Wait a minute – who else was there for her to marry? The Japanese peerage, the Kazoku, was abolished in 1947 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazoku). Everybody’s a commoner – except for the Imperial Family itself, and it would have been incestuous for her to marry one of them. And marrying a noble or royal foreigner would have been even more unthinkable. No Japanese royal has ever married a foreigner, not in all their history. Am I wrong?
The current crown prince married a commoner; can’t remember if she was a Japanese national or not although she was of Japanese descent. Male royalty are allowed to do so; female royalty are not. (Or so reported NPR a couple days ago.)
Umm… since when do rules about royalty change because of practical concerns? Maybe she would have had to give up her title to marry anyone, under the current circumstances. That doesn’t sound at all unlikely to me.
I even saw one news report that said that any royal female who married forfeited her title simply by marrying. Doesn’t necessarily mean it was true under the law; perhaps they noted the same thing the OP did.
SHe has male cousins in the Imperial family. I’m not sure what the rules in Japan are, but in Europe royals often married first cousins. It’s also worth noting that in Japan married couples must share the same surname. Legal marriage is defined as one spouse being entered on the other’s family register. In the vast majority of cases the woman is entered into the man’s family register and takes his name (the reverse usually only happens if the woman has no brothers and the man does). For Sakayo to marry and keep her title her husband would have to be made a member of the Imperial family. If Japan changes their Succesion Law to enable women to ascend the throne there’d have to be a provision enable the husband of the heiress presumptive to enter the Imperial family.
I’m not familiar with Japanese customs, but Koreans keep family registries also. It is a legal record kept of all family members. When a couple marries, the woman is transfered from her father’s family registry to her husband’s family registry (in keeping with Confucian principles). She keeps her original family name, however. Any children born to them is entered onto the registry (indicating a legitimate birth).
The entry of a marriage into the family registry is a necessary part of making it a legal marriage (as opposed to just shacking up together, which is very rare in Korea). Children entered onto the registry are considered Korean citizens. If they are dual citizens, they will have to complete certain obligations upon reaching majority (i.e., compulsory military service for men) and then choose between citizenships.
From Wiki’s Japanese imperial family article, there are potentially several Imperial families, so a princess could marry into a colateral line. I don’t believe it was possible for Sakayo.
Maybe she would have had to give up her title to marry anyone, under the current circumstances. That doesn’t sound at all unlikely to me.
“Family register”?