Fusako Kitashirakawa

, born , was the eleventh child and seventh daughter of Emperor Meiji of Japan, and the fourth child and third daughter of Sono Sachiko, the Emperor's fifth concubine.

Biography Princess Fusako (left) and Princess Masako (right). Princess Fusako wearing a military uniform for women of the Army.

Fusako was born in Tokyo, the daughter of Emperor Meiji and Lady Sachiko. Fusako held the childhood appellation "Kane no miya" (Princess Kane).

On 29 April 1909, Princess Kane married Prince Kitashirakawa (1887–1923), the son of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa and Princess Tomiko. Prince Naruhisa succeeded as head of the house of Kitashirakawa-no-miya after the death of his father in November 1895 during the First Sino-Japanese War. Prince and Princess Kitashirakawa had one son and three daughters: married Viscount Tachibana Tanekatsu married Viscount Higashizono Motofumi married Tokugawa Yoshihisa, son of Kuniyuki Tokugawa.

In October 1947, the Kitashirakawa and the other branches of the Japanese Imperial Family other than patrilineal descendants of her half-brother, Emperor Taishō were divested of their titles and privileges during the Allied occupation of Japan and became commoners. The former princess served as custodian and chief priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine until her death on 11 August 1974, aged 84.

Ancestry