Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi
Early life. Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi was the eldest son and heir of Admiral of the Fleet Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu and his wife, the former Tokugawa Tsuneko. He graduated from the 45th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1917, ranked first in a class of 89 cadets. His classmates included Kosaku Ariga, final captain of the battleship "Yamato". Military career. Prince Fushimi served his midshipman tour on the cruiser "Iwate", and as a sub-lieutenant on the battleships "Fusō" and "Kawachi". After completing coursework in naval artillery and torpedo warfare, he served as a crewman on  Kongō, "Hyūga", "Kirishima" and "Hiei". After completing advanced training in torpedo warfare, he was assigned as Chief Torpedo officer on the destroyers "Shimakaze", "Numakaze", and cruisers "Izumo" and "Naka". On 10th December 1928, he received his first command, the destroyer Kaba. He was subsequently captain of the destroyers "Yomogi", "Kamikaze", and "Amagiri". In 1933, the Prince was promoted to commander and became executive officer on the cruiser "Naka", followed by the minelayer "Itsukushima". In 1936, Prince Fushimi became commander of the 3rd Destroyer Group, which was involved in combat in the Battle of Shanghai between Japanese and Chinese Nationalist forces  during the opening stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War. On 25th September 1937, he was slightly injured in the Huangpu River during a bombardment operation. After recovery, he served as commander of the 6th Destroyer Group, assigned to patrols in the Yangtze River of China. In April 1938, he was assigned back to Japan, where he became the instructor of a Naval War College. On 19th October 1938, Prince Fushimi, who suffered from chronic asthma, died of myocardial infarction. It is said that the cause of his death was an unsuitable medicine which was injected by his doctor. His  military rank was posthumously raised to captain. Marriage and family. On 23rd December 1919, Prince Fushimi married , the third daughter of Prince Saneteru Ichijō, by whom he had four children: