View source for Mitsuko Aoyama

{{short description|One of the first Japanese people to immigrate to Europe}}
{{Infobox noble
| name       = Mitsuko Aoyama
| title      = Countess of Coudenhove-Kalergi
| image      = Mitsuko Coudenhove 1 cropped.jpg
| spouse     = [[Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi]]
| issue = 
| issue-link = 
| issue-pipe = 
| full name = 
| era name = 
| era dates = 
| posthumous name = 
| temple name     =
| noble family    = [[Coudenhove-Kalergi]] (by marriage)
| father = Kihachi Aoyama
| mother = Tsune Aoyama
| birth_date =  {{Birth date|1874|7|7|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Ushigome]], Shinjuku, Tokyo, Empire of Japan
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1941|08|27|1874|7|7|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Mödling]], Austria
| date of burial = 
| place of burial = 
| occupation = 
| signature = 
| religion = [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]]
}}
'''Mitsuko Thekla Maria, Countess of Coudenhove-Kalergi''' ({{langx|de|Mitsuko Thekla Maria Gräfin von Coudenhove-Kalergi}}; 7 July 1874 {{ndash}} 27 August 1941), formerly known as {{Nihongo|'''Mitsuko Aoyama'''|青山光子}}, was one of the first [[Japanese people]] to immigrate to Europe, after becoming the wife of an [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] diplomat, [[Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi]], in [[Tokyo]]. She was the mother of [[Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi]] and the Catholic author [[Ida Friederike Görres]] (née von Coudenhove-Kalergi).

== Life ==
[[File:Heinrich Coudenhove-Kalergi Mitsuko Aoyama.jpg|thumb|left|A wedding photograph with her husband in 1892]]
[[Image:Mitsuko Coudenhove 2.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Mitsuko]]
Aoyama was the daughter of Kihachi Aoyama, an antiques and oil dealer in Tokyo. The [[Aoyama clan|Aoyama family]] was also a landowner of large estates.<ref>{{cite web | script-title=ja:ミツコ・クーデンホーフ・カレルギー (青山光子)|last1=Tozawa|first1=Hidenori|publisher= Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi Forum (School of Law, [[Tohoku University]])|title=ミツコ・クーデンホーフ・カレルギーの生涯 (1)|url=http://www.law.tohoku.ac.jp/~tozawa/RCK%20HP/mitsuko2-1.htm|accessdate=31 October 2014|language=Japanese}}</ref>

At the age of 17, she met the Austro-Hungarian diplomat [[Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi|Count Heinrich von Coudenhove]] (from 1903, Coudenhove-Kalergi) when she came to his aid after his horse slipped on ice (Heinrich often visited her father's shop, not far from the Austrian legation). Heinrich gained her father's permission for her to be employed as a parlour [[maid]] in the legation and then, after they fell in love, asked his permission for them to marry. The latter request was refused, but the couple defied him, and married on 16 March 1892 in Tokyo with the consent of the Austrian and Japanese foreign ministries. This left Aoyama disinherited and banned from her father's house.<ref>{{cite web | script-title=ja:ミツコ・クーデンホーフ・カレルギー (青山光子)|last1=Tozawa|first1=Hidenori|publisher= Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi Forum (School of Law, [[Tohoku University]])|title=ミツコ・クーデンホーフ・カレルギーの生涯 (1)|url=http://www.law.tohoku.ac.jp/~tozawa/RCK%20HP/mitsuko2-1.htm|accessdate=5 January 2018|language=Japanese}}</ref>

She converted to [[Roman Catholicism|Catholicism]] and was [[Baptism#Catholicism|baptized]] by an [[Anti-Masonry|anti-masonic]] [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|Catholic priest]], Francois A. Ligneul, in Japan. In 1896, she was received at an imperial reception for foreign diplomats' wives by [[Empress Eishō]] (as a [[commoner]], Mitsuko would never have been granted such an audience, but as a [[countess]] and ambassador's wife, she was) and again at the end of Heinrich's diplomatic work, shortly afterwards.

