From 2001 to 2006, Japan discussed the possibility of changing the laws of succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, which is currently limited to males of the Japanese imperial family. As of December 2024, there are three people in the line of succession to the current emperor Naruhito: Crown Prince Akishino, Prince Hisahito, and Prince Hitachi. Prior to the birth of Prince Hisahito in 2006, the government of Japan considered changes to the Imperial Household Law to allow additional potential successors to the throne. Discussions to secure stable Imperial succession remain stalled.

Background

Traditionally, the imperial throne was passed on under custom which resembled the rule of agnatic seniority. Theoretically, any male or female with patrilineal lineage to early Japanese monarchs, who descended in direct male line from the first emperor, Jimmu, could come to hold the throne. In practice, preference was given to first-born male offspring of a preceding male monarch, followed by his brothers, sons, other males of the immediate male-line family, and ultimately male members of the Shinnōke houses, cadet branches distantly related to the reigning monarch. Because there existed no restrictions on remarriage or polygyny in historical Japan, there existed usually many male relatives who could take over the throne. However, there have been several instances of a female monarch serving as a reigning Empress regnant of Japan. All reigning empresses were descendants of the Imperial Dynasty in the male line. Such successions have happened for a variety of reasons. On some occasions, the direct male heir was only a toddler and unable to perform the imperial rituals. In such an instance, his mother, aunt or elder sister, if also of Imperial lineage through her patriline, temporarily took over the throne until the child came to puberty, which was deemed sufficient for a boy's accession. An empress' offspring also did not have claim to the throne from the said maternal lineage, because all historical reigning empresses were either empresses consort or the spouse of the crown prince before their enthronement, or unmarried through their lives, so assigning a female to the throne postponed succession disputes. The last time Japan had a reigning empress was in 1771, when Empress Go-Sakuramachi abdicated in favor of her nephew, Emperor Go-Momozono. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan imported the Prussian model of imperial succession, in which princesses were explicitly excluded from succession. The Japanese government also banned polygyny, which was previously allowed to any family with noble rank (samurai or kuge) particularly if the first wife could not produce male offspring. The Imperial Household Law of 1947, enacted under post-war Japanese constitution after World War II, instituted a further restriction: only the descendants of the male line of Emperor Taishō (the father of then-emperor Hirohito) could be part of the official imperial family and have a claim to succession, excluding all other male lines of the imperial dynasty and specifically barring the emperor and other members of the imperial family from adopting children. Under Chapter 1: Article 1 of the Imperial Household Law, "The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by a male offspring in the male line belonging to the Imperial Lineage". The line of succession is detailed in Article 2 as:

Situation

The Japanese imperial dynasty, traditionally descended from the Emperor Jimmu, is perhaps the oldest patrilineage in the world, and members of that single dynasty have ruled Japan for nearly 2700 years, according to legends. The ancient Japanese system is of agnatic succession, generally by primogeniture, with the caveat that, in case the imperial family lacked heirs, they may adopt a boy from collateral cadet branches of the Imperial lineage. Four such cadet branches of the imperial family had, from ancient times, held the privilege of supplying an heir in adoption to the throne of Japan. The need for adoption rarely arose, because Emperors normally had several consorts, and the sons of all consorts were equally eligible to succeed. All of these traditions and solutions had been discontinued or prohibited by the 1950s. Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) was the Emperor of the Japanese Empire during World War II. After the war ended, a new constitution was drawn up for Japan which, among other things, limited the succession to agnatic descendants of Emperor Shōwa's father, the Emperor Taishō, thus excluding cadet branches of the Imperial family. It also prohibited the ancient and well-accepted Imperial Japanese practise of adoption. Since the days of the Emperor Meiji, the practise of having several consorts had been discontinued. The imperial family, therefore, became very small after the new constitution of Japan was adopted in 1947. By the turn of the century, these restrictions imposed by the Allies had resulted in a situation where the dynasty came perilously close to extinction. Emperor Emeritus Akihito (eldest son of Emperor Shōwa) had only two sons: Emperor Naruhito and Fumihito, Crown Prince. The younger son, Prince Fumihito, was the first to marry, and he soon became the father of two daughters, Princess Mako (b. 1991) and Princess Kako (b. 1994), but he had no son until 6 September 2006, when his wife gave birth to Prince Hisahito. Akihito's eldest son, Naruhito, who married in 1993, did not become a father until 1 December 2001, when his wife gave birth to a daughter, the Princess Aiko. Naruhito and his wife received their child with great joy, since they had almost despaired of parenthood. However, the birth of the princess opened the question of the succession to public debate, because Naruhito's wife, who had suffered a miscarriage previously, and was very close to forty years of age, was unlikely to bear further children. Akihito's brother, Masahito, Prince Hitachi has no children at all. The two other collateral members of the Imperial Family also had only daughters: the late Prince Tomohito of Mikasa had two daughters, Princess Akiko (b. 1981) and Princess Yōko (b. 1983); the late Norihito, Prince Takamado had three daughters, Princess Tsuguko (b. 1986), Princess Noriko (b. 1988) and Princess Ayako (b. 1990). Prior to the birth of Prince Hisahito in 2006, no male heir had been born into the Imperial Family in nearly 41 years.

