Biography
Princess Shigeko was born in Tokyo while her father was still Prince Regent. Her childhood appellation was Teru-no-miya (照宮?). As was the practice of the time, she was not raised by her biological parents after the age of three, but by a succession of court ladies at a separate palace built for her and her younger sisters in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo from 1930. Emperor Shōwa opposed the move, but was unable to defy court tradition. She entered the girls elementary department of the Gakushūin Peer's School in 1932 and completed the secondary department in 1942, learning cooking and literature.
On May 9, 1939, Princess Shigeko rode on the Chōshi Electric Railway Line in Chiba Prefecture from Chōshi to Tōdaimae and back as part of a Gakushūin school outing.
In 1941, she was formally engaged to the eldest son and heir of Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, Prince Morihiro Higashikuni. The bride and groom were first cousins once removed. The couple were officially wed in 1943, upon which her official appellation became Shigeko, Princess Morihiro of Higashikuni (盛厚王妃成子内親王, Morihiro Ōhi Shigeko Naishinnō?). As the wedding occurred in the middle of World War II, ceremonies and expenses were kept to a minimum, and she wore a junihitoe kimono belonging to her mother, Empress Kōjun, rather than having special clothing created for the occasion.
In August 1947, she and her family were reduced to commoner status with the abolition of titles of nobility by the American occupation authorities. With rampant post-war inflation, high taxation, and various failed business ventures by her husband, the Higashikuni family was reduced to poverty. In January 1958, she accepted an offer by the Japanese national television network, NHK, to appear before a live audience and explain the New Year's poetry card reading contest and other royal ceremonies. She fell ill in 1960, complaining of stomach pains, and was diagnosed with cancer. Hospitalized at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo, she died on July 23, 1961. Her grave is at the Toshimagaoka royal cemetery, in Bunkyō, Tokyo.
Read more about this topic: Shigeko Higashikuni
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