Ōke


The Kyū-Miyake, also known as the Old Imperial Family, were branches of the Japanese Imperial Family created from branches of the Fushimi-no-miya house, the last surviving Shinnōke cadet branch. All but one of the ōke were formed by the descendants of Prince Fushimi Kuniye. The ōke were stripped of their membership in the Imperial Family by the American Occupation Authorities in October 1947, as part of the abolition of collateral imperial houses. After that point, only the immediate family of Hirohito and those of his three brothers retained membership in the Imperial Family. However, unofficial heads of these collateral families still exist for most and are listed herein.
In recent years, conservatives have proposed to reinstate several of the former imperial branches or else to allow the imperial family to adopt male members of the former princely houses, as a solution to the Japanese succession controversy.
The kyū-miyake were, in order of founding:
  1. 梨本 Nashimoto
  2. 久邇 Kuni
  3. 山階 Yamashina
  4. 華頂 Kachō or Kwachō
  5. 北白川 Kitashirakawa
  6. 東伏見 Higashifushimi or Komatsu
  7. 賀陽 Kaya
  8. 朝香 Asaka
  9. 東久邇 Higashikuni
  10. 竹田 Takeda
Unless otherwise stated, all princes listed herein are the sons of their predecessor.

Nashimoto-no-miya

The Nashimoto-no-miya house was formed by Prince Moriosa, son of Prince Fushimi Sadayoshi
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Nashimoto Moriosa
181918701885
2Prince Yamashina Kikumaro1873188518851908grand-nephew of Moriosa; resigned to return to the Yamashina household
3Prince Nashimoto Morimasa
1874188519471951cousin of Kikumaro and fourth son of Kuni-no-miya Asahiko

Kuni-no-miya

The Kuni-no-miya house was formed by Prince Asahiko, fourth son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Kuni Asahiko
182418631891became shinnō in 1871
2Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi
187318911929father of Empress Kojun
3Prince Kuni Asaakira
1901192919471959
4Kuni Kuniaki
19291959

Yamashina-no-miya

The Yamashina-no-miya house was formed by Prince Akira, eldest son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye.
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Yamashina Akira
181618641898
2Prince Yamashina Kikumaro
187318981908
3Prince Yamashina Takehiko
1898190819471987

The Yamashina-no-miya became extinct with the death of Yamashina Takehiko.

Kwachō-no-miya

The Kwachō-no-miya house was formed by Prince Hirotsune, son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye.
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Kwacho Hirotsune
185118681876
2Prince Kwacho Hiroatsu
187518761883
3Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu1875188319041946
4Prince Kwacho Hirotada
190219041924
XMarquis Kwacho Hironobu
1905192419471970

The Kwacho-no-miya became extinct with the death of Prince Kwacho Hirotada. The line of descent was continued through the kazoku peerage under Kwacho Hironobu.

Kitashirakawa-no-miya

The Kitashirakawa-no-miya house was formed by Prince Satonari, thirteenth son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye.
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Kitashirakawa Satonari
184418721872
2Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa
184718721895brother of above
3Prince Kitashirakawa Naruhisa
188718951923
4Prince Kitashirakawa Nagahisa
191019231940
5Prince Kitashirakawa Michihisa
1937194019472018Kitashirakawa Michihisa after 1947

The Kitashirakawa-no-miya became extinct with the death of Kitashirakawa Michihisa without heirs on 20 October 2018.

Higashifushimi-no-miya / Komatsu-no-miya

The Higashifushimi-no-miya house was formed by Prince Yoshiaki, seventh son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye.
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Higashifushimi Yoshiaki
Prince Komatsu Akihito 		1846
1867
1872		1872

1903		changed name in 1872
2Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito
187619031922brother of Akihito
reverted name back to Higashifushimi

In 1931, Emperor Hirohito directed his brother-in-law, Prince Kuni Kunihide, to leave Imperial Family status and become Count Higashifushimi Kunihide, to prevent the Higashifushimi name from extinction. Dowager Princess Higashifushimi Kaneko became a commoner on 14 October 1947. She died in Tokyo in 1955.

