![HIH Prince Takeda Tsunehisa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/HIH_Prince_Takeda_Tsunehisa.jpg)
was the founder of the
Takeda-no-miya
The Takeda (竹田) ''ōke'' (princely house) was the tenth and youngest branch of the Japanese Imperial Family created from branches of the Fushimi-no-miya house.
The Takeda-no-miya house was formed by Prince Tsunehisa, eldest son of Prince Ki ...
collateral branch of the Japanese
Imperial Family
A royal family is the immediate family of King, kings/Queen regnant, queens, Emir, emirs/emiras, Sultan, sultans/Sultana (title), sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the ...
.
Biography
Prince Tsunehisa Takeda was the eldest son of
Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa
of Japan, was the second head of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family. He was formerly enshrined in Tainan-Jinja, Taiwan, under the name ''Kitashirakawa no Miya Yoshihisa-shinnō no Mikoto'' as the main and only deity.
Biograp ...
and thus the brother of
Prince Kitashirakawa Naruhisa
, was the 3rd head of a collateral branch of the Japanese Imperial Family.
Early life
Prince Naruhisa was the son of Prince Yoshihisa Kitashirakawa and Princess Tomiko.Takenobu, Yoshitaro. (1906). Prince Naruhisa succeeded as head of the hous ...
. He was born in
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
in 1882. In 1902, he served in the
House of Peers, and on November 30, 1903 graduated from the 15th class of the
Imperial Japanese Army Academy
The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...
. Due to his status, he was awarded the rank of
major general
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
in the
Guards Cavalry Regiment and served with distinction in the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
. It is commonly stated that he was standing next to Lieutenant
Yoshinaga Nanbu
Yoshinaga is both a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname.
Possible writings
Yoshinaga can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples:
*義長, "justice, long"
*義永, "justice, eternity" ...
, the 42nd chieftain of the
Nanbu clan
The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...
, during the
Battle of Mukden
The , one of the largest land battles to be fought before World War I and the last and the most decisive major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought from 20 February to 10 March 1905 between Japan and Russia near Mukden ...
when the latter was hit by a Russian bullet and died in combat; however, this incident occurred on March 4, 1905, after Prince Tsunehisa had been recalled to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
In 1906, he was authorized to take the name of "Takeda" and to start a
branch house
Branch House in Richmond, Virginia, was designed in 1916 by the firm of John Russell Pope as a private residence of financier John Kerr Branch (1865–1930) and his wife Beulah Gould Branch (1860–1952).
The house lies within Richmond's Mon ...
of the imperial family in March 1906,. He was wed to
Emperor Meiji
, also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
's sixth daughter
Masako, Princess Tsune on April 30, 1908. He continued to pursue a military career, graduating from the 22nd class of the
Army War College in 1910. He returned to the House of Peers in 1919. However, in April of the same year, he died during the worldwide
epidemic
An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics ...
of the
Spanish influenza
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
. Due to his death, the coming-of-age ceremony for his nephew-in-law,
Prince Hirohito had to be postponed by one year to 1920.
Decorations
* 1903 –
Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers
* 1906 –
Order of the Golden Kite
The was an order of the Empire of Japan, established on 12 February 1890 by Emperor Meiji "in commemoration of Jimmu Tennō, the Romulus of Japan". It was officially abolished 1947 by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) during th ...
, 5th class
* 1913 –
![JPN Daikun'i kikkasho BAR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/JPN_Daikun%27i_kikkasho_BAR.svg)
Grand Cordon of the
Order of the Chrysanthemum
is Japan's highest order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the Collar of the Order was added on 4 January 1888. Unlike its European counterparts, the order may be conferred posthumously.
Apart f ...
Family
Prince Tsunehisa Takeda had a son and a daughter:
# (1909–1992)
[''Nihon Gaiji Kyōkai.'' (1943). ''The Japan Year book,'' p. 5.]
# , (1913–2003), married Count Sano Tsunemitsu.
File:HIH Princess Takeda Masako 2.jpg, Princess Takeda Masako, wife
File:HIH Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi.jpg, Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi, son and heir
File:HIH PrincessTakeda Ayako.jpg, Princess Takeda Ayako, daughter
Ancestry
References
*
*
* ''Nihon Gaiji Kyōkai''. (1943). ''The Japan Year Book''. Tokyo: Foreign Affairs Association of Japan
OCLC 1782308
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takeda Tsunehisa, Prince
1882 births
1919 deaths
Japanese princes
Japanese generals
Japanese military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War
People of Meiji-period Japan
Takeda-no-miya
People from Kyoto
Deaths from Spanish flu
Infectious disease deaths in Japan
Members of the House of Peers (Japan)
Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite
Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers