Posted on 11/03/2005 7:41:01 PM PST by blam
Forget empress, let's have concubines, says prince
By Colin Joyce in Tokyo
(Filed: 04/11/2005)
A Japanese prince has shocked the country with an attack on plans to let women ascend the imperial throne.
Prince Tomohito, 59, the emperor's cousin and fifth in line to the throne, became the first member of the imperial family to speak out on the issue when he called on the nation not to abandon tradition.
Under the constitution, the monarchy plays a purely symbolic role and members of the royal family are forbidden from making political statements, even on matters of direct concern to them.
A panel appointed by the prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, last week said that it was recommending that Japan's princesses and their children join the line of succession.
This would pave the way for three-year-old Princess Aiko, the only daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito, to become reigning empress after her father.
But in a newsletter for the Imperial Household Agency, Japan's equivalent of Buckingham Palace, Prince Tomohito wrote: "Is it really good just to alter history and a unique tradition simply because we are living in the Heisei [modern] era?"
Conservative monarchists believe imperial blood flows only through the male line. Though Japan has had eight empresses, they served as regents until the line could revert to a son born in the male line.
Prince Tomohito wrote: "The reason the imperial line is so precious is that it is an undeniable fact that male succession has continued without exception in an unbroken line for 125 generations of emperors from the first reign of Jimmu in the mythical era."
The prince outlined ways to preserve male succession by bringing distant cousins of the emperor back into the line of succession either by adoption or the creation of new royal houses.
Even more controversially, the prince suggested male members of the royal family could once again take concubines to ensure a supply of sons.
"I'm all for it but this might be a little difficult considering social climate in and outside the country," he wrote.
The emperor's grandfather and great-grandfather were both born to concubines but Emperor Hirohito, who reigned from 1926 to 1989, ended the system.
The article will prompt speculation that Emperor Akihito and other members of the imperial family disagree with the mooted changes but are still observing the taboo on making public utterances on political matters.
Since they have to keep clear of politics, none was consulted by the prime minister's panel.
Prince Tomohito, who is not well known to the Japanese public, argued in his article that he should be allowed to speak freely because the newsletter is not for sale and is distributed only to a limited number of people.
"I take the position that I am speaking privately," he wrote.
Uh, ok. And if that is extended to other males, the population numbers might pick up a bit.
Takers?
And that convoluted solution would be better at preserving the royal "line" than allowing females would be? 
Odds are the current claimant under those conditions is a fellow who was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN.
Looking at the chart, if princess sayako had a son wouldn't he be eligible, time to be fruitful and multiply
Judging by his picture I'd guess Tomohito is the wild card of the bunch.
And Katsura's got one mean lookin' brow.
A blue state, right?
Had to do with Fort Snelling and the Army Intelligence School during WWII ~ they were relocated from the camps to just East of the Mississippi.
Shakespeare has a passage in Henry the Fifth, Act I, Scene II, where this rule is discussed:
"In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant,"
"No woman shall succeed in Salique land"
Obviously. I realize that. I'm questioning the whole idea because if gender trumps bloodline (a distant male cousin, adopted into the line, is preferred over a direct female descendant) than why bother with a royal bloodline at all?
Whole big bunches of the royal lines ran out in the 1800s. I've looked through the primary genealogies, and it looks like they were all hit particularly hard by tuberculosis.
Japan is very sexist. Women are expected to quit for work after marriage. Their jobs become solely taking care of their husbands and their family.
Concubines would fit in perfectly to the social climate. In fact, I thought it was the accepted norm the world over? Silly Prince.
King Juan Carlos of Spain is also descended from Louis XIV but perhaps his ancestor renounced any rights to the throne of France for his descendants, when he became Philip V of Spain in 1700.
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