Japan has had eight reigning empresses throughout its history, but a law introduced in 1889 formally barred women from ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Japan is currently facing a significant royal crisis as the government attempts to avoid a succession emergency within the world oldest monarchy. According to a report by CNN, the current rules only allow men to take the imperial throne, which has left the future of the royal family in serious doubt.
There are currently only three eligible male heirs to the Chrysanthemum throne, and two of them are already over the age of sixty. As reported by CNN, the strict male-only succession rule has stood for centuries, but it now directly threatens the survival of the royal lineage because the family has produced far more daughters than sons in recent decades.
To resolve the shortage of male successors, ministers have proposed bringing back former branches of the royal family to expand the pool of eligible men. However, this has led opposition politicians and academics to question why the country will not simply allow women to rule.
“It is difficult to find any rational basis for refusing to allow a woman to become emperor,” said Professor Makoto Okawa, who studies imperial lineage at Chuo University in Tokyo.
Japan previously had eight empresses, mostly when the male heirs were too young to rule, until the Imperial House Law was enacted in 1889 during the Meiji era, officially banning female emperors.
Despite the law, the country’s overarching constitution does not bar women from taking the throne, Okawa said, nor can it be regarded as a “Japanese tradition” to exclude them.
“The idea of excluding women in advance as persons incapable of becoming emperor should be understood plainly as misogyny,” said Okawa.
Various polls have shown most people are open-minded about female emperors.
