Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda

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His Imperial Highness Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda (竹田宮恒徳王 Takeda-no-miya Tsuneyoshi-ō ?) of Japan (3 March 1909 – 11 May 1992) was the second and last heir of the Takeda-no-miya ōke branch of the Japanese Imperial Family.

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[edit] Early life

HIH Prince Takeda Tsuneyoshi was the only son of Prince Takeda Tsunehisa and Princess Tsune-no-miya Masako (1888-1940), the sixth daughter of Emperor Meiji. He was, therefore, a first cousin of Emperor Showa.

Prince Tsuneyoshi became the second head of the Takeda-no-miya house on 23 April 1919. After being educated at the Gakushuin, and serving for a session in the House of Peers, he graduated from the 32nd class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in July 1930, and received a commission as a sub-lieutenant in the Cavalry.

[edit] Marriage & family

On 12 May 1934, Prince Takeda married Sanjo Mitsuko (b. 1915), the youngest daughter of Prince Sanjo Kiteru, by whom he had five children (3 sons and 2 daughters):

  1. Takeda Tsunetada (b. 1940) married Nezu Kyoko by whom he has two children, a daughter Hiroko and a son Tsunetaka.
  2. Takeda Motoko (b. 1942)
  3. Takeda Noriko (b. 1943)
  4. His Excellency, ambassador Tsuneharu Takeda (b. 1944) current the Japanese ambassador to Bulgaria[1]. he has two sons.
  5. Takeda Tsunekazu (b. 1947) he has two sons.

[edit] Military career

The Prince served a brief tour with a cavalry regiment in Manchuria, and rose to the rank of lieutenant 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 was beginning. He was promoted to the rank of major in August 1940, and attached to the General Staff in Tokyo, where he headed the personnel department. He became lieutenant colonel in August 1943.

Prince Takeda held executive responsibilities over Unit 731 in his role as "Lieutenant Colonel Miyata" – a staff officer in the Strategic Section of the Operations Division of Japan's Kwantung Army during World War II. Unit 731 conducted biological weapons research on human subjects with a variety of bacterial cultures and viruses. According to a veteran of this unit, who testified in July 1994 in Morioka, during a traveling exhibition on Shiro Ishii's experimentations, Takeda watched while outside poison gas tests where made on thirty prisoners near Anda. (Hal Gold, Unit 731 Testimony, p.168) After the war, a staff photographer recalled the day the Prince visited Unit 731's facility at Pingfang, Manchuria and had his picture taken at the gates.

Prince Takeda briefly served as the emperor's personal liaison to the Saigon headquarters of Field Marshal Terauchi Hisaichi, commander of the IJA Southern Army. During that assignment, he observed first-hand the desperate conditions of the Japanese forces at Rabaul, Guadalcanal, and in Luzon. After his return, he was then assigned to the Kwangtung Army headquarters. After Emperor Showa's radio address announcing Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945, he went to Shinkyo in Manchukuo to ensure the Kwantung Army's compliance with the surrender agreement.

Between 17-18 August,1945; in way to diplomatic mission he was arriving in Seoul, for continuing to Manchukuo, The Kwantung Army's Hane Air Unit provided one squadron, under the command of Captain Kamata, to escort Prince Takeda plane on his flight from Seoul to Hsinking.

In flight to Manchu Capital,the Prince ordered at your air units under led to realized a Kamikaze strike against Russians. At next day such unit completed the special mission for Prince (4 planes in suicide plunge). Loza, at Soviet Commander in area leading the Red Army’s Sherman Tanks unit reports an attack by 6 suicide planes on his 46th Tank Brigade of 6th Guards Tank Army, near Tongliao 19 August, 1945, one truck was destroyed and a Sherman damaged.

[edit] Post-war

With the abolition of the collateral branches of the imperial family on 14 October 1947, Prince Tsuneyoshi and his family became commoners. He adopted the surname of "Takeda" on this day. Initially, he retired to his estate in Chiba Prefecture to raise racehorses, thus escaping the financial hardship many of his cousins experienced during the American occupation of Japan. In 1947, he attempted to enter the business world by establishing a company to make knitting machines, but the company soon went bankrupt.

Takeda then turned his attention to promoting and developing amateur and professional sports. As a participant in equestrian events as part of Japan's delegation to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, 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. He became president of the Japanese Olympic Committee in 1962 and was an important figure in organizing the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. He was also a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1967 to 1981, during which he was director of its executive board for five years.

The former prince died of heart failure on 12 May 1992, at the age of 83.

[edit] Legacy

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

[edit] References

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