https://twitter.com/MichaelTCucek/status/1124171852958420992
Saw this tweet regarding the female IF members.
He also linked another thread from a guy who worked as an aide in the Lower House, whatever the hell that entails:
- In 2005, before the heir Prince Hisahito was born, I was a Lower House aide as Imperial Succession Law revision was discussed. I was at mtgs and heard arguments. I’m no expert. I have tiny insights, a story, and no conclusion.
- The specific question wasn’t exactly ‘Do we allow a woman to be emperor?’ Everyone knew the female precedents. Question was whether to maintain the male line, i.e. the traditional requirement of The Imperial Y-chromosome (I’ll say Y-Line); or to allow it to go through a woman.
- Those are very different questions. A main option considered in 2005 was a departure from the Y-chromosome tradition, and not just a woman emperor ‘placeholding.’ Many of you know why this became an issue after so many centuries:
- The modern imperial family lacks access to two major tools that kept the Y-line going: Concubines and multiple male lines. (Some of my terminology might be wrong, due to laziness and just wanting to get the point across. Feel free to correct me.)
- Obviously, in modern society, an emperor/prince can’t just get other partners in pursuit of a male heir. Re: other male lines, Mac Arthur basically cut off all but the current branch of the imperial family; no more going back up the family tree for dudes w/ the Y-chromosome.
- In 2005, w/ doubtful prospects for a male heir, the idea emerged to let the line go through Princess Aiko. Many opposed this, outwardly on grounds of tradition. Simple, right? Actually not. A lot of opposition was quietly funded by former imperial families who’d been cut off.
- Strict maintenance of the Y-Line meant a chance of being brought back into the imperial tree, and they fought hard for it. Therefore, quite ironically, it’s likely that they were disappointed when Prince Hisahito was born. Now for my wee story.
- One conservative firebrand (I’ll call him TH) vehemently opposed to female succession. He and others, including my MP boss, attended the revision-opposing rallies, and as aides, we did grunt work to make them function. At one rally, I was an usher helping folks get into seats.
- So during speeches, I’m guiding people to seats and signaling to tell ushers at the entrances how many chairs are open, etc. TH-sensei is speaking, and he’s in fine form spelling out the menaces of female succession. His most interesting point was this ludicrous/fun scenario:
- “What if Aiko-sama were to attend school overseas and fall under the spell of some *blue-eyed guy* Imagine what would happen then!” Remember, this crowd is the cream of society—the actual aristocracy of Japan—and now being threatened w/ literal replacement by white dudes.
- At this moment I’m thinking “You mean like the rather short yet nevertheless blue-eyed one standing up front, in the center aisle, with nowhere to run/hide, on display as a perfect example of the kind of gene pollution the imperial line would suffer if the Law were revised?”
- That was one of those life moments where you ask how in the actual hell you could’ve ended up in this situation. I blushed and gave a sheepish grin. I digress, but it was a surreal moment. Later the boss and I had a laugh about it. (I was already married and took no offense.)
- Prince Hisahito was born & debate calmed. We still hear how Japan won’t allow a woman emperor, but it’s a bit more complex. A major conclusion of the committee that studied the issue: Abandoning the Y-Line would be a slippery-slope to abolishing the imperial institution.
- Whether that’s true is debatable. But back to the poll: I think the question of whether to maintain the line as a Y-chromosome thing, or something else, is a much more accurate one. Many ppl would still favor revision, of course.
- I like the imperial institution and agree that changing it fundamentally could lead to abolition. Smarter ppl than me have good points not only against its gender roles, but other aspects too. Whether an emperor is a net positive seems to be the deciding question for people.
- Again, I’m no expert. Just wanted to fill in some things that seem to get left out. I’m interested to hear opinions and more info.
So what I'm getting is that a) there's a lot of political interest in maintaining the male line beyond simple misogyny (though there's plenty of that, too), b) Mac Arthur done and f*cked it up a bit.
PS: we really need a dedicate quote button.
Be sure to include how the Imperial myth is all about how their legitimacy basically goes back to Amaterasu-ōmikami. You know, the sun goddess. Who pretty much handed her mitochondrial line to her brother, Susanoo, in a spat (in so far as a-sword-turned-into-daughters has DNA at all — or sons-made-from-beads do, either).
So, yeah. That ultra-important Y-chromosome? Why? Also, what about all the known historical breaks in the lineage? (Jockeying for position in government through marriage to princes and princesses over centuries does that; forget any instances of questionable parentage.)
Perhaps if if was so damned important, the noble families shouldn't have used both X and Y sides of the royal family as a warlord-legitimizing rubber stamp for a good 800-year period.
Edited by Euodiachloris on May 12th 2019 at 3:59:21 PM
Well, according to the guy from Twitter, the Y-chromosome is important today because several former branches of the Imperial family that were excluded from the party want once again to have a slice of the pie.
