{{Short description|Former Japanese princess (born 1931)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Eastern name order|Ikeda Atsuko}} {{More footnotes|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Atsuko Ikeda | honorific_suffix = Mrs. Takamasa Ikeda | image = Ikeda Atsuko.JPG | caption = Atsuko Ikeda, {{circa|1952}} | birth_name = Atsuko, Princess Yori<br>({{lang|ja|順宮厚子内親王}}) | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1931|3|7|df=y}} | birth_place = Tokyo Imperial Palace,<br>Tokyo City, Empire of Japan | spouse = {{marriage|Takamasa Ikeda|10 October 1952|21 July 2012|reason=died}} | children = Motohiro Ikeda (adopted) | father = Emperor Shōwa | mother = Princess Nagako Kuni | relatives = {{ubl|Imperial House of Japan|Ikeda clan}} }} {{nihongo|'''Atsuko Ikeda'''|池田 厚子|Ikeda Atsuko|extra= born 7 March 1931}}, formerly {{nihongo|'''Atsuko, Princess Yori'''|順宮厚子内親王|Yori-no-miya Atsuko Naishinnō}}, is the fourth daughter of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun. As such, she is the older sister of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and paternal aunt of Emperor Naruhito. She married Takamasa Ikeda, a man from outside the imperial dynasty, on 10 October 1952; as a result, she gave up her imperial title and left the Japanese imperial family, as required by law. Later, she served as the most sacred priestess (''saishu'') of the Ise Grand Shrine between 1988 and 2017.
==Biography== Princess Atsuko was born at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on 7 March 1931, her father is the Emperor Showa (Hirohito), her mother is the Empress Kōjun. Her childhood appellation was {{nihongo|'''Yori-no-miya'''|順宮}}. She had three elder sisters, the Princess Shigeko Teru-no-miya, the Princess Sachiko Hisa-no-miya (died as a baby) and the Princess Kazuko Taka-no-miya.
As with her elder two sisters, she was not raised by her biological parents, but by a succession of court ladies at a separate palace built for her and her elder sisters in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo. She graduated from the Gakushūin Peer's School, and was also tutored along with her siblings in English language by an American tutor, Elizabeth Gray Vining, during the Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. She graduated from Gakushuin University Women's College in March 1952.
thumb|left|Atsuko and Takamasa Ikeda on 10 October 1952 On 10 October 1952, Princess Yori married {{nihongo|Takamasa Ikeda|池田 隆政|Ikeda Takamasa|extra= 21 October 1926 – 21 July 2012}}, the eldest son of former Marquis Nobumasa Ikeda and a direct descendant of the last ''daimyō'' of Okayama Domain, whom she had met at a Japanese tea ceremony at Kōraku-en gardens. The couple were engaged after only six months, but wedding plans had to be postponed due to the death of her grandmother Empress Teimei in 1951 and subsequent period of mourning. Upon her marriage, Princess Yori became the second daughter of an emperor to relinquish her status as a member of the Japanese imperial family and become a commoner upon marriage, in accordance with the 1947 Imperial Household Law. She also gave up an annual imperial allowance worth ¥650,000 ($1,800) at the time.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/archive/6619492/milestones-oct-20-1952/|title=Milestones, Oct. 20, 1952|magazine=Time|date=20 October 1952|access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> The groom's father and the bride's mother, the Empress, were first cousins, making the couple second cousins.<ref name=descent>{{cite web|url=https://reichsarchiv.jp/%e5%ae%b6%e7%b3%bb%e3%83%aa%e3%82%b9%e3%83%88/%e6%b1%a0%e7%94%b0%e6%b0%8f%ef%bc%88%e5%82%99%e5%89%8d%e5%b2%a1%e5%b1%b1%e8%97%a9%ef%bc%89#sma|title=池田氏（備前岡山藩） (Okayama-Ikeda genealogy)|website=Reichsarchiv|access-date=3 September 2017|language=ja}}</ref>
The former princess relocated to Okayama Prefecture, where her husband, a wealthy cattle rancher, served as director of the Ikeda Zoo outside of Okayama city for over fifty years.
In 1965, she was hospitalized with sepsis, which was a cause of great concern for the Imperial Family, as her elder sister Shigeko Higashikuni had already died of stomach cancer.
