tenka
Tenka (天下) is a Japanese noun meaning "the world" or "the realm," with connotations of sovereignty and political order within a country. It is derived from the kanji characters 天 (ten, heaven) and 下 (ka, below), collectively conveying the idea of all under heaven—i.e., the entire nation or political domain. In Japanese usage, tenka often refers to the realm as a whole, the locus of governance, or the capacity to rule.
In historical contexts, tenka is closely tied to concepts of legitimacy, authority, and unification. A well-known
Scholarly and literary writings sometimes employ tenka to analyze sovereignty, imperial authority, or military dominance. The
In modern Japanese, tenka remains a largely historical or literary term. It appears in historical analyses,