by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2014
Prince Katsura of Mikasa was the second son of the three sons and the third of the five children of Prince Mikasa of Japan and Yuriko Takagi (Princess Mikasa). Prince Mikasa was the youngest son of Emperor Taishō, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito (Shōwa), and the uncle of Emperor Akihito. Prince Katsura was born in Tokyo, Japan on February 11, 1948. He was called “of Mikasa” because his father was authorized to form a new branch of the Imperial Family by Emperor Hirohito (Shōwa). He was given the personal name Yoshihito and the childhood appellation Yoshi. In 1988, he was granted the title Prince Katsura (Katsura-no-miya), and authorization to start a new branch of the Imperial Family. However, he never married.
Prince Katsura had four siblings:
- Yasuko Konoe, formerly Princess Yasuko (born 1944), married Tadateru Konoe, had one daughter; upon her marriage, Princess Yasuko had to relinquish her title from birth and her official membership in the Imperial Family
- Prince Tomohito (1946 – 2012), married Nobuko Asō, had two daughters
- Masako Sen, formerly Princess Masako (born 1951), married Sōshitsu Sen, had two sons and one daughter; upon her marriage, Princess Masako had to relinquish her title from birth and her official membership in the Imperial Family
- Prince Takamado (1954 – 2002), married Hisako Tottori, had three daughters
Left to right: Prince Tomohito, Princess Mikasa, Prince Katsura, and Princess Yasuko; Credit – Wikipedia
Prince Katsura studied political science at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, Japan, graduating in 1971. He then attended graduate school at Australian National University, in Canberra, Australia for two years. Upon his return to Japan, he was an administrator at NHK, Japan’s national public broadcasting organization.
Prince Katsura was paralyzed from the waist down after suffering from a series of strokes in 1988 and used a wheelchair. Despite vision loss in his right eye, paralysis, and memory issues, he remained active in public life and was president of various charity organizations:
- President of the Japan-Australia-New Zealand Society
- President of the Agricultural Society of Japan
- President of the Japan Forestry Association
- President of the Japan Art Crafts Association
- President of the Japanese Urushi Art Crafts Association
Prince Katsura attends an exhibition of Japanese traditional art crafts; Credit – http://www.kunaicho.go.jp
Prince Katsura died from a massive heart attack on June 8, 2014, at the University of Tokyo Hospital at the age of 66. Since Prince Katsura never married and his two brothers only had daughters, his death marked the end of his father’s branch of the Japanese Imperial Family. His death left only five people in the line of succession to the Japanese throne. Currently, females are not permitted to be in the line of succession.
His funeral, called the Renso-no-Gi (Ceremony of the Funeral and Entombment), was held on June 17, 2014, at the Toshimagaoka Cemetery in Tokyo. His remains were later cremated and then interred in a stone chamber next to the burial site of the ashes of his older brother, Prince Tomohito, who died in 2012. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko did not attend the funeral as is the custom. The Imperial Family was represented by the Emperor’s two sons and their wives along with one of his granddaughters: Crown Prince Naruhito, Crown Princess Masako, Prince Akishino, and his wife, Princess Kiko, and their daughter Princess Mako.
Crown Princess Masako leads Crown Prince Naruhito, Prince Akishino, Princess Kiko, and Princess Mako at Prince Katsura’s funeral; Photo source: Japan Times
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