Taiwan name expert say Japan royal baby's name is auspicious

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Tuesday September 12, 2006

Taipei- A Taiwan astrologer and name expert said on Tuesday that the name of Japan's new-born prince was auspicious and would bring luck to the royal family. Prince Akishino, the second son of Emperor Akihito, named his new-born son Hisahito on Tuesday. Hisahito are two Chinese characters. Hisa means "long" and hito means "virtue," but "hito " has always been used in the name of Japan's royal male.

Prince Hisahito, born last Wednesday, is the first male born in Japan's royal family in 41 years. He stands third in line to the Chrysanthemum throne after his uncle Crown Prince Naruhito, the emperpor's eldest son, and his father.

"Hisa is a good name because the Chinese character has 15 strokes which is a luckly number. The name shows the boy will be stubborn and meticulous, but will be very popular. He will bring luck to the royal family," astrologer Yu Hsueh-hung told Deustche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Lin Da-wei, a name expert, also called the new-born prince's name auspicious.

"The 15 strokes is the lucky number of the fate. It signifies a rolling rock and contains positive energy and vitality," he told dpa.

Lin predicted that Prince Hisahito would be popular and would bring a change to the image of Japan's royal family - making it more transparent.

Both Yu and Lin believe Prince Hisahito had a good chance of becoming Japan's future emperor, even though Japan might amend the Imperial Household Law to allow females to succeed the throne.

Japan began to debate if it should revise the Imperial Household Law last year as Princess Masako, wife of Crown Prince Naruhito, had given birth only to a daughter, now four years old.

The debate was put on hold after news came out that Princes Kiko, wife of the second prince, was pregnant with a boy.

But a public opinion polls showed on Monday that the majority of Japanese supported revising the law to allow a female reign as empress.

The poll of 1,075 Japanese by public broadcaster NHK showed that 53 per cent backed reforming the law to allow female's succession to the throne while 33 per cent opposed it.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur