Colonel Prince Yi Geon (October 28, 1909 – December 21, 1990), also Ri Ken and , was a

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

n prince and a cavalry officer in the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The first son of

Prince Yi Kang Yi Kang, Prince Imperial Ui (Korean language, Korean: 의친왕 이강, 30 March 1877－15 August 1955), also known as Prince Uihwa, was the second son of Emperor Gojong of Korea and his concubine, Lady Jang, who was a court lady-in-waiting. I ...

by Lady Jeong, he was a grandson of Emperor Gwangmu. His

Korean name A Korean name (Hangul: ; Hanja: ) consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both South Korea and North Korea. In the Korean language, ''ireum'' or ''seongmyeong'' usually refers to the family name (''seon ...

was Yi Geon ( ''I Geon''), and his birth name was Yonggil ( ''Yonggil''). He was brought 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 1918, and entered Gakushūin Primary School. In 1930, he was commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Army as a second lieutenant of cavalry. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1932 and to Captain in 1936. He served as the instructor of horsemanship at the Imperial Military Academy. He received further promotions to Major in 1940, and to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1943. With the end of the Second World War in 1945, he concluded his military career with the rank of Colonel. He married , a maternal cousin of

Princess Masako of Nashimoto Yi Bangja ( ko, 이방자, 4 November 1901 – 30 April 1989) was Queen of the Korean Empire as the wife of King Euimin of Korea. Birth Born Princess Masako of Nashimoto ( ja, 方子女王), she was the first daughter of Japanese imperial ...

and member of the Matsudaira clan, on October 5, 1931, in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. They had two sons and a daughter. After

, he was not allowed to go back to Korea. After he lost royal status by order of the

SCAP SCAP may refer to: * S.C.A.P., an early French manufacturer of cars and engines * Security Content Automation Protocol * ''The Shackled City Adventure Path'', a role-playing game * SREBP cleavage activating protein * Supervisory Capital Assessment ...

in October 1947, he was naturalized as a

ese citizen in 1950. Then he changed his name to Kenichi Momoyama.小田部雄次 ''四代の天皇と女性たち'' 978-4166602735 2002 "李鍵は戦後に桃山虔一と改名した。虔一の妻の佳子は旧高松藩主松平伯爵家の一族の娘で誡子といい、広橋家の養女となつて李家に嫁いだ。" In a blood test, Momoyama discovered that he was not the biological father of his eldest son, Yi Chun (이충), to which he believed that Yoshiko committed adultery back in 1932; eventually, he divorced with Yoshiko in May 1951 and only claimed the custody of his second son, Yi Ki (이기). Momoyama later remarried to and he had another son and two daughters. In 1990 he died; Prince Mikasa attended his funeral.

References

1909 births 1990 deaths Japanese people of Korean descent House of Yi Korean nobility Japanese military personnel of World War II Korean collaborators with Imperial Japan Japanese nobility Naturalized citizens of Japan {{Japan-mil-bio-stub