The couple then returned to Europe, where Mitsuko and their two sons, Johannes and Richard, took over management of the family estates in [[Bohemia]]n [[Poběžovice|Ronsperg]]. Once established, Mitsuko learned [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[mathematics]], [[geography]] and [[history]] in an attempt to counter the hostility to Heinrich concerning his return with a foreign wife. Five more children would be born to Heinrich and Mitsuko. Heinrich died in 1906 and Mitsuko took over the estates and the children's upbringing and education, while studying [[law]] and [[economics]] herself.

When her second son Richard proposed to marry an actress, [[Ida Roland]], Mitsuko became intensely angry and forbade their marriage. She disparaged Richard and his bride with the words "beggar" and "witch", because actresses were seen as a lowly occupation in Japan.<ref>{{cite web |script-title=ja:ミツコ・クーデンホーフ・カレルギー (青山光子)|last1=Tozawa|first1=Hidenori|publisher= Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi Forum (School of Law, Tohoku University)|title=ミツコ・クーデンホーフ・カレルギーの生涯 (3)|url=http://www.law.tohoku.ac.jp/~tozawa/RCK%20HP/mitsuko2-3.htm|accessdate=7 November 2014|language=Japanese}}</ref> She disinherited him in a certain period from 1916.

Mitsuko never again returned to Japan. After she died in 1941 due to the second [[stroke]] she had suffered in her life, she was buried in the [[Hietzinger Cemetery]].

== Children and descendants ==
#Johann Evangelist Virgilio Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi (1893-1965), born in Tokyo<ref>[http://de.paneuropa.org/index.php/pan/publikationen/aktuelle_beitraege/familie_coudenhove_von_franz_bauer Familie Coudenhove] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165628/http://de.paneuropa.org/index.php/pan/publikationen/aktuelle_beitraege/familie_coudenhove_von_franz_bauer |date=2016-03-03 }}. Paneuropa Deutschland - Paneuropa-Union.</ref>
#[[Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi|Richard Nikolaus Graf von Coudenhove-Kalergi]] (1894-1972), born in Tokyo, founder of [[Paneuropean Union]]
#[[Gerolf Joseph Benedikt Maria Valentin Franz Coudenhove-Kalergi]] (1896-1978), born in Austria, father of the journalist [[Barbara Coudenhove-Kalergi]] and the artist [[Michael Coudenhove-Kalergi]]<ref>[http://www8.ocn.ne.jp/~m37/ MCK Michael Coudenhove-Kalergi Official Web Site] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031080742/http://www8.ocn.ne.jp/~m37/ |date=2014-10-31 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.michael-coudenhove-kalergi.com/ |title=Home |website=michael-coudenhove-kalergi.com}}</ref>
#Elisabeth Maria Anna Coudenhove-Kalergi (1898-1936), born in Austria, secretary of [[Engelbert Dollfuss]]
#Olga Marietta Henriette Maria Coudenhove-Kalergi (1900-1976), born in Austria
#[[Ida Friederike Görres]] (1901–1971), born in Austria, writer
#Karl Heinrich Franz Maria Coudenhove-Kalergi (1903-1987), born in Austria

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Mitsuko Coudenhove}}
*(in German) [http://diepresse.com/home/spectrum/zeichenderzeit/401370/index.do Sojasauce auf dem Grab] ''Die Presse'',  25.07.2008 

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aoyama}}
[[Category:1874 births]]
[[Category:1941 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Meiji era]]
[[Category:German Bohemian people]]
[[Category:Japanese Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Buddhism]]
[[Category:Coudenhove-Kalergi family]]
[[Category:Immigrants to Austria-Hungary]]
[[Category:Japanese emigrants]]
[[Category:Austrian people of Japanese descent]]
[[Category:Czech people of Japanese descent]]
[[Category:People from Shinjuku]]
[[Category:People from Poběžovice]]