Tokugawa Ieshige

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tokugawa Ieshige ( 徳 川 家 重 ; born January 28, 1712 in Akasaka , Edo ; † July 13, 1761 ), was the 9th Shogun of the Edo period in Japan from 1745 to 1760 .

Tokugawa Ieshige in classic court dress

Life path

Tokugawa Ieshige, was the eldest son of the able Tokugawa Yoshimune who, after his resignation on Nov. 24, 1745, still ruled in the background as Ōgosho . His mother, Osuma no kata ( お 須 磨 の 方 ) a daughter of Okubo Tadanao , gave birth to him in the capital city residence of the Kii -Han in the Akasaka district . In childhood he was called Nagatomimaru ( 長 福 丸 ). His age -old celebration ( gempuku ) was celebrated by the ailing 13-year-old in 1725. As head of the family he was the master of the Kii- Han, with an income of 550,000 koku .

In contrast to his father, the 34-year-old when he took office was unsuitable for governing. There had been a dispute over his successor, as his younger brothers were obviously more competent. He was also a strong stutterer. In later years Ōoka Tadamitsu (1709 - June 9, 1760) succeeded in completely dominating the government, pretending to be the only one who understood the pronunciation of Ieshiges and expressed his will. Ieshige wasn't really interested in running the office. In the first year all of his father's advisors were replaced with the exception of the Tairō Hotta . The Kyōhō reforms of Yoshimune were not continued. Tax increases, which were one of the main reasons for the bad harvest in 1755, led to frequent revolts.

In the so-called Hōreki incident in 1757, Bakufu and Kampaku interfered with the teachings of Takenouchi Shikibu , who interpreted the teachings of Chu-hsi and wanted to merge with Shinto . He was therefore imprisoned until 1758, then banished from the capital. 17 court nobles ( kuge ) were also demoted and executed or banished.

Tokugawa Ieshiges grave stele in the Zōjō-ji cemetery

Ieshige resigned in favor of his son Ieharu on June 25, 1760, two weeks after Ōoka's death , and died in July of the following year. His grave is in the Zōjō-ji ( Shiba ); posthumously he was given the name Junshin-in . As usual, the court gave the deceased the real first court rank and the title of Grand Chancellor .

His remains were exhumed in 1958 and scientifically examined until 1960. It was found to have type A blood and misshapen teeth.

family

The descendants of his younger brothers formed two of the three branch lines ( Go-sankyō ) of the House of Tokugawa :

his second son

His main wife was Nami-no-miya, daughter of the imperial prince Fushimi-no-miya Kuninaga ( 伏 見 宮 邦 永 親王 ). His second wife Okō ( 於 幸 ), who had come to the shogunal court in the wake of the first, became the mother of his son and successor Ieharu. A third woman was the Anjō-in ( 安祥 院 ) from the house of the Miura . He also adopted an imperial princess.

Works, literature and sources

Ieshige was an excellent shogi player and wrote a book about it.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ramming, Martin (ed.); Japan Handbook , Berlin 1941, pp. 585, 604
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Tokugawa is the family name, Ieshige the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Tokugawa, Ieshige
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 徳 川 家 重 (Japanese); Nagatomimaru (childhood name); 長 福 丸 (Japanese, childhood name); Junshin-in (posthumous)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Shogun (1745-1760)
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1712
PLACE OF BIRTH Akasaka
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 1761