, born , was the fourteenth child and ninth 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 ...

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 n ...

, and the seventh child and fifth daughter of

Sono Sachiko Sono Sachiko (園祥子) (December 23, 1867 – July 7, 1947) was the fifth concubine of Emperor Meiji of Japan. Although Meiji was the last Japanese emperor to have more than one consort, the official role at court was not abolished until 1924; ...

, the Emperor's fifth concubine.

Biography

Toshiko was born in Japan, the daughter of

and Lady

Sachiko is a feminine Japanese given name that means "''child of bliss''." It also means "''happiness''" when it is written with the kanji characters 幸子. One common short form of the name is ''Sachi''. People * Sachiko, Princess Hisa (久宮祐子 ...

. She held the childhood appellation "Yasu no miya" (Princess Yasu). She married

Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni General was a Japanese imperial prince, a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 30th Prime Minister of Japan from 17 August 1945 to 9 October 1945, a period of 54 days. An uncle-in-law of Emperor Hirohito twice over, Prince Hi ...

on 18 May 1915.

granted Prince Naruhiko the title ''Higashikuni-no-miya'' and permission to start a new branch of the imperial family before their marriage on 3 November 1906. The couple had four sons: #; married his first cousin Princess Shigeko, the eldest daughter of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun. #; died in the

Great Kantō earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

. #; renounced imperial title and created

Marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman ...

Awata Akitsune, 1940 #; relocated to

Lins, São Paulo Lins is a municipality in the western part of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 78,503 (2020 est.) in an area of 570 km2. The elevation is 437 m. Distance is 455 km from the state capital, São Paulo. History The t ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, 1950 after being adopted and becoming the heir to Kinu, widow of Tetsusuke Tarama. In October 1947, the Higashikuni and the other branches of the Imperial Family were divested of their titles and privileges 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 ...

and became commoners. Toshiko died on 5 March 1978, aged 81. She was the last surviving child of Emperor Meiji.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higashikuni, Toshiko 1896 births 1978 deaths Japanese princesses People from Tokyo Grand Cordons (Imperial Family) of the Order of the Precious Crown 19th-century Japanese women 19th-century Japanese people 20th-century Japanese women 20th-century Japanese people Daughters of emperors