Misplaced Pages

Shigeko Higashikuni: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 11:52, 13 September 2012 editKeivan.f (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers157,542 editsNo edit summary← Previous edit Revision as of 12:15, 13 September 2012 edit undoKeivan.f (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers157,542 editsNo edit summaryNext edit →
Line 4: Line 4:
|image = Teru-no-miya Shigeko 1941-nihongami.jpg |image = Teru-no-miya Shigeko 1941-nihongami.jpg
|caption= Princess Teru-no-miya Shigeko in 1941 |caption= Princess Teru-no-miya Shigeko in 1941
|birth_date={{Birth date|1925|12|6|md=y}} |birth_date={{Birth date|1925|12|6|df=y}}
|birth_place =], Japan |birth_place =], Japan
|death_date={{Death date and age|1961|7|23|1925|12|6|md=y}} |death_date={{Death date and age|1961|7|23|1925|12|6|df=y}}
|death_place=Tokyo, Japan |death_place=Tokyo, Japan
|date of burial= |date of burial=

Revision as of 12:15, 13 September 2012

Princess Teru
Princess Shigeko
照宮成子内親王
Princess Teru
Princess Teru-no-miya Shigeko in 1941
Born(1925-12-06)6 December 1925
Tokyo, Japan
Died23 July 1961(1961-07-23) (aged 35)
Tokyo, Japan
BurialToshimagaoka royal cemetery, Bunkyō, Tokyo
SpousePrince Higashikuni Morihiro
(m.1943-1961)
IssuePrince Nobuhiko of Higashikuni
Princess Fumiko of Higashikuni
Higashikuni Naohiko
Higashikuni Hidehiko
Higashikuni Yuko
Names
Shigeko (成子)
HouseImperial House of Japan
FatherEmperor Shōwa
MotherPrincess Nagako of Kuni

Shigeko Higashikuni (東久邇成子, Higashikuni Shigeko, 6 December 1925 – 23 July 1961), formerly Princess Teru (照宮成子内親王, Teru-no-miya Shigeko Naishinnō), was the wife of Prince Higashikuni Morihiro and eldest daughter of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun. As such, she was the elder sister to the present Emperor of Japan, Emperor Akihito.

Biography

Princess Shigeko was born in Tokyo while her father was still Prince Regent. Her childhood appellation was Teru-no-miya (照宮). As was the practice of the time, she was not raised by her biological parents after the age of three, but by a succession of court ladies at a separate palace built for her and her younger sisters in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo from 1930. Emperor Shōwa opposed the move, but was unable to defy court tradition. She entered the girls elementary department of the Gakushūin Peer's School in 1932 and completed the secondary department in 1942, learning cooking and literature.

On 9 May 1939, Princess Shigeko rode on the Chōshi Electric Railway Line in Chiba Prefecture from Chōshi to Tōdaimae and back as part of a Gakushūin school outing.

In 1941, she was formally engaged to the eldest son and heir of Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, Prince Higashikuni Morihiro. The bride and groom were first cousins once removed. The couple were officially wed in 1943, upon which her official appellation became Shigeko, Princess Morihiro of Higashikuni (盛厚王妃成子内親王, Morihiro-ōhi Shigeko Naishinnō). As the wedding occurred in the middle of World War II, ceremonies and expenses were kept to a minimum, and she wore a junihitoe kimono belonging to her mother, Empress Kōjun, rather than having special clothing created for the occasion.

In August 1947, she and her family were reduced to commoner status with the abolition of titles of nobility by the American occupation authorities. With rampant post-war inflation, high taxation, and various failed business ventures by her husband, the Higashikuni family was reduced to poverty. In January 1958, she accepted an offer by the Japanese national television network, NHK, to appear before a live audience and explain the New Year's poetry card reading contest and other royal ceremonies. She fell ill in 1960, complaining of stomach pains, and was diagnosed with cancer. Hospitalized at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo, she died on July 23, 1961. Her grave is at the Toshimagaoka royal cemetery, in Bunkyō, Tokyo.

