Japanese Princess Yuriko dies aged 101

Princess Yuriko of Japan has died at the age of 101, the Imperial Household Agency announced.

The oldest living member of the imperial family had died in the early hours at St Luke's Hospital in Tokyo on Friday, the office said. Yuriko was admitted there in March following a minor stroke.

The exact cause of death was not disclosed, but Japanese media reports suggest Yuriko died of complications stemming from pneumonia.

"I am deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of Her Imperial Highness Princess Yuriko of Mikasa," Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a statement.

Yuriko was born in 1923 into a noble family. After studying at the Gakushuin Women's Academy in Tokyo, she married Prince Mikasa, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito and uncle of Emperor Akihito. The two were married for 75 years and had five children, of whom three sons have already died.

Mikasa died in 2016 at the age of 100. In her final years, Yuriko lived a secluded life at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, she regularly read magazines, watched baseball on television and spent sunny days in the palace garden. It was only early this year that her health began to deteriorate.

After Yuriko's death, the Japanese imperial family will consist of just 16 people, including four men. Women have no place in the line of succession and are excluded from the family if they marry a commoner.