The Imperial House of Japan has reigned for more than 2,600 years, making the family the world’s oldest continuous hereditary dynasty.
Its position is linked to the country’s reverence for the Shinto religion, an indigenous Japanese belief system, and the monarchy has existed since 660 BC. Kyoto is the traditional seat of the royal family, but by 900 AD its power was supplanted by the powerful samurai warrior class, which effectively ruled on behalf of the monarchy until about 1800.
At this point Japan started to build toward what is known as the Meiji Restoration, when Emperor Meiji ended military rule and moved the royal family to Tokyo. After centuries as a symbolic power, the royal family once again wielded its imperial might.
However, after defeat in World War II, Japan signed a new constitution in 1947. The constitution abolished the aristocracy and made the emperor a symbolic figure once more. Today the succession is under threat due to rules that prohibit female royals from taking the throne, and there are only three heirs left after Emperor Akihito’s April 2019 abdication.
The future of the Japanese royal family is unclear, and the world could be about to lose its oldest imperial dynasty.
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