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If you do, make sure to send me the Amazon link
Edited by HailMuffins on May 12th 2019 at 12:01:15 PM
That was my point: they're doing it, again. But... this time, the holy Y is the fashionable route to prestige, power and getting your immediate kin locked into a horrible gilded cage. Once upon a time, it was sneaking your Y into that cage using the princess route that was the bees knees.
Edited by Euodiachloris on May 12th 2019 at 4:08:17 PM
Which already makes you a better writer than Dan Brown, and look how much money he made.
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Sorry, I misinterpreted it.
Ha ha. Thanks. I’m being modest. Need some work though. My writings are around on the net... somewhere.
There’s a fiction book written by Jonathan Holburt called Kyuden (First book) or Shadow Emperor (Ebook). Centers on a conspiracy regarding someone who wants to take the throne, claiming to be from the branch families disbanded IIRC.
Edited by Ominae on May 12th 2019 at 8:32:52 AM
The breaks are of little consequence when you think about it, the house of Yamato would've been very large by the time of reliable records. So you'd always find someone from the cadet families or even the other clans that had some pedigree or another. As we know, the lore is a bit more important than the reality.
The best god is Takemikazuchi-no-kami.
Edited by TerminusEst on May 12th 2019 at 9:44:06 AM
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Yup, a good, solid choice. One of the biggies with those rare things called "common sense", "carrot and stick" and "a love of effective showboating" — which you flipping need to do a job that basically amounts to "herding a bunch of terrestrially-bound cats with the attention spans of kittens".
Me, I'm partial to Ebisu (when keeping up the fishy theme) among the variable Seven. And, Inari-okami. For reasons not entirely dissimilar to liking the variable Seven.
Edited by Euodiachloris on May 12th 2019 at 6:30:08 PM
I'm biased. Since my school of martial arts is heavily linked to the Kashima Grand Shrine, Takemikazuchi is the patron diety to which all of it is dedicated to.
Edited by TerminusEst on May 12th 2019 at 10:22:49 AM
Si Vis Pacem, Para PerkeleLess about the story here, more the school lore.
The Kashima area had for a long time been in religious and military use, so it developed its own martial traditions often collectively referred to as Kashima no Tachi. A typical story of any ryuha is that through ascetic practice and divine revelation (Takemikazuchi in this case) one can penetrate the innermost mysteries of combat. So it's a quest for individual power not necessarily battlefield expertise, even if you were a veteran of wars.
It's the classic problem of a person trying to figure out whether there is more to what they do than just plain function.
Edited by TerminusEst on May 12th 2019 at 1:44:46 AM
Si Vis Pacem, Para PerkeleHuh, honestly, Terminus's experiences sound more interesting to me.
Not the most in-depth reason, sure, but hey.
It's been fun.Inari is one of those interesting ones where you can see very old aspects of other Kami (and notable Yokai) getting blobbed together and reforged to fit the C16/17th and beyond.
In some ways, he/she/they're a very modern phenomenon; in others, less-than-subtle, anvil-heavy hints of "old fashioned", slightly (to very) anarchic rites and tales which various hierarchies have tried to squish over roughly 2,000 years — but, the thing about actively persecuting folk practices is that they tend to just resurface in a slightly different shape, but with the same old spirit of "yeah, but how about also no" attached to them.
Inari borrows much from parts of the Seven
that have been tweaked and shoved under various rugs, but also others — Kami of change, movement, the gaps between and that which "proper" tries to make palatable, but never quite manages to come to terms with.
Found this old vid (Not sure if NHK) regarding the announcement that Naruhito, as Crown Prince, was looking for a bride.
There's no English subtitles though. Otherwise, the eight women (including Masako when she was with the Foreign Ministry) were being asked by reporters on "rumors" that they're seeing the CP.
With regards to that Tokyo Reporter link I posted, I apologize for that.
New question: Is it a prerequisite for Chinese who become Japanese citizens to have a new full name rather than having their actual names rendered in on'yomi? Like, a Chinese man named "Chen Wenlong" has to go with a new full name rather than having it kept, albeit in on'yomi reading?
Foreign Minister Taro Kono to ask foreign media to switch the order of Japanese names
For example, Kono said that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s name should be written as “Abe Shinzo,” in line with other Asian leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
“I plan to ask international media organizations to do this. Domestic media outlets that have English services should consider it, too,” he said, citing a 2000 report by the education ministry’s National Language Council that said it was desirable to write Japanese names with the family name first in all instances.
IMO, it's about time. It's weird how Japanese names are switched around in Western media, while Chinese and Korean ones usually aren't.
♭What.

I hope the rest of film can live up to that casting. Because Chadwick can definitely do justice to Yatsuke's memory.