Early Life
The prince was born in Kyoto, as the second of the nine sons of Prince Kuni Asahiko (1824–1891) at the time of the Meiji Restoration. His father, a scion of the collateral imperial line of Fushimi-no-miya, was a laicized Buddhist priest who became a close advisor to the Emperor Kōmei and Emperor Meiji, His mother was the court-lady Izumitei Shizue.
Originally titled Iwa-no-miya, he was called Iwaomaro-ō from 15 March 1874. He changed his personal name to Kuninori on 21 July 1886. Unlike his younger half-brothers, Prince Nashimoto Morimasa, Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, and Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, Prince Kuninori did not pursue a military career. He was excluded from succeeding to the house of Kuni-no-miya on the grounds of ill health on 7 March 1887.
Read more about this topic: Prince Kaya Kuninori
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)