Prince Takaoka

Imperial Prince Takaoka (高岳 親王, Takaoka Shinnō; 799 – 865?) was a member of the Japanese Imperial family and a Buddhist monk during the early Heian period. The third son of Emperor Heizei, he was named crown prince under Heizei's younger brother and successor Emperor Saga, but was deposed in the aftermath of the Kusuko Incident. Thereafter he took up monkhood and devoted himself to Buddhism. Takaoka is remembered as one of Kūkai's "Ten Great Disciples," and is famous for his travels to China and his attempt to reach India in his final years. A heavily fictionalized account of Prince Takaoka's attempt to reach India served as the basis of Tatsuhiko Shibusawa's Yomiuri Prize-winning 1987 novel Takaoka's Travels.