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 K ...

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. Biogra ...

and thus the brother of Prince Kitashirakawa Naruhisa. He was born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, 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, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

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 ...

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, 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 P ...

, during the Battle of 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. In 1906, he was authorized to take the name of "Takeda" and to start a branch house of the imperial family in March 1906,. He was wed to Emperor Meiji'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 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 infectious ...

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 – JPN Kinshi-kunsho 5Class BAR

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 the ...

, 5th class * 1913 – JPN Daikun'i kikkasho BAR

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 fr ...

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