Imperial Prince Yamashinanomiya Akira (山階宮晃親王)
Imperial Prince Yamashinanomiya Akira (October 22, 1816 - February 17, 1898) was a member of the Imperial family in Japan. He was the first Prince of Imperial Prince Fushiminomiya Kuniie. An elder brother of Imperial Prince Kitashirakawanomiya Yoshihisa, Imperial Prince Kachonomiya Hirotsune, Imperial Prince Komatsunomiya Akihito, Imperial Prince Kaninnomiya Kotohito, and Imperial Prince Higashifushiminomiya Yorihito. Imperial Prince Kajujinomiya Saihan. Nihon (the second court rank for an Imperial Princes).
The Imperial Prince was born in 1816, first named "Kiyoyasu." He inherited Kaju-ji Temple, a monzeki temple (a temple of high rank where members of the imperial family and nobility entered the priesthood) in Yamashina, Kyoto in the following year 1817. In 1824, he became a priest and was called "Priestly Imperial Prince Saihan." He caused a scandalous affair in which he ran away with his younger sister, Princess Takako, on November 20, 1841, resulting in termination of his position as an adopted son of Emperor Kokaku, a second-ranked Imperial Prince, and a chief priest of Kaju-ji Temple on August 27, 1842, to be was finally expelled from the Fushiminomiya family. Since Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA, et al. asked for his return to secular life to Emperor Komei in 1864, he returned Fushiminomiya on February 16 in the same year, returned to the secular life under an imperial sanction on 25 of the same month, and again received the reigning name of Yamashinanomiya along with the title of Imperial Prince by Imperial order. After that, he flourished as a Kokuji goyogakari (a general official of the Imperial Household in charge of State affairs) in the political world at the end of the Edo Period, and occupied important positions such as a gijo (official post) and a ministerial governor of foreign affairs after the Meiji restoration. While other members of the Imperial family became military men in accordance with customary practice of royal families in Europe, the Imperial Prince refused and remained a civil officer. He passed away in February 1898 at the age of 83.
He received the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum in 1886.
He had a prince called Prince Yamashinanomiya Kikumaro. Prince Kikumaro took over as Imperial Prince to become the second generation Yamashinanomiya family.