The picture shows a photo taken by the Japanese princess and her dog in Tokyo, Japan on November 22, 2020 local time. (People's Vision/Photo)
The Japanese royal family is not prosperous, but the topics are constantly being discussed. The marriage between Prince Fumihito Akishinomiya and Princess Mako and the civilian Komuro Kei has been full of twists and turns, and has been watched for several years and has remained popular. Recently, Kei Komuro failed the second time in the judicial examination in New York, which once again sparked heated discussion. However, the focus recently has turned to the candidate of the "son-in-law" of Emperor Naruhito , the only daughter, the beloved son of the princess. Because the choice of a son-in-law by the beloved princess involves the "secret battle" in the dispute over the inheritance of the throne.
According to the Japanese "Royal Model", women do not have the right to inherit the throne. Emperor Naruhito's essential first heir was his younger brother Prince Akishinomiya. However, it is not without controversy. The call for revising the "Royal Model" and giving the princess the inheritance rights of her son has always been very high. In the view of progressive people, the Japanese royal family is facing the throne inheritance system that is equal to men and women in European monarchy countries. There are also many ordinary people who support their beloved son to inherit the throne out of simple feelings of "the princess of beloved son is too pitiful" or "Emperor Naruhito is too pitiful".
However, what hinders the princess of beloved son to the throne is not the superiority of men and women, but the "unspeakable hiddenness" with religious factors.
8 female emperors have appeared in Japanese history. From 592 to 770 AD, in less than 200 years, six female emperors appeared, with a total of nearly 90 years in power, known in history as the "Emperor's Era". Japan does have the tradition of a female emperor, and these eight female emperors are all princesses.
However, directly pursuing the throne as a princess will pay the price of a lonely life. The four female emperors who inherited the throne as princesses never married for life and had no children left. It is not accidental that these "princess emperors" live alone in their lifetime. This is the religious identity of the emperor who is the highest priest of Shintoism, , which forces them to become the so-called "virgin emperors". This religious taboo is deeply rooted in
, and even political power cannot be broken. Empress Kokan's mother is the powerful Empress Fujiwara Mitsuko. She has a lot of political skills, but she has never been married for life. Empress Meimasa of the Edo period , her grandfather was the second-generation shogun Tokugawa Hidetachi , and she could only stay alone in the empty bedroom.
"The Model of the Royal Family" does not grant women the right to inherit the throne, mainly due to the consideration of religious traditions. Because, although Japan achieved the de-sacrificialization of the Emperor after World War II, the Emperor still had to perform many Shinto rituals, and his religious identity still existed. This means that the succession of the princess will cause controversy over whether to become the "virgin emperor" in accordance with precedents. This controversy is both political and religious.
So, in order to get the inheritance rights of a son, it is necessary to make changes. The ancient empress precedent also provided a way, which was to "recruit son-in-law" within the royal family. Unlike China's "men and women with the same surname, and their birth is not apart" that strictly excludes intermarriage between patriarchal relatives, Japan has had a tradition of internal marriage between the same clan since ancient times. Japanese history frequently occurs, and the emperor's daughter married a prince from the side branch, who inherited the throne as a "son-in-law and adopted son". This is true for 4 of the 8 empresses. They ruled their throne as queen after their husbands died. Although other princesses who successfully "recruited son-in-law" did not have the chance to be emperor, they could at least ensure that the heir to the throne was their direct descendants. This is why Princess Beloved has attracted much attention for her choice of son-in-law. She may not choose the son-in-law, but the next generation of emperors.
To realize this change of "son inheritance" plan, the son-loving prince will mainly choose spouses within the royal family. For this purpose, the Royal Model is to be revised because the royal family members are currently prohibited from adopting their children. However, from the royal family scope stipulated in the "Royal Model", it is difficult for Princess Aizi to choose a suitable "prince" son-in-law.
Japanese royal family is divided into inner court and the Gong family. The inner court refers to the five core royal members of the Shanghuang couple, the Emperor couple and the Princess of Beloved, while the Palace family is the prince's family of the brothers of the Shanghuang and the Emperor, with a total of 13 people.
If in ancient times, the marriage between Princess Aizi and Prince Yuhito was the perfect political solution. However, this is impossible in contemporary times. Even if you can accept a "sibling-sister-sister" who is 5 years apart, it is difficult to accept intermarriage of close relatives for political purposes.As for other members of the palace family, it is not suitable for both ethics and age.
is currently favored by the "old palace family". The so-called "old palace family" refers to the prince family that was included in the royal family before World War II and left the royal family after World War II. There are 5 families that have truly passed down to this day, and the Heyang Gong family has the most advantage in choosing a son-in-law.
After the Heyang Gong family left the royal family in 1947, they took He Yang as their surname. The current head of the family, Masaheng He Yang and Emperor Naruhito were classmates when they went to college and had always had a good relationship. He Yang Zhengxian's two sons are 26 and 24 years old respectively. They are familiar with Princess Beloved, and are of the same age as they are considered emotional. The two brothers are successful in their studies and are quite eye-catching in height over 180 cm. The only one who can compete with the Heyang Palace family is the Higashijiu Palace family. The advantage of Higaki'er Palace is that it is closer to the royal blood relationship, but among the four nominal candidates, the oldest is only 18 years old, and the rest are two 12 years old and one 14 years old. It is said that these six people have been shortlisted for the list of Princess Beloved in the Palace Hall to choose a son.
At present, the dispute over the inheritance rights of the emperor has surfaced. The Japanese government organized a "Seeker Meeting" organized in the name of the lack of royal family and lack of successors discussed four issues in two years, namely the feasibility study of the female emperor, the feasibility study of the inheritance of the throne of the emperor by women, the restoration of the royal family's identity of the old man family and the creation of the female man family. Currently, two plans have been launched: one is the case of the adopted son who returned to the royal family's royal family; the other is the female royal family member retained the royal family's identity after marriage and established the "Female Palace Family".
Although neither of these plans directly involve the inheritance rights of Princess Aizi, Princess Aizi finally chose the "son-in-law" from the list of six people in the Old Palace family, and the dispute over the inheritance rights of Prince Yuren's throne will become more subtle.
(The author is a historical scholar)
(This article is only the author's personal opinion and does not represent the position of this newspaper)
Guan Buyu
