Obituaries

Mother of Princess Hisako Dies at 96

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Fumiko Tottori

Jiji Press

16:26 JST, July 19, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Fumiko Tottori, the mother of Japanese Princess Hisako of Takamado, died of old age Tuesday at the Tokyo facility where she lived. She was 96.

Princess Hisako will observe mourning for 90 days, and her first daughter, Princess Tsuguko, for 30 days, the Imperial Household Agency said Wednesday. Princess Hisako will cancel her planned visits to New Zealand and Australia from Friday.

According to the agency, Princess Hisako met her mother before visiting Osaka for work from Monday. Princess Tsuguko attended Tottori’s deathbed, together with Ayako Moriya, Princess Hisako’s third daughter, and her husband.

As her father was a diplomat, Tottori lived in France in her childhood. Having served in such positions as head of Les Amies de Langue Francaise, a Japanese-French exchange group, Tottori received the Officier de la Legion d’Honneur from the French government in 2013.

Her late husband, Shigejiro, held such posts as president of the French foothold of Japanese general trading house Mitsui & Co.