was the second and last heir 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.

Biography

Early life

Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi was the only son of

Prince Takeda Tsunehisa was the founder of the Takeda-no-miya collateral branch of the Japanese Imperial Family. Biography Prince Tsunehisa Takeda was the eldest son of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa and thus the brother of Prince Kitashirakawa Naruhisa. He was bo ...

and Masako, Princess Tsune (1888–1940), the sixth daughter of

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 ...

. He was, therefore, a first cousin of Emperor Shōwa. Prince Tsuneyoshi became the second head of the

house on 23 April 1919. After being educated at the Gakushūin Peers' School, and serving for a session in the House of Peers, he graduated from the 32nd 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 ...

in July 1930, and received a commission as a sub-lieutenant in the

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

Marriage and family

On 12 May 1934, Prince Takeda married Sanjo Mitsuko.''Nihon Gaiji Kyōkai.'' (1943). ''The Japan Year book'', p. 5. She was the youngest daughter of Prince Sanjo Kimiteru, with whom he had five children (3 sons and 2 daughters): # , born on # , (b. 1942) # , (b. 1943) # (b. 1944) Japanese ambassador to

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

# , (b. 1947)

Military career

The Prince served a brief tour with a cavalry regiment 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 ...

, and rose to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in August 1930 and captain in August 1936. He then graduated from the 50th class of the Army War College in 1938 as the build-up to

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

was beginning. He was promoted to the rank of

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

in August 1940, and attached to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff 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 37.46 ...

, where he headed the Personnel Department. He became

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

in August 1943. Author Sterling Seagrave contends that between 1940 and 1945 Prince Takeda oversaw the looting of gold and other precious items in China, Hong Kong,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Malaya, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines. Seagrave says that most of this loot was stored in 175 vaults located in the Philippines, and that considerable amounts have since been recovered by former Philippine President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

and others. Takeda-no-miya Tsuneyoshi'sFamily

Prince Takeda held executive responsibilities over Unit 731 in his role as chief financial officer of the Kwantung Army. Unit 731 conducted biological weapons research on human subjects with a variety of bacterial cultures and viruses during

. According to Daniel Barenblatt, Takeda received, with Prince Mikasa, a special screening by Shirō Ishii of a film showing imperial planes loading germ bombs for

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium ('' Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as wel ...

dissemination over the Chinese city of

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

in 1940. Moreover, historian Hal Gold has alleged in his work "Unit 731 Testimony" that Prince Takeda had a more active role as "Lieutenant Colonel Miyata" – an officer in the Strategic Section of the Operations Division. Gold reports the testimony of a veteran of the Youth Corps of this unit, who testified in July 1994 in

Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . ...

during a traveling exhibition on Shirō Ishii's experiments, that Takeda watched while outside

poison gas Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal dose) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious or perma ...

tests were made on thirty prisoners near Anda. After the war, a staff photographer also recalled the day the Prince visited Unit 731's facility at Pingfang,

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese ...

and had his picture taken at the gates. Prince Takeda briefly served as the emperor's personal liaison to the

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

headquarters of

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

Terauchi Hisaichi, commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group. During that assignment, he observed first-hand the desperate conditions of the Japanese forces at

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the se ...

, and in

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

. After his return, he was then assigned to the Kwantung Army headquarters. After Emperor Shōwa's radio address announcing the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Na ...

on 15 August 1945, he went to Shinkyo in

to ensure the Kwantung Army's compliance with the surrender orders.

Post-war

With the abolition of the collateral branches of the imperial family by the American occupation authorities on 14 October 1947, Prince Tsuneyoshi and his family became commoners. Initially, he retired to his estate in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

to raise

racehorses Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

, thus escaping the financial hardship many of his cousins experienced during the

American occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United Stat ...

. Takeda turned his attention to promoting and developing amateur and professional sports. As a participant in

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

events as part of Japan's delegation to the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-s ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, he already had a reputation as the "sports prince". He became president of the Japan Skating Association in 1948 and a member of the north Tokyo

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

. He became president of the Japanese Olympic Committee in 1962 and was an important figure at the Organizing Committees of the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this h ...

and the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Euro ...

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

. He was also a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

from 1967 to 1981, during which he was director of its executive board for five years. In 1987, the former Prince published a volume of autobiographical essays entitled "Kumo no ue shita: Omoide-banashi" (Above and Below the Clouds: Remembrances). The former prince died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

on 12 May 1992, at the age of 83. The current heir to the Takeda-no-miya family is Prince Tsuneyoshi's eldest son, Tsunetada Takeda (b. 1940), a graduate of the Gakushuin and

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowment ...

, with a degree in economics, and formerly employed by Mitsubishi Shoji. He married Kyoko Nezu, the third daughter of Nezu Kaichirō, former chairman of Tobu Railways, and has a son, Tsunetaka Takeda (b. 1967), and daughter, Hiroko Takeda (b. 1971). The former Takeda palace and a portion of its gardens in Tokyo survives as a part of the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa, and is open to the public.

Ancestry

Notes

References

* Dower, John W. '' Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II''. W. W. Norton & Company (2000). * Gold, Hal, ''Unit 731 Testimony'', Tuttle, 2003. * Harries, Meirion. ''Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army''. Random House; Reprint edition (1994). * ''Nihon Gaiji Kyōkai.'' (1943). ''The Japan Year Book.'' Tokyo: Foreign Affairs Association of Japan
OCLC 1782308
* Williams, Peter and Wallace, David. ''Unit 731. The Japanese Army’s Secret of Secrets''. New York: Free Press, 1991. {{DEFAULTSORT:Takeda, Tsuneyoshi, Prince 1909 births 1992 deaths Japanese princes Japanese military personnel of World War II Takeda-no-miya People from Tokyo Olympic equestrians of Japan Japanese male equestrians Equestrians at the 1936 Summer Olympics Members of the House of Peers (Japan) Recipients of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers