Horikawa Yasuchika (堀河康親)
Yasuchika HORIKAWA (March 18, 1797 - September 28, 1859) was a Kugyo (high court noble) who lived in the late Edo period. He served two emperors, mainly Emperor Ninko (the 120th) and Emperor Komei (the 121st), and was raised to Junii Chunagon (Junior Second Rank Middle Counselor) in the end.
His father was Chikazane HORIKAWA who was a Junii Sangi (Junior Second Rank Councilor). His lawful wife ('seishitsu' in Japanese) was a daughter of Tsunehaya KAJUJI. Chikayoshi HORIKAWA (viscount), Tomomi IWAKURA (a meritorious retainer in the Meiji Restoration, prince), Norichika FUJIOJI (barron), Tomochika SAKURAI, Motoko HORIKAWA (a lady-in-waiting to Emperor Komei), and a wife of Tsuneyuki NAKAMIKADO (Juichii Dainagon [Junior First Rank, Major Counselor]) are his children.
In 1810 he was celebrated his coming of age (a ritual of Genpuku) and was conferred a peerage there. At first he referred to himself as Chikataka but he renamed himself as Yasuchika in 1820. He became Emperor Ninko's chamberlain in 1823, and was raised to Jusanmi (Junior Third Rank) in 1833, thus becoming a Kugyo (high court noble). He became a Sangi (Councilor) in 1855, but retired in the following year to become a Toka no sechie Geben (a Kugyo who supervised the event of toka [ceremonial mass singing and stomp dancing] called Toka no sechie held at the Imperial Court on around the fifteenth day of the first month of the year, outside the Shomeimon gate of the Kyoto imperial palace). During the Ansei Purge ('Ansei no Taigoku' in Japanese) in 1858, he was implicated as one of the eighty-eight courtiers which included his son Chikayoshi and grandson Yasutaka. In the following year after the Ansei Purge, he became a Chunagon (Middle Counselor) but resigned due to illness, and died in bed shortly thereafter.