In a world far distant from the shores of modern day Japan, a young Isoroku Yamamoto and Mihashi Rreiko pose for a photo after taking their nuptial vows at the Navy Club in Shiba, Tokyo on the 31st of August in 1918. Isoroku immaculate in his naval uniform and Mihashi complementing the western style military attire with the serenity of a traditional Japanese Kimono.
Why Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had sought out a wife.
Then a 34 year old Lieutenant Commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy, still years away from becoming the most widely known Japanese admiral in the U.S. for masterminding the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, Isoroku, born Isoroku Takano, was recently adopted by the influential Yamamoto clan, and to ensure the continuity of his adopted family with male descendants had entered into this matrimonial alliance with Mihashi Rreiko – the daughter of a dairy farmer from the island of Wakamatsu.
Introduced to him by Takeichi Hori his long time friend and classmate from the Naval Academy of Eta Jima in Hiroshima, the twenty two year old Mihashi at the time was the compatible match Isoroku was searching for in a life partner.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s wife, Mihashi Rreiko.
Groomed from birth by prevailing social norms to reflect the ideals of Japanese women of the time, she was an inch or two shorter than his 5 feet 3 inch frame, so as to not make him feel awkward in Japanese society. Lacked social ambitions, which he most certainly did not want in a spouse, and was prepared to live the hard life of a naval officer’s wife. Which is to say, not be with her husband for lengthy periods of time.
Though Isoroku and Mihashi’s wedded life eventually proved to be an unhappy one with Isoroku believed to have continued his indulgence with Geisha escorts even after his wedding. Mihashi nonetheless gave him four children. The eldest out of which being a boy, to carry on the Yamamoto name.
A Samurai Wedding.
Their wedding on the 31st of August in 1918 was according to the Samurai customs of the day which overlooked love affairs and courtships in favour of arranged marriages, and usually endowed men with greater rights than women.
Isoroku himself was a Samurai of the Echigo clan, settled in the region of Nagaoka in the Niigata Prefecture of Japan. His Nihongo name in English means the number 56, and which was his father’s age when he was born.
He was adopted at the adult age of 32 when both his parents were deceased – as per a Japanese custom that allowed families without male heirs to continue their family line by adopting a suitable boy or man from outside the family.
This photo comes from the book titled in Nihongo as Chichi Yamamoto Isoroku (in English, Father, Yamamoto Isoroku ). The book was written by Isoroku Yamamoto’s eldest son, Yoshimasa Yamamoto, 1936-2006.
I F I This is an Independent story highlighting this Vintage wedding photo of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and his wife Mihashi Rreiko from 1918. The story also sheds a bit of light on the life of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and what their marriage was like. It has been created from facts curated out of literary and historical sources. I
