Prince Arisugawa Taruhito
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| HIH Prince Arisugawa Taruhito | |
|---|---|
| 13 March 1835 – 15 January 1895 | |
  Japanese Field Marshal Prince Arisugawa Taruhito |
|
| Place of birth | Kyoto, Japan |
| Place of death | Kobe, Japan |
| Allegiance | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1867–1895 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Commands | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Battles/wars | Boshin War First Sino-Japanese War |
| Awards | Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum. |
HIH Arisugawa Taruhito (有栖川宮熾仁親王 Arisugawa-no-miya Taruhito-Shinnō?); (13 March 1835 – 15 January 1895) became the 9th head of Arisugawa-no-miya ( 有栖川宮家?) line of shinnōke cadet branches of the Imperial Family of Japan on 9 September 1871. He was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army.
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[edit] Early life
His Imperial Highness Prince Arisugawa Taruhito was born in Kyoto in 1835, as the son of Prince Arisugawa Takahito by Yūko (d. December 1, 1841), the eldest daughter of Saeki Yūjō. He was adopted by Emperor Ninko, thus making Prince Taruhito, the adopted brother of Osahito Shinnō (the future Emperor Komei). Prince Arisugawa was a close advisor to both Emperor Komei and his nephew by adoption, the Emperor Meiji.
Prince Taruhito became engaged to Princess Kazu-no-Miya Chikako the eighth daughter of Emperor Ninko on 8 August 1851. However, the engagement was cancelled by the Tokugawa bakufu so that the princess could marry Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi, thus politically sealing the reconciliation between the Shogunate and the Imperial Court.
Ironically, Prince Arisugawa's first wife Sadako (1850-1872) was the eleventh daughter of Tokugawa Nariaki, daimyo of Mito. His second wife was Tadako (1855-1923), daughter of Count Mizoguchi Naohiro, the former daimyo of Shibata. Neither of these marriages produced children.
[edit] Meiji Restoration
In 1867, Emperor Meiji appointed Prince Arisugawa sosai (a title equivalent to chief minister), and placed him in command of the Imperial Army sent to against the last partisans of the Tokugawa bakufu (Boshin War, 1868-1869). He fought at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, and later traveled up the Tokaido, to accept the surrender of Edo Castle on 3 May 1867, from his ex-fiancée Princess Kazu.
He later led the central government army against the forces of Saigo Takamori in the Satsuma Rebellion (1877). He was given the honorary rank of field marshal in 1878.
From 1870 until the adoption of the Cabinet system in 1885, Prince Arisugawa served as dajodaijin or lord president of the Council of State. In 1871, he was appointed governor of Fukuoka. From 1876, he was the chairman of the Genroin. In 1882, he traveled to St Petersburg, Russia, and met with Tsar Alexander III, as the official envoy from Emperor Meiji.
From 1889 to 1895, the prince served as chief of staff of the Imperial Japanese Army and a member of the Supreme War Council.
In 1894, he was officially commander-in-chief of Japanese forces in the First Sino-Japanese War, and established his command center at the Hiroshima garrison. However, he contracted typhoid fever (or possibly malaria) and returned to the Arisugawa palace at Maiko near Kobe to recover. He died there on 15 January 1895. On his death, Emperor Meiji awarded him the first ever Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum. He received a state funeral in Tokyo on 24 January 1895.
His half-brother, Prince Arisugawa Takehito, succeeded as the tenth head of the house of the Arisugawa-no-miya.
[edit] Legacy
The Arisugawa Memorial Park in Minami-azabu, Minato Ward, Tokyo occupies the site of the Arisugawa palace and its extensive gardens are open to the public. Although Imperial Prince Taruhito was supposed to spend his last days in this palace, he died without ever occupying it. A statue of the Prince on horseback was made with donations by Oyama Iwao, Saigo Tsugumichi and Yamagata Aritomo, and first erected in 1903 by the gate of the army General Staff headquarters; it was moved to this park in 1962.
[edit] References
- Dupuy, Trevor N. The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc., 1992. ISBN 0-7858-0437-4
- Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000.
- Keane, Donald. Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912. Columbia University Press (2005). ISBN: 0231123418
