Prince Tsunehisa Takeda

Prince Tsunehisa Takeda (竹田宮恒久王) was the founder of the Takeda-no-miya collateral branch of the Japanese Imperial Family.

Biography
Prince Tsunehisa Takeda was the eldest son of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa and thus the brother of Prince Kitashirakawa Naruhisa. In 1902, he served in the House of Peers, and on November 30, 1903 graduated from the 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy.

In 1904, he was appointed as a major general in the Imperial Japanese Army. He served with distinction in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 in the Imperial Guards Division and was awarded the Order of the Golden Kite (5th class) for bravery in combat. On his return to Japan after the Russo-Japanese War, Emperor Meiji authorized Prince Tsunehisa to start a new princely house in March 1906, largely to provide a household with suitable status for his sixth daughter Masako, Princess Tsune. Prince Takeda married Princess Masako on the 30th of April 1908, by whom he had a son and a daughter:


 * 1) Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda (竹田宮恒徳王) (1909–1992)
 * 2) Princess Ayako Takeda (禮子女王), (b. 1911), married Count Sano Tsunemitsu.

Prince Takeda graduated from the 22nd class of the Army War College in 1910. In 1913 he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum. Prince Takeda Tsunehisa died during the worldwide epidemic of the Spanish influenza in Tokyo in 1919.