The “Meiji origin theory” for a deity incarnate:
In the first decade of the new century, intellectuals ceaselessly spread the illusion of arahitogami, or “deity incarnate” [in order to describe how the emperor should be viewed]. For example, Tachibana Takashi, a renowned journalist, stated in his “Watashi no Tōdai-ron” (Bungei Shunjū, June 1999) essay that from the second half of the Meiji era (1868–1912) to the first half of Shōwa (1926–1989), Japan “was an even stranger nation” than North Korea.”