 Prince Kunika would become the legitimate heir to his father, but, due to his illness, Fushimi-no-miya was eventually succeeded by his elder half-brother, Prince Hiroyasu.A career army officer, Prince Sadanaru entered the military academy in 1873 and fought as a lieutenant in the Satsuma Rebellion.Promoted to captain in 1878, he studied military tactics at the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in France and later in Germany in the 1870s.