Yamashina was born in
Kōjimachi,
Tokyo, the second son of
Prince Kikumaro Yamashina and Princess Noriko (Kujo) Yamashina. Through his mother, a half-sister of the
Crown Princess Sadako, he was the nephew of the then Crown Prince Yoshihito, the future
Taishō Emperor. He developed a love of birds at an early age, which were found in abundance on the vast Yamashina estate in
Tokyo. He was presented with a
stuffed mandarin duck for his sixth birthday present. Yamashina attended the
Gakushuin Peer's School, and per the orders of
Emperor Meiji entered the
Imperial Japanese Army, graduating from the 33rd class of the
Imperial Japanese Army Academy with a specialty in
artillery. In 1920, per a revision in the
Imperial Household Law, he lost his status as an imperial prince, and became a member of the
kazoku with the peerage title of
marquis (
kōshaku) on 20 July. He was promoted to the military rank of
lieutenant from the same date, and was also conferred with the Grand Cordon of the
Order of the Rising Sun. However, he resigned his commission in the Army in 1929 to pursue his interest in
zoology, and entered
Tokyo Imperial University, graduating in 1931. In 1932, he set up the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology at his home in
Shibuya, Tokyo, to house his extensive bird collections, ornithological library, and research facilities. He specialized in research on the avian species of
Asia and the
Pacific Ocean, and conducted his doctoral research on avian
cytology, in affiliation with
Hokkaido University. He obtained his doctorate in 1942 with studies on hybrid sterility under Professor Oguma Mamoru of Hokkaido Imperial University. In 1947, he lost his status and noble title with the adoption of the revised Japanese constitution, which abolished the peerage. Afterwards, he devoted considerable effort into
genetic research on the
chromosomes of birds, and the use of
DNA to distinguish between species. In 1984, the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology moved to its present location in
Abiko, Chiba. Throughout his career, Yamashina was author of numerous technical papers, and several books. He was co-author of the
Handlist of the Japanese Birds, and author of
Birds in Japan (1961). In 1981 he described a new species of flightless rail from
Okinawa Island. In 1966, he was awarded the Japanese Medal with Purple Ribbon and in 1977 was awarded the
Jean Delacour Prize. In 1978 he received the
Order of the Golden Ark from the
World Wildlife Fund. Among Yamashina's scientific first descriptions are the
Okinawa rail, the
Daito winter wren, the
Rota bridled white-eye, the
long-billed white-eye, the
Tinian monarch and the
Palau scops owl. Yamashina died on 28 January 1989, aged 88, three weeks after the death of his cousin the Shōwa Emperor. His adopted son was Yamashina Yoshimasa, second son of his sister, Yasuko with
Asano Nagatake. ==Titles==