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Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu

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Yasuhito
Prince Chichibu
Prince Chichibu in December 1940
BornYasuhito, Prince Atsu
(淳宮雍仁親王)
(1902-06-25)25 June 1902
Aoyama Detached Palace, Tokyo City, Japan
Died4 January 1953(1953-01-04) (aged 50)
Kugenuma Villa, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
Burial12 January 1953
Toshimagaoka Imperial Cemetery, Bunkyo, Tokyo
Spouse
​
(m. 1928)​
HouseImperial House of Japan
FatherEmperor Taishō
MotherSadako Kujō
Military career
Allegiance Japan
Service / branch Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service1922–1945
Rank Major-General
Commands31st Infantry
Battles / warsSecond Sino-Japanese War
World War II

Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu (秩父宮雍仁親王, Chichibu-no-miya Yasuhito Shinnō, 25 June 1902 – 4 January 1953) was the second son of Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) and Empress Teimei (Sadako), a younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. As a member of the Imperial House of Japan, he was the patron of several sporting, medical, and international exchange organizations. Before and after World War II, the English-speaking prince and his wife attempted to foster good relations between Japan and the United Kingdom and enjoyed a good rapport with the British royal family. As with other Japanese imperial princes of his generation, he was an active-duty career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army. Like all members of the imperial family, he was exonerated from criminal prosecutions before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East by Douglas MacArthur.

Background and family

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Emperor Taishō's four sons in 1921: Hirohito, Takahito, Nobuhito and Yasuhito

Born at Aoyama Detached Palace in Tokyo, the second son of Crown Prince Yoshihito (later Emperor Taishō) and Crown Princess Sadako (later Empress Teimei), the prince was originally titled Atsu no miya (Prince Atsu). He and his elder brother were separated from their parents and entrusted to the care of a respected ex-naval officer, Count Sumiyoshi Kawamura and his wife. After Kawamura died in 1904, the young princes rejoined their parents at the Tōgū-gosho (Crown Prince's residence) on the grounds of the Akasaka estate. He attended the elementary and secondary departments of the Gakushuin Peers' School along with Crown Prince Hirohito, and his younger brother, Prince Nobuhito (born in 1905). (A fourth brother, Prince Takahito, was born in 1915). Prince Chichibu enrolled in the Central Military Preparatory School in 1917 and then in the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1922.

On 26 May 1922, Emperor Taishō granted his second son the title Chichibu no miya and the authorization to start a new branch of the imperial family. In 1925, the Prince went to Great Britain to study at Magdalen College, Oxford. While in Great Britain King George V decorated Prince Chichibu with the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. Prince Chichibu had a reputation as an outdoorsman and alpinist during his stay in Europe (he was elected to Honorary membership of the Alpine Club in 1928, struck of in the second world war but then his Honorary membership was reinstated in 1952).[1] He returned to Japan in January 1927 following the death of Emperor Taishō, who for some time had suffered from debilitating physical and mental ill-health. Until the birth of his nephew, Crown Prince Akihito in December 1933, Prince Chichibu was heir presumptive to the Chrysanthemum throne.

Marriage

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The Prince and Princess Chichibu on their wedding day

On 28 September 1928, the prince married Matsudaira Setsuko (9 September 1909 – 25 August 1995), the daughter of Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese ambassador to the United States and later Great Britain (and later, Imperial Household Minister), and his wife, the former Nabeshima Nobuko. Although technically born a commoner, the new princess was a scion of the Matsudaira of Aizu, a cadet branch of the Tokugawa shogunate. Her paternal grandfather was Matsudaira Katamori, the last daimyō of Aizu, whose heir had been created a viscount in the new kazoku system in 1884. Prince and Princess Chichibu had no children, as Princess Chichibu's only pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.

