Count was the titular head of the

Higashifushimi-no-miya The Komatsu House (''Komatsu-no-miya'') or Higashifushimi (東伏見) ''ōke'' (princely house) was the sixth oldest branch of the Imperial House of Japan, created from branches of the Fushimi-no-miya house, presently extinct. It was founded by I ...

, an extinct branch of the

Imperial House of Japan The is the reigning dynasty of Japan, consisting of those members of the extended family of the reigning emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present constitution of Japan, the emperor is "the symbol of the State ...

, and a Buddhist monk. He was the youngest brother of

Empress Kōjun Nagako (6 March 190316 June 2000), posthumously honoured as Empress Kōjun, was a member of the Imperial House of Japan, the wife of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and the mother of Emperor Emeritus Akihito. She was Empress of Japan from 1926 unti ...

and was the maternal uncle of

Emperor Emeritus Akihito Akihito (born 23 December 1933) is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 1989 until his abdication in 2019. The era of his rule was named the Heisei era, Heisei being an expression of achievi ...

. If he had kept his Imperial status, at the time of his death, at age 103, he would have been the longest-lived member, of the

. His

Dharma name A Dharma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and Pabbajjā, monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The name is ...

was .

Life

Count Higashifushimi Kunihide was born as Prince , the youngest child of Lieutenant Colonel

Prince Kuniyoshi Kuni was a member of the Japanese imperial family and a field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Meiji and Taishō periods. He was the father of Empress Kōjun (who in turn was the consort of the Emperor Hirohito), and therefore, the ...

(1873–1929) and his wife, the former Shimazu Chikako (1879–1956). Prince Kuni's uncle, Admiral Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito, the head of the Higashifushimi-no-miya line, had no heirs; consequently, following consultations with his father, Prince Kunihide was given to the custody of his great-uncle and his wife on 26 October 1919, though not formally adopted.Genealogy
/ref> Upon attaining his majority in 1930, he sat in the House of Peers as an imperial prince until the following year, when the Emperor, his cousin and brother-in-law, requested him to relinquish his imperial status to perpetuate the Higashifushimi name. Upon leaving the imperial family, he was ennobled as Count Higashifushimi and appointed a Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Paulownia Flowers The is an Order (decoration), order presented by the Japanese government. The award was established in 1888 during the Meiji Restoration as the highest award in the Order of the Rising Sun and has been an Order in its own right since 2003. The ...

. He held the title of count until October 1947, when the nobility and cadet branches of the imperial family lost their status. After taking a degree in history from

Kyoto Imperial University , or , is a national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen graduate schools, and t ...

, he taught as a lecturer at the university until 1952, when he took his vows as a Buddhist priest in the

Zenkō-ji is a Buddhism, Buddhist temple located in the city of Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Japan. The temple was built in the 7th century. It is one of the few remaining pilgrimage sites in Japan. The modern city of Nagano began as a town built around the ...

daikanshin in Nagano, becoming the abbot of the

Tendai Buddhist , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

Shōren'in Temple in Kyoto the following year, taking the Buddhist name . He took a PhD in

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710, although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato period, Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after the ...

art from Kyoto University in 1956. He was appointed chairman of the Kyoto Association of Buddhist Temples in 1985, serving until his death. As chairman, he led the opposition to a ¥50 temple admission fee imposed by the city of Kyoto, denouncing it as "contrary to the principle of separation of church and state and freedom of religion." The fee was subsequently repealed. In 2004, he passed the position of abbot of the Shōren'in to his second son, Jiko Higashifushimi, becoming its emeritus abbot. His wife, Yasuko, died on 29 September 2009, aged 91. He was bedridden from 2006 due to

orthostatic hypotension Orthostatic hypotension, also known as postural hypotension, is a medical condition wherein a person's blood pressure drops when they are standing up ( orthostasis) or sitting down. Primary orthostatic hypotension is also often referred to as ne ...

and he died on 1 January 2014, aged 103. As of 4 July 2012, when he surpassed Naruhiko, by reaching the age of 102 years and 49 days, he remains the longest-lived member of the

Ancestry

References

{{Authority control 1910 births 2014 deaths Japanese Buddhist clergy Kazoku Kunihide Japanese men centenarians Academic staff of Kyoto University Kyoto University alumni Tendai Buddhist monks

Life

Ancestry

See also

References