{{Short description|Japanese prince (1902–1953)}} {{redirect|Yasuhito|the 18th-century monarch|Emperor Nakamikado}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Yasuhito | title = Prince Chichibu | image = Chichibunomiya Yasuhito.jpg | caption = Yasuhito, {{circa|1938–39}} | birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|6|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Aoyama Detached Palace, Tokyo City, Japan | death_date = {{Death date and age|1953|1|4|1902|6|25|df=y}} | death_place = Kugenuma Villa, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan | burial_date = 12 January 1953 | burial_place = {{ill|Toshimagaoka Imperial Cemetery|ja|豊島岡墓地}}, Bunkyō, Tokyo | spouse = {{marriage|Setsuko Matsudaira|28 September 1928}} | issue = | birth_name = Yasuhito, Prince Atsu<br>({{lang|ja|淳宮雍仁親王}}) | royal house = Imperial House of Japan | father = Emperor Taishō | mother = Sadako Kujō | occupation = General in the Imperial Japanese Army (see military career) | module = {{Infobox military person | embed=yes |nickname= |allegiance= {{flag|Japan}} |branch= {{army|Empire of Japan}} |service_years= 1922–1945 |rank=50px Major-General |unit= |commands=31st Infantry |battles=Second Sino-Japanese War<br>World War II |awards= |relations= |signature = }} }}
{{nihongo|'''Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu'''|秩父宮雍仁親王|Chichibu-no-miya Yasuhito Shinnō|extra= 25 June 1902 – 4 January 1953}} was the second son of Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) and Empress Teimei (Sadako), a younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. As a member of the Imperial House of Japan, he was the patron of several sporting, medical, and international exchange organizations. Before and after World War II, the English-speaking prince and his wife attempted to foster good relations between Japan and the United Kingdom and enjoyed a good rapport with the British royal family. As with other Japanese imperial princes of his generation, he was an active-duty career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army. Like all members of the imperial family, he was given immunity from criminal prosecution before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East by Douglas MacArthur.
==Background and family== {{Unreferenced section|date=January 2017}} [[File:Emperor Taisho's sons 1921.jpg|180px|left|thumb|Emperor Taishō's four sons in 1921: Hirohito, Takahito, Nobuhito and Yasuhito]] Born at Aoyama Detached Palace in Tokyo, the second son of Crown Prince Yoshihito (later Emperor Taishō) and Crown Princess Sadako (later Empress Teimei), the prince was originally titled ''Atsu no miya'' (Prince Atsu). He and his elder brother were separated from their parents and entrusted to the care of a respected ex-naval officer, Count Kawamura Sumiyoshi and his wife. After Kawamura died in 1904, the young princes rejoined their parents at the ''Tōgū-gosho'' (Crown Prince's residence) on the grounds of the Akasaka estate. He attended the elementary and secondary departments of the Gakushuin Peers' School along with Crown Prince Hirohito, and his younger brother, Prince Nobuhito (born in 1905) (a fourth brother, Prince Takahito, was born in 1915). Prince Chichibu enrolled in the Central Military Preparatory School in 1917 and then in the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1922. [[File:Chichibunomiya's palace.jpg|thumb|Prince Chichibu's residence in the Akasaka Imperial Estate]] On 26 May 1922, Emperor Taishō granted his second son the title ''Chichibu no miya'' and the authorization to start a new branch of the imperial family. In 1925, the Prince went to Great Britain to study at Magdalen College, Oxford. While in Great Britain King George V decorated Prince Chichibu with the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. Prince Chichibu had a reputation as an outdoorsman and alpinist during his stay in Europe (he was elected to Honorary membership of the Alpine Club in 1928 (struck off in the second world war, but reinstated in 1952).<ref>{{cite journal | title = Alpine Notes | journal =Alpine Journal| date=1963| issn= 0065-6569 | first =T.S. | last = Blakeney | volume =#68 | pages= 293–306 | access-date =13 October 2024 |url = https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1963_files/AJ%201963%20295-306%20Dangar%20Alpine%20Notes.pdf }}</ref> He returned to Japan in January 1927 following the death of Emperor Taishō, who for some time had suffered from debilitating physical and mental ill-health. Until the birth of his nephew, Crown Prince Akihito in December 1933, Prince Chichibu was heir presumptive to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