Kaya-no-miya

The Kaya-no-miya house was formed by Prince Kuninori, second son of Prince Kuni Asahiko
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Kaya Kuninori
186718961909Kaya-no-miya was a personal title until 1900
2Prince Kaya Tsunenori
1900190919471978Kaya Tsunenori after 1947
3Prince Kaya Nobuhiko
192219781986
4 Kaya Harunori
192619872011brother of Nobuhiko; career diplomat
5 Kaya Fuminori
19312011

Asaka-no-miya

The Asaka-no-miya house was formed by Prince Yasuhiko, eighth son of Prince Kuni Asahiko.
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Asaka Yasuhiko
1887190619471981
XAsaka Takahiko191219811994
XAsaka Tomohiko19441994

Higashikuni-no-miya

The Higashikuni-no-miya house was formed by Prince Naruhiko, ninth son of Prince Kuni Asahiko.
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko
1887190619471990
XPrince Higashikuni Morihiro
191619471969
2Prince Higashikuni Nobuhiko
19451990grandson of Naruhiko, son of Morihiro

Prince Higashikuni Nobuhiko became simply "Higashikuni Nobuhiko" after the abolition of the Japanese aristocracy during the American occupation of Japan in 1946.

Takeda-no-miya

The Takeda-no-miya house was formed by Prince Tsunehisa, eldest son of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa.
NameBornSucceededRetiredDiedNotes
1Prince Takeda Tsunehisa
188219061919
2Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi
1909191919471992
3 Prince Takeda Tsunetada
19401992

Proposal for reinstatement

In January 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi set up a panel consisting of 10 experts from various fields to discuss the succession law and possible ways to ensure stable succession in the imperial family. At that point, no male heir had been born to the Imperial family in 40 years, prompting concerns that there wouldn't be anyone to succeed Crown Prince Naruhito after he became emperor. The panel recommended giving eligibility to females and their descendants, that the first child, regardless of sex, be given priority in ascension, and that female family members who marry commoners be allowed to retain their imperial family member status. Itsuo Sonobe, deputy chairman of the 10-member government panel and a former Supreme Court justice, said that one of the panel's main concerns had been to find a solution that would win the people's support.
Media opinion polls showed an overwhelming majority favoring the change, but the proposed revision was met with fierce opposition from conservatives, who held that the imperial dynasty, which had survived in an unbroken line stretching for nearly 2700 years, could not be dismissed and ended by a wave of deracinated modernity and uncaring recentism. They proposed instead that the government take recourse to ancient traditions under which such situations had been handled in the past. They pointed out that various branches of the old imperial family do still exist in Japan, and that the constitutional definition of the "imperial family" which prevails today was imposed by the occupying western forces as recently as 1947. They maintained that, rather than ending the ancient imperial dynasty, it would be more sensible and less radical to end the recent, western-imposed restrictions. Tsuneyasu Takeda, a member of the former Takeda-no-miya collateral house and author of a book entitled The Untold Truth of Imperial Family Members, proposed to maintain the male line by restoring the former princely houses or by allowing imperial family members to adopt males from those families. Although Takeda has written that such men should feel a responsibility to maintain the royal house, he said he would find it daunting if asked to play that role himself. According to Takeda, the heads of the former court families agreed in late 2004, just before Koizumi's advisory panel started its discussions, not to speak out on the issue and some of them told him to "not get involved in political issues". Opponents of the reinstatement of former collateral branches, like Liberal Democratic Party politician Yōichi Masuzoe, argued that it would favor members of families with tenuous blood links to long-ago emperors over contemporary female descendants of recent sovereigns.
During a series of hearings on the succession problem in early 2012, Yoshiko Sakurai and Akira Momochi, conservative members of the panel of experts, rejected proposals for female members of the imperial family to be allowed to retain their royal status after marriage and create new branches of the imperial family, and instead suggested revising the Imperial Household Law so that male descendants of former imperial families which renounced their royal status in 1947 be allowed to return to the imperial family as adoptees. Another proposal was to reinstate four of the former imperial families, a solution opposed by the government on the grounds that it would not enjoy public support. Government sources told the Yomiuri Shimbun in May 2012 that the suggestion to reinstate men from the former princely houses as imperial family members through adoption had been unexpected.