Japan's Princess Yuriko, great-aunt of emperor, dies at 101

Princess Yuriko, the oldest member of the Japanese imperial family and great-aunt of Emperor Naruhito, died of natural causes at a Tokyo hospital early Friday morning, the Imperial Household Agency said. She was 101.

After Princess Yuriko's death, there are 16 members left in the imperial family, which has been dwindling under the 1947 Imperial House Law that requires female members to leave upon marriage to a commoner.

The agency said the main funeral ceremony, the "Renso-no-gi" rite, will be held from 10 a.m. on Nov. 26 at the imperial family's Toshimagaoka Cemetery in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward.

"I cannot help but feel saddened to hear of the loss. I extend my heartfelt condolences along with other Japanese citizens," Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a statement.

Princess Yuriko was hospitalized in March due to a mild stroke and aspiration pneumonitis and had been receiving treatment, but medical tests earlier this month showed a decline in her cardiac and kidney functions. She died Friday at 6:32 a.m., according to the agency.

A member of Japan's former nobility, she married Prince Mikasa, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, in 1941 at age 18, after graduating from the Gakushuin Women's Academy. Her husband died of heart failure in 2016 at age 100.

The couple had three sons and two daughters. Their sons -- Princes Tomohito, Katsura and Takamado -- died in 2012, 2014 and 2002, respectively.

Three of the couple's granddaughters remain in the imperial family. The two others -- Princesses Noriko and Ayako, daughters of Prince Takamado -- gave up their imperial titles after getting married to commoners in 2014 and 2018, respectively.

Princess Yuriko was an honorary vice president of the Japanese Red Cross Society and previously served as president of the Imperial Gift Foundation Boshi-Aiiku-Kai, which promotes maternal and child health, from 1948 to 2010.

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