==Marriage== thumb|The Prince and Princess Chichibu on their wedding day On 28 September 1928, the prince married Setsuko Matsudaira (1909–1995), the daughter of Tsuneo Matsudaira, Japanese ambassador to the United States and later Great Britain (and later, Imperial Household Minister), and his wife, the former Nobuko Nabeshima.<ref>{{harvnb|Kampō|1928a|pages=675}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kampō|1928b|pages=741 (plate number 0002.jp2)|loc="Announcement / Kunaishō / Number 29 / Marriage notice of Prince Yasuhito with the niece of Viscount Matsudaira Yasuo"}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{harvnb|Kampō|1928b|pages=746 (plate number 0005.jp2)|loc="Announcement/ Naimushō / Number 256 / Decorations and appointments (Shōkunkyoku) – as of 28 September Shōwa 3rd (1928); Princess Setsuko of Prince Chichibunomiya Yasuhito – Appointed to the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown (1st class)."}}</ref> Although technically born a commoner, the new princess was a scion of the Matsudaira of Aizu, a cadet branch of the Tokugawa shogunate. Her paternal grandfather was Matsudaira Katamori, the last ''daimyō'' of Aizu, whose heir had been created a viscount in the new ''kazoku'' system in 1884. Yasuhito and Setsuko were eighth cousins, thrice removed, as both were descended from Nabeshima Katsushige, the first lord of Saga.<ref name=descent>{{cite web|url=https://reichsarchiv.jp/%e5%ae%b6%e7%b3%bb%e3%83%aa%e3%82%b9%e3%83%88/%e4%bc%9a%e6%b4%a5%e6%9d%be%e5%b9%b3%e6%b0%8f%ef%bc%88%e5%be%a1%e5%ae%b6%e9%96%80%ef%bc%89#amtuneo|title=Genealogy|website=Reichsarchiv|date=8 May 2010 |access-date=5 September 2017|language=ja}}</ref> Prince and Princess Chichibu had no children, as Princess Chichibu's only pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. However, by all accounts their marriage was filled with love and happiness for each other.<ref name="bunshun_1973">{{harvnb|Bungei shunjū|1973|pages=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Female staff writer |date=May 1929 |title=The Daily Life of Her Imperial Highness Princess Chichibunomiya Setsuko |script-title=ja: 秩父宮妃勢津子殿下の御日常 |journal=Shufu No Tomo |publisher=Shufu no tomo-sha |volume=13 |issue=5 (May issue) |pages=35–38 (plate number 0063.jp2-)}}</ref>
==Military career== thumb|Prince Chichibu in 1934
Prince Chichibu received his commission as a second lieutenant in the infantry in October 1922 and was assigned to the First Imperial Guard Division. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1925 and became a captain in 1930 after graduation from the Army War College. He received a promotion to the rank of major and assigned to command the Thirty First Infantry Division stationed at Hirosaki, Aomori in August 1935. Prince Chichibu was a vehement ultra-right-wing militarist who increasingly influenced Japanese military policy in the prewar era.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932–45, and the American Cover-Up |last=Harris|first=Sheldon|publisher=Routledge|year=1995|isbn=978-0415932141|pages= 142}}</ref>
Prince Chichibu has been implicated by some historians in the abortive 26 February Incident in 1936. How much of a role he actually played in that event remains unclear, but it was clear that he was sympathetic to the rebels<ref>Peter Wetzler, ''Hirohito and War'', University of Hawai'i press, 1998, p.189</ref> and that his political sentiments were in agreement with theirs, i.e., replacement of the corrupt political party based government with a military dictatorship under direct control of the emperor. His sympathy to the ''Kodoha'' faction within the Imperial Japanese Army was well known at the time. After the assassination of prime minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in 1932, he had many violent arguments with his brother, Emperor Hirohito, about the suspension of the constitution and the implementation of direct imperial rule.
