Kan'in Haruhito
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| HIH Prince Kanin Haruhito | |
|---|---|
| 3 August 1902 – 14 June 1988 | |
 His Imperial Highness Prince Kan'in Haruhito |
|
| Place of birth | Tokyo, Japan |
| Place of death | Tokyo, Japan |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Service/branch |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1924 - 1945 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Battles/wars | Second Sino-Japanese War World War II |
| Awards | Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum |
HIH Kan'in Haruhito (閑院宮春仁王 Kan'in-no-miya Haruhito-ō?); (3 August 1902 – 14 June 1988) was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and the 7th (and final) head of Kan'in-no-miya ( 閑院宮家?) line of shinnōke cadet branches of the Imperial Family of Japan.
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[edit] Biography
HIH Prince Kan'in Haruhito was the only son of Field Marshal Prince Kan'in Kotohito (1864-1945) and his consort, the former Sanjo Chieko (1872-1953). He married Ichijo Naoko (b.1908), daughter of Prince Ichijo Saneteru on 14 July 1926.
Prince Kan’in attended the Gakushuin Peers’ School and graduated from the 44th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1924. He was a lieutenant in infantry and served in the Imperial Guard Division. Following a course in the Military Staff College in 1927, he was promoted to captain and joined the faculty of the Cavalry School. He graduated from the 44th class of the Army Staff College in 1932 and rose to the rank of major in 1936.
Prince Kan’in saw a brief tour of duty in China with the North China Expeditionary Army from November 1937 to May 1938. He returned to be an instructor at the Army Staff College and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1939. He was promoted to colonel on August 1941, and was then attached to the Chiba Army Tank School. [1] He was promoted to colonel in 1944, becoming commandeer of the IJA 5th Tank Regiment, and to general in 1945, when he was placed in command of the IJA 4th Division and three independent infantry regiments assigned to combat the projected American landings on the beaches of Kujukurihama, Chiba Prefecture, outside of Tokyo.
He became the seventh head of the Kan'in-no-miya house upon the death of his father on 21 May 1945 and retired from active military service at that time.
With the abolition of the collateral branches of the Imperial family and other titles of nobility by the American occupation authorities on 14 October 1947, he became a commoner, and was purged from public life because of his former military career. He pursued several unsuccessful business opportunities, lost his family fortune, and divorced his wife in 1949. Shortly thereafter, he changed his name from “Haruhito” to “Sumihito”.
In the early 1970s, Kan'in Sumihito was president of the Japan Yoga Association. He died on 14 June 1988.
[edit] References
- Dupuy, Trevor N. (1992). The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. ISBN 0-7858-0437-4.
- Fujitani, T; Cox, Alvin D (1998). Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan. University of California Press.. ISBN 0520213718.
[edit] External links
- Ammenthorp, Steen. Kanin Haruhito. The Generals of World War II.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Ammenthorp, The generals of World War II
