Newborn Japanese Prince Gets Named Hisahito

Japan has averted a constitutional crisis. The use of force in foreign policy still remains problematic to the country. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is resigning soon, and no successor has been elected yet. Thank Heavens, then, that Princess Kiko gave birth to a son on September 6, named Hisahito in a ceremony yesterday, so the country won’t have to decide about making female succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne constitutional. Can monarchy, especially a toothless one, look any more foolish?

Monarchy has a long and ignoble history, the first form of government in any hominid band, based on the rule of the strongest. Or more succinctly, the big monkey calls the shots. When it got stupid was when the big monkey decided his kid would get to be the big monkey when he was gone. The job of heredity monarch makes as much sense as heredity bricklayer, hereditary scientist or hereditary rock star (Julian Lennon ain’t John, Kelly Osbourne ain’t Ozzie, and who owns a Lisa Marie Presley album? ).

Historically, whenever the inheritor of the crown and scepter has been unfit, societies have found a way around it. Louis XIII of France wasn’t much of a king, but Cardinal Richelieu held power. Or in the case of Charles I of England, the Parliament decapitated him and put Oliver Cromwell on the throne without the title King. The Lord Protector, however, was a monarch by any measure. When Tarquin pissed off too many Romans, though, a glorious thing happened. No king replaced him. The society created a “public thing,” or in Latin, a res publica. In English the “s” and “a” have been dropped to create the word “republic.”

When General MacArthur, the man who was caught sleeping when Japan attacked and the man who undermined the constitution by his inability to follow presidential orders, wrote Japan’s post-war constitution, he left the monarchy in tact, but toothless. His reasons at the time were sound, but Japan in 1946 is not Japan in 2006.

The cruelest thing powerless monarchy does is to the offspring of the monarch. Emperor Hirohito seems to have preferred marine biology to reigning not ruling. Prince Charles marital misery and unused talent (this journal may not like the man, but he is a crank not a fool) could have been avoided if he’d been born something other than a Windsor. They are not at liberty to pursue their interests and talents except as hobbies. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, indeed.

Prince Hisahito came into this world as innocent and pure as any kid, and it would be nice if he got the same chance to be a regular kid as any Akira Sato in Tokyo. There are those who will quibble. What could be better than being born a prince? They wonder. That’s easy – being born a free citizen. How much better off Japan and the world would be if his grandfather could have been a professor of oceanography instead a living god and inspiration to a military dictatorship? Hisahito is a fine name meaning roughly "virtuous, calm and everlasting." With all due modesty, one thinks a nickname is in order: "Rippa," which means "splendid, fine, handsome, etc." and which can be short for "Ripaburikku," which is how the Japanese pronounce "Republic."

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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