After the coup attempt, the prince and his wife were sent on a tour of Western Europe taking several months.<ref name="bunshun_1973"/> They represented Japan at the May 1937 coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom in Westminster Abbey and subsequently visited Sweden and the Netherlands as the guests of King Gustaf V and Queen Wilhelmina, respectively. This tour ended with the visit of Nuremberg in Germany by the prince alone. There he attended the Nuremberg rally and met Adolf Hitler, with whom he tried to boost relations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gotemba seiwa|1948}}</ref> At Nuremberg Castle, Hitler launched a scathing attack against Joseph Stalin, after which the prince privately said to his aide-de-camp Masaharu Homma: "Hitler is an actor, it will be difficult to trust him". Nevertheless, he remained convinced that the future of Japan was linked to Nazi Germany and in 1938 and 1939, he had many quarrels with the Emperor about the opportunity to join a military alliance with Germany against Great Britain and the United States.
Prince Chichibu was subsequently appointed battalion commander of Thirty-First Infantry Regiment in August 1937, promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1938 and to colonel in August 1939. During the war, he was involved in combat operations, and was sent to Manchukuo before the Nomonhan incident and to Nanjing after the Nanjing Massacre. On 9 February 1939, Chichibu attended a lecture on bacteriological warfare, given by Shirō Ishii, in the War Ministry Grand Conference Hall in Tokyo.<ref>Sheldon Harris, ''Factories of Death'', 2002, p. 142</ref> He also attended vivisection demonstrations by Ishii.<ref>Sheldon Harris, ''Japanese Biomedical Experimentation during the World War II Era'', in Military Medical Ethics, volume 2, 2003, p. 469</ref>
According to a version told in her memoirs by Princess Chichibu, according to which the prince retired from active duty after being diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in June 1940, spent most of World War II convalescing at his villa in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the eastern foot of Mount Fuji and never really recovering from his illness.<ref>Princess Chichibu, ''The Silver Drum'', Global Oriental, 1996</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2016}} He was promoted to major general in March 1945.
==Patronage== After World War II, Prince Chichibu was honorary head of many athletic organizations, and was nicknamed the "sporting Prince" due to his efforts to promote skiing, rugby and other sports. He was also honorary President of both the Japan–British Society and the Swedish Society of Japan. He was a supporter of Scouting in Japan and attended the Fourth International Conference in 1926.<ref>John S. Wilson (1959), Scouting Round the World. First edition, Blandford Press.</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2016}}
==Rugby union== [[File:Chichibunomiya3.JPG|right|thumb|Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, which is named after the Prince]]
The prince was also instrumental in securing the development of rugby union in Japan. He was "converted" to rugby after the JRFU president, Shigeru Kayama, returned from a long sea voyage and was able to "market" the game to Prince Chichibu.<ref name=RugDis>Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) ''The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records''. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7126-0911-3}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2016}}
After his death, the Tokyo Rugby Stadium in Kita-Aoyama 2-chome was renamed Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium. A statue of Prince Chichibu in rugby kit was erected there.
==Death== Prince Chichibu died from tuberculosis at his Kugenuma villa in Fujisawa, Kanagawa on 4 January 1953.<ref>{{harvnb|NDL digital collection|1995}}</ref> His remains were cremated and the ashes buried at Toshimagaoka Cemetery (豊島岡墓地), Bunkyō, Tokyo, on 12 January 1953.
