Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu
June 25, 1902 — January 4, 1953 — Tokyo, Japan
Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu was the second son of Emperor Taisho of Japan and the beloved younger brother of Emperor Hirohito — an athletic, sports-loving prince who studied at Oxford, promoted Western sports including rugby in Japan, and whose independent personality and warmer public manner made him one of the most popular members of the imperial family.
Imperial Upbringing and Oxford Education
Born on June 25, 1902, in the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Yasuhito was the second son of Emperor Taisho and Empress Teimei. He grew up during Japan's turbulent modernization and demonstrated from childhood a warmth and openness to Western culture that set him apart within the more formal imperial household. Like his elder brother Hirohito, he received a Western-influenced education, but unlike Hirohito, he also spent time studying at Eton College and as a student at Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–26) — an experience that gave him genuine personal connections in Britain and shaped his lifelong enthusiasm for sports and outdoor activity.
Champion of Sport and Western Culture
Prince Chichibu became Japan's most prominent royal patron of sport. He took an active interest in rugby football — learned during his time in England — and served as patron of the Japan Rugby Football Union. He was an avid mountaineer and skier, and enthusiastically promoted Western athletics in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s. The Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo (now known simply as Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium) was named in his honor and remains Japan's most important rugby venue. He married Princess Matsudaira Setsuko, a woman of unusual international experience (her father had been Japan's ambassador to the United States), in 1928.
Did You Know?
Prince Chichibu's relationship with his elder brother Emperor Hirohito was famously close, but their personalities diverged sharply. Those who knew both described Chichibu as more relaxed, athletic, and approachable — qualities that made him enormously popular with the public. Some historians have noted that had the succession fallen to Chichibu rather than Hirohito, Japan's path through the 1930s and 1940s might have been markedly different, as Chichibu was seen as more genuinely liberal in his instincts.
Wartime and Final Years
Prince Chichibu served as a military officer during the 1930s, holding high rank in the Imperial Japanese Army, but was sidelined from active military duty in 1940 when he contracted tuberculosis. He spent much of the war years in treatment at the Gotemba Imperial Villa at the foot of Mount Fuji, too ill to play a significant role in wartime events. He died on January 4, 1953, at age 50, of his longstanding tuberculosis. His death was mourned widely; he was remembered as the most human and accessible of the Showa-era imperial princes — a man who genuinely loved sport, the outdoors, and the company of people from all walks of life. The rugby stadium bearing his name remains a living tribute to his role in bringing the sport to Japan.