, born , was a member of the
Japanese Imperial Family
The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...
. The Princess was married to
Prince Takamatsu
was the third son of Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) and Empress Teimei (Sadako) and a younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito). He became heir to the Takamatsu-no-miya (formerly Arisugawa-no-miya), one of the four ''shinnōke'' or branches of ...
, the third son of
Emperor Taishō
was the 123rd Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and the second ruler of the Empire of Japan from 30 July 1912 until his death in 1926.
The Emperor's personal name was . According to Japanese custom, while reigni ...
and
Empress Teimei
, born , was the wife of Emperor Taishō and the mother of Emperor Shōwa of Japan. Her posthumous name, ''Teimei'', means "enlightened constancy".
Biography
Sadako Kujō was born on 25 June 1884 in Tokyo, as the fourth daughter of Duke Michit ...
. She was, therefore, a sister-in-law of
Emperor Shōwa
Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
and an aunt-in-law of the following emperor,
Akihito
is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide.
B ...
. She was mainly known for philanthropic activities, particular her patronage of cancer research organizations. At the time of her death, Princess Takamatsu was the oldest member of the Imperial Family.
Early life
Born in Tokyo on 26 December 1911, she was the second daughter of Yoshihisa Tokugawa (2 September 1884 – 22 January 1922), a peer, and his wife Princess Mieko of Arisugawa (14 February 1891 – 25 April 1933). Her paternal grandfather was
Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japan's last ''
shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamak ...
''. Her maternal grandfather,
Prince Takehito Arisugawa, was the seventh head of the
Arisugawa-no-miya, one of the four ''
shinnōke
was the collective name for the four cadet branches of the Imperial family of Japan, which were until 1947 entitled to provide a successor to the Chrysanthemum throne if the main line failed to produce an heir. The heads of these royal houses ...
'' or collateral branches of the Imperial Family during the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...
entitled to provide a successor to the throne in default of a direct heir. Lady Kikuko Tokugawa received her primary and secondary education at the then-girls' department of the
Gakushuin. At age eighteen, she became engaged to Prince Takamatsu, who was then third-in-line to the
Chrysanthemum throne
The is the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The term also can refer to very specific seating, such as the throne in the Shishin-den at Kyoto Imperial Palace.
Various other thrones or seats that are used by the Emperor during official functions ...
. By virtue of her descent from the Arisugawa-no-miya, Lady Kikuko and Prince Takamatsu were related; both were direct descendants of
Emperor Reigen
was the 112th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 霊元天皇 (112)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', pp. 117. Reigen's reign spanned t ...
and were sixth cousins twice removed (Prince Takamatsu was a seven-times great-grandchild of the Reigen Emperor, while Lady Kikuko was a five-times great-grandchild of Reigen).
Marriage
![Prince and Princess Takamatsu circa 1950](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Prince_and_Princess_Takamatsu_circa_1950.jpg)
On 4 February 1930, she married Prince Takamatsu at the
Tokyo Imperial Palace
The is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda district of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains several buildings including the where the Emperor has his living quarters, the where va ...
. The couple had no children. Shortly after the wedding, Prince and Princess Takamatsu embarked upon a world tour, partly to return the courtesies shown to them by King
George V of the United Kingdom
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
in sending a mission to Tokyo to present Emperor Shōwa with the
Order of the Garter. During their journey they travelled across the United States so as to strengthen the goodwill and understanding between their nations. The 1930 photo illustration comes from the illustrated biography on Prince Iyesato Tokugawa titled The Art of Peace. The photo presents Princess and Prince Takamatsu during their reception by U.S. President Herbert Hoover.
The Prince and Princess returned to Japan in June 1931 and took up residence in
Takanawa
is a neighborhood in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Economy
Sony operates the Takanawa Office in Takanawa.
Education
Minato City Board of Education operates public elementary and junior high schools.
Tanakawa 1-chōme 6-27 ban and 2-4-chōme are ...
in
Minato, Tokyo
is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English.
It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits ...
.
