The ancient Japanese were superstitious about the emperor because he was deified. Modern Japanese are superstitious about the Emperor because Meiji Emperor made Japan a world power through the Meiji Restoration. This is remarkable, which is a bit similar to our worship of Mao Zedong. Before the Meiji Restoration, samurai were loyal to the shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, the shogunate was overthrown, and the emperor asked the samurai to be loyal to him.