The Japanese princess, who could have been the Empress of Korea

梨本宮方子/ 이방자

During the Japanese occupation of Korea, there were Koreans who voluntarily chose to collaborate with the Japanese or to become Japanese citizens. But there was one Japanese, who did the opposite – despite the hardships, she chose to give up her status and to be a Korean, to live in Korea and to work for the Koreans. In Japan, she was a princess from one of the several branches of the Japanese Imperial Family. In Korea, she would have been an Empress. She was Yi Bangja, Crown Princess Uimin of Korea.

Yi Bangja was born on 4 November 1901 as Princess Nashimoto Masako. Her father was Nashimoto Morimasa, her mother, Nabeshima Itsuko was a descendant of the daimyōs of Saga-han. Yi Bangja was a first cousin of Empress Kōjun of Japan, and thus she is a relative of Emperor Akihito. As a young princess, she attended the girls’ department of the Peers School, the Gakushūin in Tokyo.

Princess Masako was one of the candidates to be the wife of the crown prince of Japan, the future Emperor Hirohito. However, she got an unfavorable fertility diagnosis and the politicians feared the huge influence her family would have won if she had married the crown prince, therefore instead of her Princess Kuni Nagako, the future Empress Kōjun was selected as the bride to the crown prince.

The Japanese government „gave” an other prince to Princess Masako to marry. He was Prince Yi Eun of Korea, the Crown Prince Uimin, second son of the late Emperor Gojong. After the Japanese occupation, the members of the Korean Royal Family were forced to study in Japan and to choose their spouse from the Japanese nobility – this way they constantly were made conscious of that they are not the ruling family of an independent country, but part of the Japanese nobility. The Crown Prince had to study in Japan, had to join the Japanese Army – and lastly, he had to marry a Japanese princess.

The wedding of Nashimoto Masako and Yi Eun took place on 28 April 1920 in Tokyo. The princess wore at least three dresses: a white, Western-style wedding dress, a blue jeokui (the Korean queen’s formal dress) and a kimono. Nashimoto Masako became Yi Bangja, Crown Princess of Korea (her Korean name is from the Korean reading of the Chinese characters her name is written by). Despite the fertility diagnosis, the couple had two sons, princes Jin and Gu. Prince Jin, who was born in 1921, died under suspicious circumstances – there is a theory that he was poisoned – while the family was visiting Korea in 1922. The second son, Gu was born ten years later than his brother. Prince Gu studied in the USA after attending the Gakushūin, and married an American woman.

In 1926 the last emperor of Korea, Sunjong passed away. The next ruler would have been Prince Yi Eun, but because of the Japanese–Korean Annexation Treaty, the title of emperor was demoted to king, and Yi Eun was never crowned as the ruler of Korea. Although the couple was the king and queen of Korea in name, they were continued to be styled as crown prince and crown princess.

After the end of the Second World War, the family was not allowed to return back to Korea, because president Rhee Syngman, the new leader of the Republic of (South) Korea was afraid of the Crown Prince’s popularity and the restoration of the monarchy. Since the Crown Princess lost her Japanese royal status due to the new Imperial Household Law, they lived in destitution as Zainichi Koreans. They could return to Korea only after Park Chunghee became the new president. Their new home was Changdeok Palace, where the last emperor lived too until his death, and what other returned members of the royal family – for example the sister of the Crown Prince, Princess Deokhye – used as their residence. The Crown Prince was suffering from cerebral thrombosis, and was rushed to Seoul Sungmo Hospital where he remained bedridden for the rest of his life.

In Korea the princess used the name Yi Bangja, wore hanbok, the traditional Korean dress and devoted herself to the helping and education of mentally and physically handicapped people. She supported their social adaptation by founding schools, and she became the chairman of various committees and made donations to charitable organisations despite the difficulties with their own cost of living (the government paid them pension, but that was hardly enough to live). She was adored as ’the mother of handicapped in Korea’ (한국 장애인들의 어머니) and in Japan she was known as the one of the few Japanese the Koreans respect. The Korean government honoured her with a medal as recognition of her charitable work.

She died from cancer on 30 April 1989 and was buried beside her husband. In 2006 a Japanese drama, titled ’A Queen who built rainbow’ (虹を架ける王妃, Niji wo Kakeru Ouhi) was made about her life.

by Alla

Sources and links: Wikipedia, Ask a Korean, Niji wo Kakeru Ouhi