Fushimi Hiroaki
Fushimi Hiroaki is a former Japanese prince and 24th head of the Fushimi-no-miya shinnōke. He has not been a member of imperial family since the passing of the Imperial Household Law of 1947. If the law had not been changed, he would have been 4th in line to the Japanese throne.Life
Fushimi Hiroaki is a 16th cousin, thrice removed, of Emperor Naruhito. Their most recent common ancestor was prince Fushimi Sadafusa, who fathered Naruhito's forefather Emperor Go-Hanazono and Hiroaki's forefather prince Fushimi Sadatsune. Despite the great distance, Hiroaki is the closest male-line relative to the current Imperial House, and has therefore figured in the Japanese succession debate as a possible pretender to the throne in case all four male members of the Imperial House die without issue.
He was born in Tokyo, and educated at the Gakushuin Peers School. His father, Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi was a naval commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and died shortly after the opening stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Prince Hiroaki, therefore, became the twenty-fourth head of the Fushimi-no-miya upon the death of grandfather, Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, on 16 August 1946.
He was styled His Imperial Highness. With the abolition of the collateral branches of the Imperial household by the American occupation authorities after the end of the Pacific War, Prince Fushimi became a commoner, Hiroaki Fushimi on 14 October 1947. He later traveled to the United States and attended Centre College in Kentucky. He returned to Japan to pursue a career with Mobil Oil.
His late wife, the former Tokiko Yoshikawa, was the daughter of the president of Yoshikawa Optical Instruments. The couple have three daughters: Masako, Nobuko, and Akiko. As Japan does not recognize female succession, the main Fushimi line will become extinct on Hiroaki's death, although its branch Ōke houses will remain extant. According to the pre-1947 order of succession, the senior Ōke in line for the imperial succession would be the Kaya-no-miya.Ancestry
