Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi

Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi (伏見宮博義王 "Fushimi-no-miya Hiroyoshi-ō", born 8 December 1897, deceased 19 October 1938) was the eldest son of Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, heir-apparent of the 25nd head of the Fushimi-no-miya shinnōke (branch of the Imperial Family), and a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Early life

Hiroyoshi was the eldest son and heir apparent of Admiral of the Fleet Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu and his wife, the former Tokugawa Tsuneko. He graduated from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1920.

Marriage and family

On 23 December 1919, he married Ichijo Tokiko (born 1903), the third daughter of Prince Ichijo Saneteru, by whom he had four children:
# Princess Fushimi Mitsuko (b. 28 July 1929)
# Prince Fushimi Hiroaki (b. 26 January 1932)
# Princess Fushimi Yoshiko (14 February 1933 – 25 October 1937)
# Princess Fushimi Ayako (b. 11 February 1934)

Military career

In 1932, the Prince was promoted to lieutenant commander and received command of the destroyer "Kamikaze". In 1937, He went to war as the 3rd destroyer unit commander in Battle of Shanghai between Japanese and Chinese Nationalist forces during the opening stages of the Japanese invasion of China. on 25 september 1937, he got slightly injured in the Huangpu River for bombardment of the Chinese Nationalist army. After recovery, he did operation in the Yangtze River as a 6th destroyer unit commander.

After went back to Japan, he became the instructor of a Naval War College.

On 19 October 1938, he died of myocardial infarction. It is said that the cause of his death was the unsuitable medicine which was injected by his doctor for asthmatic medical treatment, asthma being a chronic ailment of Hiroyasu. His military rank was colonel and age at death was 42 years old.

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