How old does Prince Hisahito have to be in order to get married? (perhaps 2024?)

[KathyMoore]

How old does Prince Hisahito have to be in order to get married?
Perhaps as early as 2024? (age 18)

Wouldn't it be in the best interest of the imperial family to have
him get married early, in order to produce a male heir ASAP?

[cesaryui]

Maybe... I think he's gonna marry older than the age of 18. If we take look at the Imperial family, the men didn't married at this age.

I guess he'll get married at the age of 24.

[ChiaraC]

Hisahito´s father, uncle and grandfather had their own way when they married: Fumihito was allowed to marry before his elder brother although that is against Confucian law. And Akihito and Naruhito insisted on marrying ladies who were not to be so easily convinced.

When Michiko´s parents heard that their daughter should become the crown princess they sent her hastily to Belgium and the US. Japanese way to politely say: “Thanks but no thanks.” One of Akihito´s friends, Masao Oda, explained that those close to him knew that the prince wanted to die if Michiko refused to marry him. And so they did all in their power to help him: Oda´s brother supported Akihito in connecting to his beloved via phone calls (difficult!!! because Michiko´s parents should not know and empress Nagako should not know either...). And one executive of the kunaicho, Michiharu Tajima, wrote in his diary: “The opinion of everybody concerned seems to be that the marriage with Michiko Shoda has to be made possible by whatever means because it is the only hope.”

And, as we all know, Naruhito in his turn needed even more time to convince his one-and-only to marry him. Everybody helped to support him and, of course, a lot of young women were presented to him one after the other but nobody tried to force him to do anything against his will - even when he was already “competing with prince Charles for the title of “eldest bachelor crown prince alive”” as Naruhito humorously expressed it.

So, if none of them had been compelled to marry against their will to ensure succession I really do not think that they will begin with it in the 21st century. (Not even in Japan…) And even if they wanted that: WHO should force Hisahito? They can hardly let the parliament make a law that commands the heir of the throne to marry ASAP. The whole world would roar with laughter. And in the family? When Hisahito will be grown up his uncle Naruhito will - in all probability - be emperor. And even in my wildest dreams I cannot imagine an emperor Naruhito who forces his nephew to marry in order to guarantee male succession… Considering his own story, I think we can fairly declare that to be absolutely out of the question. I think in such a case he would not try to solve the problem by making his nephew unhappy but by trying to use all of his influence to find a way to include women in the succession – if even only as “spares” if Hisahito should die without having a son. If Hisahito had never been born the Japanese would have surrendered to necessity anyway and would have changed the law. If the problem comes up again because Hisahito is unwilling to marry or does not find a bride this will also be a sort of necessity, and why should the Japanese then refuse to face reality? As already somebody somewhere said: if Hisahito should only have daughters his eldest will probably become reigning empress without much further ado. And most of us will probably not live to see her reigning anyway…

[Elspeth]

Since Hisahito was born for the express purpose of continuing the bloodline, he's going to have an awful lot of pressure put on him to marry whether he wants to or not.

Nowadays, when they can guarantee the production of a son through IVF, there's no reason to believe that he'll only produce daughters. I think if he has a daughter or two like his parents did, the scientists will kick in and a male heir will be forthcoming.

However, if he doesn't have children, I'd be prepared to bet that Cousin Aiko won't be the one to succeed him, assuming she outlives him. My guess is that they'll allow the succession to go to males via the female line first, in the hope that one of his elder sisters has a son.

[Al_bina]

I fully agree with your opinion, Elspeth... Nothing much can be added, except that Prince Hisahito and his future wife will be under tremendous pressure to continue the bloodline.

[Amelia]

I'd be prepared to bet that Cousin Aiko won't be the one to succeed him,

I know that this is probably the wrong thread to ask but what if Aiko had a son before her father died, would he be heir?

[Al_bina]

Princess Aiko has to marry the Prince of blood to keep her title, if one is available. Even if Princess Aiko marries a right person and has a son, it does not mean a place in the succession line. Marrying a commoner, Princess Aiko will give up her title and all other privileges associated with her title.

[Elspeth]

No, because as soon as Aiko marries, she leaves the royal family and becomes a commoner, and her children will be commoners.

The same is presently true for Prince Hisahito's elder sisters, but if he ends up not having children at all, it'll be very interesting to see how the succession is handled.

