 Prince Arisugawa Takehito

Prince Takehito was born in Kyoto as a scion of the house, one of the "shinnōke" branches of the Imperial Family of Japan, which were eligible to succeed to the Chrysanthemum Throne in the event that the main line should die out.As he was born when the country was still under rule by the Tokugawa Bakufu, he was sent as a youth into the Buddhist priesthood, and assigned to serve at the "monzeki" temple of Myōhō-in in Kyoto.