At the time when imperialism was introduced into Japan in the Edo Period (the period during which the Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867), the tenno (emperor) was advocated as the 'king' and the shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate was the 'military ruler'; despite this, sometimes the Chinese character meaning emperor was used instead of 'king', based on assumptions of superiority, that the emperor was more than a mere 'king'.
尊王論が日本に受容されるに際して、日本では天皇が「王」であり、江戸幕府の征夷大将軍が「覇」であると読み換えられたが、天皇は単なる国王ではなく皇帝であるという優越意識を踏まえて「尊皇」という漢字に置き換えて用いることもあった。