Background
Yanagihara Naruko was born in Kyoto as the second daughter of imperial chamberlain Yanagihara Mitsunaru, a member of the Fujiwara clan who held the rank of chūnagon in the imperial household.
柳原愛子
Yanagihara Naruko was born in Kyoto as the second daughter of imperial chamberlain Yanagihara Mitsunaru, a member of the Fujiwara clan who held the rank of chūnagon in the imperial household.
Incorporates material translated from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia A concubine of Emperor Meiji, she was the natural mother of Emperor Taishō and the last concubine to have given birth to a reigning Japanese emperor. Her elder brother, Yanagihara Sakimitsu (4 May 1850 - 2 September 1894), fought in the Boshin War on the imperial side, subsequently becoming Lieutenant Governor of the Tokaido and later Governor of Yamanashi Prefecture. Entering the diplomatic service after the Restoration, he signed the Sino-Japanese Friendship treaty after the First Sino-Japanese War, was ennobled as a count and became a privy councillor, helping to draft the Imperial House Law before his death at the age of 44.
During her lifetime, Lady Naruko was described as an intelligent, graceful and gentle lady, admired by all in the harem.
She was noted as an excellent poet and calligrapher. She joined the imperial household in 1870 as a lady-in-waiting to the Dowager Empress Eisho, and was appointed gon no tenji (lady of the bedchamber) on 20 February 1873.
On 23 September 1877, she gave birth to Yukihito, Prince Take, who also died of meningitis before his first birthday, on 26 July 1878. The prolonged and extremely difficult birth resulted in Lady Naruko becoming hysterical, crying and screaming through the delivery.
As a result of her delicate health following her son"s birth, she never again served the emperor as a lady of the bedchamber.
In 1902, she was officially appointed as an imperial lady-in-waiting. In her later years, she was conferred several prestigious honours in recognition of having continued the imperial line, despite a tendency to blame her for her son"s increasingly poor mental health. However, she was permitted to be present at her son"s deathbed in December 1926.
She was buried in Nakameguro Yūtenji (5-chome, Meguro-ku) in Tokyo.
Order of precedence.