Japan enshrines male-only imperial succession, blocking Princess Aiko
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Japan’s Parliament voted on Friday to allow only men to pass on the imperial throne, part of a monarchy whose origins date back nearly 1,500 years.
According to the Associated Press, lawmakers did so by revising the Imperial House Law, which dates back to the 1800s, despite experts warning that limiting patrilineal succession to men would hasten the decline of Japan’s shrinking and aging imperial family.
To address the decreasing number of eligible heirs, the revisions allow distant male relatives to be adopted into the imperial family to father future heirs. But strict rules still remain in place restricting the throne to men of royal blood. The changes also allow princesses to retain royal status after marrying commoners.
The new rules, adopted by parliament, come at a time when many Japanese are calling for Emperor Naruhito’s 24-year-old daughter, Princess Aiko, to be allowed to succeed him – now impossible.
Princess Aiko of Japan (left), daughter of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, arrives at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on April 10, 2024, to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the death of the wife of former emperor Meiji. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)
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“The emperor is a symbolic figure, and I don’t understand why women can’t serve in this role,” sushi chain founder Junichiro Tsujimaru, 78, told the AP. he said.
Under current law, the 66-year-old emperor’s younger brother is next in line. From now on, his 19-year-old nephew, Prince Hisahito, will take over the throne, followed by the emperor’s 90-year-old uncle.
Hisahito is the only male child born in four decades, and only five of the 16 adults in the imperial family are male.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other conservatives say the male line is the source of the emperor’s authority and legitimacy.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a press conference at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on October 21, 2025. (Eugene Hoshiko)
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“This is a declaration to prevent female monarchs and protect the male line at all costs,” Nagoya University monarchy expert Hideya Kawanishi told the AP. “They can’t say it’s male chauvinism, so they call it tradition.”
Chizuko Ueno, a well-known feminist and sociologist, recently suggested that it was ironic that Japan’s first female prime minister was the one who ensured the reign of men alone.
Ueno said the new rules “treated royal men as stallions and repressed royal women as ‘childbearing machines’ to produce male offspring.”
In Japan’s centuries-long history of hereditary monarchy, there have been eight male-line empresses. The last woman to reign was Empress Go-Sakuramachi, who sat on the throne from 1762 to 1771 and abdicated on behalf of her nephew.
Prince Hisahito of Japan (right) participates in coming-of-age rituals on his 19th birthday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on September 6, 2025. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)
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Women’s eligibility for the throne was first eliminated under the original Imperial Household Law in 1890.
This change was carried over into the modern Imperial Household Law enacted in 1947; In the same year, Japan’s new constitution, the country’s World War II. After his defeat in World War II, he stripped the emperor of his governing authority.
Like Britain’s royal family, Japan’s imperial family remains an important national symbol.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