In October 1988, Ikeda succeeded her ailing elder sister, Kazuko Takatsukasa, as the most sacred priestess (''saishu'') of the Ise Grand Shrine. She served in that capacity until 19 June 2017, whereupon she was succeeded by her niece, Sayako Kuroda.<ref>[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/06/21/national/politics-diplomacy/emperors-daughter-becomes-supreme-priestess-ise-shrine/#.WbR-zJQhXqA Japan Times]</ref> She also served as the Chairperson of the Association of Shinto Shrines until June 2017.{{Citation needed|reason=there are no sources confirming she retired from her position as Chairperson|date=April 2020}}
The former princess adopted Motohiro Nozu, who is CEO of Kabaya, in April 2024.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2024-04-12 |title=上皇さまの姉・池田厚子さん カバヤ・オハヨーHDの野津基弘CEO夫妻と養子縁組 グループは開園時から池田動物園を支援 岡山 {{!}} KSBニュース {{!}} KSB瀬戸内海放送 |url=https://news.ksb.co.jp/article/15226984 |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=KSB |language=ja}}</ref> About 10 years earlier she and her husband were already having talks about adopting someone to continue the Ikeda line.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2024-04-20 |title=「"爵位が欲しい"とよく言っていた」 上皇陛下の姉君・池田厚子さんと菓子メーカー「カバヤ」代表の養子縁組の裏側（全文） |url=https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2024/04200557/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=デイリー新潮 |language=ja}}</ref> However, the adoption does not solve the Ikeda family's survival because Motohiro and his wife have no children.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Motohiro and his wife also changed their last name to Ikeda.<ref name=":0" />
==Honours== {{see also|List of honours of the Japanese Imperial Family by country}}
===National honours=== * Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown
==Ancestry== {{ahnentafel |collapsed=yes |align=center |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; |1= 1. '''Atsuko, Princess Yori''' |2= 2. Hirohito, Emperor Shōwa |3= 3. Princess Nagako of Kuni |4= 4. Yoshihito, Emperor Taishō |5= 5. Lady Sadako Kujō |6= 6. Kuniyoshi, 2nd Imperial Prince Kuni |7= 7. Princess Chikako Shimazu |8= 8. Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji |9= 9. Lady Naruko Yanagiwara |10= 10. Prince Kujō Michitaka of the Fujiwara Clan |11= 11. Lady Ikuko Noma |12= 12. Asahiko, 1st Imperial Prince Kuni |13= 13. Lady Makiko Izumi |14= 14. Prince Shimazu Tadayoshi |15= 15. Lady Sumako Yamazaki |16= 16. Osahito, Emperor Kōmei |17= 17. Lady Yoshiko Nakayama |18= 18. Count Takamitsu Yanagihara |19= 19. Lady Utano Hasegawa |20= 20. Prince Kujō Hisatada, Regent of Japan |21= 21. Lady Tsuneko Karahashi |22= 22. Yorioki Noma |23= 23. Lady Kairi Yamokushi |24= 24. Prince Fushimi Kuniie |25= 25. Lady Nobuko Toriikōji |26= 26. Sir Toshimasu Izumitei |27= 27. Lady Mako Yatoshi |28= 28. Prince Shimazu Hisamitsu |29= 29. Lady Chimoko Shimazu of Echizen-Shimazu |30= |31= }}
==Gallery== <gallery class=center> Image:Showa-family1941 12 7.jpg|Emperor Showa's family in 1941 Image:Emperor Showa's daughters.jpg|Emperor Shōwa's daughters Image:2014-05-10 12 34 11 Flowering Cherry along New Jersey Route 29 in Hopewell Township, New Jersey.JPG|Japanese cherry blossoms, ''Prunus serrulata'', designated imperial personal emblem of Atsuko<ref name="hana2018-6-7">{{Cite book|author=小松大秀監修|authorlink=|title = 明治150年記念 華ひらく皇室文化 −明治宮廷を彩る技と美−|publisher = 青幻社|year=2018 |pages=6–7 |isbn = 978-4861526442|ref =『華ひらく皇室文化』2018}}</ref> Image:Crown Prince Akihito and sisters1950-9.jpg|Princess Atsuko with her younger brother and sister, Prince Akihito and Princess Takako, in September 1950 Image:Princess Atsuko edit.jpg|Princess Atsuko in 1951 Image:Atsuko Ikeda cropped 1 Atsuko Ikeda 20091103.jpg|Atsuko Ikeda at the Ise Grand Shrine in Ise City, Mie Prefecture, in November 2009 </gallery>
==Sources== {{commons category|Atsuko Ikeda}} * Foreign Affairs Association of Japan, ''The Japan Year Book '' (Tokyo: Kenkyusha Press, 1939–40, 1941–42, 1944–45, 1945–46, 1947–48). * Takie Sugiyama Lebra, ''Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992). * "Hirohito's Daughter Wed: Princess Yori Married to Tokyo Commoner by Shinto Rites," ''New York Times'' 10 October 1952. * {{cite book | last = Bix | first = Herbert P. | author-link = Herbert P. Bix | year = 2001 | title = Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan | publisher = Harper Perennial | isbn=0-06-093130-2 }}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Japanese princesses}}
<!-- Honours -->
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikeda, Atsuko}} Category:1931 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century Japanese people Category:21st-century Japanese people Category:20th-century Japanese women Category:21st-century Japanese women Category:Japanese Shintoists Category:20th-century Shintoists Category:21st-century Shintoists Category:People from Chiyoda, Tokyo Category:Ikeda clan Category:Kannushi <!-- Honours : Japan --> Category:Grand Cordons (Imperial Family) of the Order of the Precious Crown Category:Children of Hirohito Category:Daughters of Japanese emperors