4 ms·

> There is, after all, ample precedent for this: women have succeeded to the throne on ten previous occasions > [When this comes to pass,] the emperor system,

• Lazare 7y ago
  Not exactly; notice the following passage: > What is striking is that 74% have no objection to the offspring of a woman emperor succeeding to the throne. If this were to happen, it would be an historical first. Women have succeeded to the throne, but they have been succeeded in turn by offspring of an earlier male emperor. Every emperor (in theory) has been able to trace their ancestry back to the sun goddess through the paternal line. Tracing ancestry through the maternal line as well would be a significant change.
  • taneq 7y ago
    > sun goddess > paternal line Hmmm. I mean, I guess it depends whether you count her sons as the first generation or not, but still, why would deity-ness (is there a better word for this? Deism?) pass from her to her sons and thence only to their sons?
    • Simple_Guy 7y ago
      same reason all humans can trace themselves back to the first genetic goop which derived from abiogenesis.
    • vermilingua 7y ago
      Divinity. And because, well, that’s how it works. That’s the very nature of tradition, especially religious tradition; it is because it is.
    • Lazare 7y ago
      I mean, the real answer is probably that the rules were developed in the context of a patriarchal culture. But they're hardly alone; many countries have historically practiced agnatic primogeniture which works quite similarly.
• fenomas 7y ago
  Per wikipedia it's a patrilineal system, where women are eligible to succeed to the throne but their children aren't. So there have been empresses, but the imperial line itself is still (ostensibly) an unbroken series of male heirs. > On some occasions [of a reigning empress], the direct male heir was only a toddler and unable to perform the imperial rituals. In such an instance, his mother, aunt or elder sister, if also of Imperial lineage through her patriline, temporarily took over the throne until the child came to puberty, which was deemed sufficient for a boy's accession. An empress' offspring also did not have claim to the throne from the said maternal lineage, so assigning a female to the throne had the convenient effect of postponing succession disputes.
  • paulific 7y ago
    Notably there have only been two reigning empresses since the 8th Century and none at all in the modern era. The current Imperial Household Law only allows males to ascend the throne, so they were in real trouble 10 or 15 years back before the birth of the current Emperor's nephew who is now 2nd in line to the throne. The succession is not fixed by the constitution, so they could change the law any time they like. But they probably won't unless they have to.