Prince Kan'in Haruhito

Infobox Military Person
name= HIH Prince Kanin Haruhito
lived= 3 August 1902 – 14 June 1988
placeofbirth=Tokyo, Japan
placeofdeath=Tokyo, Japan


caption= His Imperial Highness Prince Kan'in Haruhito
nickname=
allegiance=Empire of Japan
branch=
serviceyears=1924 - 1945
rank=General
commands=Imperial Japanese Army
unit=
battles=Second Sino-Japanese War
World War II
awards= Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum
family=
laterwork=

nihongo|Kan'in Haruhito|閑院宮春仁王|Kan'in-no-miya Haruhito-ō; (3 August 1902 – 14 June 1988) was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and the 7th (and final) head of nihongo|Kan'in-no-miya| 閑院宮家| line of "shinnōke" cadet branches of the Imperial Family of Japan.

Biography

Prince Kan'in Haruhito was the only son of Field Marshal Prince Kan'in Kotohito (1864-1945) and his consort, the former Sanjo Chieko (1872-1953). He married Ichijo Naoko (b.1908), daughter of Prince Ichijo Saneteru on 14 July 1926.

Prince Kan’in attended the Gakushuin Peers’ School and graduated from the 44th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1924. He was a lieutenant in infantry and served in the Imperial Guard Division. Following a course in the Military Staff College in 1927, he was promoted to captain and joined the faculty of the Cavalry School. He graduated from the 44th class of the Army Staff College in 1932 and rose to the rank of major in 1936.

Prince Kan’in saw a brief tour of duty in China with the North China Expeditionary Army from November 1937 to May 1938. He returned to be an instructor at the Army Staff College and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1939. He was promoted to colonel on August 1941, and was then attached to the Chiba Army Tank School. [Ammenthorp, The generals of World War II] He was promoted to colonel in 1944, becoming commandeer of the IJA 5th Tank Regiment, and to general in 1945, when he was placed in command of the IJA 4th Division and three independent infantry regiments assigned to combat the projected American landings on the beaches of Kujukurihama, Chiba Prefecture, outside of Tokyo.

He became the seventh head of the Kan'in-no-miya house upon the death of his father on 21 May 1945 and retired from active military service at that time.

With the abolition of the collateral branches of the Imperial family and other titles of nobility by the American occupation authorities on 14 October 1947, he became a commoner, and was purged from public life because of his former military career. He pursued several unsuccessful business opportunities, lost his family fortune, and divorced his wife in 1949. Shortly thereafter, he changed his name from “Haruhito” to “Sumihito”.

In the early 1970s, Kan'in Sumihito was president of the Japan Yoga Association. He died on 14 June 1988.

References

*cite book
last = Dupuy
first = Trevor N.
year = 1992
title = The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography
publisher = HarperCollins Publishers Inc
location = New York
id = ISBN 0-7858-0437-4
*cite book
last = Fujitani
first = T
coauthors = Cox, Alvin D
year = 1998
title = Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan
publisher = University of California Press.
location =
id = ISBN 0520213718

External links

*cite web
last = Ammenthorp
first = Steen
url = http://www.generals.dk/general/Kanin/Haruhito_Prince/Japan.html
title = Kanin Haruhito
work = The Generals of World War II

Notes