TOKYO - Japan's House of Representatives and House of Councillors decided on what they called the "legislature's consensus" on ensuring the stability of the imperial family at an all-party plenary meeting.
The agreement approves two options -- allowing female imperial family members to retain their status after marriage and adopting into the imperial family male-line male descendants of former imperial branches that left the register -- and asks the government to legislate them. However, it should be regarded as a compromise among political parties that may do little to ensure stable succession or help the country overcome the crisis facing the imperial family, giving the impression that many issues remain unresolved.
Let me explain why I have that impression. The plan to allow female members of the imperial family to retain their status after marriage does not specifically address whether a commoner husband and any children would become members of the imperial family, leaving the issue for future consideration. As Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako often carry out official duties accompanied by their daughter, Princess Aiko, questions would arise about what role her future spouse, if he remains a private citizen, would play at official events. Or would he not accompany her at all?
Although such a person would be a private citizen whose constitutional rights must be protected, the public would still regard him as a member of the imperial family. His status as a private citizen would be difficult to reconcile with the emperor's and the imperial family's role as politically neutral symbols of the state, potentially creating a family situation fraught with contradiction.
The adoption proposal can be seen as accommodating those who strongly support patrilineal succession. But it raises fundamental questions, including whether the system is workable in terms of who would be adopted, whether adopting a private citizen into the imperial family would violate the constitutional principle of equality under the law, and how the legitimacy of the imperial line should be determined.
The proposal envisions adopting male-line male descendants of collateral branches that left the imperial family nearly 80 years ago. They would be allowed to join the imperial family but would not be eligible to succeed to the throne. Yet while those with direct ties to the former imperial branches could be accepted as part of the imperial line, doubts would likely grow over successive generations about whether later descendants could truly be considered part of it.
Even under the imperial household rules systematized in the Meiji Era, the prevailing view is that once someone leaves the imperial family, they no longer belong to the imperial line. The latest adoption proposal follows a line of reasoning that could even allow descendants of the ancient Minamoto clan and similar families to return to the imperial family. It is unclear whether the public would accept them as suitable members of the imperial family supporting the imperial system, which serves as the symbol of the unity of the people under the current Constitution.
What is needed now is to quickly resume debate on measures to achieve the long-delayed goal of stable imperial succession. Some argue that "because Prince Hisahito, the son of the crown prince, is in line to succeed to the throne, the situation will remain stable for the time being." But that is overly optimistic, as it is likely to make his marriage more difficult by placing an excessive burden on any prospective spouse -- namely, that "the imperial family will perish unless you bear a boy." Such expectations would be unfair to Prince Hisahito and an unhappy prospect for the imperial family.
Under the legal norms of premodern Japan, provisions in the ancient Yoro Code concerning the child of a female emperor remained in force, suggesting that neither female nor matrilineal emperors were excluded. Patrilineal male succession was first systematized in the Meiji Era, but it functioned because the concubinage system was in place. Today's Imperial House Law inherits the prewar framework, even though the concubinage system no longer exists, creating a structural problem.
The introduction of a male-line male-only succession rule in the Meiji Era is thought to have reflected the male-supremacist climate of the time and views on bloodline influenced by China. Japan has since moved beyond those social norms, and the legitimacy of the emperor now rests on the "closeness of blood" under a principle that prioritizes direct descent. With a succession crisis looming in which the next generation would have only Prince Hisahito as an eligible heir, debate must not rule out the possibility of female emperors and female-line emperors, which are indispensable to stable succession.
(Akinori Takamori, born in 1957, is a researcher specializing in the imperial family. He completed doctoral coursework at Kokugakuin University's graduate school and specializes in Shinto studies and ancient Japanese history.)
