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Prince Mikasa (三笠宮崇仁親王 Mikasa-no-miya Takahito Shinnō, born 2 December 1915) is a member of the Imperial House of Japan. He is the fourth and youngest son of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei. His eldest brother was Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito), and is the only surviving paternal uncle of Emperor Akihito. With the death of his sister-in-law, Princess Takamatsu (Kikuko), on 17 December 2004, he became the oldest living member of the Imperial House of Japan. After serving as a junior cavalry officer in the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, the prince embarked upon a postwar career as a scholar and part-time lecturer in Middle Eastern studies and Semitic languages.
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Prince Takahito was born at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, in the third year of his father's reign and a full fifteen years after the birth of the future Shōwa emperor. His childhood appellation was Sumi no miya. Prince Takahito attended the boys' elementary and secondary departments of the Gakushuin (Peers' School) from 1922 to 1932. By the time he began his secondary schooling, his eldest brother had already ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne and his next two brothers, Prince Chichibu and Prince Takamatsu, had already embarked upon careers in the Japanese Imperial Army and the Japanese Imperial Navy, respectively. He enrolled in the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1932 and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant and assigned to the Fifth Cavalry Regiment in June 1936. He subsequently graduated from the Army Staff College.
Upon attaining the age of majority in December 1935, Emperor Shōwa granted him the title Mikasa-no-miya (Prince Mikasa) and the authorization to form a new branch of the Imperial Family.
Prince Mikasa was promoted to lieutenant (first class) in 1937; to captain in 1939; and to major in 1941.
According to Daniel Barenblatt, Prince Mikasa received, with Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda, a special screening by Shirō Ishii of a film showing airplanes loading germ bombs for bubonic plague dessemination over the Chinese city of Ningbo in 1940.[1]
Prince Mikasa served as a staff officer in the Headquarters of the China Expeditionary Army at Nanjing, China from January 1943 to January 1944. His role was intended to bolster the legitimacy of the Nanjing Nationalist government and to coordinate with Japanese Army staff towards a peace initiative, but his efforts were totally undermined by the Operation Ichi-Go campaign launched by the Imperial General Headquarters.[2]
In 1994, a newspaper revealed that after his return to Tokyo, he wrote a stinging indictment of the conduct of the Imperial Japanese Army in China, where the Prince had witnessed Japanese atrocities against Chinese civilians. The Army General Staff suppressed the document, but one copy survived and surfaced in 1994.[3]
Prince Mikasa served as a staff officer in the Army Section of the Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo until Japan's surrender in August 1945. After the end of the war, the Prince spoke before the Privy Council, urging that Hirohito abdicate to take responsibility for the war.[4]
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4.Emperor Meiji |
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2.Emperor Taishō |
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5.Naruko Yanagiwara |
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1.Takahito, Prince Mikasa |
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6.Michitaka Kujō |
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3.Empress Teimei |
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7.Noma Ikuko |
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| Styles of Prince Mikasa (Takahito) of Japan |
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| Reference style | His Imperial Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Imperial Highness |
| Alternative style | Sir |
On 22 October 1941, Prince Mikasa married Yuriko Takagi ( 6 June 1923 – present), the second daughter of the late Viscount Masanori Takagi. Prince and Princess Mikasa have five children, of whom four are still living. The couple's two daughters left the Imperial Family upon marriage:
After the war, Prince Mikasa enrolled in the Literature Faculty of Tokyo University and pursued advanced studies in archeology, Middle Eastern studies, and Semitic languages. Since 1954, he has directed the Japanese Society for Middle East Studies. He is honorary president of the Japan Society of Orientology. The Prince has held visiting and guest faculty appointments in Middle Eastern studies and archeology at various universities in Japan and abroad, including: Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Aoyama Gakuin, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, the University of London, the University of Hokkaido and the University of Shizuoka.
The residence of Prince and Princess Mikasa is located within the grounds of the Akasaka Detached Palace in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo.
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Prince Mikasa
Born: 2 December 1915 |
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| Japanese royalty | ||
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| Preceded by Prince Hitachi |
Line of succession to the Japanese throne 5th position |
Succeeded by Prince Tomohito |