Japan’s Prince Hisahito, the first male royal to reach adulthood in four decades, has marked a pivotal moment for the world’s oldest monarchy. A ceremony on Saturday formally recognised his coming of age, underscoring the precarious future of the Chrysanthemum Throne due to its male-only succession policy and dwindling numbers in the Imperial family.
Second in line to the throne, Prince Hisahito is widely expected to become emperor. However, with no male heirs following him, the Imperial family faces a dilemma: whether to reverse a 19th-century ruling that abolished female succession. The shortage of male successors is a serious concern for the monarchy, which historians say has lasted 1,500 years, and reflects Japan’s rapidly aging and shrinking population.
Prince Hisahito, born on 6 September 2006, is the only son of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko. He has two older sisters, Princess Kako and former Princess Mako, who lost her royal status upon marrying a non-royal. Hisahito is the nephew of Emperor Naruhito, who has one daughter, Princess Aiko. His father, Akishino, was the last male to reach adulthood in the family, in 1985.
The prince is a freshman at Tsukuba University studying biology and enjoys playing badminton. He has co-authored an academic paper on dragonflies and hopes to focus his studies on insects, including protecting bug populations in urban areas. His coming-of-age rituals fell a year after he turned 18 because he wanted to concentrate on college entrance exams.
The male-only succession system is structurally flawed, experts say, and only worked historically thanks to concubines. Princess Aiko, supported by much of the public as a future monarch, cannot succeed her father under current law. A 2005 proposal to allow a female emperor was shelved after Hisahito’s birth. A 2022 panel recommended maintaining male-line succession while allowing female members to keep royal status after marriage, but the debate has stalled.
Former Imperial Household Agency chief Shingo Haketa said the stalled debate has forced Hisahito to carry the burden of the Imperial Family’s fate alone. The conservative Yomiuri newspaper called for urgent revision of the Imperial House Law to allow women to succeed the throne and grant royal status to husbands and children of princesses. Saturday’s ritual began at his family residence, with the prince appearing in a tuxedo.
