Early years Prince Yasuhiko came from
Kyoto, the eighth son of
Prince Kuni Asahiko and the court lady Tsunoda Sugako. Prince Kuni Asahiko was the youngest prince descended from the
Fushimi-no-miya, one of the four branch houses of the imperial dynasty
(shinnōke) entitled to provide a successor to the throne. In 1872, Emperor Meiji granted him the title
Kuni-no-miya and authorization to begin a new collateral branch of the imperial family. Prince Yasuhiko was a half-brother of
Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko,
Prince Nashimoto Morimasa,
Prince Kaya Kuninori, and
Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi, the father of the future
Empress Kōjun, the consort of
Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito).
Marriage and family On 10 March 1906, the Emperor Meiji granted Prince Yasuhiko the title
Asaka-no-miya and authorization to begin a new branch of the imperial family. On 6 May 1909, Prince Asaka married
Nobuko, Princess Fumi (7 August 1891 – 3 November 1933), the eighth daughter of Emperor Meiji. Prince and Princess Asaka had four children: • ; married in 1931 Marquis Nabeshima Naoyasu. • ; married Todo Chikako, the fifth daughter of Count Todo Takatsugu. They had two daughters, Fukuko and Minoko and a son Tomohiko. • , renounced membership in the imperial family and created Marquis Otowa, 1936.
Killed in action during the
Battle of Kwajalein. • ; married Count Ogyu Yoshiatsu.
Military career by
Georges Chevalier, 1923 Like the other imperial princes of the
Meiji period, it was expected that Prince Yasuhiko would pursue a career in the military. He received his early education at the
Gakushūin Peers' School and the Central Military Preparatory School, before graduating from the
Imperial Japanese Army Academy on 27 May 1908. Commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry on 25 December, Prince Asaka was promoted to lieutenant in December 1910, captain in August 1913, major in July 1918, and lieutenant-colonel in August 1922. Between 1920 and 1923, Prince Asaka studied
military tactics at the
École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in
France, along with his half-brother
Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni and his cousin
Prince Naruhisa Kitashirakawa (1887–1923). However, on 1 April 1923, he was seriously injured in an automobile accident in
Perriers-la-Campagne (
Normandy) that killed Prince Kitashirakawa; the accident left Prince Asaka with a limp for the rest of his life. Princess Asaka traveled to France to nurse her husband. Prince and Princess Asaka also visited the
United States in 1925. During that period, Prince and Princess Asaka became enthralled with the
Art Deco movement. Upon returning to Japan that same year, The Prince and Princess began arranging for a new mansion to be built in the Art Deco style in Tokyo's
Shirokanedai neighborhood. The house, currently the
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, was completed in May 1933, but Princess Asaka died a few months later. While these events were occurring, Prince Asaka had risen through the ranks of the military. After being promoted to the rank of
colonel in August 1925, in December 1929, he rose to the rank of
major general and was subsequently appointed an instructor at the
Army Staff College in 1930. On 1 August 1933, he was promoted to
lieutenant general and assumed command of the
First Imperial Guards Division. In December 1935, he was appointed a member of the
Supreme War Council, which gave him a very influential position with Emperor Hirohito. However, during the abortive
February 26 Incident in 1936, Prince Asaka pressed the Emperor to appoint a new government that would be acceptable to the rebels, especially by replacing
Prime Minister Keisuke Okada with
Kōki Hirota. The Prince's pro-
Imperial Way Faction political sentiments, as well as his connections to other right-wing army cliques, caused a rift between himself and the Emperor. It was perhaps due to this rift that Prince Asaka was transferred to the
Japanese Central China Area Army (under the aging General
Iwane Matsui) in
China in 1937.
Role in the Nanjing Massacre In November 1937, Prince Asaka became temporary commander of the Japanese forces outside
Nanjing, then capital of
China, because General Matsui was ill. As temporary commander of the final assault on Nanjing between 2 and 6 December 1937, he issued the order to "kill all captives", thus providing official sanction for what became known as the "
Nanjing Massacre" or the "Rape of Nanjing" (12 December 1937 – 10 February 1938). In February 1938, both Prince Asaka and General Matsui were recalled to Japan. Matsui went into virtual retirement, but Prince Asaka remained on the Supreme War Council until the end of the war in August 1945. He was promoted to the rank of
general in August 1939 but held no further military commands. In 1944, he colluded with Prince Higashikuni, his nephew
Prince Takamatsu, and former Prime Minister
Fumimaro Konoe (1895–1945) to oust the
Hideki Tojo cabinet.
Postwar life as a commoner On 14 October 1947, Asaka and his children lost their imperial status and privileges and became ordinary citizens, as part of the
American Occupation's abolition of the collateral branches of the
Japanese Imperial family. He and his son were
purged from holding any political or public office because they had been officers in the Imperial Japanese Army. His
Art Deco mansion in
Shirokanedai was seized by the government and now houses the
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The former prince moved to
Atami, on the
Izu Peninsula south of Tokyo. Asaka converted to
Catholicism on 18 December 1951, and he was the first Imperial clansman to do so. He spent most of his time playing
golf. He also took an active interest in
golf course development and in the 1950s was the architect of the Plateau Golf Course at the Dai-
Hakone Country Club. Asaka died of natural causes on 12 April 1981 at his home in Atami, Shizuoka. He was 93 years old. == Honours ==