Toshiko Higashikuni

, born , was the fourteenth child and ninth daughter of Emperor Meiji of Japan, and the seventh child and fifth daughter of Sono Sachiko, the Emperor's fifth concubine. She was the wife of Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, who served as the Japanese prime minister from August to October 1945.

Biography

Toshiko was born in Japan, the daughter of Emperor Meiji and Lady Sachiko. She held the childhood appellation "Yasu no miya" (Princess Yasu).

She married Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni on 18 May 1915. Emperor Meiji granted Prince Naruhiko the title Higashikuni-no-miya and permission to start a new branch of the imperial family before their marriage on 3 November 1906. The couple had four sons:

1. ; married his first cousin Shigeko, Princess Teru, the eldest daughter of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun.
2. ; died in the Great Kantō earthquake.
3. ; renounced imperial title and created Marquis Awata Akitsune, 1940
4. ; relocated to Lins, São Paulo, Brazil, 1950 after being adopted and becoming the heir to Kinu, widow of Tetsusuke Tarama.

In October 1947, the Higashikuni and the other branches of the Imperial Family other than patrilineal descendants of Emperor Taishō were divested of their titles and privileges during the Allied occupation of Japan and became commoners. Toshiko died on 5 March 1978, aged 81. She was the last surviving child of Emperor Meiji.

Ancestry

References