Tokugawa Ietsuna | |
|---|---|
徳川 家綱 | |
 Tokugawa Ietsuna | |
| Shōgun | |
| In office 10 September 1651 – 4 June 1680 | |
| Monarchs | |
| Preceded by | Tokugawa Iemitsu |
| Succeeded by | Tokugawa Tsunayoshi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1641-09-07)7 September 1641 |
| Died | 4 June 1680(1680-06-04) (aged 38) |
| Children | Naohime |
| Parents | |
| Signature |  |
Tokugawa Ietsuna (徳川 家綱; 7 September 1641 – 4 June 1680) was the fourthshōgun of theTokugawa dynasty ofJapan who was in office from 1651 to 1680. He is considered the eldest son ofTokugawa Iemitsu, which makes him the grandson ofTokugawa Hidetada and the great-grandson ofTokugawa Ieyasu.
Tokugawa Ietsuna was born in 1641, allegedly the eldest son ofTokugawa Iemitsu with his concubine, Oraku no Kata later Houjuin. Later Ietsuna was raised with his sister,Chiyohime (born by Ofuri) by Iemitsu's concubine, Oman no kata (later Eikoin) and Iemitsu's wife, Takatsukasa Takako later Honriin. After Eikoin retired,Senhime (also called Tenjuin) raised him with Honriin.[1] At that time his father was shogun in his own right and had enacted several anti-Christian measures after the bloodyShimabara Rebellion of 1637. Though the suppression of this rebellion quelled all serious threats to Tokugawa rule, it was nonetheless an unsure era. Ietsuna was a frail child, and this carried over into his adult years. Nothing else is known of his youth. His childhood name was Takechiyo (竹千代).
Parents
Adopted daughter:
Tokugawa Iemitsu died in early 1651, at the age of forty-seven. After his death, the Tokugawa dynasty was at major risk. Ietsuna, the heir, was only ten years old. Nonetheless, despite his age, Tokugawa Ietsuna became shogun inKei'an 4 (1651).[2] Until he came of age, five regents were to rule in his place, but Shogun Ietsuna nevertheless assumed a role as formal head of thebakufu bureaucracy.
In this period, regents exercised power in theshogun's name.[1] These wereSakai Tadakatsu,Sakai Tadakiyo,Inaba Masanori,Matsudaira Nobutsuna (a distant member of the Tokugawa), and one other. In addition to this regency, Iemitsu handpicked his half-brother,Hoshina Masayuki.
The first thing that Shogun Ietsuna and the regency had to address was therōnin (masterless samurai). During the reign of Shogun Iemitsu, two samurai,Yui Shōsetsu andMarubashi Chūya, had been planning an uprising in which the city of Edo would be burned to the ground and, amidst the confusion,Edo Castle would be raided and theshōgun, other members of the Tokugawa and high officials would be executed. Similar occurrences would happen inKyoto andOsaka. Shosetsu was himself of humble birth and he sawToyotomi Hideyoshi as his idol.
Nonetheless, the plan was discovered after the death of Iemitsu, and Ietsuna's regents were brutal in suppressing the rebellion, which came to be known as theKeian Uprising or the "Tosa Conspiracy".[3] Chuya was brutally executed along with his family and Shosetsu's family. Shosetsu chose to commitseppuku rather than being captured.
In 1652, about 800rōnin led a small disturbance onSado Island, and this was also brutally suppressed. But for the most part, the remainder of Ietsuna's rule was not disturbed anymore by therōnin as the government became more civilian-oriented.
InMeireki 3 (1657), on the 18th–19th days of the 1st month, when Ietsuna was almost 20 years old, a great fire broke out in Edo and burned the city to the ground. Ietsuna's concubine Oyo burned to death in the fire.[4] It took two years to rebuild the city andbakufu officials supervised the rebuilding of the city. In 1659, Ietsuna presided over the opening ceremonies. In the 11th month he married Asa no Miya Akiko, daughter of Fushimi no Miya Sadakiyo. It is said that his relationship was quite good with Asa no Miya, though they didn't have a child; they adopted Naohime, daughter ofTokugawa Mitsutomo.
In 1663, the regency forshōgun Ietsuna ended, but the regents still exercise authority, which was the first time that the power behind the bakufu was not a formershōgun. Ietsuna's chief advisors wereHoshina Masayuki, Ietsuna's uncle (for whom he had deep regard)Itakura Shigenori,Tsuchiya Kazunao,Kuze Hiroyuki, andInaba Masanori. Even though Ietsuna was then ruling in his own right, those former regents became his official advisors, and in some cases, acted on his behalf. In some cases however, Ietsuna acted on his own accord, as when he abolishedjunshi, the custom in which a samurai committed suicide to follow his lord in death.
In 1671, theDate clan ofSendai had a succession dispute. The bakufu intervened and prevented another reiteration of theŌnin War. By that time many of the former regents were either dead or retired, and Ietsuna became more invested in the affairs of state.
Following the succession dispute of the Date, very few disturbances occurred for the remainder of Ietsuna's reign, except some defiantdaimyōs.
In 1679,shōgun Ietsuna fell ill. His succession began to be discussed, in whichSakai Tadakiyo took an active role. He suggested that a son of EmperorGo-Sai become the next shogun, following the precedent of the later Kamakura shoguns, who in reality were members of the blood royal. Tadakiyo probably saw himself as becoming powerful like the Hōjō regents, and thus many members of the Tokugawa blood preferred Shogun Ietsuna's younger brotherTokugawa Tsunayoshi, also a son of Shogun Iemitsu, to becomeshōgun.
Tadakiyo retired, embarrassed, and shortly after, Tokugawa Ietsuna died in 1680. His posthumous name was Genyū-in (厳有院) and was buried inKan'ei-ji.[6] He was succeeded by his younger brother, Tsunayoshi.
Though Ietsuna proved to be an able leader, affairs were largely controlled by the regents his father had appointed, even after Ietsuna was declared old enough to rule in his own right.
The years in which Ietsuna wasshōgun are more specifically identified by more than oneera name ornengō.[7]
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Media related toTokugawa Ietsuna at Wikimedia Commons| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Shōgun: Tokugawa Ietsuna 1651–1680 | Succeeded by |
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All Tokugawashōguns share descent fromIeyasu, who is recognized as the dynasty's founder. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Timeline and paternities of theTokugawa Shogunate | ||
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 | Lifespan Reign | |