Takako Shimazu

Princess Takako 清宮貴子内親王
Princess Suga
File:Crown Prince Akihito & Princess Takako1950-9.jpg Crown Prince Akihito & Princess Takako in 1950
Born	(1939-03-02) 2 March 1939 Tokyo Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Japan
Spouse	Hisanaga Shimazu
Issue	Yoshihisa Shimazu
Full name 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), born Takako, Princess Suga (清宮貴子内親王, Suga-no-miya Takako Naishinnō), is a member of the Imperial House of Japan. She is the fifth and youngest daughter of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun, and the youngest sister of the current Emperor of Japan, Akihito. She is married to Hisanaga Shimazu.

Biography

File:Prince Masahito and Princess Takako 1952-12.jpg

Prince Masahito and Princess Takako in 1952.

Princess Takako was born at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Her childhood appellation was Suga-no-miya (清宮).

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 (in Japan, the bride is given a sum of money for her marriage). A member of the criminal group tipped off the police before the kidnapping could occur.

Hisanaga 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).

Titles and styles

Styles of Takako, Princess Suga (before her marriage)
Reference style	Her Imperial Highness
Spoken style	Your Imperial Highness
Alternative style	Ma'am

• 2 March 1939 – 3 March 1960: Her Imperial Highness The Princess Suga
• 3 March 1960 – present: Mrs. Hisanaga Shimazu

Honours

See also List of honours of the Japanese Imperial Family by country

National honours

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown

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. Lady Sadako Kujō                             22. Yorioki Noma               11. Lady Ikuko Noma                       23. Lady Kairi Yamokushi               1. Takako, Princess Suga                                         24. Prince Fushimi Kuniie               12. Asahiko, 1st Imperial Prince Kuni                       25. Lady Nobuko Toriikōji               6. Kuniyoshi, 2nd Imperial Prince Kuni                             26. Sir Toshimasu Izumitei               13. Lady Makiko Izumi                       27. Lady Mako Yatoshi               3. Princess Nagako of Kuni                                   28. Prince Shimazu Hisamitsu               14. Prince Shimazu Tadayoshi                       29. Lady Chimoko Shimazu of Echizen-Shimazu               7. Princess Chikako Shimazu                             30. ?               15. Lady Sumako Yamazaki                       31. ?

Gallery

• 

  Princess Takako with her brother, Prince Akihito, and her sister, Princess Atsuko, in September 1950

• 

  Emperor Showa's family in 1941

• Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Suga in front of the Prince Sedan AISH-II in 1954.jpg

  Princess Takako with her older brother Crown Prince Akihito in front of his Prince Sedan in 1954

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).