Intellectual historic study of the argument about succession for females and members of the female line of the Imperial House in the Imperial Household Law(1889) establishment period

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K00109
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01040:History of thought-related
• Research Institution: Chuo University
• Principal Investigator: OKAWA MAKOTO 中央大学, 文学部, 教授 (90510553)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 齋藤 公太 神戸大学, 人文学研究科, 講師 (40802773)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 女性天皇 / 女系天皇 / 男系男子継承主義 / 皇位継承 / 皇室典範 / 皇統論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research aimed to clarify how the theory of female and female lineage emperors continued and changed from the pre-modern period to the establishment of the former Imperial Household Law (1889). As a result, a panel session entitled 'Ideological and Historical Issues Concerning Succession to the Throne in Modern Times' was held at the 2021 Congress of the Japanese Society for the History of Ideas (November 2021).Makoto Okawa published "The 1848 Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Japanese Imperial Lineage Theory" (Nihon Shiso Shigaku, 54, 2022).Kota Saito published "The Discourse History of the 'Female Emperor': focusing on the Argument about Empress Jingu and the Interpretation of the first article of the succession order" (Kobe University Faculty of Letters Bulletin, 50, 2023). These critical research papers will be essential references in future research histories.

Free Research Field

日本思想史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

皇位継承が男系の皇族男子に限られ、女系の継承を認めないとする考え方が前近代から連続していると主張する論説は、現代の日本でも数多く見受けられる。皇位継承をめぐる議論が自己の非学問的な意見の陳述に陥っている状況を打破するためには、基礎的な学問的知見が求められる。本研究では、女性天皇・女系天皇論が旧皇室典範の成立前後で、どのように連続・変化したのか、法制史資料や国学者の言説を詳細に検討して、その詳細の一端を解明できた。