Tokugawa Ietsuna
Encyclopedia
was the fourth shogun
of the Tokugawa dynasty
of Japan
who was in office from 1651 to 1680. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Iemitsu
, thus making him the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada
and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu
.
. At that time his father was shogun in his own right, and had enacted several anti-Christian measures after the bloody Shimabara 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.
In this period, regents exercised power in the shogun's name. These were Sakai 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 the ronin
(masterless samurai). During the reign of Shogun Iemitsu, two samurai, Yui Shosetsu
and Marubashi Chuya
, 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 the shogun, other members of the Tokugawa and high officials would be executed. Similar occurrences would happen in Kyoto
and Osaka
. Shosetsu was himself of humble birth and he saw Toyotomi 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 the Keian Uprising
or the "Tosa Conspiracy". Chuya was brutally executed along with his family and Shosetsu's family. Shosetsu choose to commit seppuku rather than being captured.
In 1652, about 800 ronin led a small disturbance on Sado Island, and this was also brutally suppressed. But for the most part, the remainder of Ietsuna's rule was not disturbed anymore by the ronin as the government became more civilian oriented.
In Meireki 3 (1657), on the 18th-19th day of the 1st month, when Shogun Ietsuna was almost 20 years old, a great fire erupted in Edo and burned the city to the ground. It took two years to rebuild the city and bakufu officials supervised the rebuilding of the city. In 1659, Shogun Ietsuna presided over the opening ceremonies.
, Tsuchiya Kazunao, Kuze Hiroyuki, and Inaba Masanori
. Even though Ietsuna was now ruling in his own right, these former regents now became his official advisors, and in some cases, acted for him. In some cases, however, Ietsuna acted upon his own accord, as when he came up with the idea of abolishing junshi
, where a samurai follows his lord into death.
Another example of this is in 1671, when the Date family of Sendai
was involved in a succession dispute. The bakufu intervened, and prevented another rendition of the Ōnin War
. By 1671, however, many of the former regents were either dead or retired, and Ietsuna began to rule in his own right.
In 1679, Shogun Ietsuna fell ill. His succession began to be discussed, in which Sakai Tadakiyo
took an active role. He suggested that a son of Emperor Go-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 the son of Shogun Iemitsu and Shogun Ietsuna's younger brother, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
, to become shogun.
Tadakiyo retired, embarrassed, and shortly after, Tokugawa Ietsuna died in 1680. His posthumous name was Genyūin. 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.
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
of the Tokugawa dynasty
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
who was in office from 1651 to 1680. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Iemitsu ruled from 1623 to 1651.-Early life :...
, thus making him the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada
Tokugawa Hidetada
was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Early life :...
and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
.
Early Life (1641-1651)
Tokugawa Ietsuna was born in 1641, the eldest son of Tokugawa IemitsuTokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Iemitsu ruled from 1623 to 1651.-Early life :...
. At that time his father was shogun in his own right, and had enacted several anti-Christian measures after the bloody Shimabara Rebellion
Shimabara Rebellion
The was an uprising largely involving Japanese peasants, most of them Catholic Christians, in 1637–1638 during the Edo period.It was one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule...
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.
Shogunal Regency (1651-1663)
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, Minamoto no Ietsuna became shogun in Kei'an 4 (1651). Until he came of age, five regents were to rule in his place; but Shogun Ietsuna nevertheless assumed a role as formal head of the bakufu bureaucracy.In this period, regents exercised power in the shogun's name. These were Sakai Tadakatsu
Sakai Tadakatsu
, also known as Sanuki-no-kami, was tairō, rōjū, master of Wakasa-Obama castle and daimyo of Obama Domain in Wakasa province in the mid-17th century...
, Sakai Tadakiyo
Sakai Tadakiyo
, also known as Uta-no-kami, was a daimyō in Kōzuke Province, and a high-ranking government advisor and official in the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan....
, Inaba Masanori
Inaba Masanori
was a daimyō of Odawara Domain in Sagami Province in early-Edo period Japan. His courtesy title was Mino no Kami.-Biography:...
, Matsudaira Nobutsuna
Matsudaira Nobutsuna
was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period, who ruled the Kawagoe Domain. First serving Tokugawa Iemitsu as a page, Nobutsuna was renowned for his sagacity. He was named a rōjū in 1633. Nobutsuna led the shogunal forces to their final victory over the rebellion at Shimabara...
(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 the ronin
Ronin
A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....