Military career

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Prince Chichibu in 1934

Prince Chichibu received his commission as a second lieutenant in the infantry in October 1922 and was assigned to the First Imperial Guard Division. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1925 and became a captain in 1930 after graduation from the Army War College. He received a promotion to the rank of major and assigned to command the Thirty First Infantry Division stationed at Hirosaki, Aomori in August 1935. Prince Chichibu was a vehement ultra-right-wing militarist who increasingly influenced Japanese military policy in the prewar era.[2]

Prince Chichibu has been implicated by some historians in the abortive 26 February Incident in 1936. How much of a role he actually played in that event remains unclear, but it was clear that he was sympathetic to the rebels[3] and that his political sentiments were in agreement with theirs, i.e., replacement of the corrupt political party based government with a military dictatorship under direct control of the emperor. His sympathy to the Kodoha faction within the Imperial Japanese Army was well known at the time. After the assassination of prime minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in 1932, he had many violent arguments with his brother, Emperor Hirohito, about the suspension of the constitution and the implementation of direct imperial rule.

After the coup attempt, the prince and his wife were sent on a tour of Western Europe taking several months. They represented Japan at the May 1937 coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom in Westminster Abbey and subsequently visited Sweden and the Netherlands as the guests of King Gustaf V and Queen Wilhelmina, respectively. This tour ended with the visit of Nuremberg in Germany by the prince alone. There he attended the Nuremberg rally and met Adolf Hitler, with whom he tried to boost relations. At Nuremberg Castle, Hitler launched a scathing attack against Joseph Stalin, after which the prince privately said to his aide-de-camp Masaharu Homma: "Hitler is an actor, it will be difficult to trust him". Nevertheless, he remained convinced that the future of Japan was linked to Nazi Germany and in 1938 and 1939, he had many quarrels with the Emperor about the opportunity to join a military alliance with Germany against Great Britain and the United States.

Prince Chichibu Yasuhito was subsequently appointed battalion commander of Thirty-First Infantry Regiment in August 1937, promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1938 and to colonel in August 1939. During the war, he was involved in combat operations, and was sent to Manchukuo before the Nomonhan incident and to Nanjing after the Nanjing Massacre. On 9 February 1939, Chichibu attended a lecture on bacteriological warfare, given by Shirō Ishii, in the War Ministry Grand Conference Hall in Tokyo.[4] He also attended vivisection demonstrations by Ishii.[5]

According to a version told in her memoirs by Princess Chichibu (Setsuko), according to which the prince retired from active duty after being diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in June 1940, spent most of World War II convalescing at his villa in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the eastern foot of Mount Fuji and never really recovering from his illness.[6][page needed] He was promoted to major general in March 1945.

Patronage

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After World War II, Prince Chichibu was honorary head of many athletic organizations, and was nicknamed the "sporting Prince" due to his efforts to promote skiing, rugby and other sports. He was also honorary President of both the Japan–British Society and the Swedish Society of Japan. He was a supporter of Scouting in Japan and attended the Fourth International Conference in 1926.[7][page needed]

Rugby union

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Chichibu-no-miya Stadium, which is named after the Prince
Prince Chichibu statue at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium

The prince was also instrumental in securing the development of rugby union in Japan. He was "converted" to rugby after the JRFU president, Shigeru Kayama, returned from a long sea voyage and was able to "market" the game to Prince Chichibu.[8][page needed]

After his death, the Tokyo Rugby Stadium in Kita-Aoyama 2-chome was renamed Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium. A statue of Prince Chichibu in rugby kit was erected there.

Death

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Prince Chichibu died from tuberculosis at his Kugenuma villa in Fujisawa, Kanagawa on 4 January 1953. His remains were cremated and the ashes buried at Toshimagaoka Cemetery (豊島岡墓地), Bunkyō, Tokyo, on 12 January 1953.

