Ōke

The Miya-ke (宮家; "Palace Houses") were branches of the Japanese imperial family (皇族 Kōka) created from branches of the Fushimi-no-miya house, the last surviving Shinnōke cadet branch. All but two (the Kan'in-no-miya and Nashimoto-no-miya) of these ō-ke (王家 "Royal Houses") were founded by the descendants of Prince Fushimi Kuniie, even if later those two were also descendants of Prince Kuniee genetically as his descendants were adopted into those families. The ō-ke were stripped of their membership in the imperial family by the American Occupation Authorities in October 1947, as part of the abolition of 11 collateral branches (imperial houses) with 51 members. After that point, only the immediate family of Emperor Shōwa and those of his three brothers retained membership in the imperial family. However, unofficial heads of these collateral families still exist for most and are listed herein. In recent years, as a solution to the Japanese succession controversy, conservatives have proposed to reinstate several of the former imperial branches or else to allow the imperial family to adopt male members of the former imperial princely houses.