Nobuhisa Shimazu

Nobuhisa Shimazu (Shimazu Nobuhisa, born February 6, 1938 – December 31, 2024) was the 32nd head of the Shimazu family and the 15th generation descendant from Shimazu Yoshihiro. He served as the Chairman and Representative Director of Shimadzu Corporation, as well as the President of the Shimadzu Memorial Foundation. He also held positions as the chief priest (guji) of Tsurumine Shrine, Terukuni Shrine, and Hiramatsu Shrine. Additionally, he was the honorary branch leader of the Kagoshima branch of the Chado Urasenke Toyo Association, a patron of Satsuma Kobudo Kage-ryu, and actively engaged in administrative and cultural activities.

He held various roles including former executive secretary of the Kagoshima Economic Society, former chairman of the Kagoshima Prefectural Public Safety Commission, former president of the Sogon Nanshu Memorial Society, and former chairman of the Satsuma Biwa Appreciation Society.

Born in Tokyo Prefecture (present-day Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo) as the son of Shimazu Tadahide, the 31st head of the Shimazu clan, he was the second son. His father was Tadahide, and his mother was Shōko (Nojiri Akiko), the eldest daughter of Fumimaro Konoe. Through his maternal line, he is a great-great-grandson of Duke Shimazu Hisamitsu. His educational background includes completion of Gakushuin Elementary School, graduation from Gakushuin High School in 1956, and after a year of preparatory studies (officially called "rōnin" year), he entered the Department of Law at Chuo University. He continued studying for the bar examination after graduation.

In 1965, he began working as a part-time employee at Shimadzu Corporation and subsequently joined the company full-time. He became the company's president in 1990 and the chairman in 2001. As a religious role, he served as the chief priest of Terukuni Shrine from 1993.

He died on December 31, 2024, in a hospital in Kagoshima City due to acute pneumonia. He was 86 years old.

His funeral and memorial services were held at Banjōin in Tokyo on December 14. A memorial ceremony was also conducted at the Sengan-en, a Shimazu family villa in Kagoshima. These ceremonies were performed in accordance with Shinto rituals.

As part of his social activities, he became the president of the Satsuma Gishi Memorial Society in 2014, which honored those who contributed to flood control for the public good as "Gishi" (righteous warriors). The memorial festival held at Hirata Park, dedicated to Ohsuke Hirata and other martyrs of Satsuma, was attended by municipalities from the Kiso River basin, including Gifu and Aichi prefectures.

He also contributed to efforts to have the former Ishūkan Museum, owned by Shimadzu Corporation, registered as part of the "Industrial Heritage of Meiji Japan" World Cultural Heritage Site.

Regarding his family, his wife Itsuko is a great-granddaughter of Takamori Saigo. They married in December 1967, with the matchmaking conducted by Toshimichi Okubo’s grandson, Riken. Their children include their eldest son, Tadahiro Shimazu.

His relatives include Emperor Akihito (the 125th Emperor of Japan), the 18th head of the Tokugawa family, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (Tsunayoshi Tokugawa), former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, current head of the Konoe family, Tadaaki Konoe, actor Takaki Minami, and Yokoyama Hiroyuki, director of the Body Education Research Institute, who is his half-uncle.

His published works include "Mountain Pass Roads with a View of the Sea" (Seikō Publishing, 1986), "The Suicide of Satsuma Tairyu Masahisa: Revised and Supplemented Edition" (Shimazu Memorial Foundation, 2000), and anthologies such as "On the Military Achievements of Shimazu Yoshihiro: 'Ishin-no-kami Goju-ki,'" "The Suicide of Shimazu Kanekiyo," and "The Satsuma Clan's Lord Shimazu Yoshihiro and Tea Ceremony."

Through his career and achievements, Nobuhisa Shimazu was a person deeply involved in Japanese history and culture across multiple fields.