CARRYING ON THE CHRYSANTHEMUM THRONE

On November 24 last year, the Advisory Council on the Imperial House Law, set up to study possible changes in Japan’s system of imperial succession, submitted its final recommendations to Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichirô. The creation of the council was a response to growing fears that it could prove impossible in the future to find an eligible successor to the Chrysanthemum Throne under the current rules of succession, which stipulate that the throne shall be inherited by a male in the male line of imperial descent. There are six eligible heirs under the current Imperial House Law, beginning with Crown Prince Naruhito, born in 1960. However, the youngest of these six, the crown prince’s brother Prince Akishino, was born in 1965, and no male child has been born to the imperial family since then.

It is against this backdrop that in recent years we have heard an increasing number of calls for revision of the rules so as to allow women to take the throne. Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako have a daughter, Princess Aiko, and there are also a number of other relatively young princesses among the branches of the imperial family. Providing for female succession would thus greatly expand the pool of eligible heirs. Proponents of revision have also been encouraged by recent opinion polls indicating that a majority of the Japanese favor allowing women to take the throne.

However, there is also fierce opposition to such a change. Although there have been eight reigning empresses in Japanese history (accounting for 10 reigns) all of these have been widows or women who remained single throughout their lives, and succession never once shifted to a female line. In other words, all 125 sovereigns in Japanese history have been from the same male lineage, and a substantial number of people here feel that this system must be respected as the historical basis of imperial legitimacy. These people have called for other measures, such as reviving the former princely houses—collateral branches that were split off from the imperial house after World War II—to make their members eligible for succession. (For more background, see the sections “The Imperial Family” in Japan Echo, April 2002, and “An Empress on the Chrysanthemum Throne?” December 2004).

After carefully studying these and other arguments, the Advisory Council on the Imperial House Law released its conclusions: To ensure the continuity of the imperial line, eligibility should be extended to females and to those in a female line of descent, and the order of succession should be determined solely by birth order, with precedence going to the eldest offspring in the direct line of imperial descent regardless of gender. When Prime Minister Koizumi announced his intention to submit a bill to amend the Imperial House Law in line with the council’s recommendations to this year’s session of the National Diet, the issue became a political football, with a number of legislators banding together in a nonpartisan committee and circulating a petition opposing the change.

In the midst of all this, the Imperial Household Agency announced in early February that Prince and Princess Akishino were expecting another child. The nation rejoiced at this auspicious turn of events, and the momentum that had gathered behind revision of the Imperial House Law suddenly dissipated before the possibility that the child could be a boy. Realizing that the dynamic had shifted, Koizumi declared that he would not insist on passage of the bill during the current Diet session, and a major political battle was averted—at least for the time being.

Unfortunately, even if Princess Akishino (Kiko) gives birth to a boy, it will not solve the fundamental problem. The truth is that under the current requirement that the emperor be a male in the male line of descent, the nation could very easily find itself with no eligible successor to the imperial throne at some later point. One reason is that emperors no longer keep concubines, who played a key role in sustaining patrilineal succession over the centuries gone by. Another is that the old princely houses were stripped of their imperial status after World War II in deference to the wishes of the US Occupation authorities.

Having carried a summary of the advisory panel’s report in our February 2006 issue, we focus in this issue on representative arguments both in support and opposition as they have appeared in the print media. I should perhaps note that even though the views can be grouped into two major camps, one finds subtle differences in the reasoning and tenor of the arguments set forth within each camp.

Kasahara Hidehiko has previously written very dispassionately and objectively on the issues a reigning empress would raise, such as selection and treatment of a consort (see “A Serious Look at the Issue of Imperial Succession” in Japan Echo, December 2004). In a more recent article, featured here, he argues forcefully for allowing women to ascend to the imperial throne. Although he suggests giving priority to males rather than observing strict primogeniture, as the council recommends, he supports the thrust of the report and argues for taking the opportunity to move ahead with amendment. Watanabe Shôichi and Momochi Akira stand at the opposite end of the spectrum; while they do not oppose letting women reign per se, they argue that any shift of succession from the male line to a female line would represent such a radical change that it would call into question the legitimacy of the imperial throne. Nitta Hitoshi likewise argues against matrilineal succession in a critique of an article by historian Tanaka Takashi, who defends the report’s recommendations. Nitta’s critique, which cites key passages from Tanaka, makes the difference between their positions clear even if one has not read Tanaka’s piece.

The nation’s response to the entire issue has served to underscore the deep respect most of the Japanese people feel for the imperial house. Under the circumstances, the issue should be fully debated until a solution can be found that the public can fully accept. (Takashina Shûji, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo)

© 2006 Japan Echo Inc.