Prince Yamashina Akira

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His Imperial Highness Prince Yamashina Akira (山階宮 晃親王 Yamashina-no-miya Akira shinnō?) (22 October 1816 - 29 October 1891), was the founder of a collateral line of the Japanese imperial family.

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[edit] Early life

Prince Akira was born in Kyoto, the eldest son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye (24 October 1802 - 5 August 1875), the twentieth head of the Fushimi-no-miya, the oldest of the four branches of the imperial dynasty allowed to provide a successor to the Chrysanthemum throne should the main imperial house fail to produce an heir.

He was thus a half-brother of Prince Kuni Asahiko, Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa, Prince Fushimi Sadanaru, and Prince Kan'in Kotohito.

[edit] Buddhist priest

From an early age, Prince Akira was groomed to pursue a career as a Buddhist priest, the traditional career path for non-heir sons in the sesshu shinnoke during the Edo period. In 1818, Emperor Kōkaku (1779-1817;, died in 1840) adopted Prince Akira as a potential heir.

He entered the priesthood under the title Saihan Hoshinnō and later became prince-abbot of Kaju-ji in Yamashina, outside of Kyoto. In 1842, he angered the Tokugawa bakufu, which stripped him of his post and confined him to the temple of To-ji. In 1864, the bakufu reinstated him. Emperor Kōmei (1840-1867), returned him to secular status, adopted him and granted him the title Yamashina-no-miya in 1858.

[edit] Marriage and family

Prince Yamashina married Princess Sumiko (1838-1881), a daughter of Emperor Ninko and the half-sister of Emperor Kōmei. Sumiko succeeded to the head of the Katsura-no-miya house in her own right upon the death of the tenth head.

  1. HIH Prince Yamashina Kikumaro (3 July 1873 – 2 May 1902)

[edit] References and further reading

  1. Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002) ISBN 0-231-12340-X
  2. Lebra, Takie Sugiyama. Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993) ISBN 0-520-07602-8
  3. Papinot Edmond. Historical and geographical dictionary of Japan (New York: F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1948)
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