Succession to the Japanese throne
The line of succession to the Japanese throne is the list of all people that may once become Emperor of Japan.
The following is the current order of succession to the Japanese throne:
- Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, born 1960, the current Emperor's first son
- Prince Akishino (Fumihito), born 1965, the current Emperor's second son
- Prince Hisahito of Akishino, born September 6, 2006[1] Prince Akishino's son
- Prince Hitachi (Masahito), born 1935, the current Emperor's brother
- Prince Mikasa (Takahito), born 1915, the current Emperor's uncle (the brother of Hirohito)
- Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, born 1946, Prince Mikasa's first son (the current Emperor's eldest male cousin)
- Prince Katsura (Yoshihito), born 1948, Prince Mikasa's second son (the current Emperor's second eldest male cousin)
Crown Prince Naruhito has a daughter (Aiko) and Prince Akishino currently has two daughters (Mako and Kako) and a son (Hisahito). The emperor's brother, Prince Hitachi, is childless. Owing to his advanced age, it is very unlikely that Prince Mikasa will inherit the throne. Of the three sons of Prince Mikasa: Prince Tomohito of Mikasa has two daughters (Akiko and Yōko), Prince Katsura is childless, and the late Prince Takamado had three daughters (Tsuguko, Noriko, and Ayako).
The imperial family may come to end after the last male heir dies, since an heir must descend from the male line. The birth of Prince Hisahito, the first boy in the Imperial family in 41 years, temporarily abates the looming succession crisis, although the problem could resurface if anything untoward happens to the child before he can sire a male offspring. Prince Hisahito is the only male and heir of his generation, and he could eventually become the only member of the Japanese Imperial Family.
Succession rules
Article 2 of the Constitution of Japan provides that "The Imperial Throne shall be dynastic and succeeded to in accordance with the Imperial Household Law passed by the Diet." The Imperial Household Law of 1947 enacted by the 92nd and last session of the Imperial Diet, retained the exclusion on female dynasts found in the 1889 law. The government of Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru hastily cobbled together the legislation to bring the Imperial House in compliance with the American-written Constitution of Japan that went into effect in May 1947. In an effort to control the size of the imperial family, the law stipulates that only legitimate male descendants in the male line can be dynasts; that naishinnō (imperial princesses) and nyoō (princesses) lose their status as imperial family-members if they marry outside the imperial family; that shinnō (imperial princes), other than the crown prince, ō (princes), unmarried imperial princesses and princesses, and the widows of imperial princes and princesses may, upon their own request or in the event of special circumstances, renounce their membership in the imperial family with approval of the Imperial House Council; and that the Emperor and other members of the imperial family may not adopt children.
Succession crisis
Before September 2006, there was a potential succession crisis since no male child had been born into the imperial family since Prince Akishino in 1965. Following the birth of Princess Aiko, there was some public debate about amending the Imperial House Law to allow female descendants of an emperor and their descendants to succeed to the throne. In January 2005, Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro appointed a special panel of judges, university professors, and civil servants to study changes to the Imperial House Law and to make recommendations to the government.
On January 24, 2005, the Japanese government announced that it would consider allowing the Crown Prince and Princess to adopt a male child, in order to avoid a possible succession disputes. Adoption from other male-line branches of the Imperial Line is an age-old imperial Japanese tradition for dynastic purposes, prohibited only in modern times by Western influence. The child would presumably be adopted from one of the former imperial branches which lost imperial status after World War II. However, a government-appointed panel of experts submitted a report on October 25, 2005, recommending that the imperial succession law be amended to permit absolute primogeniture.
Prince Tomohito of Mikasa and several Japanese lawmakers have opposed to the idea of introducing absolute primogeniture.[2]
The following diagram shows the genealogy of all people in the order of succession (and mentions ineligible princesses still in the Imperial Family):
| Emperor Taishō 1879 - 1926 reigned 1912-1926 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Emperor Shōwa 1901 - 1989 reigned 1926-1989 | 5) Prince Mikasa b. 1915 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Emperor Akihito b. 1933 reigns 1989-present | 4) Prince Hitachi b. 1935 | 6) Prince Tomohito of Mikasa b. 1946 | 7) Prince Katsura b. 1948 | Prince Takamado 1954-2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1) Crown Prince Naruhito b. 1960 | 2) Prince Akishino b. 1965 | Two daughters | Three daughters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Princess Aiko b. 2001 | Two daughters | 3) Prince Hisahito of Akishino b. 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ Reuters. "Japan’s Princess Kiko Gives Birth to Boy". The New York Times, September 5, 2006. Accessed 29 August 2008.
- ^ Rally against Japan royals change