Japan's parliament enshrines male-only succession for the shrinking imperial family

Japan's parliament enshrines male-only succession for the shrinking imperial family Japan’s parliament has enacted a historic revision to the 19th-century Imperial House Law -lineage men can become emperor ByMARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press July 16, 2026, PM TOKYO -- Japan’s parliament enacted Friday a historic revision to the 19th-century Imperial House Law -lineage men can become emperor, sparking fear that it could doom the already shrinking imperial family. The revisions include adoption of distant male relatives to father future heirs and allowing princesses to keep their royal status after marrying commoners. Royal watchers and experts fear the new measures could doom the 1,500-year-old hereditary institution , sparking worry about the shrinking, fast-aging imperial family. Emperor Naruhito ’s 24-year-old daughter is hugely popular, and many Japanese want her to be his successor, but Princess Aiko is ineligible because she is a woman. Japan’s male-only succession rule means the line must move to the emperor's younger brother, then to his 19-year-old nephew Prince Hisahito. Next in line after him is the emperor's 90-year-old uncle. In an imperial family that places a premium on male royal babies, Hisahito is the first such boy to be born in four decades. Only five of the 16 adults in the imperial family — there are no children — are men. This matters, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other conservatives insist the male bloodline is “the only source of the emperor’s authority and legitimacy,” which will be the basis for the upcoming measures. While an emperor's mother can be a commoner, as is the case with the current one, only boys born to men with royal blood can be heirs to the throne, according to the Imperial House Law. The revision passed Friday to the antiquated law is meant to solidify the principle of that crucial bloodline . The new measures will also allow princesses to keep their royal status if they marry a commoner. “It’s a declaration to prevent female monarchs ... and to defend the male-lineage at all costs,” said Hideya Kawanishi, a Nagoya University expert on monarchy. “They cannot say it’s male chauvinism, so they call it tradition.” There have been eight female monarchs. The last was Empress Gosakuramachi, who ruled from 1762 to 1770. The paternal-line male succession was stipulated for the first time in the 1890 Imperial House Law, when Japan promoted patriarchal systems. That law was largely carried over to the current 1947 version. Friday’s revisions have led to protests from Japanese who government efforts as meant to eliminate Aiko from ruling and to justify discrimination against women and a patriarchal system. “It’s very ironic that the first female prime minister herself is the leading proponent of the obsession with male-succession,” Chizuko Ueno, a prominent feminist scholar, wrote recently referring to Takaichi.