Family

Higashikuni Wedding, 1943

Prince and Princess Higashikuni had five children, the last three of whom were born after they were reduced in status to commoners:

  1. Prince Higashikuni Nobuhiko (東久邇宮 信彦王, Higashikuni-no-miya Nobuhiko ō) (born March 10, 1945); married 1973 Miss Shimada Yoshiko, with one son, Higashikuni Yukihiko (b.1974)
  2. Princess Higashikuni Fumiko (文子女王, Fumiko joō, born December 23, 1946); married Mr. Omura Kazutoshi.
  3. Higashikuni Hidehiko (東久邇 秀彦, born June 30, 1949): adopted by the Mibu family as "Mibu Motohiro"
  4. Higashikuni Naohiko (東久邇 真彦, born 1953); married to Ms. Sato Kazuko, with two sons, Teruhiko and Mutsuhiko
  5. Higashikuni Yuko (東久邇 優子, born 1954)

Titles and styles

Styles of
Shigeko, Princess Teru
(before her marriage)
Imperial Coat of Arms
Imperial Coat of Arms
Reference styleHer Imperial Highness
Spoken styleYour Imperial Highness
Alternative styleMa'am
  • 6 December 1925 – 10 October 1943: Her Imperial Highness The Princess Teru
  • 10 October 1943 – 14 October 1947: Her Imperial Highness Princess Morihiro of Higashikuni
  • 14 October 1947 – 23 July 1961: Mrs. Morihiro Higashikuni

Honours

National honours

Ancestry

Family of Shigeko Higashikuni
16. Osahito, Emperor Kōmei
8. Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji
17. Lady Yoshiko Nakayama
4. Yoshihito, Emperor Taishō
18. Count Takamitsu Yanagihara
9. Lady Naruko Yanagihara
19. Lady Utano Hasegawa
2. Hirohito, Emperor Shōwa
20. Prince Kujō Hisatada, Regent of Japan
10. Prince Kujō Michitaka of the Fujiwara Clan
21. Lady Tsuneko Karahashi
5. Lady Sadako Kujō
22. Yorioki Noma
11. Lady Ikuko Noma
23. ?
1. Shigeko, Princess Teru
24. Prince Fushimi Kuniye, 20th and 23rd of the miyake of Fushimi
12. Asahiko, 1st Imperial Prince Kuni
25. Lady Nobuko Toriikōji
6. Kuniyoshi, 2nd Imperial Prince Kuni
26. Sir Toshimasu Izumitei, Custodian of Shimogamo Shrine
13. Lady Makiko Izumi
27. ?
3. Princess Nagako of Kuni
28. Prince Shimazu Hisamitsu, 1st Prince of Tamazato-Shimazu
14. Prince Shimazu Tadayoshi, 29th Daimyo of Satsuma, Osumi and Hyuga
29. Lady Chimoko Shimazu of Echizen-Shimazu
7. Princess Chikako Shimazu
30. ?
15. Lady Sumako Yamazaki
31. ?

Gallery

  • Emperor Shōwa's daughters Emperor Shōwa's daughters
  • Emperor Shōwa's family (December 7, 1941) Emperor Shōwa's family (December 7, 1941)

References

  1. ^ Deceased and former members of the Imperial family.
  2. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. page 145.
  3. "Delicate Piety." Time Magazine, December 13, 1926. Retrieved on November 30, 2008.
  4. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. Pages 270–271
  5. Shirato, Sadao (July 2011). 銚子電気鉄道（下）. Japan: Neko Publishing Co., Ltd. p. 16. ISBN 978-4-7770-5310-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  6. Large, Emperor Hirohito and Showa Japan, page 165.
  7. "東久邇宮家". nekhet. Retrieved October 14, 2011.Template:Ja icon
  • Bix, Herbert B (2001). Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-093130-2.
  • Large, Stephen S (1992). Emperor Hirohito and Shōwa Japan: A Political Biography. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-03203-2.

External links

Japanese princesses
The generations indicate descent from Emperor Meiji, who founded the Empire of Japan.
1st generation
2nd generationNone
3rd generation
4th generation
5th generation
* Reduced to commoner status with the abolition of titles of nobility by the American occupation authorities.
** Lost the title upon her marriage.

Template:Persondata

Categories:
Shigeko Higashikuni: Difference between revisions Add topic