[Dmitry Kurbsky]

Originally Posted by KathyMoore

How old does Prince Hisahito have to be in order to get married? Perhaps as early as 2024? (age 18)

The age of majority is 18 for the Emperor and the Crown Prince (article 22 of Imperial Household Law), but other princes and princesses reaches adulthood at age of 20 (as well as commoners). And in 2024 probably Prince Naruhito should be the Emperor, and Prince Hisahito just a "regular" prince. So 2026 is more possible than 2024.

[ChiaraC]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

Since Hisahito was born for the express purpose of continuing the bloodline, he's going to have an awful lot of pressure put on him to marry whether he wants to or not.

Nowadays, when they can guarantee the production of a son through IVF, there's no reason to believe that he'll only produce daughters. I think if he has a daughter or two like his parents did, the scientists will kick in and a male heir will be forthcoming.

However, if he doesn't have children, I'd be prepared to bet that Cousin Aiko won't be the one to succeed him, assuming she outlives him. My guess is that they'll allow the succession to go to males via the female line first, in the hope that one of his elder sisters has a son.

I did not want to say that there will necessarily be a female tenno after Hisahito. Probably not. But I do want to say that, in my opinion, if it had not been for Akihito, Aiko would have very probably followed her father and Hisahito would have never been born or, at least, not medically “designed” as I have no doubt he was. It was the tenno´s opinion here that made all the difference. Sure, there were before Hisahito´s birth still conservatives who said in the parliament discussion that they would NEVER EVER accept a woman as their tenno. But without a male heir even on the far horizon what could they have done? There were too many Japanese who would have accepted Aiko, at least rather than have put someone on the throne whose right to inherit would have needed a specialized historian to be made understood. (I have never even heard a name mentioned which IMO says a lot. Would not that have been a nice story for the press? “Will Yxihito Yxihuda become the father or the grandfather of an emperor?” If it had been so very easy to find such a person or if it would have been so clear who would have to be the chosen one the press WOULD have found him out ere long.) The conservatives would certainly have been very angry but they would not have stirred up a civil war to put this hypothetical “Yxihito Yxihuda” or his male offspring on the throne. Nor could they have physically forced Naruhito or Akishino to take concubines - whatever their fantasies may have been.

And the executives of the kunaicho may have seen it as a good idea to produce a male heir. But still: if the emperor and empress had told their children: “Oh let them talk!” I am sure Kiko would never have gotten pregnant for the third time. But it is - to the contrary - known that the emperor was very concerned about the idea of a woman on the throne, and that he even said he could not die as long as this problem was not solved.

I am, of course, aware that it is not likely that this situation - in which the opinion of the reigning emperor has made such a difference to the outcome of things - will soon happen again. In all probability, Hisahito will marry sooner or later anyway, and although there is certainly never a guarantee for it, still many couples do not have a problem to have as many children as they choose and will sooner or later have a boy if they try for it, even without the help of medical science. In fact, if I come to think of the person concerned I do not believe that the problem with Hisahito will be that he will not want to marry. That his uncle took such a long time to it was probably owing to the fact that he had – owing to his education - a problem to come into contact with others and to really show himself and share his feelings with others. (Masako - now that she has had a fair chance to get to know him - really and seriously seems to love him.) I think the problem with Hisahito will rather be that he might become a bit spoilt. He hardly can help it as he is the center of the hopes and the attention of so many people only because of his existence – and maybe it will be he who will make the nationalists´ nightmare come true and fall in love at 22 with a blue-eyed stranger (or with an intelligent Harvard-student with Korean ancestors – horrors! )… And maybe it will not be so easy to convince him that he cannot have her – has he not until this day always gotten everything that he really wanted?

As for Aiko I think that you are absolutely right. Only in the case that anything should happen to Hisahito while she is still single and her father is alive (which is fortunately for Hisahito very improbable) there would IMO be a small possibility for her to become empress. As for her children, I see no chance at all as, looking at her parents, I think that Aiko will either serve for a long time as single princess and do the imperial diplomacy that was and his her parents` mission (unfulfilled), or, if she does not have this possibility or does not have it any longer (if her father dies) I think she will look for another official position, maybe abroad, and maybe even marry a foreigner. She will not – like her aunt - become a housewife married to a Japanese high class commoner and never be heard of again, I am pretty sure of this. So, either she won´t have children of her own or they won´t be “suitable” for the throne. (Although I do not have a doubt that if she still were to become empress she would dutifully submit to the necessity of marrying someone “acceptable”. But if she has to give up her title anyway, why should she?)