Tokugawa Ienari

Tokugawa Ienari ( Japanese 徳 川 家 斉 ; * November 18, 1773 ; † March 22, 1841 ) was the 11th Shogun of the Edo period in Japan from 1786 to 1837 .

Life path

Hitotsubashi Ienari was adopted by the shogun Tokugawa Ieharu in 1781 after both of his sons died. The biological father was Harusada (1727-89). He took up his post at the age of 14. During his minority Matsudaira Sadanobu ruled ( hosa ) until he retired in 1793. In 1788 there was a great fire in Kyoto .

Tokugawa Ienari in classic court dress

In the time after the death of the previously effective council member Tanuma Okitsugu ( 田 沼 意 次 ; 1719–88), the first reforms in the judiciary and school system and to restore the currency and price stability took place. Finances should be put back into order, mainly through luxury bans. The tightened closure of the country ( sakoku ) also served this purpose ; so the connections to Luzon and Annam were broken off. These " Kansei reforms" were aimed at strengthening central government and were continued until 1802. The children of the samurai class should be taught "morality" through increased Confucian education in the renovated Shōhei Academy, directed by Hayashi Kimpō . Over the years all attempts to contain inflation have failed. In the medium term, however, the efforts failed because the specifications were handled in an excessively inflexible manner.

After Sadanobu's withdrawal, Ienari officiated during the Bunka and Bunsei eras. Politically, this period was characterized by stagnation, nepotism and budgetary abuse. This is probably the reason why the person of Ienari has so far hardly been considered by research. Siebold was received in audience by Ienari in 1826.

During Ienari's term of office there were increasing attempts by the imperialist powers, especially England, Russia, but also China, to re-establish contact with Japan.

1837 occurred in Osaka due to a famine that was significantly exacerbated by corrupt officials, to attempted assault on the castle of Osaka of Oshio Heihachiro were destroyed, as a result five bridges, 18,000 homes and 1,800 storage by fire. Soon after the crackdown, Ienari resigned after serving over 50 years. He died four years after his son Tokugawa Ieyoshi became a shogun.

Kan'ei-ji, where Ienari is buried

As the only one of the Tokugawa shoguns Ienari was given the honor of being awarded the courtly grand chancellery ( Dajō Daijin ; 1827-1841) during his lifetime . His grave is in Kanei-ji ; posthumously he was given the name Bunkyō-in .

Women

His main wife was the daughter of the powerful daimyo of Satsuma Shimazu Shigehide (1745-1833). Ienari fathered 51 children with 40 women, 31 of whom died in childhood. Hundreds of other "ladies" were found in his household. The large number of his offspring, whose maintenance was not financed by the Tennō , allowed him to secure far-reaching political alliances through marriage.

See also

• Late Mitogaku , on the ideological background of the attempted reforms

literature

• Martin Ramming (ed.); Japan manual. Berlin 1941.
• Berend Wispelwey (Ed.): Japanese Biographical Archive. Munich 2007, ISBN 3-598-34014-1 , Fiche 386

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. Backus, Robert; Kansei Prohibition of Heterodoxy and Its Effects on Education; Harvard Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 39 (1979), pp. 55-106.
2. ↑ cf. Soranaka Isao; The Kansei reforms - Success or Failure ?; Monumenta Nipponica Vol. 33 (1978).
3. ↑ cf. Peter Pörtner , Jens Heise : The Philosophy of Japan. From the beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 431). Kröner, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-520-43101-7 , p. 274.
4. ↑ Martin Ramming, (Ed.): Japan-Handbuch , Berlin 1941, p. 603.
5. ↑ or 55: Kodansha encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo 1983.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Tokugawa is the family name, Ienari the first name.