Japan on Saturday hosted a grand coming-of-age ceremony for Prince Hisahito, the first male royal to reach adulthood in 40 years.
The elaborate palace rituals to formally recognise Hisahito as an adult on Saturday were a moment of celebration, but also a bleak reminder of the ageing demographic of the world’s oldest monarchy.
Hisahito, the nephew of Emperor Naruhito, was due to take part in a series of traditional ceremonies on Saturday to commemorate his coming of age. Before Hisahito’s birthday last year, his father had been the last male to reach adulthood in the family all the way back in 1985.
The prince is the youngest of the 16-member imperial family and one of only five men, including former Emperor Akihito.
Hisahito is second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne and is likely to become emperor one day. However, there is nobody left after him to take the throne due to the male-only succession policy, leaving the Imperial family with a dilemma over whether they should reverse the 19th-century rule.
The 1947 Imperial House Law, which largely preserves conservative pre-war family values, only allows a male to succeed to the throne. It also stipulates that female royal members who marry commoners lose their royal status.
Japan’s conservative government has said it wants to keep male-only royal succession, though it is looking for a way to allow women to keep royal status if they marry commoners and to continue serving in royal duties.
At a ritual held on Saturday morning, attendants removed a black silk headband from the head of Hisahito and replaced it with an adult crown bestowed by Emperor Naruhito, according to Kyodo News. The emperor and his wife, Empress Masako, as well as the prince’s parents, Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko, served as witnesses.
The prince then donned ceremonial attire and rode in a state carriage to the Imperial Palace Sanctuaries to honour his ancestors with a formal ritual.
Later, he was scheduled to have an audience with the emperor and empress in the Matsu no Ma state room of the Imperial Palace, where he will also be awarded the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum.
The prince will then visit his grandparents, former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko, at the Sento imperial residence in Akasaka. Saturday’s festivities were set to conclude with a celebratory banquet in Tokyo.
The rituals are set to spill over into much of next week. Hisahito is expected to travel to Ise, Japan’s most important Shinto shrine, the mausoleum of the mythical first emperor Jinmu in Nara, as well as that of his late great-grandfather, wartime emperor Hirohito, in the Tokyo suburbs. He will then have lunch with prime minister Shigeru Ishiba and other dignitaries on Wednesday.
Hisahito studies biology as a first year student at Tsukuba University near Tokyo, and has co-authored an academic paper on a survey of the insects on the grounds of his Akasaka estate in Tokyo. In his debut news conference in March, the prince said he hopes to focus his studies on dragonflies and other insects, including ways to protect bug populations in urban areas.
His other interests lie in growing tomatoes and rice on the palace compound. Because Japanese royals have to stay away from politics, members of the Imperial Family tend to study biology, literature and the arts.
Hisahito was born on 6 September 2006 and has two older sisters, the popular Princess Kako and former Princess Mako, whose marriage to a non-royal required her to abandon her royal status.
The shortage of male successors is a serious concern for the monarchy, which has lasted for 1,500 years. The issue reflects the wider country’s rapidly aging and shrinking population. Japan recorded nearly a million more deaths than births in 2024 – the steepest decline since records began in 1968.
Prime minister Ishiba has called the trend a “quiet emergency” and pledged measures like free childcare and flexible work hours, but demographic pressures are already straining pensions, healthcare, and the fabric of rural communities.
