Prince Yasuhiko Asaka

Yasuhiko Asaka
Yasuhiko Asaka
Prince Asaka
Reign	10 March 1906 – 14 October 1947
Head of Asaka-no-miya
Reign	10 March 1906 – 13 April 1981
Born	20 October 1887; Kyoto, Japan
Died	12 April 1981 (aged 93); Atami, Shizuoka, Japan
Spouse	Nobuko, Princess Fumi (m. 1909; died 1933)
Issue	Kikuko Asaka; Takahiko Asaka; Tadahito Asaka; Kiyoko Asaka;
Father	Asahiko, Prince Kuni
Mother	Sugako Tsunoda
Religion	Catholicism
Military career
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1908–1945
Rank	General
Commands held	Imperial Guard; Shanghai Expeditionary Army
Battles/wars	First World War; Second Sino-Japanese War; Second World War
Awards	Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum; Order of the Rising Sun, 1st Class; Order of the Golden Kite, 1st Class

Prince Yasuhiko Asaka (朝香宮鳩彦王, Asaka-no-miya Yasuhiko-ō, 20 October 1887 – 12 April 1981) was the founder of a collateral branch of the Japanese Imperial Family and a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Japanese invasion of China and the Second World War. He was the son-in-law of Emperor Meiji and uncle by marriage of Emperor Hirohito. As the commander of Japanese forces outside Nanjing in December 1937, Asaka presided over the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians in what came to be known as the Nanjing Massacre.

After Japan's defeat in World War II, General Douglas MacArthur granted immunity to the country's Imperial Family. As a result, Asaka was never tried for his involvement in the Nanjing Massacre by SCAP authorities. Nonetheless, by 1947, he and his children were stripped of their imperial status. He later converted to Catholicism and died of natural causes at the age of 93.