Prince Fushimi Kuniie


Prince Fushimi Kuniie was Japanese royalty. He was the 20th/23rd prince Fushimi-no-miya and the eldest son of Prince Fushimi Sadayuki and his concubine Seiko, which made him an 11th cousin of Emperor Sakuramachi. Despite being merely a distant cousin to the emperors, he was adopted by Emperor Kōkaku as a :ja:猶子|Yūshi in 1817, which made him a Shinnō, or prince, just like an emperor's natural-born son.
Prince Kuniie succeeded to the title of Fushimi-no-miya after the death of his father in 1841. But soon, in 1842, his eldest son, Zaihan ran away with his aunt Princess Takako, while Zaihan was a monk in Kajū-ji. Because of this scandal, the prince soon had to abdicate in favor of the only son of his wife, Prince Sadanori, who was the sixth out of 17 sons of his father. Prince Kuniie took the name Zengaku as a monk afterwards. In 1864, Kuniie succeeded as Prince Fushimi-no-miya again. After Emperor Meiji moved the capital of Japan to Tokyo, Prince Kuniie left Kyoto and moved to Tokyo with his family in 1872. He abdicated again to his second son, Prince Sadanaru, lived in seclusion, and died the same year.
He was the father of 17 princes and 14 princesses, including Prince Kuni Asahiko, Prince Yamashina Akira, Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito, Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa, Prince Fushimi Sadanaru, Prince Kan'in Kotohito, the grandfather of Japan's first post-World War II Prime Minister Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, the great-grandfather of Empress Kōjun, and the great-great grandfather of Emperor Akihito. He was the common ancestor of Ōke.

Marriage and Children

On January 9, 1836, Prince Kuniie married Karatsukasa Hiroko, daughter of Takatsukasa Masahiro. They had 7 children, with 2 sons and 1 daughter lived to adulthood:
  1. Prince Sadanori
  2. Princess Fumiko,
  3. A son,
  4. Princess Noriko,, wife of Marquis Tokugawa Mochitsugu.
  5. A daughter,
  6. A daughter,
  7. Prince Fushimi Sadanaru,
In addition, Kuniie had additional 24 children by nine of his concubines, with 10 sons and 7 daughters lived to adulthood:
  1. Prince Yamashina Akira,, by Fujiki Toshiko.
  2. Prince Yoshikoto,, by Fujiki Toshiko.
  3. Prince Jonin,, by Fujiki Toshiko.
  4. Prince Kuni Asahiko,, by Torikoji Nobuko.
  5. Princess Hisako,, by Ueno Juno. Wife of Nijō Nariyuki.
  6. Princess Yoriko,, by Nakamura Soma.
  7. Koga Sei'en,, by Nakamura Soma. Born Maki-no-miya. She became a Buddhist nun of Zenkō-ji in 1835; she titularly became an adopted daughter of Koga Michiaki in 1875.
  8. Princess Tomoko,, by Furuyama Chie.
  9. A stillborn son,
  10. A stillborn daughter,, by Horiuchi Nobuko.
  11. Prince Komatsu Akihito,, by Horiuchi Nobuko.
  12. Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa,, by Horiuchi Nobuko.
  13. A son,, by Horiuchi Nobuko.
  14. A son,, by Horiuchi Nobuko.
  15. Prince Kachō Hirotsune,, by Horiuchi Nobuko
  16. Prince Kitashirakawa Satonari,, by Itami Yoshiko.
  17. Murakumo Nichi'ei,, by Itami Yoshiko. Born Masa-no-miya and later became a Buddhist nun.
  18. Princess Takako,,by Itami Yoshiko. Wife of Matsudaira Tadataka.
  19. A stillborn daughter,, by Itami Yoshiko.
  20. A daughter,, by Itami Yoshiko.
  21. Kiyosu Ienori,,, by Itami Yoshiko.
  22. Prince Kan'in Kotohito,, by Itami Yoshiko.
  23. Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito,, by Itami Yoshiko.
  24. A daughter,, by Itami Yoshiko.
Among 12 surviving sons of Prince Kuniie, 2 of them succeeded Fushimi-no-miya, other 9 were granted with Shinnōke and the other one became a count.