Prince Yasuhiko Asaka

Yasuhiko Asaka
Yasuhiko Asaka
	Atami, Shizuoka, Japan
Spouse	Nobuko, Princess Fumi (m. 1909; died 1933)
Issue	Kikuko Asaka; Takahiko Asaka; Tadahito Asaka; Kiyoko Asaka;
Father	Second World War
Awards	Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum; Order of the Rising Sun, 1st Class; Order of the Golden Kite, 1st Class

Prince Yasuhiko Asaka (朝香宮鳩彦王, Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko-ō, 20 October 1887 – 12 April 1981) was the founder of a

Second World War. He was the son-in-law of Emperor Meiji and uncle by marriage of Emperor Hirohito. As the commander of Japanese forces outside Nanjing in December 1937, Asaka presided over the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians in what came to be known as the Nanjing Massacre

.

After Japan's defeat in World War II, General Douglas MacArthur granted immunity to the country's Imperial Family. As a result, Asaka was never tried for his involvement in the Nanjing Massacre by SCAP 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

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:

Princess Asaka Kikuko (紀久子, 12 September 1911 – 12 February 1989); married in 1931 Marquis Nabeshima Naoyasu.
Prince Asaka Takahiko (朝香孚彦, 8 October 1912 – 5 May 1994); married Todo Chikako, the fifth daughter of Count Todo Takatsugu. They had two daughters, Fukuko and Minoko and a son Tomohiko.
Prince Asaka Tadahiko (朝香正彦, 4 January 1914 – January 1944), renounced membership in the imperial family and created Marquis Otowa, 1936. Killed in action during the Battle of Kwajalein.
Princess Asaka Kiyoko (湛子, 2 August 1919 – 1 August 2019); married Count Ogyu Yoshiatsu.

Military career

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

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.^[1]

However, during the abortive

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).^[2]

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

Prince Takamatsu, and former Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe (1895–1945) to oust the Hideki Tojo cabinet.^[2]

Immunity from prosecution

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (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 for prosecution. Indeed, for politico-strategic and geopolitical reasons, General Douglas MacArthur 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.^[4]

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

Shirokanedai was seized by the government and now houses the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum

.

The former prince, Asaka Yasuhiko, moved to

Atami, Shizuoka

prefecture. He was 93 years old.

Honours

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum (31 October 1917)
Order of the Golden Kite, 1st Class (4 April 1942)

Foreign honours

Belgium: Grand Cordon Order of Leopold (29 April 1925)^[6]

References

^ Ammenthorp, The Generals of World War II
^ ^a ^b Chen, World War II Database
^ Akira Fujiwara, Nitchû Sensô ni Okeru Horyo Gyakusatsu, Kikan Sensô Sekinin Kenkyû 9, 1995, p. 22
^ "Never Forgotten ::75 YEARS LATER - THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR II AND JAPAN TODAY". www.powtaiwan.org. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
^ "Prince Asaka Becomes Catholic" New York Times 18 December 1951
^ Royal Decree of 1925/-Mémorial du centenaire de l'Ordre de Léopold. 1832–1932. Bruxelles, J. Rozez, 1933.