Yasuhiko Asaka | |
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Prince Asaka | |
Reign | 10 March 1906 – 14 October 1947 |
Head of Asaka-no-miya | |
Reign | 10 March 1906 – 13 April 1981 |
Born | 20 October 1887 |
Died | 13 April 1981 | (aged 93)
Spouse | Nobuko, Princess Fumi |
Issue |
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Father | Asahiko, Prince Kuni |
Mother | Sugako Tsunoda |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
HIH Prince Yasuhiko Asaka | |
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Born | Kyoto, Japan |
Died | Atami, Japan |
Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
Service/branch | Imperial Japanese Army |
Years of service | 1908–1945 |
Rank | General |
Commands held |
Imperial Guard Shanghai Expeditionary Army |
Battles/wars | Second Sino-Japanese War |
Awards | Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, Order of the Rising Sun, Order of the Golden Kite |
Other work | golfer |
General Prince Yasuhiko Asaka (朝香宮鳩彦王 Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko-ō?, 20 October 1887 – 13 April 1981) of Japan was the founder of a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family and a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army. Son-in-law of Emperor Meiji and uncle by marriage of Emperor Hirohito, Prince Asaka was commander of Japanese forces in the final assault on Nanjing, then the capital city of Nationalist China, in December 1937. He was a perpetrator of the Nanking massacre in 1937 but was never charged.
Prince Yasuhiko came from Kyoto, the eighth son of Prince Kuni Asahiko and the court lady Tsunoda Sugako. Prince Kuni Asahiko was a youngest prince descended from the Fushimi-no-miya, one of the four branch houses of the imperial dynasty (shinnōke) entitled to provide a successor to the throne. In 1872, the Emperor Meiji granted him the title Kuni-no-miya and authorization to begin a new collateral branch of the imperial family. Prince Yasuhiko was a half-brother of Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, Prince Nashimoto Morimasa, Prince Kaya Kuninori, and Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi, the father of the future Empress Kōjun, the consort of Emperor Shōwa.