degod

To ungod, to divest of a god.

To ungod, to divest of godly powers, to strip of divinity.

Proposals to scrap the imperial institution or to force an abdication were resisted by the occupation authorities, who saw how vital the Emperor would be for Japan's regeneration. Instead, he volunteered a ‘denial of divinity’ or, as the Americans put it, ‘degodded himself’, on New Year's Day 1946.