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ToolsTsuji, Hirohito (2025) A Genealogical Study of Branch Families of the Imperial House of Japan. In: PhD workshop in Japanese Studies, 2025-09-02 - 2025-09-03, University of Cardiff.
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Abstract
My research topic is about the genealogy backgrounds of branch families of the Imperial House of Japan known as miyake. Miyake produced an Imperial successor when the emperor had no son, and so-called ‘spare for the Imperial-line’. They have been an essential element of imperial succession. There have been three emperors from miyake: 102nd Emperor Go-Hanazono; 111th Emperor Gosai; and 119th Emperor Kōkaku. There are only three princes in contemporary Japan: Crown Prince Fumihito; Prince Hisahito; and Prince Masahito, meaning that continuing and steady imperial succession might become difficult in the future. Currently, the Government of Japan is considering establishing a system of ‘female miyake’, or reinstating former miyake. According to current Imperial House law, if princesses marry outside the Imperial Family, they must leave the Imperial Family. The draft bill of ‘female miyake’ allows the princesses to remain members of the Imperial Family after their marriage. On the other hand, in 1947, eleven of fourteen miyake were dismissed from the Imperial Family by American occupation forces. There are opinions that they should be welcomed back as members of the Imperial Family again in some way. In short, miyake has an important role in supporting the succession to the throne and is also at the core of discussions on contemporary issues. Despite this, research into the history of the Imperial Family has so far focused solely on successive emperors, overlooking the existence of miyake. Many primary sources on these are classical archives written in kuzushi-ji, which have not been published. Therefore, it is significant to clarify the genealogical background of miyake using unknown historiographies. The new contributions of this research are as follows. (1) How were the pre-modern miyake different from modern ones? In answering this question, I will seek to highlight the differences and problems with the miyake system in the Edo period compared to the modern one. Specifically, I will focus on inheritance or abolition cases in the absence of heirs. (2) What is "family” in the case of miyake? Miyake are in a unique position because they do not constitute the emperor's main family, but neither are they court nobles. It was an interesting class from the point of view of research on the status system and genealogy studies. From the anthropological viewpoint, there are various components of the ‘family’ in Japan. From premodern times, there were two concepts in Japan, ‘uji [clan]’ and ‘ie [household]’. Until 1871 the Japanese people had two surnames: sei [uji names] and myōji [ie names]. The former is a kinship group with the same male-line ancestor and places absolute importance on patrilineal succession of ancestral ritual rights, but not on the closeness of blood relations. The later is a group of people with the same livelihood, who attach importance to the inheritances of family status, lands, family properties, family jobs, and especially the continuation of the family name. In fact, inheritances of miyake were not necessarily based on direct descendants. These complexities may be due to the existence of these two concepts. Although the members of the Imperial Family have neither sei nor a myōji, each miyake has a ‘miya’ title very similar to a surname, earns an independent living, and has had several adoptions and inheritances between members of the Imperial Family regardless of the distance of their actual blood relation to each other. In order to understand the nature of the Imperial ‘Family’, I will locate to situate their conception of the family in the context of their unique position. (3) What were the roles of miyake princesses and the precedent of ‘female miyake’ historically and for the contemporary period? By analysing the precedent for inheritance of miyake by princess or appointment of acting heads of miyake to females, it is possible to define the historical role of female members of miyake. Princess Sumiko, third daughter of 120th Emperor Ninkō, inherited Katsura-no-Miya in 1863. There are also presidents when the head of miyake passed away without a male heir, his widow acted as the acting head. Currently, some historians argue these cases can become precedents of the ‘female miyake’ system. By identifying the reality of the female head and acting head of miyake, it is possible to situate the traditional nature of miyake and to consider whether these can serve as a premise for contemporary discussions. (4) Continuities and differences between pre-modern and modern miyake In the Imperial Family in the medieval and early modern periods, the Yoro Code was disregarded and precedent-oriented customary law was applied. The modern Imperial Family, on the other hand, operated the system based on the Imperial House Law, a codified law. In my opinion, the biggest difference between the pre-modern and modern systems for miyake is the existence of adoption between members of the Imperial Family. Conventional Marxist periodization, such as early modern history research and modern history research, divides the findings of both periods into different parts, making it difficult to see the continuity of history. By analysing why the modern imperial system banned adoption, what impact this had, and whether there were cases where pre-modern values continued to live outside the legal framework, it is possible to take a diachronic view of the Imperial Family. (5) Critical questions for today's Advisory Council on the Imperial House Law. As there is very little previous research on miyake particularly in the premodern period, some arguments are based on factual errors not based on historiographies. As mentioned, due to decreasing number of royals, the revision of the miyake system has become a contemporary issue, as a measure against the problem of succession to the throne and to reduce the burden of the emperor's official duties. I will attempt to contribute to contemporary issues by critically analysing previous arguments and proposals based on historical facts on the miyake system. It is possible to offer new perspectives on contemporary issues, in particular by critically discussing the modern Western bias that sees the family only as a simple nuclear family. This research applies historical methods based on primary resources and social anthropological methods such as comparative family studies, as well as interdisciplinary methods using knowledge from adjacent fields such as religious studies, law and gender. Historiographies include genealogical records, diaries, letters, memos, modern official documents, internal documents of the GHQ, etc., which have been handed since the premodern or modern periods. Some of these are unpublished documents held by the Imperial Household Archives, the Imperial House Library, the National Diet Library, the Kyoto Institute, Library and Archives, and others.
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | japanese studies,arts and humanities(all),social sciences(all),general ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Nov 2025 15:30 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Nov 2025 07:30 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101097 |
| DOI: | 10.13140/RG.2.2.23574.20805 |
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