Interesting little known facts about the Japanese royal family

(Baonghean.vn) - Having the longest reign, the most queens, being ineligible to succeed the throne and having to change their surname... are some interesting facts about the Japanese royal family.

1. Japan's longest reigning monarch in the world

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko (Photo: EPA)

The Yamato Dynasty of Japan is the longest-running hereditary dynasty in history still in existence. The Imperial House recognizes 125 legitimate emperors from the first Emperor Jimmu on February 11, 660 BC to the current Emperor Akihito.

Lasting 2676 years, but if we ignore the legendary emperors, the actual reign was only about 1700 years, but it is enough to rank the Japanese royal family as having the longest reign in the world. Compared to Vietnam, the longest lasting dynasty (if not counting the Hong Bang period) is the Ly dynasty for 216 years (1009-1226) and the Later Le dynasty for 356 years but was interrupted. This is indeed an interesting fact about the Japanese royal family.

2. Has the most queens in the world

Empresses have always been rare cases in history. While China had only one empress, Wu Zetian, or at most four like Russia, Japan had 10 female empresses in history, all of whom were daughters of the male royal family, none of whom succeeded to the throne as the wife of the deceased king, nor did any female empress remarry or have children after succeeding to the throne.

The princesses of the Japanese Royal Family have always made people around the world love them for their elegance and inherent royal character.

3. The Emperor is also the only head of state today called Emperor.

In Western texts, people use the word Emperor to refer to the Emperor, instead of the word King. It is known that the Emperor refers to the head of a feudal empire consisting of many countries and territories, while the King is the head of a feudal state. If the world wants to have another title of Emperor, it will be when and only when the Queen of England abdicates the throne to the Crown Prince.

4. Descendants of the royal family who are not qualified to succeed will have their surname changed.

Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko with other members of the Japanese Imperial Family. Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Machiko have three children: Crown Prince (eldest son) Naruhito, Crown Prince (second son) Akishino, and Imperial Princess (daughter) Nori (Sayako).

Children and grandchildren who were not eligible to inherit the throne were given a new family name by the Emperor and from there they developed themselves into branch families of the Imperial family. These families included the Minamoto, Fujiwara, Taira, and Tachibana. There were times in Japanese history when the descendants of these families overshadowed the Emperor.

5. The Japanese Royal Family is the only royal family that has to "receive salaries" from servants.

During the Warring States period in Japan, factions and local lords fought each other fiercely. All because of the competition for the position of Shogun. Interestingly, because the Shogun held all the power, including tax collection and treasury spending, it was the Shogun who paid the expenses for the Imperial family, not the other way around, that is, the vassal paid his lord. According to data from some sources, the Shogunate was given 50,000 koku in expenses each year, while the Imperial family only had 2,000 koku.

6. In Japan, the reign name of the Emperor still exists.

Hirohito was the most active Emperor in the history of the Japanese monarchy.

A reign name is a period of certain years used by emperors and countries influenced by Chinese culture such as Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Each king usually has one or more reign names. After the reign name is the number of years of reign. The reign name is derived from the motto or motto of that king.

However, Japan is the only country that uses era names because they are still a monarchy. Currently, in Japan, it is the 28th year of Heisei, because Emperor Akihito has taken the era name Heisei and since his reign until now, it has been a total of 28 years.

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko welcome US President Barack Obama at the Imperial Palace on November 14, 2009 during Obama's visit to Japan. Photo: Getty

Peace

(Synthetic)