was the founder of a collateral branch of the

Japanese Imperial Family 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 general in the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

during the

Japanese invasion of China The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II, and often r ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was the son-in-law of

Emperor Meiji , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...

and uncle by marriage of Emperor

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

. As the commander of Japanese forces outside

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

in December 1937, Asaka presided over the

mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...

of hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians in what came to be known as the

Nanjing Massacre The Nanjing Massacre, or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly Chinese postal romanization, romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians, noncombatants, and surrendered prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanji ...

. After Japan's defeat in World War II, General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

granted

immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity ...

to the country's Imperial Family. As a result, Asaka was never tried for his involvement in the Nanjing (Nanking) Massacre by

SCAP SCAP may refer to: * S.C.A.P., an early French manufacturer of cars and engines * Security Content Automation Protocol * '' The Shackled City Adventure Path'', a role-playing game * SREBP cleavage activating protein * Supervisory Capital Assessm ...

authorities. Nonetheless, by 1947, he and his children were stripped of their imperial status. He later converted to Catholicism and died of natural causes at the age of 93.

Biography

Early years

Prince Yasuhiko came from

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, the eighth son of

Prince Kuni Asahiko was a member of a collateral line of the Japanese imperial family who played a key role in the Meiji Restoration. Prince Asahiko was an adopted son of Emperor Ninkō and later a close advisor to Emperor Kōmei and Emperor Meiji. He was the gr ...

and the court lady Tsunoda Sugako. Prince Kuni Asahiko was the youngest prince descended from the

Fushimi-no-miya The is the oldest of the four shinnōke, branches of the Imperial Family of Japan which were eligible to succeed to the Chrysanthemum Throne in the order of succession. The Fushimi-no-miya was founded by Prince Yoshihito, the son of the Northe ...

, one of the four branch houses of the imperial dynasty ''(

shinnōke was the collective name for the four cadet branches of the Imperial House of Japan, which were until 1947 entitled to provide a successor to the Chrysanthemum Throne if the main line failed to produce an heir. The heads of these royal house ...

)'' entitled to provide a successor to the throne. In 1872, Emperor Meiji granted him the title

Kuni-no-miya The (princely house) was the second oldest collateral branch (''ōke'') of the Imperial House of Japan, Japanese Imperial Family created from the Fushimi-no-miya, the oldest of the four branches of the imperial dynasty allowed to provide a succ ...

and authorization to begin a new collateral branch of the imperial family. Prince Yasuhiko was a half-brother of

Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko was a member of the Imperial House of Japan, Japanese imperial family and general of the army who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 17 August to 9 October 1945. He is the only member of the Japanese imperial fami ...

Prince Nashimoto Morimasa was a member of the Japanese Imperial Family and a ''field marshal'' in the Imperial Japanese Army. An uncle-in-law of Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa), an uncle of his consort, Empress Kōjun, and the father-in-law of Crown Prince Euimin of Korea ...

Prince Kaya Kuninori (1 September 1867 – 8 December 1909) was a member of the Japanese imperial family and the founder of one of the nine ''ōke'' (or princely houses) in the Meiji period. Early life The prince was born in Kyoto, as the second of the nine so ...

, and

Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi was a member of the Imperial Household of Japan, Japanese imperial family and a Field Marshal (Japan), field marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Meiji period, Meiji and Taishō periods. He was the father of Empress Kōjun (who in tu ...

, the father of the future

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 ...

, the consort of

Emperor Shōwa , posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigning emperor as well as one of the world's longest-rei ...

(Hirohito).

Marriage and family

On 10 March 1906, the Emperor Meiji granted Prince Yasuhiko the title

Asaka-no-miya The Asaka (朝香) ''ōke'' (princely house) was the eighth oldest branch of the Japanese Imperial Family created from branches of the Fushimi-no-miya house. Asaka-no-miya The Asaka-no-miya house was formed by Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, eighth so ...

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 Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

during the

Battle of Kwajalein The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place 31 January – 3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the Battle of Tarawa, the Unite ...

. # ; married Count Ogyu Yoshiatsu.

Military career

Like the other imperial princes of the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, it was expected that Prince Yasuhiko would pursue a career in the military. He received his early education at the

Gakushūin The , or , historically known as the Peers' School, is a Japanese educational institution in Tokyo, originally established as Gakushūjo to educate the children of Japan's nobility. The original school expanded from its original mandate of educ ...

Peers' School and the Central Military Preparatory School, before graduating from the

Imperial Japanese Army Academy The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...

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. 1923 Yasuhiko Asaka

Between 1920 and 1923, Prince Asaka studied

military tactics Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower, Mobility (military), mobil ...

at the

École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (, , abbr. ESM) is a French military academy, and is often referred to as Saint-Cyr (). It is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany. Its motto is ''Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre'', litera ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, along with his half-brother

Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni was a member of the Japanese imperial family and general of the army who served as prime minister of Japan from 17 August to 9 October 1945. He is the only member of the Japanese imperial family to head a cabinet, and Japan's shortest-servin ...

and his cousin

Prince Naruhisa Kitashirakawa , was the 3rd head of a collateral branch of the Japanese Imperial Family and the husband of Fusako, Princess Kane, daughter of Emperor Meiji and Concubine Sono Sachiko. Early life Prince Naruhisa was the son of Prince Yoshihisa Kitashiraka ...

