A Serious Incident at the Imperial Palace

A dispute over the selection of the Crown Princess occurred during the Taisho period. In June 1919 (Taisho 8), Crown Prince Hirohito became engaged to Princess Nagako, the eldest daughter of the Kuninomiya family, but the following year, it was discovered that Princess Nagako's mother's Shimazu family had a history of color blindness. Fearing that a bloodline with color blindness would be introduced into the Imperial family, Genro Yamagata Aritomo and others tried to break off the engagement and asked the Kuninomiya family to decline. However, the Kuninomiya family strongly opposed this, and Sugiura Shigetake, a member of the Togu Gakkosho (Togu's Academy) and others argued that canceling the engagement was against human ethics and strongly criticized Yamagata for interfering in the Imperial family's happy events. This developed into a serious political issue, compounded by the power struggle between the Satsuma and Choshu factions in the Imperial Court and attacks on Yamagata by private nationalist groups. In the end, the issue was resolved when the Imperial Household Ministry announced in February 1846 that there would be no change to the selection of the Crown Princess, but the Minister of the Imperial Household, Nakamura Yujiro, resigned from his position, taking responsibility for the situation. Yamagata also offered to give up all his official positions and honors, but his request was rejected.

[Yasushi Toriumi]

"Tanaka Giichi Biography, Volume 2, edited by Takakura Tetsuichi (1960, Dosho Kankokai)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

大正時代に起こった皇太子妃の決定をめぐる紛争。1919年（大正8）6月皇太子裕仁(ひろひと)親王と久邇宮(くにのみや)家の長女良子(ながこ)女王との婚約が成立したが、翌年、良子女王の母方の島津家に色覚異常の血統があることが判明した。皇室に色覚異常の血統が入ることをおそれた元老山県有朋(やまがたありとも)らは婚約解消を図り、久邇宮家にその辞退を求めた。しかし、久邇宮家はこれに強く反発し、また、東宮御学問所御用掛杉浦重剛(しげたけ)らは婚約取消しは人倫に反するとし、山県が皇室の慶事に干渉したことを激しく非難した。これは、宮中での薩長(さっちょう)両派の勢力争いや、民間国家主義団体の山県攻撃なども加わって、深刻な政治問題に発展した。結局、21年2月宮内省から皇太子妃内定に変更はない旨が発表されて問題は落着したが、中村雄次郎宮内大臣は責任を負って辞任した。また山県はいっさいの官職栄典の返上を申し出たが却下された。

［鳥海　靖］

『高倉徹一編『田中義一伝記　下』（1960・同書刊行会）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例