Takako Shimazu

Princess Takako 清宮貴子内親王
Princess Suga
Crown Prince Akihito & Princess Takako in 1950
Born	(1939-03-02) 2 March 1939 Tokyo, Japan
Spouse	Hisanaga Shimazu
Issue	Yorihisa Shimazu
Names Takako (貴子)
House	Imperial House of Japan
Father	Emperor Shōwa
Mother	Empress Kōjun
Religion	Shinto

Takako Shimazu (島津貴子, Shimazu Takako, born 2 March 1939), is the wife of Hisanaga Shimazu and fifth (and youngest) daughter of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun. As such, she is the younger sister to the present Emperor of Japan, Emperor Akihito.

Biography

Princess Takako was born at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Her childhood appellation was Suga no miya (清宮貴子内親王, Suga no miya Takako Naishinnō).

As with her elder sisters, she was not raised by her biological parents, but by a succession of court ladies at a separate palace built for her and her sisters in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo. She graduated from the Gakushuin Peers School, and was also tutored along with her siblings in English language by an American tutor, Elizabeth Grey Vining during the American occupation of Japan following World War II. Princess Takako graduated from Gakushuin University Women's College with a degree in English literature in March 1957.

On 3 March 1960, Princess Takako wed Hisanaga Shimazu (born Tokyo, 29 March 1934), the son of the late Count Hisanori Shimazu and (at the time) an analyst at the Japan Export-Import Bank (JEXIM). The couple were introduced by common acquaintances at the Gakushuin. They shared a common interest in the music of Perez Prado.

Upon her marriage, the Princess relinquished her membership in the Imperial Family and adopted her husband's surname, in accordance with the 1947 Imperial Household Law. Described by Western media sources at the time as a "commoner bank clerk," the groom was actually a direct descendant of the last daimyō of Satsuma Domain (and thus a maternal cousin to Empress Kōjun), and held the peerage title of count (hakushaku) under the kazoku peerage system until the peerage system was abolished in 1947.

In 1963, three years after her marriage, she narrowly escaped from an attempted kidnapping. Due to extensive media coverage, the location of the couple’s home was common knowledge, as was her $500,000 marriage dowry. A member of the criminal group tipped off the police before the kidnapping could occur.

Shimazu pursued a thirty-year career with JEXIM, including postings to Washington D.C. in the United States and Sydney, Australia accompanied by his wife. He became a member of the Board of Directors of the Sony Corporation upon his retirement from the bank in 1987, served as executive director of the Sony Foundation for Science Education from 1994 to 2001, and is currently research director of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology.

The former Princess has made numerous appearances on Japanese television as a commentator on world events, and is also on the Board of Directors of the Prince Hotels chain.

Takako and her husband have one son: Yoshihisa Shimazu (born 5 April 1962).

Ancestry

Family of Takako Shimazu

16. Osahito, Emperor Kōmei 8. Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji 17. Lady Yoshiko Nakayama 4. Yoshihito, Emperor Taishō 18. Count Takamitsu Yanagihara 9. Lady Naruko Yanagihara 19. Lady Utano Hasegawa 2. Hirohito, Emperor Shōwa 20. Prince Kujō Hisatada, Regent of Japan 10. Prince Kujō Michitaka of the Fujiwara Clan 21. Lady Tsuneko Karahashi 5. Princess Sadako Kugō 22. Yorioki Noma 11. Lady Ikuko Noma 23. ? 1. Takako, Princess Suga 24. Prince Fushimi Kuniye, 20th and 23rd of the miyake of Fushimi 12. Asahiko, 1st Imperial Prince Kuni 25. Lady Nobuko Toriikōji 6. Kuniyoshi, 2nd Imperial Prince Kuni 26. Sir Toshimasu Izumitei, Custodian of Shimogamo Shrine 13. Lady Makiko Izumi 27. ? 3. Princess Nagako of Kuni 28. Prince Shimazu Hisamitsu, 1st Prince of Tamazato-Shimazu 14. Prince Shimazu Tadayoshi, 29th Daimyo of Satsuma, Osumi and Hyuga 29. Lady Chimoko Shimazu of Echizen-Shimazu 7. Princess Chikako Shimazu 30. ? 15. Lady Sumako Yamazaki 31. ?

References

• Foreign Affairs Association of Japan, The Japan Year Book (Tokyo: Kenkyusha Press, 1939–40, 1941–42, 1944–45, 1945–46, 1947–48).
• Takie Sugiyama Lebra, Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).
• Ben-ami Shillony, Enigma of the Emperors: Sacred Subservience in Japanese History (Kent, U.K.: Global Oriental, 2006).
• Bix, Herbert B (2001). Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-093130-2.