strip somebody of something 復習
天皇の生前退位の意向はニューヨークタイムズでも取り上げられています。
Emperor Akihito of Japan Plans to Abdicate Throne, Broadcaster Says
TOKYO — For the first time in nearly two centuries, an emperor of Japan has said that he will abdicate the throne before he dies.
According to NHK, the public broadcaster in Japan, Emperor Akihito, 82, who in 1989 succeeded his father, the wartime emperor Hirohito, told close aides that he intended to pass the throne to his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 56, before he dies. No modern emperor has done so: The last emperor to abdicate was Emperor Kokaku, in 1817.
The emperor’s role is now entirely ceremonial. Until the end of World War II, the Japanese public revered the emperor as a demigod, and he served as commander in chief of the army. After Emperor Hirohito surrendered at the end of World War II, the country’s American occupiers stripped him of all political authority. Today, many Japanese still hold the emperor in high regard.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/world/asia/emperor-akihito-abdicate.html?_r=0
今回取り上げる表現はstripped him of all political authorityです。
LDOCEを見てみると、strip somebody of somethingの形で“to take away something important from someone as a punishment, for example their title, property, or power”と定義されています。
『ジーニアス英和辞典』（第五版、大修館書店）で確認すると、「（罰として）人から名誉、財産、称号などをはく奪する」とありました。
第二次世界大戦が終結するまで様々な権力が天皇に集中していましたが、日本の降伏を機に「天皇は政治に関与しない国民統合の象徴（象徴天皇制）」となったことをここでは表しています。(flyingbird)
