Yi Ku was a Korean prince who was head of the House of Yi from 1970 until 2005. He was a grandson of Emperor Gojong of the Joseon dynasty. Through Kuni Asahiko his maternal great-grandfather, Ku was a second-cousin to Emperor Emeritus Akihito of Japan.
Yi as a child
The House of Yi, also called the Yi dynasty, was the royal family of the Joseon dynasty and later the imperial family of the Korean Empire, descended from the Joseon founder Yi Seong-gye. All of his descendants are members of the Jeonju Yi clan.
Portrait for Taejo of Joseon, a 1872 copy painted by Cho Chungmuk
Emperor Gojong in 1898, painted by Hubert Vos
Korean Imperial family circa 1915. The image is a compilation of individual photographs taken since the Japanese did not allow them to all be in the same room at the same time, and some were forced to leave Korea. From left: Yi Kang, Sunjong, Yi Un, Gojong, Empress Sunjeong, Deogindang Gimbi and Yi Geon. The seated child in the front row is Princess Deokhye.
Crown Prince Yi Un with Itō Hirobumi, 1907