Japan revises imperial succession rules, but still excludes women
Parliament has adjusted imperial succession laws in the country, seeking to ensure the royal line endures, but maintained the bar on women emperors. A popular
Parliament has adjusted imperial succession laws in the country, seeking to ensure the royal line endures, but maintained the bar on women emperors. A popular princess, Aiko, would be next in line if sex was no issue. Japan's parliament on Friday altered the imperial succession laws, making a change designed to safeguard against the eventuality of the only young male prince left in the family line failing to have a son. The imperial family household's numbers have famously been dwindling for decades, not least because of rules that exclude all female heirs and their children from the purely patrilineal line of succession. Opinion polls suggest that the compromise reached by parliament — while endorsed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi — is unpopular with much of the wider public, who would rather see Emperor Naruhito's daughter inherit the throne. Why is this an issue? Naruhito, a 66-year-old who acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019, and his wife Empress Masako have one child, 24-year-old Princess Aiko. She cannot inherit the throne under the current system. Naruhito's younger brother Akishino (also known as Fumihito) is next in line to the throne, and himself 60 years old. He has two elder daughters and only one son, 19-year-old Prince Hisahito, who is the last male heir in the bloodline as it stands and the only man aged under 60. If Hisahito, who is not yet married, did not have a son, the line would end.
A recent newspaper poll suggested well over half of respondents would welcome Naruhito and Masako's daughter Aiko being made eligible to be empress Image: Yomiuri Shimbun/AP Photo/picture alliance What rules about imperial succession have and have not changed? The reforms to Japan's succession agreed on Friday make no change to the purely patrilineal nature of the line of succession. This means that Princess Aiko and her children will remain ineligible to ever accede to the throne, even in the event of the male line ending. Two other rules have been altered instead. Firstly, Japanese princesses will be permitted to marry "commoner" husbands in future without losing their royal status. This issue came to the fore in 2021 when Fumihito's daughter Princess Mako married her university sweetheart and gave up her royal titles. Princess Aiko is also currently unmarried. The rule change that seeks to enable the possibility to recruit more men to the bloodline is more complex and contentious. The bill allows the royal family to adopt distant male relatives aged over 15 back into the imperial family — as long as they are unmarried — and for their future sons to become eligible heirs to the throne. A total of 11 families left the imperial register after Japan's defeat in World War II, to alleviate the financial burden on the monarchy. Those eligible to be adopted back into the fold only share a common ancestry with Emperor Naruhito if tracked back to the 15th century, or more than 30 generations, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
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