Biography
Princess Atsuko was born at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Her childhood appellation was Yori-no-miya (順宮?).
As with her elder sisters, she was not raised by her biological parents, but by a succession of court ladies at a separate palace built for her and her elder sisters in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo. She graduated from the Gakushuin Peer’s School, and was also tutored along with her siblings in English language by an American tutor, Elizabeth Grey Vining during the American occupation of Japan following World War II. She graduated Gakushuin University Women's College in March 1952.
On 10 October 1952, Princess Yori married Ikeda Takamasa, the eldest son of former Marquis Nobumasa Ikeda and a direct descendant of the last daimyō of Okayama Domain, whom she had met at a Japanese tea ceremony at Kōraku-en gardens. The couple were engaged after only six months, but wedding plans had to be postponed due to the death of Empress Teimei in 1951 and subsequent period of mourning. Upon her marriage, Princess Yori became the second daughter of an emperor to relinquish her status as a member of the Japanese imperial family and become a commoner upon marriage, in accordance with the 1947 Imperial Household Law.
The former princess relocated to Okayama Prefecture, where her husband, a wealthy cattle rancher, has served as director of the Ikeda Zoo outside of Okayama city for over fifty years.
In 1965, she was hospitalized with sepsis, which was a cause of great concern for the Imperial Family, as her elder sister Shigeko Higashikuni had already died of stomach cancer.
In October 1988, Ikeda succeeded her ailing elder sister, Kazuko Takatsukasa, as the most sacred priestess (saishu) of the Ise Shrine. She also serves as the Chairperson of the Association of Shinto Shrines.
The Ikedas had no children.
Read more about this topic: Atsuko Ikeda
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