At 8:27 a.m. on September 6, 2006, Concubine Ji Zifei gave birth to a baby boy by caesarean section at the Aiyu Hospital.
It was also the arrival of a baby boy after a 41-year hiatus for the Japanese Imperial Family, and the arrival of Prince Hirohito made the Japanese Imperial Family happy and relieved Japanese conservatives.
Why did it take 12 years for Princess Kiko to give birth to Prince Yuhito, and were they really suppressed by Naruhito during this period?
In 1993, Masako married Naruhito, and it was not until 2001, eight years after marriage, that Masako gave birth to Princess Aiko.
As the crown princess of the Japanese imperial family, the Imperial Household Agency and conservatives believe that the most important task of Princess Masako is to start a career for the Japanese imperial family, but in the eight years of her marriage, she only gave birth to a daughter, not a son, for Prince Naruhito.
Thus, the conservatives blamed her for the sin of being thin.
If the problem does not appear in her, but in Naruhito, I am afraid that no matter how hard the woman tries, it will be useless.
Masako's younger sister, Reiko Ikeda, married and had two children, and Setsuko Shibuya was divorced and had no children.
If you open the genealogy of the Japanese imperial family, from Emperor Hirohito to the top are close relatives who are married.
For example, Prince Masahito Hitachinomiya had no children after marriage, Prince Kanhito Mikasa had passed away and had only a daughter without a son, and Prince Kenhito Takaenmiya had passed away and had only a daughter without a son.
In addition to Ayako, who gave birth to a son, the rest of the married female members, including Emperor Naruhito's sister Princess Kiyoko, also had no children after marriage, and Princess Mako, who has been married for three years, has never had any signs of pregnancy.
So from the beginning, was it Concubine Masako who was behind the blame?
Once upon a time, an unnamed imperial physician revealed that Prince Naruhito suffered from some kind of physical defect that would make the woman's pregnancy probability less than 0.5% of normal.
It is said that Aiko also came to this world through a test tube, because she could not conceive at all by normal natural means.
Perhaps this is the biggest reason why Masako cried in front of the media after the birth of Princess Aiko.
However, people really have the throne to inherit, but this throne is only passed on to men and not to women, so the Imperial Household Agency will not let her go until she gives birth to a son.
The head of the Imperial Household Agency had publicly pressured her to give birth to a second child.
After working hard for so many years, she only gave birth to Princess Aiko, and she couldn't say to the whole Japanese that the prince had fertility problems that caused them to not be able to have children, so some of the bitterness could only be swallowed by herself.
Perhaps seeing that Concubine Masako had no hope of giving birth, the Imperial Household Agency pinned its hopes on the Akishinomiya couple.
The head of the Imperial Household Agency, Toshio Yuasa, even said in front of reporters that considering the prosperity of the imperial family, I strongly hope that Akishino Palace will have a third child.
After giving birth to her daughter, Princess Yoshiko, Akishino Palace had no idea of having children.
He was very disgusted by the Imperial Household Agency's birth, and he felt that he had no succession to the throne, why would the task of having a child fall on his head.
NHK newscasters have said that Prince Fumihito Akishinomiya has been urging his brother to solve the problem of no successor, and has hinted that if his brother is really unable to marry another concubine to maintain the purity of the bloodline.
So after the birth of Princess Aiko, the couple has been fighting against the tasks assigned by the Imperial Household Agency with a rebellious mentality.
And the technology at that time did not guarantee that they would be able to conceive a boy 100 percent.
There is also a theory that Princess Yoshiko had a pregnancy reaction after Princess Yoshiko was born, but after confirming that it was a girl, she chose to have a miscarriage.
Therefore, they do not want to do useless work.
After the birth of Princess Aiko, the Japanese government needed to consider the problem of no successor to the imperial family, so the Japanese government at that time began to prepare for the revision of the law on succession to the throne for equal men and women.
If the law of equal inheritance between men and women is implemented, Princess Aiko will be the biggest beneficiary, and Akishinomiya will become the third in line of succession.
In "The Fate of the Crown Prince and Princess Masako," published in 2010, royal journalist Katsumi Iwai and critic Kazuya Fukuda also discussed this issue.
That is, if Concubine Kiko gives birth to a boy, then the issue of the throne will become extremely complicated.
But the people in the Imperial Household Agency saw no choice, because extremist groups only recognized male ancestry.
On a political level, it is the boys' descent that can bring benefits to their interest groups.
At the same time, Junichiro Koizumi began to prepare for the start of their revision of the Imperial Family Law, and they intended to make Princess Aiko the crown prince.
In January 2005, the Japanese Cabinet convened a meeting of experts on family law from the Imperial Family, and in November it decided to submit a report.
and calls for prioritizing the first child of the succession to the throne, regardless of gender, and the creation of a female royal family that incorporates male spouses into the royal family.
Koizumi believes that considering that the next generation of the Japanese imperial family has only female members, there is no other way but to change the law.
According to the rule of passing on men but not women, the next emperor should be Akishino Palace, not Princess Aiko, so from this point of view, neither Fumihito nor Kiko is willing to "give up" the throne.
In August 2006, one month before Prince Hirohito's birth, the Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology announced that the success rate of their gender screening was 60-70%.
It is not that IVF is free of risks, but it is just that boys or girls can still be selected in gender screening, and gender selection at that time required to bear genetic defects.
If the Akishinomiya couple wanted to give birth to a son before the law was changed, then they would not be able to solve the disease caused by the child's genetic defects, which may be the reason why Prince Yuhito seems "dumbfounded".
Soon after, in February 2006, news broke that Princess Noriko was pregnant, and the amendment to the Imperial Throne Law was suspended.
On September 6, Emperor Akihito's eldest grandson, Yuhito, was born, and Koizumi announced that he would not submit a bill to revise the Imperial Family Law.
At that time, it was already clear to everyone that the throne of Japan was already a foregone conclusion.