Japan's oldest imperial family member, Prince Mikasa, dies at 100

Prince Mikasa, the oldest member of Japan's imperial family, died of cardiac arrest Thursday in Tokyo. He was 100.

Mikasa, an uncle to Emperor Akihito, was the youngest brother of his father, Emperor Hirohito. Born Dec. 2, 1915, as Prince Takahito, he was the fourth son of Emperor Taisho. Mikasa was a scholar of ancient Asian history, teaching at Tokyo University of the Arts and Tokyo Women's Christian University and serving as the honorary president of the Japan-Turkey Society and Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan. He served in the military during World War II, becoming a major by the time it was over, and afterwards was a vocal proponent of peace, The Japan Times reports. He wrote in a book published in 1984 that he "constantly feel[s] the sting of conscience over my failure to fully grasp the criminality of war."

Mikasa was fifth in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne, which only men can ascend to; out of 19 imperial family members, there are now only four males. In 1941, he married his wife, 93-year-old Princess Yuriko. Together, they had three sons, all now deceased, and two daughters.

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