Gender Masculine Usage Japanese Scripts 明仁, 昭仁, 章人, etc.(Japanese Kanji) あきひと(Japanese Hiragana) Pronounced Pron. /ä.kʲi.çi.to̞/ Meaning & History From Japanese 明 (aki) or 昭 (aki) both meaning "bright" combined with 仁 (hito) meaning "compassionate". Other kanji combinations are possible. Akihito (1933-), name written 明仁, was the emperor of Japan from 1989 to 2019.