(1887–1923). However, on 1 April 1923, he was seriously injured in an automobile accident in Perriers-la-Campagne (

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

) that killed Prince Kitashirakawa; the accident left Prince Asaka with a limp for the rest of his life. Colonel Prince Asaka 1920s

Princess Asaka traveled to France to nurse her husband. Prince and Princess Asaka also visited the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1925. During that period, Prince and Princess Asaka became enthralled with the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

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 is a district of Minato, Tokyo. The district today is made up of 5 '' chome''. As of November 1, 2007, the population of Shirokanedai is 10,001. The former neighborhood of Shirokanedai (Shirokanedaimachi, 白金台町) consisted only of very nar ...

neighborhood. The house, currently the

Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum The is an art museum in Shirokanedai in Tokyo, Japan. The museum is located in Minato ward, just east of Meguro Station. The Art Deco building, completed in 1933, has interiors designed by Henri Rapin and features decorative glass work by René ...

, 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 Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

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 Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

and assumed command of the First Imperial Guards Division. In December 1935, he was appointed a member of the

Supreme War Council The Supreme War Council was a central command based in Versailles that coordinated the military strategy of the principal Allies of World War I: Britain, France, Italy, the United States, and Japan. It was founded in 1917 after the Russian Revolu ...

, 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 A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Keisuke Okada was a Japanese admiral and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1934 to 1936. Born to a samurai family in the Fukui Domain, Okada became an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy and served during the First Sino-Japanese War and ...

with

Kōki Hirota was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1936 to 1937. Originally his name was . He was executed for war crimes committed during the Second Sino-Japanese War at the Tokyo Trials. Early life Hirota was ...

. The Prince's pro-

Imperial Way Faction The ''Kōdōha'' or was a political faction in the Imperial Japanese Army active in the 1920s and 1930s. The ''Kōdōha'' sought to establish a military government that promoted totalitarian, militaristic and aggressive imperialist ideals, an ...

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 The was an area army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. History On November 7, 1937 Japanese Central China Area Army (CCAA) was organized as a reinforcement expeditionary army by combining the Shanghai Expedit ...

(under the aging General

Iwane Matsui was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, the commander of the expeditionary force sent to China in 1937, and convicted war criminal executed by the Allies for his involvement in the Nanjing Massacre. Born in Nagoya, Matsui chose a military ...

) in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 1937.

Role in the Nanjing Massacre

In November 1937, Prince Asaka became temporary commander of the Japanese forces outside

, then capital of

, 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 "

" or the "Rape of Nanjing" (12 December 1937 – 10 February 1938).Chen, World War II Database While Prince Asaka's responsibility for the Nanjing Massacre remains a matter of debate, the sanction for the massacre and the crimes committed during the invasion of China might ultimately be found in the ratification, made on 5 August 1937 by Emperor

, of the proposition of the Japanese army to remove the constraints of

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

on the treatment of Chinese prisoners. Memorial Ceremony Hasegawa Matsui Asaka Yanagawa Nanking 18-Dec-1937

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 A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

in August 1939 but held no further military commands. In 1944, he colluded with Prince Higashikuni, his nephew

Prince Takamatsu was the third son of Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) and Empress Teimei (Sadako) and a younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito). He became heir to the Takamatsu-no-miya (formerly Arisugawa-no-miya), one of the four ''shinnōke'' or branches ...

, and former Prime Minister

Fumimaro Konoe was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1937 to 1939 and from 1940 to 1941. He presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and breakdown in relations with the United States, which shortly after his t ...

(1895–1945) to oust the

Hideki Tojo was a Japanese general and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1941 to 1944 during the Second World War. His leadership was marked by widespread state violence and mass killings perpetrated in the name of Japanese nationalis ...

cabinet.

Immunity from prosecution

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...

(SCAP) officials interrogated Prince Asaka about his involvement in the Nanjing Massacre on 1 May 1946, but did not bring him before the

International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on 29 April 1946 to Criminal procedure, try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their cri ...

for prosecution. Indeed, for politico-strategic and geopolitical reasons, General

decided to support the Imperial family and to grant immunity to all its members. Matsui, on the other hand, was tried, convicted, and executed for failing to prevent the massacre.

Postwar life as a commoner

On 14 October 1947, Asaka Yasuhiko 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 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 ...

. He and his son were

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

d from holding any political or public office because they had been officers in the Imperial Japanese Army. His

mansion in

was seized by the government and now houses the

. The former prince, Asaka Yasuhiko, moved to

Atami is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 36,865 in 21,593 households

, on the

Izu Peninsula The is a mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the island of Honshu, Japan, the largest of the four main islands of Japan. Formerly known as Izu Province, Izu peninsu ...

south of Tokyo. Asaka converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

on 18 December 1951, and he was the first Imperial clansman to do so. He spent most of his time playing

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

. He also took an active interest in

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

development and in the 1950s was the architect of the Plateau Golf Course at the Dai-

Hakone is a List of towns in Japan, town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 10,965, and total area of . Hakone is a notable spa town and a popular tourist destination due to its many onsen, hot springs being within view of ...

Country Club. Asaka Yasuhiko died of natural causes on 12 April 1981 at his home in

Atami, Shizuoka is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 36,865 in 21,593 households

prefecture. He was 93 years old.

Honours

* Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest Order (decoration), order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the Collar of the Order was added on 4 January 1888. Unlike European counterparts, the order may be Posthumous award, ...

(31 October 1917) *

Order of the Golden Kite Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, 1st Class (4 April 1942)

Foreign honours

* : Grand Cordon

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

(29 April 1925)Royal Decree of 1925/-Mémorial du centenaire de l'Ordre de Léopold. 1832–1932. Bruxelles, J. Rozez, 1933.

References

Books

* * *

External links

Profile of Asaka

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Asaka Yasuhiko, Prince 1887 births 1981 deaths Asaka-no-miya École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II Japanese princes Japanese Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Shinto Nanjing Massacre perpetrators Nobility from Kyoto Recipients of the Order of the Golden Kite