| Sayako Kuroda | |
|---|---|
| Princess Nori | |
| Kuroda at Expo 2005 | |
| Spouse | Yoshiki Kuroda |
| Father | Akihito |
| Mother | Michiko |
| Born | 18 April 1969 Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation | Former Princess of Japan |
Sayako Kuroda (黒田 清子 Kuroda Sayako, born 18 April 1969), formerly Princess Sayako of Japan (紀宮 清子内親王 Nori-no-miya Sayako naishinnō), is the third child and only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan. She held the childhood appellation "Nori no miya" (Princess Nori). She married Yoshiki Kuroda on 15 November 2005. As a result, she gave up her imperial title and left the Japanese Imperial Family, as required by law.
Contents |
Princess Sayako studied at and graduated from the Department of Japanese Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters, Gakushuin University, in 1992. Later in the year she was accepted as research associate at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, where she specialized in the study of kingfishers.[1] In 1998, she was appointed researcher at the same institute. She contributed articles about birds to various academic works.
Apart from her research, she has traveled extensively abroad and within Japan, as a representative of the Imperial family.
On 30 December 2004, the Imperial Household Agency announced the engagement of Princess Nori to Yoshiki Kuroda, a 40-year-old urban designer with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and a longtime friend of Prince Akishino. Upon her marriage, which took place at the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo on 15 November 2005, Princess Nori left the Imperial Family, taking the surname of her husband, the first commoner of non-aristocratic background to marry an Imperial Princess. These changes in her status are demanded by a 1947 law that requires female members of the Imperial Family to relinquish their birth position, official membership in the Imperial Family, and allowance upon their marriage. Her parents, the Emperor and Empress, were in attendance at the wedding, as were Crown Prince Naruhito, Crown Princess Masako and other members of the Imperial Family.[2]
Kuroda resigned from her job as an ornithologist in order to focus on her family life and potential motherhood. While she will no longer be entitled to an imperial allowance, she reportedly received a dowry of over one million dollars.
| Ancestors of Sayako Kuroda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||