Background
He was born in Tokyo in the 20th of October in 1887 as the eighth son of Prince Asahiko Kuninomiya, he established the Asakanomiya family and married Princess Nobuko, the eighth daughter of Emperor Meiji in 1910.
朝香鳩彥
He was born in Tokyo in the 20th of October in 1887 as the eighth son of Prince Asahiko Kuninomiya, he established the Asakanomiya family and married Princess Nobuko, the eighth daughter of Emperor Meiji in 1910.
He graduated from the War College in 1914, and went to France in 1922.
In 1872, the Emperor Meiji granted him the title Kuni-no-miya and authorization to begin a new collateral branch of the imperial family. When he returned to Japan in 1925, he became commander of the Imperial Guards Division and commander of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army in 1937. He renounced his status as a member of the Imperial family in 1947.
Military career
Prince Asaka was promoted to lieutenant in December 1910, captain in August 1913, major in July 1918, and lieutenant-colonel in August 1922. Between 1920 and 1923, Prince Asaka studied military tactics at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in France. However, on 1 April 1923, he was seriously injured in an automobile accident in Perriers-la-Campagne (Normandy) that killed Prince Kitashirakawa; the accident left Prince Asaka with a limp for the rest of his life.
After being promoted to the rank of colonel in August 1925, in December 1929, he rose to the rank of major general and was subsequently appointed an instructor at the Army Staff College in 1930. On 1 August 1933, he was promoted to lieutenant general and assumed command of the First Imperial Guards Division. In December 1935, he was appointed a member of the Supreme War Council, which gave him a very influential position with Emperor Hirohito.
Prince Yasuhiko was a half-brother of Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, Prince Nashimoto Morimasa, Prince Kaya Kuninori, and Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi, the father of the future Empress Kōjun, the consort of Emperor Shōwa.