Lack of males a recent trend

I very much enjoyed the comprehensive article on the Japanese Imperial family by Prof. Colin P.A. Jones of Doshisha Law School in Kyoto ("And then there was one?: Japan's right royal crisis," Zeit Gist, Jan. 17).

Though I greatly benefited from the article, I have a couple of small points to make.

Firstly, out of eight ruling females in the Imperial family, there was one notable exception in the case of the 43rd-reigning Empress Gemmei (660-721) (the fourth female monarch), who was on the throne from 707 until her abdication in 715. She was actually succeeded not by a male but her own daughter, Gensho (683-748), as the 44th Empress regnant (the fifth female to sit on the throne, this time for nine years).