Takahito 三笠宮崇仁親王 |
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Prince Mikasa | |||||
At the new year congratulatory imperial palace visit, 2 January 2012
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Born |
Tokyo Imperial Palace, Tokyo City, Japan (now Chiyoda, Tokyo) |
2 December 1915||||
Died | 27 October 2016 St. Luke's International Hospital, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan |
(aged 100)||||
Burial | 4 November 2016 Toshimagaoka Imperial Cemetery, Bunkyo, Tokyo |
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Spouse | Yuriko Takagi (m. 1941; his death 2016) |
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Issue |
Princess Yasuko of Mikasa Prince Tomohito of Mikasa Yoshihito, Prince Katsura Princess Masako of Mikasa Norihito, Prince Takamado |
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House | Imperial House of Japan | ||||
Father | Emperor Taishō | ||||
Mother | Empress Teimei | ||||
Religion | Shinto |
Full name | |
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Takahito (崇仁?) |
Styles of Prince Mikasa |
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Reference style | His Imperial Highness |
Spoken style | Your Imperial Highness |
Alternative style | Sir |
Takahito, Prince Mikasa (三笠宮崇仁親王 Mikasa-no-miya Takahito Shinnō?, 2 December 1915 – 27 October 2016) was a member of the Imperial House of Japan. He was the fourth and youngest son of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei and was their last surviving child. He was also the last surviving paternal uncle of Emperor Akihito. His eldest brother was Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito). After serving as a junior cavalry officer in the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, the prince embarked upon a post-war career as a scholar and part-time lecturer in Middle Eastern studies and Semitic languages.
With the death of his sister-in-law, Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu, on 17 December 2004, he became the oldest living member of the Imperial House of Japan. As a centenarian, Prince Takahito was the oldest living royal, the oldest living prince in line of succession, and also the last one in it. He died at age 100 on 27 October 2016 of cardiac arrest after being hospitalized for pneumonia.
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 Emperor Shōwa. His childhood appellation was Sumi-no-miya. Prince Takahito attended the boys' elementary and secondary departments of the Gakushūin (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.