David Mareuil / EPA
Prince Hisahito do Japan in the carriage that took him to the Imperial Palace to participate in his age of majority
The Japanese celebrate the 19th anniversary of Prince Hisahito with a solemn ceremony in the Imperial Palace, at a time when tension grows around a crisis of succession. Princess Aiko is older, but in the oldest monarchy in the world, the princesses do not inherit the throne.
The prince Hisahitoaccording to the line of succession to the throne of Japan, reached the age of majority. Second in the succession lineAfter his father, the 19-year-old prince performed at the Tokyo Palace to pay tribute to the gods and the ancestors.
Call at the University of Tsukuba, near Tokyo, Hisahito studies biology and likes to play Badminton.
It’s especially passionate about dragonflies And he was co -author of an academic article about a survey of these insects on his property in Akasaka, Tokyo.
Nephew Emperor NaruhitoHisahito received a black silk and lacquer crown at this Saturday’s ceremony in Tokyo, which marks the beginning of his adult life as a member of the Imperial Family.
“Thank you so much for granting me the crown today, in this majority ceremony,” said the prince. “I will fulfill my duties, aware of my responsibilities as an adult of the imperial family. As a young member of the imperial family, I am determined to fulfill my role.”
Born on September 6, 2006 and is the Single Son of Prince Akishinoheir to the throne, and his wife, princess heiress kiko. It has two older sisters, the popular princess Kako and former princess Mako, whose marriage to a member not belonging to royalty forced her to renounce your royal status.
Hisahito is the youngest of the 16 imperial family membersall adults. He and his father are the only two male heirs younger than Naruhito. Prince Hitachi, the younger brother of former emperor Akihito, is the third in the line of succession to the throne, but is already 89 years old.
Despite Emperor Naruhito has a daughter, Princess Aiko, 23and this being very popular among the Japanese, the princess was removed from the succession due to the rules in force, which determine that only men They can inherit the throne, note o.
Although tradition imposes that Only one man can continue the imperial lineage, which, according to legend, dates back to 2,600 years, the polls have revealed strong popular support for a woman to assume the throne of what it is oldest monarchy in the world.
The succession was legally limited to men by the pre-war constitution for the first time in 1889. The Postwar Imperial House Law, which largely preserves pre-war conservative family values, also allows only male succession.
Traditionalists argue that the “uninterrupted imperial line” of male succession It is the basis of Japanese identity and that any deep change could divide the country. According to the postwar constitution, the imperial family does not hold political power.
The limitation of the right to the throne to male heirs has been the target of debate for decades. In 2005, the government appointed a government commission to analyze the issue, which recommended that the throne be transmitted to the eldest sonregardless of sex.
This opinion seemed to open Way for the Emperor’s daughter could one day occupy the throne of chrysanthemum, but the Birth of Hisahitothe following year, ended up silence the debateremember to.
The stagnation of the debate forced Hisahito to load the burden of the fate of the imperial family, says the former head of the Imperial House agency, The neck does not havein an article in the Yomiuri newspaper, earlier this year. “The fundamental issue is not if we should allow female succession, but how to save the monarchy“.
Despite broad public support to the alteration of the succession rulesoutside the brightness of this Saturday’s ceremony, the attention of the Japanese is centered on other questions, such as the high inflationobserved royal historian Hideya Kawanishi.
“If people who support the possibility of an empress if they make listening more strongly, politicians can take the question more seriously,” Kawanishi said. “But when the ceremonies end, society, including the media, Calm and move on“.
