Naruhito

Emperor Naruhito (2019)

Emperor Naruhito (/ naɺ̠ɯçito /, Japanese 徳仁 ; * February 23, 1960 in Tokyo , Japan ) ascended the Japanese chrysanthemum throne on May 1, 2019 and was officially proclaimed the 126th Tennō on October 22, 2019 . Naruhito is the eldest son of Akihito and Michiko . His childhood title was Prince Hiro ( 浩宮 , Hiro-no-miya ) and he was appointed Crown Prince on February 23, 1991, his 31st birthday. His government motto is called Reiwa ( 令和 , "beautiful harmony").

biography

childhood and education

Naruhito in February 1961

Naruhito was born on February 23, 1960 as the first child of the then Crown Prince couple , Akihito and Michiko , in the official "Hospital of the Imperial Court Office " ( 宮内庁病院 Kunai-chō Byōin ). His full name "Hiro-no-miya Naruhito" ( 浩宮徳仁 ) was chosen by the then emperor Hirohito , who was also Naruhito's grandfather, and announced the name six days after his birth. The childhood title "Hiro-no-miya" comes from the 32nd chapter of the Confucianist book Middle and Measure by Zhu Xi and means (in the figurative sense) about "far-reaching sky" ( 浩々たる天 Kōkōtaru ten ); the proper name "Naruhito" has the same origin and means something like "Someone who gains wisdom, clarity, wisdom and understanding through heavenly virtue" ( 聡明聖知にして天徳に達する者 Sōmei seichi ni shite tentoku ni tassuru mono ). Both names each contain a character from these book excerpts. This procedure of choosing a name corresponded to the imperial tradition, which the Crown Prince himself later broke when he himself determined the name of his daughter Aiko, who was born in 2001.

Naruhito (1st from left) with his family in September 1969

Naruhito's birth and childhood attracted a lot of public interest in Japan, especially since he is the first child from the imperial line to be born after the end of World War II . The princes Tomohito , Yoshihito and Norihito were born before him , but they were sons of Prince Mikasa , a younger brother of Emperor Hirohito, and therefore less favored as heir to the throne. The upbringing methods of Naruhito's parents were also valued by the population, as they deviated significantly from previous traditions. Above all, the fact that Crown Princess Michiko left her son at the age of seven months on trips abroad for several weeks by the Crown Prince couple for care and care and thus carried out their duties, became a model for many Japanese families and encouraged women to go to work in addition to raising children . Akihito and Michiko also carried out the upbringing almost entirely themselves, but Naruhito received private lessons from the age of one year from the teacher Minoru Hamao (1925-2006), a great-grandson of Katō Hiroyuki and brother Stephen Fumio Hamaos .

Starting with the kindergarten, Naruhito attended educational institutions of the Gakushūin University according to tradition and completed his studies of history there in 1982 with a bachelor's degree . He then entered the humanities graduate school at the same university, where he began studying for a doctorate in humanities . From 1983 to 1985 he attended as part of a study abroad the Merton College of the University of Oxford and wrote there the thesis The Thames as Highway: A Study of Navigation and Traffic on the Upper Thames in the Eighteenth Century , dedicated to the history of navigation on busy the Thames . In 1988 he broke off his doctoral studies and graduated with a Master of Humanities (humanities). In contrast to his father and grandfather, he did not complete a degree in biology .

Marriage and life as the Crown Prince

Naruhito and Masako in January 2011

In October 1986, on the occasion of a reception for the Spanish Princess Elena in the Akasaka Palace , Naruhito first met the then diplomat Masako Owada , daughter of the judge Hisashi Owada , and became friends with her. In April 1987, Prince Norihito , Naruhito's second uncle, and his wife Princess Hisako invited him and Masako to a meeting at their property, which deepened the friendship. As a result, Masako was continuously persecuted by the press and put under pressure, which is why she went abroad from 1988 to 1990 to study abroad at Balliol College, University of Oxford. After the death of Emperor Hirohito in January 1989, Naruhito was officially appointed as Crown Prince in February 1991. Initially, Masako's parents and the Imperial Court Office rejected the relationship. More meetings followed, and in October 1992 Naruhito finally proposed the marriage. In January 1993 the court office officially announced the engagement; the wedding followed on June 9th of the year and aroused great public interest.

The crown prince couple then moved to the Tōgū Palace ( 東宮御所Tōgū gosho ) on the grounds of the Akasaka Palace. After two daughters ( Mako and Kako ) had already emerged from the marriage of Naruhito's brother Prince Fumihito with Princess Kiko , the pressure on the hitherto childless Naruhito grew, since according to the law on the imperial household, only male members of the imperial family are allowed to Are you planning to climb the Chrysanthemum Throne? On December 1, 2001 Princess Aiko ( 敬宮愛子内親王Toshi-no-miya Aiko Naishinnō ; German about "Princess Aiko von Toshi") was born. The still uncertain succession of the imperial family led to a public debate about changing the law on the imperial family to allow women to ascend to the throne. In January 2005, the then Prime Minister Jun'ichirō Koizumi convened a commission of judges, university professors and public employees to explore possible changes to the law and draft legislative proposals. These circumstances probably led to a depression at Masako , which the Imperial Court Office described as “ adjustment disorders ”. As a result, Naruhito always performed alone at public events from 2004 to around 2008; since then he has been increasingly accompanied by Masako. The debate about changing the law had previously ended after Prince Fumihito's son, Prince Hisahito , was born in 2006 .

After Emperor Akihito indicated in a televised address that he wanted to abdicate in the near future, the Japanese government decided on December 8, 2017 after consulting the "Imperial Council" ( 皇室会議 Kōshitsu Kaigi , including Prime Minister Shinzō Abe , the president of the two chambers of the Parliament Tadamori Ōshima and Chūichi Date as well as Naruhito's uncle Prince Masahito of Hitachi and his wife Princess Hanako of Hitachi ) that Emperor Akihito will abdicate on April 30, 2019 and Naruhito will ascend the chrysanthemum throne the following day. On April 1, 2019, it was determined that his term of office would be Reiwa .

Accession to the throne

Members of the imperial family shortly after Naruhito took office on May 4, 2019

Following Akihito's abdication on April 30, 2019, Naruhito officially assumed the office of emperor on May 1, 2019 at midnight local time. At the same time, the Heisei period was replaced by the Reiwa period.

The Shinto enthronement ceremony ( 即位の礼 , Sokui no Rei ), at which Naruhito is appointed Tennō from a religious point of view, took place on October 22, 2019, the Shinto ceremony of the Daijō-sai took place on the night of 14th to 15th. November.

Succession to the throne

In the Japanese primogeniture it is only possible for male members of the imperial family to become Tennō, that is, in the event of the death of Emperor Naruhito, his younger brother Crown Prince Fumihito will be appointed as the new Emperor of Japan. In the Japanese succession to the throne, Crown Prince Fumihito is number one for the chrysanthemum throne .

Private

Naruhito is particularly interested in water conservation .

Naruhito is an avid violist after first playing the violin . Furthermore, hiking is another great hobby of Naruhito, about which he wrote an essay that reports on hiking with his parents, among other things. He is also known for his tennis and jogging activities .

Naruhito has been a fan of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team from childhood .

Picture gallery

Appointment of Naruhito as Crown Prince (1991)
The imperial family 2013 (Naruhito 2nd from left)
Reception of Prince William at the Crown Prince's residence (2015)
Reception of US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in the Imperial Palace (2019)
Prime Minister Shinzō Abe (left) reading his congratulations on Naruhito's enthronement on October 22, 2019