Prince Mikasa (Takahito) of Japan (三笠宮崇仁 Mikasa-no-miya Takahito Shinnō; born December 2, 1915) is the fourth and youngest son of the Emperor Taishō and the Empress Teimei. He is a younger brother of the Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and the only surviving paternal uncle of the Emperor Akihito. With the death of his sister-in-law, Princess Takamatsu (Kikuko) on 17 December 2004, Prince Mikasa became the oldest living member of the Japanese imperial family. 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.
Early life
Prince Takahito was born at the Kokyo Imperial Palace in Tokyo, 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 then-boys' elementary and secondary departments of the Gakushuin (Peers' School or Hall of Learning) 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 Military Academy in 1932 and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant and assigned to the Fifth Cavalry Regiment in June 1936. 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.
Military service
Prince Mikasa was promoted to lieutenant (first class) in 1937; to captain in 1939; and to major in 1941. He served as a staff officer in the Headquarters of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces at Nanjing, China from January 1943 to January 1944. Afterward, he served a staff officer in the Army Section of the Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo until Japan's unconditional surrender in August 1945. In 1994, a newspaper revealed that during the Pacific War, Prince Mikasa had written a stinging indictment of the conduct of the Japanese Imperial Army in China. The Prince had witnessed Japanese atrocities against Chinese civilians. The Army General Staff suppressed the document, but one copy survived and surfaced in 1994.
Marriage
On 22 October 1941, Prince Mikasa married Takagi Yuriko (6 June 1923 - present), the second daughter of the late Viscount Takagi Masanori. Prince and Princess Mikasa have five children, of whom four are still living. The couple's two daughters left the Imperial Family upon marriage:
Children
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, Tokyo Christian Women's University, the University of London, the University of Hokkaido and the University of Shizuoka.
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