10 Facts About Sayako Kuroda

Sayako Kuroda is an imperial Shinto priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine, currently serving as the Supreme Priestess.

Princess Sayako Kuroda was born on 18 April 1969 at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo Imperial Palace, Tokyo.

Sayako Kuroda's mother, Empress Emerita Michiko, is an alumna of the University of the Sacred Heart and a convert to Shinto from Roman Catholicism.

Sayako Kuroda studied at and graduated from the Department of Japanese Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters, Gakushuin University, with the Bachelor of Letters degree in Japanese language and literature in 1992.

Apart from her research, Sayako Kuroda has traveled extensively abroad and within Japan, as a representative of the Imperial family.

Sayako Kuroda became the sixth female member born into the Japanese imperial family to marry a commoner since the passage of the Imperial Household Law in 1947, and the first member of the family to lose royal status since the marriage of Princess Masako of Mikasa, one of Emperor Akihito's cousins, in 1983.

Sayako Kuroda resigned from her job as an ornithologist to focus on her family life.

Sayako Kuroda was among the guests during a banquet held at the Tokyo Imperial Palace in honour of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium in October 2016.

Since her marriage, Sayako Kuroda has has appeared on some formal occasions with other members of the Imperial Family.

Sayako Kuroda officially replaced Atsuko Ikeda as the supreme priestess of Ise Shrine on 19 June 2017.