Male members of the imperial family

Order of succession

Debate

In the early 2000s, the succession controversy emerged as a political issue. The Asahi Shimbun published an editorial in May 2006 suggesting that the current system was unsustainable. In an Asahi Shimbun survey in March 2006, 82% of the respondents supported the revision of the Imperial Household Law to allow a woman to ascend to the Imperial Throne. Then Prime Minister Junichirō Koizumi also strongly supported the revision, pledging to present a bill to the 2006 session of the parliament. Some conservative lawmakers opposed Koizumi and said the debate was premature. The current emperor's cousin, Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, also opposed the proposal, saying that the official male members of the Japanese imperial family might take up concubines in order to produce male members because it was previously possible for a male illegitimate child to assume the imperial throne. Later he said that this remark was just a joke. Another solution would be to restore the Shinnoke (agnatic collateral branches of the imperial dynasty which had been disinherited by the United States) to the line of succession. Prince Akishino's wife, Princess Kiko, gave birth to a baby boy on September 6, 2006. The child, Prince Hisahito, is now second in line to the imperial throne. Following the birth of Prince Hisahito, the political debate surrounding succession subsided. Koizumi withdrew his bill, though public opinion polling suggested that support for the change was still around 68%. Controversy exists as to what extent the current rule of succession under the Imperial Household Law should be changed. Those on the Right advocate a change, holding the Prussian-style agnatic primogeniture, but bringing back the previously excluded male relatives into the Imperial household. Liberals advocate the adoption of absolute primogeniture. Moderates advocate re-adoption of earlier, indigenous customs of succession, that is, that a female can succeed to the throne as long as she holds precedence in seniority or proximity within the patrilineal kinship. Princess Takamatsu, the last surviving Arisugawa-Takamatsu and aunt to Emperor Akihito, advocated the traditional, customary rights of female princesses to succession, in her media interviews and articles, after the birth of Princess Aiko. Adoption of absolute primogeniture would permit, as has happened in history, unmarried or widowed female descendants in the male line of the Imperial House to inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne, but would also allow something unprecedented: it would allow married princesses and princesses' children whose fathers are not descendants in the male line of the earlier emperors, to ascend the throne. This scenario could be interpreted as meaning a new dynasty would take over the Chrysanthemum Throne, since dynasties are traditionally defined patrilineally. The Abe government had indicated that it would begin discussions about the status of women in the imperial family soon after Naruhito ascends the throne. "I don’t think this would be their preference," stated academic historian in Imperial Japan Kenneth Ruoff, "But they don’t have any choice. They are facing extinction of the imperial line."

Timeline

2005

2006

2007

2009

2011

2012

2014

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

The succession would therefore be as follows:

2024