Kanʼichi Asakawa (1903). The early institutional life of Japan: a study in the reform of 645 A.D.. Tokyo: Shueisha. p. 25. https://books.google.com/books?id=K1MuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA25. "We purposely avoid, in spite of its wide usage in foreign literature, the misleading term Mikado. If it be not for the natural curiosity of the races, which always seeks something novel and loves to call foreign things by foreign names, it is hard to understand why this obsolete and ambiguous word should so sedulously be retained. It originally meant not only the Sovereign, but also his house, the court, and even the State, and its use in historical writings causes many difficulties which it is unnecessary to discuss here in detail. The native Japanese employ the term neither in speech nor in writing. It might as well be dismissed with great advantage from sober literature as it has been for the official documents."
一方、海外から見た別の視点もある。権力が将軍家に移ってから1868年までの間、世に知れずに続いてきた貧困な皇族は、薩長土肥が武装反乱を正当化するために、「日本の天皇は神」という8世紀の神話の再興によってその革命政権の表看板になった。そして、現人神としての天皇が強調され、新しい公立学校教育システムの核として思想教化されていった（“Emperor Hirohito: 5 Myths About the Monarch”. Time. 2016年7月30日閲覧。）