Following her mother's death from
bowel cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...
in 1933, Princess Takamatsu became a champion of cancer research. Using money donated by the public, she established the Princess Takamatsu Cancer Research Fund in 1968, organizing symposia and awarding scientists for groundbreaking work. She also served as president of an organization extending relief to
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
patients. The Princess also served as the honorary president of the "Saiseikai" Imperial Gift Foundation Inc., Tofu Kyokai Foundation, Shadan Houjin Tokyo Jikeikai, Nichifutsu Kyokai, and Nichifutsu Kaikan, and as an honorary vice-president of the
Japanese Red Cross
The is the Japanese affiliate of the International Red Cross.
The Imperial Family of Japan traditionally has supported the society, with the Empress as Honorary President and other imperial family members as vice presidents. Its headquarters i ...
Society.
Unconventional frankness
In 1991, Princess Takamatsu and an aide discovered a twenty one volume diary, written in Prince Takamatsu's own hand between 1922 and 1947. Despite opposition from the
Imperial Household Agency, she gave the diary to the magazine ''
Chūōkōron'' which published excerpts in 1995. The diary revealed that Prince Takamatsu opposed the
Kwantung Army
''Kantō-gun''
, image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo
, dates = April ...
's incursions in
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...
in September 1931, the expansion of the July 1937
Marco Polo Bridge Incident into a
full-scale war against
China and had warned his brother
Hirohito in November 1941 that the
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
could not fight more than two years against the United States.
After the death of her sister-in-law,
Empress Kōjun
, born , was a member of the Imperial House of Japan, the wife of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and the mother of Shigeko Higashikuni, Princess Sachiko Hisa-nomiya, Kazuko Takatsukasa, Atsuko Ikeda, the Emperor Emeritus Akihito, Prince Masahito ...
, in 2000, Princess Takamatsu became the oldest member of the Imperial Family. In 2001, after
Crown Prince Naruhito and
Crown Princess Masako
is as the consort of Emperor Naruhito, who ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019. Masako, who was educated at Harvard and Oxford, had a prior career as a diplomat.
Early life and education
was born on 9 December 1963 at Toranomon H ...
had a
daughter
A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between group ...
, Princess Takamatsu, at age 90, became the first member of the Imperial Family to publicly call for changes to the 1947
Imperial Household Law
is a statute in Japanese law that governs the line of imperial succession, the membership of the imperial family, and several other matters pertaining to the administration of the Imperial Household.
In 2017, the National Diet changed the law ...
, which limits the succession to the
Chrysanthemum throne
The is the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The term also can refer to very specific seating, such as the throne in the Shishin-den at Kyoto Imperial Palace.
Various other thrones or seats that are used by the Emperor during official functions ...
to legitimate males in the male line of descent. In an article she wrote for the January/February 2002 issue of a women's magazine, she argued that having a female ''
tennō'' was "not unnatural" since women had assumed the throne in the past, most recently in the early nineteenth century.
Princess Takamatsu died of
sepsis
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...
at
St. Luke's Medical Center in Tokyo on 18 December 2004. She had been in and out of the hospital with various ailments during the last decade of her life. Her funeral was held on 27 December at Toshimagaoka cemetery in Tokyo's
Bunkyō
is a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan. Situated in the middle of the ward area, Bunkyō is a residential and educational center. Beginning in the Meiji period, literati like Natsume Sōseki, as well as scholars and politicians have lived th ...
Ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
. She was the last surviving member of the imperial family who was born during the
Meiji period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
.
Honours
National
* Dame Grand Cordon of the
Order of the Precious Crown
The is a Japanese order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. Since the Order of the Rising Sun at that time was an Order for men, it was established as an Order for women. Originally the order had five classes, but on Apr ...
(4 February 1930)
Foreign
* : Dame of the
Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa (16 November 1930)
Ancestry
References
External links
Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Takamatsuat the Imperial Household Agency website
BBC News , Princess backs Japan succession change*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu
Japanese princesses
1911 births
2004 deaths
Deaths from sepsis
Tokugawa Yoshinobu family
Takamatsu no miya
Infectious disease deaths in Japan
Tokugawa clan
Grand Cordons (Imperial Family) of the Order of the Precious Crown
Princesses by marriage