Shigeko Higashikuni

Princess Shigeko was born at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on 6 December 1925, the first child of Crown Prince Hirohito (later Emperor Shōwa), and his wife, Crown Princess Nagako (later Empress Kōjun) while her father was still Prince Regent for her grandfather, the Emperor Taishō."[https://web.archive.org/web/20121026101329/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,722879,00.html?promoid=googlep Delicate Piety]." Time Magazine, December 13, 1926. Retrieved on November 30, 2008. Her childhood appellation was {{nihongo|Teru-no-miya|照宮}} ("Princess Teru"). As was the practice of the time, she was not raised by her biological parents after the age of three, but by a succession of court ladies at a separate palace built for her and her younger sisters in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo from 1930. Emperor Shōwa opposed the move, but could not defy court tradition.Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. Pages 270–271 She entered the girls elementary department of the Gakushūin Peer's School in 1932 and completed the secondary department in 1942, learning cooking and literature.

On 9 May 1939, Princess Shigeko rode on the Chōshi Electric Railway Line in Chiba Prefecture from {{STN|Chōshi|x}} to Tōdaimae and back as part of a Gakushūin school outing.{{cite book | last = Shirato| first = Sadao |title = 銚子電気鉄道（下） |trans-title=Choshi Electric Railway Volume Two | publisher = Neko Publishing Co., Ltd.| date = July 2011 | location = Japan | page = 16| isbn = 978-4-7770-5310-0}}

In 1941, she was formally engaged to Prince Morihiro Higashikuni, the eldest son of Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni (later served as Prime Minister in 1945) and Toshiko, Princess Yasu (ninth daughter of Emperor Meiji) . The bride and groom were double first cousins once removed, through both the main imperial line, in descent from Emperor Meiji (the bride's maternal grandfather and the groom's father were siblings; meaning that the groom was a first cousin of the bride's father), and through collateral imperial lines, or ōke, that were cadet branches of the Fushimi-no-miya cadet branch of the imperial house. The couple were officially wed on 10 October 1943. As the wedding occurred in the middle of World War II, ceremonies and expenses were kept to a minimum, and she wore a junihitoe kimono belonging to her mother, Empress Kōjun, rather than having special clothing created for the occasion.

In 1947, the Higashikunis were reduced to commoner status with the abolition of titles of nobility by the Allied occupation forces. With rampant post-war inflation, high taxation, and various failed business ventures by her husband, the Higashikuni family was reduced to poverty. In January 1958, she accepted an offer by the Japanese national television network, NHK, to appear before a live audience and explain the New Year's poetry card reading contest and other royal ceremonies. She fell ill in 1960, complaining of stomach pains, and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Hospitalized at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo, she died on 23 July 1961.Large, Emperor Hirohito and Showa Japan, page 165. Her grave is at the Toshimagaoka imperial cemetery in Bunkyo, Tokyo.

File:Higashikuni-no-miya Wedding 1943.jpg

File:Dochter van de Keizer van Japan , Shigeko Higashikuni op Schiphol, Bestanddeelnr 910-7442.jpg, on 14 October 1959.]]

Shigeko and Morihiro had five children, the last three of whom were born after they were reduced in status to commoners:{{cite web | script-title=ja:東久邇宮家 | url=http://reichsarchiv.jp/%E5%AE%B6%E7%B3%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88/%E6%9D%B1%E4%B9%85%E9%82%87%E5%AE%AE%E5%AE%B6 | publisher=nekhet | access-date=October 14, 2011|language=ja}}

• 1. Son: {{Nihongo|Prince Nobuhiko Higashikuni|東久邇宮 信彦王|Higashikuni-no-miya Nobuhiko ō}} (10 March 1945 – 20 March 2019); married Miss Shimada Yoshiko in 1972, and had one son, Higashikuni Masahiko (b. 1973).
• 2. Daughter: {{nihongo|Princess Fumiko Higashikuni|文子女王|Fumiko joō|extra= born 23 December 1946}}; married Mr. Omura Kazutoshi later to Mr. Daikichi Takagi.
• 3. Son: {{nihongo|Hidehiko Higashikuni|東久邇 秀彦||extra= born 30 June 1949}}: adopted by the Mibu family as "Mibu Motohiro".
• 4. Son: {{nihongo|Naohiko Higashikuni|東久邇 真彦||extra= born 1953}}; married Ms. Sato Kazuko, with two sons, Teruhiko and Mutsuhiko.
• 5. Daughter: {{nihongo|Yūko Higashikuni|東久邇 優子||extra= born 1954}} married Mr. Naooki Azuma.

{{see also|List of honours of the Japanese Imperial Family by country}}

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown

{{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. Shigeko, Princess Teru

|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

}}

Princess Shigeko was a featured protagonist in the 2022 alternative history novel Hydrogen Wars: Atomic Sunrise by R.M. Christianson and its upcoming sequel Hydrogen Wars: Atomic Winter.

Image:Crown Prince Hirohito & Princess Nagako & Princess Shigeko 3.jpg|Crown Prince Hirohito and Crown Princess Nagako with their first child, Princess Shigeko in 1926.

Image:Crown Prince Hirohito & Princess Nagako & Princess Shigeko 1.jpg|Princess Shigeko with her parents in 1926.

Image:Emperor Showa's daughters.jpg|Princess Shigeko and her sisters in 1937.

Image:Princess Shigeko Teru.jpg|Princess Shigeko in 1937.

Image:Showa-family1941 12 7.jpg|Princess Shigeko and her parents and siblings (7 December 1941)

Image:Prunus mume.JPG|Japanese plum blossom, Prunus mume, designated imperial personal emblem of Shigeko

Image:Teru-no-miya Shigeko 1941-nihongami.jpg|Princess Shigeko in 1941

Image:Teru-no-miya Shigeko 1941.jpg|Princess Shigeko in 1941

{{Reflist}}

• {{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}}
• {{cite book | last = Large | first = Stephen S | year = 1992 | title = Emperor Hirohito and Shōwa Japan: A Political Biography | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 0-415-03203-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/emperorhirohitos0000larg }}

{{Commons category|Higashikuni Shigeko}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101125033321/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,723348,00.html Time Magazine, September 26, 1927]

{{Japanese princesses}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higashikuni, Shigeko}}

Category:1925 births

Category:1961 deaths

Category:20th-century Japanese people

Category:20th-century Japanese women

Category:Higashikuni-no-miya

Category:Deaths from stomach cancer in Japan

Category:People from Minato, Tokyo

Category:Grand Cordons (Imperial Family) of the Order of the Precious Crown

Category:Daughters of Japanese emperors

Category:Children of Hirohito