of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, was the founder of a collateral branch

Oke

The , were branches of the Japanese Imperial Family created from branches of the Fushimi-no-miya house. All but one of the ōke were formed by the descendants of Prince Fushimi Kuniye. The ōke were stripped of their membership in the Imperial Family by the American Occupation Authorities in...

 of the Japanese imperial family and a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

. Son-in-law of Emperor Meiji

Emperor Meiji

The or was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death...

 and uncle by marriage of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito), Prince Asaka was commander of Japanese forces in the final assault on Nanking (now Nanjing

Nanjing

' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...

), then the capital city of Nationalist China, in December 1937. He was implicated in the Nanking massacre

Nanking Massacre

The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was a mass murder, genocide and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanjing , the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 during the Second...

 but never charged.
Prince Yasuhiko was born in Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

, the eighth son of Prince Kuni Asahiko

Prince Kuni Asahiko

align=right|, was a member of a collateral line of the Japanese imperial family who played a key role in the Meiji Restoration. Prince Asahiko was an adopted son of Emperor Ninkō and later a close advisor to Emperor Kōmei and Emperor Meiji...

 and the court lady Tsunoda Sugako.