the society around him. Throughout modern times, Sinologists in Japan combined the three Confucian concepts, tianming, tiandao (way of heaven) and wangdao (royal way), to sacralize the emperor; all three terms imply the omnipotence and absoluteness of tian and dao. Through textual interpretation, the Sinologists integrated discourses featuring wangdao and xuetong (descent) to reduce the importance of "rule-by-virtue," presenting the tennou as the son of gods, who is always protected by tiandao and has the absolute power to accomplish gods' will. Their manipulation of notions such as tianming legitimized the emperor's sovereignty and endorsed the emperor's divinity. Furthermore, they expanded the definition of a universal dao to identify Shinto with Confucianism, emphasizing that Japan boasted the sole legitimate Confucianism and the emperor had the mandate of heaven to carry out the dao and promote wangdao governance to China and the rest of the world. This article begins with the traditions of deification of emperors in China and Japan, explaining the relevant concepts of diwang and tennou in Chinese and Japanese history. It then shows how the emperors used these concepts to turn the ideal of a public world into their private property.