Imperial Princess Shushi (Akiko) (秋子内親王)
The Imperial Princess Shushi (Akiko) (the Imperial Princess Shushi, the wife of the Imperial prince Sadatake, February 23, 1700 - April 28, 1756) was an Imperial Family member during the Edo period. She was the first princess of the Emperor Higashiyama and the wife of the Imperial Prince Fushiminomiya Sadatake. Her real mother was the Princess Chugu Sachiko (Joshumonin), a daughter of the Imperial Prince Arisugawanomiya Yukihito. Her childhood name was Himemiya. Her posthumous Buddhist name is 光顕院宮.
She was given the imperial edict to become an imperial princess in 1707. In 1710, she became engaged to her cousin, the Imperial Prince Sadatake (a son of the Imperial Princess Yoshiko who was a younger sister of her father, the Emperor Higashiyama) and married him in 1719 when she was 20 years old.
After their marriage, she gave birth to two daughters, the Princess Michiko and the Princess Toyoko, but was not blessed with a single son, thus she officially claimed the Fushiminomiya Imperial Prince Kunitada who was born to a Ie no Nyobo (a lady-in-waiting) to be her biological child. Then, she was conferred Nihon (the second rank of the Imperial Princes' and Princess' rank) in 1743 and passed away in 1756 at the age of 57. She was buried in the grave of the Fushiminomiya, in the premises of Shokoku-ji Temple (located in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City).