==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; |1= 1. '''Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu''' |2= 2. Yoshihito, Emperor Taishō |3= 3. Lady Sadako Kujō |4= 4. Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji |5= 5. Lady Naruko Yanagiwara |6= 6. Prince Kujō Michitaka of the Fujiwara Clan |7= 7. Lady Noma Ikuko |8= 8. Osahito, Emperor Kōmei |9= 9. Lady Yoshiko Nakayama |10= 10. Count Takamitsu Yanagihara |11= 11. Lady Utano Hasegawa |12= 12. Prince Kujō Hisatada, Regent |13= 13. Lady Karahashi Meiko |14= 14. Noma Yorioki |15= 15. Lady Yamokushi Kairi }}
===Patrilineal descent=== {{chart top|text-align=left|Patrilineal descent<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e-about/genealogy/img/keizu-e.pdf |title=Genealogy of the Emperors of Japan |publisher=Imperial Household Agency |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322210732/http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e-about/genealogy/img/keizu-e.pdf |archive-date=22 March 2011 |access-date=30 March 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
;Imperial House of Japan
# Descent prior to Keitai is unclear to modern historians, but traditionally traced back patrilineally to Emperor Jimmu # Emperor Keitai, ca. 450–534 # Emperor Kinmei, 509–571 # Emperor Bidatsu, 538–585 # Prince Oshisaka, ca. 556–??? # Emperor Jomei, 593–641 # Emperor Tenji, 626–671 # Prince Shiki, ???–716 # Emperor Kōnin, 709–786 # Emperor Kanmu, 737–806 # Emperor Saga, 786–842 # Emperor Ninmyō, 810–850 # Emperor Kōkō, 830–867 # Emperor Uda, 867–931 # Emperor Daigo, 885–930 # Emperor Murakami, 926–967 # Emperor En'yū, 959–991 # Emperor Ichijō, 980–1011 # Emperor Go-Suzaku, 1009–1045 # Emperor Go-Sanjō, 1034–1073 # Emperor Shirakawa, 1053–1129 # Emperor Horikawa, 1079–1107 # Emperor Toba, 1103–1156 # Emperor Go-Shirakawa, 1127–1192 # Emperor Takakura, 1161–1181 # Emperor Go-Toba, 1180–1239 # Emperor Tsuchimikado, 1196–1231 # Emperor Go-Saga, 1220–1272 # Emperor Go-Fukakusa, 1243–1304 # Emperor Fushimi, 1265–1317 # Emperor Go-Fushimi, 1288–1336 # Emperor Kōgon, 1313–1364 # Emperor Sukō, 1334–1398 # Prince Yoshihito Fushimi, 1351–1416 # Prince Sadafusa Fushimi, 1372–1456 # Emperor Go-Hanazono, 1419–1471 # Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado, 1442–1500 # Emperor Go-Kashiwabara, 1464–1526 # Emperor Go-Nara, 1495–1557 # Emperor Ōgimachi, 1517–1593 # Prince Masahito, 1552–1586 # Emperor Go-Yōzei, 1572–1617 # Emperor Go-Mizunoo, 1596–1680 # Emperor Reigen, 1654–1732 # Emperor Higashiyama, 1675–1710 # Prince Naohito Kanin, 1704–1753 # Prince Sukehito Kanin, 1733–1794 # Emperor Kōkaku, 1771–1840 # Emperor Ninkō, 1800–1846 # Emperor Kōmei, 1831–1867 # Emperor Meiji, 1852–1912 # Emperor Taishō, 1879–1926 # Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu {{chart bottom}}
==Gallery== <gallery> Image:Yasuhito.jpg|Prince Chichibu in his twenties, as a second lieutenant Image:Prince and Princess Chichibu Wedding2.jpg|Prince and Princess Chichibu wedding Image:Prince Chichibu2.jpg|Prince Chichibu in stadium Image:Yasuhito2.jpg |Prince Chichibu at Hirosaki Image:Country house of chichibunomiya.jpg|Former villa of Prince Chichibu in Gotemba Image:Prince chichibu.jpg|Statue of Prince Chichibu Image:Founding Ceremony of the Hakko-Ichiu Monument.JPG|The ''hakkō ichiu'' monument (1940) had Prince Chichibu's calligraphy of ''Hakkō ichiu'' on its front side. </gallery>
== See also ==
* Yamashita's gold - an urban legend about Prince Chichibu
== Notes == <references />
==References== * Princess Chichibu. ''The Silver Drum: A Japanese Imperial Memoir.'' Global Books Ltd. (UK) (May 1996). Trans. Dorothy Britton. {{ISBN|1-86034-004-0}} * Fujitani, T. ''Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan''. University of California Press; Reprint edition (1998). {{ISBN|0-520-21371-8}} * Lebra, Sugiyama Takie. ''Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility''. University of California Press (1995). {{ISBN|0-520-07602-8}} * ''Scouting Round the World'', John S. Wilson, first edition, Blandford Press 1959 p. 67 * {{Cite journal |date=1928-09-27 |editor-last=Ōkurashō Insatsu-kyoku |author=Office of Imperial Household (Kunaishō) |author-link=Kuaishou |title=Prince Yasuhito had wedding ceremony with Setsuko, the niece to Viscount Matsudaira Yasuo (Announcement #28, Kunaishō) |script-title=ja: 告示 / 宮内省 / 第28号 / 雍仁親王殿下子爵松平保男姪勢津子ト結婚ノ禮ヲ行ハセラル |journal=Kampō [官報] |publisher=日本マイクロ写真 |volume=1928-09-27 |ref={{harvid|Kampō|1928a}} |pages=675 |doi=10.11501/2956989 |via=NDL}} * {{Cite journal |date=1928-09-28 |editor-last=National Printing Bureau |title=Announcements |script-title=ja: 告示 |journal=Kanpō (官報 昭和3年) |language=ja |volume=1928-09-29 |issue=530 |ref={{harvid|Kampō|1928b}} |pages=741, 746 (plate numbers 0002.jp2, 0005.jp2) |doi=10.11501/2956991 |via=NDL|author1=大蔵省印刷局 }} * {{Cite book |date=December 1995 |title="Tsuiroku": Naikaku seido hyakunen-shi (Ge-kan) |script-title=ja: 内閣制度百年史. 下巻 追録 - 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/11932167 |url-access=limited |via=dl.ndl.go.jp |access-date=2022-09-23 |publisher=Naikaku kanbō 内閣官房 |doi=10.11501/11932167 |ref={{harvid|NDL digital collection|1995}} |location=Tokyo |pages=25–27 (plate number 0014.jp2-) |language=ja|author1=内閣官房 }} * {{cite journal |author=Chichibunomiya Setsuko |date=January 1973 |title={{nihongo|1=History of Showa period I shared with Prince (Interview)|2=宮さまと私の昭和史〔談話〕|3=Miyasama to watakushi no shōwashi 'Danwa'}} |journal=Bungei shunjū |volume=51 |number=1 |url= |id={{NAID|1521699229931106688}} |ref={{harvid|Bungei shunjū|1973}} |pages=220–231}} * {{cite book|author1=Prince Chichibu|author2= Princess Setsuko|title= Gotemba seiwa|script-title=ja:御殿場清話|editor=Yanagisawa, Takeshi |publisher=Sekai no nihon-sha|year= 1948|series=Figures series #1|ref={{harvid|Gotemba seiwa|1948}}}} {{NCID|BA35453355}}
==External links== *[http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e-about/history/history12.html Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Chichibu] at the Imperial Household Agency website * {{PM20|FID=pe/003227}} {{Japanese princes}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chichibu, Prince}} Category:1902 births Category:1953 deaths Category:Children of Emperor Taishō Category:People from Minato, Tokyo Category:Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II Category:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Category:Scouting in Japan Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Japan Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Deified Japanese men Category:Sons of Japanese emperors Category:Military personnel from Tokyo