serenissima
Aristocracy
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- Mar 30, 2008
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I always wonder if she was baptised as a Roman Catholic as an infant ?
No Michiko was never baptised a Roman Catholic, her family were not Christian. Michiko did however attend catholic schools, she attended Futaba Girls School ( as did her mother, also coincidentally did Masako who followed in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother who attended the school, none were (or are) christian) Michiko's schooling was interrupted as she was evacuated to the country during WW2 to escape the allied bombing of Tokyo. Once back in Tokyo she studied at Sacred Heart High school and then graduated from The University of the Sacred Heart with a degree in English literature.
It's not that unusual for wealthy Japanese to send their children to catholic schools even if they themselves were not christian. There was ( and still is) quite a lot of prestige attached to attending catholic schools in Japan. They are all private schools and are all selective ( highly selective!). Sophia University is a catholic university established by the Jesuits and highly prestigious. Of Japan's population of 127 million apprx 800,000 are christian ( various christian denominations) so a tiny percentage of Japanese who attend catholic schools and universities in Japan are actually catholic, the majority are not catholic and non-christian.
Michiko's background was throughly investigated ( along with other prospective brides for Akihito) before she received her first invitation to play tennis. She couldn't be christian as the Imperial Family are the 'head' of the Shinto religion.
Oh, I see. However, the Empress's grandfather Tei'ichiroh Shoda was a Roman Catholic, so I understand. Her father Hidesaburoh Shoda was also Roman Catholic and her mother Tomiko Shoda was also baptised by the rite of the Roman Catholic Church just before her death. The Empress's brother is also Roman Catholic and he is married to a Roman Catholic woman whose parents were also Roman Catholics.
Talking about this note, the Asakano-miya-san also became Roman Catholic after the WWII.
A lot of Roman Catholic people sound to be around within her people. I think that one of the Empress Nagako's relatives also became a Roman Catholic nun after the WWII etc.
FYI a note about writing Japanese names in the latin alphabet. The Hiragana ( Japanese phonetic alphabet for writing Japanese word and names) symbols are transcribed directly into a corresponding latin alphabet letter. The only hiragana consonent which is a stand alone consonent ( not attached to a vowel or double letter and vowel) is the latin alphabet 'n' 'h' is not a stand alone letter. Michiko's father's name is not written as 'Hidasaburoh', it's written as "Hidasaburo" no 'h'. Also Japanese has no apostrophes so it's not correct to write her grandfather's name as 'Tei'ichiroh' correctly writing from the Japanese it's "Teiichiro". eg Two identical vowels do not need to be separated, the Japanese word for no is 'iie'
In another thread you wrote Emperor as 'ten'noh' again that's not correct. No appostrophe and no 'h' correctly it's tenno or more correctly the 'o' has a macron ( a line over it to show that it's a long 'o' sound) 'tennō'
Very interesting, but let's not get too picky about other members' mistakes. In fact, Japanese doesn't have any of those roman letters, so there isn't too much use in arguing over an apostrophe or extra "h".
Very good point though, Charlotte, I would like to know the sources for the conjecture about the supposed numbers of Roman Catholics in the empress' family or inner circle. It is sort of important to know where the information is coming from because it does contradict the official stance.