Japan's Parliament voted Friday to revise an Imperial House Law, cementing male-only succession for the imperial throne, a lineage that dates back approximately 1,500 years. The move comes despite experts warning that limiting succession to men in the paternal line will accelerate the decline of Japan's shrinking and aging imperial family.
The revisions, which amend an Imperial House Law originally from the 1800s, allow distant male relatives to be adopted into the imperial family to father future successors. However, the throne remains exclusively for men with royal blood. The changes also permit princesses to keep their royal status after marrying commoners.
This parliamentary decision effectively blocks Princess Aiko, the 24-year-old daughter of Emperor Naruhito, from succeeding him, a possibility many Japanese had been advocating for. Under the current law, the emperor's younger brother is next in line, followed by his 19-year-old nephew, Prince Hisahito, and then the emperor's 90-year-old uncle.
Prince Hisahito is the only male born into the imperial family in four decades, and only five of the 16 adult members are men. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other conservatives assert that the male bloodline is fundamental to the emperor's authority and legitimacy.
"It’s a declaration to prevent female monarchs … and to defend the male-lineage at all costs," Hideya Kawanishi, a Nagoya University expert on monarchy, told the Associated Press. "They cannot say it’s male chauvinism, so they call it tradition."
Chizuko Ueno, a sociologist and feminist, commented that the new rules "treat male royals as stallions and put female royals under pressure as ‘childbearing machines’ to produce male offspring."
Historically, Japan has had eight empresses descended from the male line. The last empress to reign was Empress Go-Sakuramachi, who ruled from 1762 to 1771 before abdicating in favor of her nephew.
Female eligibility for the throne was first removed in 1890 under the original Imperial House Law. This provision was carried into the modern Imperial House Law enacted in 1947, the same year Japan's post-World War II constitution stripped the emperor of governing powers. Like Britain's royal family, Japan's imperial institution remains a significant national symbol.