Ancestry

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Patrilineal descent

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Patrilineal descent[9]
Imperial House of Japan
  1. Descent prior to Keitai is unclear to modern historians, but traditionally traced back patrilineally to Emperor Jimmu
  2. Emperor Keitai, ca. 450–534
  3. Emperor Kinmei, 509–571
  4. Emperor Bidatsu, 538–585
  5. Prince Oshisaka, ca. 556–???
  6. Emperor Jomei, 593–641
  7. Emperor Tenji, 626–671
  8. Prince Shiki, ???–716
  9. Emperor Kōnin, 709–786
  10. Emperor Kanmu, 737–806
  11. Emperor Saga, 786–842
  12. Emperor Ninmyō, 810–850
  13. Emperor Kōkō, 830–867
  14. Emperor Uda, 867–931
  15. Emperor Daigo, 885–930
  16. Emperor Murakami, 926–967
  17. Emperor En'yū, 959–991
  18. Emperor Ichijō, 980–1011
  19. Emperor Go-Suzaku, 1009–1045
  20. Emperor Go-Sanjō, 1034–1073
  21. Emperor Shirakawa, 1053–1129
  22. Emperor Horikawa, 1079–1107
  23. Emperor Toba, 1103–1156
  24. Emperor Go-Shirakawa, 1127–1192
  25. Emperor Takakura, 1161–1181
  26. Emperor Go-Toba, 1180–1239
  27. Emperor Tsuchimikado, 1196–1231
  28. Emperor Go-Saga, 1220–1272
  29. Emperor Go-Fukakusa, 1243–1304
  30. Emperor Fushimi, 1265–1317
  31. Emperor Go-Fushimi, 1288–1336
  32. Emperor Kōgon, 1313–1364
  33. Emperor Sukō, 1334–1398
  34. Prince Yoshihito Fushimi, 1351–1416
  35. Prince Sadafusa Fushimi, 1372–1456
  36. Emperor Go-Hanazono, 1419–1471
  37. Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado, 1442–1500
  38. Emperor Go-Kashiwabara, 1464–1526
  39. Emperor Go-Nara, 1495–1557
  40. Emperor Ōgimachi, 1517–1593
  41. Prince Masahito, 1552–1586
  42. Emperor Go-Yōzei, 1572–1617
  43. Emperor Go-Mizunoo, 1596–1680
  44. Emperor Reigen, 1654–1732
  45. Emperor Higashiyama, 1675–1710
  46. Prince Naohito Kanin, 1704–1753
  47. Prince Sukehito Kanin, 1733–1794
  48. Emperor Kōkaku, 1771–1840
  49. Emperor Ninkō, 1800–1846
  50. Emperor Kōmei, 1831–1867
  51. Emperor Meiji, 1852–1912
  52. Emperor Taishō, 1879–1926
  53. Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu
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  • Prince Chichibu in his twenties, as a second lieutenant
    Prince Chichibu in his twenties, as a second lieutenant
  • Prince and Princess Chichibu wedding
    Prince and Princess Chichibu wedding
  • Prince Chichibu in stadium
    Prince Chichibu in stadium
  • Prince Chichibu at Hirosaki
    Prince Chichibu at Hirosaki
  • Former villa of Prince Chichibu in Gotemba
    Former villa of Prince Chichibu in Gotemba
  • Statue of Prince Chichibu
    Statue of Prince Chichibu
  • The hakkō ichiu monument (1940) had Prince Chichibu's calligraphy of Hakkō ichiu on its front side.
    The hakkō ichiu monument (1940) had Prince Chichibu's calligraphy of Hakkō ichiu on its front side.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Blakeney, T.S. (1963). "Alpine Notes" (PDF). Alpine Journal. #68: 293–306. ISSN 0065-6569. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  2. ^ Harris, Sheldon (1995). Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932–45, and the American Cover-Up. Routledge. p. 142. ISBN 978-0415932141.
  3. ^ Peter Wetzler, Hirohito and War, University of Hawai'i press, 1998, p.189
  4. ^ Sheldon Harris, Factories of Death, 2002, p. 142
  5. ^ Sheldon Harris, Japanese Biomedical Experimentation during the World War II Era, in Military Medical Ethics, volume 2, 2003, p. 469
  6. ^ Princess Chichibu, The Silver Drum, Global Oriental, 1996
  7. ^ John S. Wilson (1959), Scouting Round the World. First edition, Blandford Press.
  8. ^ Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. ISBN 0-7126-0911-3
  9. ^ "Genealogy of the Emperors of Japan" (PDF). Imperial Household Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2011.

References

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  • Princess Chichibu. The Silver Drum: A Japanese Imperial Memoir. Global Books Ltd. (UK) (May 1996). Trans. Dorothy Britton. ISBN 1-86034-004-0
  • Fujitani, T. Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan. University of California Press; Reprint edition (1998). ISBN 0-520-21371-8
  • Lebra, Sugiyama Takie. Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility. University of California Press (1995). ISBN 0-520-07602-8
  • Scouting Round the World, John S. Wilson, first edition, Blandford Press 1959 p. 67
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