(masterless samurai). During the reign of Shogun Iemitsu, two samurai, Yui Shosetsu
Yui Shosetsu
Yui Shōsetsu was a military strategist, and leader of the unsuccessful 1651 Keian Uprising. Though a commoner, and thus not officially of the samurai class, Yui was known as one of the "Three Great Ronin" along with Kumazawa Banzan and Yamaga Sokō.Born in Sunpu to humble origins, Yui is said to...
and Marubashi Chuya
Marubashi Chuya
was a ronin from Yamagata, and instructor in martial arts and military strategy, most famous for his involvement in the 1651 Keian Uprising which sought to overthrow Japan's Tokugawa shogunate...
, had been planning an uprising in which the city of Edo would be burned to the ground and, amidst the confusion, Edo Castle
Edo Castle
, also known as , is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is located in Chiyoda in Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also...
would be raided and the shogun, other members of the Tokugawa and high officials would be executed. Similar occurrences would happen in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
and Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
. Shosetsu was himself of humble birth and he saw Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
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 the Keian Uprising
Keian uprising
The was a failed coup d'etat attempt carried out against the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan in 1651, by a number of ronin. Though it failed, the event is historically significant as an indication of a wider problem of disgruntled ronin throughout the country at the time...
or the "Tosa Conspiracy". Chuya was brutally executed along with his family and Shosetsu's family. Shosetsu choose to commit seppuku rather than being captured.
In 1652, about 800 ronin led a small disturbance on Sado Island, and this was also brutally suppressed. But for the most part, the remainder of Ietsuna's rule was not disturbed anymore by the ronin as the government became more civilian oriented.
In Meireki 3 (1657), on the 18th-19th day of the 1st month, when Shogun Ietsuna was almost 20 years old, a great fire erupted in Edo and burned the city to the ground. It took two years to rebuild the city and bakufu officials supervised the rebuilding of the city. In 1659, Shogun Ietsuna presided over the opening ceremonies.
Bakufu Power Struggle (1663-1671)
In 1663, the regency for Shogun Ietsuna ended, but the regents still held power for him, the first time that the power behind the bakufu was not a former shogun. Ietsuna's chief advisors were now Hoshina Masayuki, Ietsuna's uncle (whom he had deep regard for) Itakura ShigenoriItakura Shigenori
was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period. Shigenori's daimyō family claimed descent from the Shibukawa branch of the Seiwa-Genji. The Itakura identified its clan origins in Mikawa province, and the progeny of Katsuhige , including the descendants of his second son Shigemasa , were known as...
, Tsuchiya Kazunao, Kuze Hiroyuki, and Inaba Masanori
Inaba Masanori
was a daimyō of Odawara Domain in Sagami Province in early-Edo period Japan. His courtesy title was Mino no Kami.-Biography:...
. Even though Ietsuna was now ruling in his own right, these former regents now became his official advisors, and in some cases, acted for him. In some cases, however, Ietsuna acted upon his own accord, as when he came up with the idea of abolishing junshi
Junshi
, refers to the medieval Japanese act of vassals committing seppuku upon the death of their lord...
, where a samurai follows his lord into death.
- 1663 (Kanbun 3). The shogunate banned suicides due to fidelity (junshi).
- 1669 (Kanbun 9). An Ainu RebellionShakushain's Revoltwas an Ainu rebellion against Japanese authority on Hokkaidō between 1669 to 1672. It was led by Ainu chieftain Shakushain against the Matsumae clan, who represented Japanese trading and governmental interests in the area of Hokkaidō then controlled by the Japanese .The war initially began as a...
breaks out in HokkaidoHokkaido, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
Another example of this is in 1671, when the Date family of Sendai
Sendai, Miyagi
is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and the largest city in the Tōhoku Region. In 2005, the city had a population of one million, and was one of Japan's 19 designated cities...
was involved in a succession dispute. The bakufu intervened, and prevented another rendition of the Ōnin War
Onin War
The ' was a civil war that lasted 10 years during the Muromachi period in Japan. A dispute between Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen escalated into a nationwide war involving the Ashikaga shogunate and a number of daimyo in many regions of Japan....
. By 1671, however, many of the former regents were either dead or retired, and Ietsuna began to rule in his own right.
Shogun Ietsuna (1671-1680)
Following the succession dispute of the Date, very few disturbances occurred for the remainder of Ietsuna's reign, except some defiant daimyo.In 1679, Shogun Ietsuna fell ill. His succession began to be discussed, in which Sakai Tadakiyo
Sakai Tadakiyo
, also known as Uta-no-kami, was a daimyō in Kōzuke Province, and a high-ranking government advisor and official in the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan....
took an active role. He suggested that a son of Emperor Go-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 the son of Shogun Iemitsu and Shogun Ietsuna's younger brother, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
was the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, thus making him the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu....
, to become shogun.
- June 4, 1680 (Enpō 8, 8th day of the 5th month): Shogun Ietsuna dies; and he is succeeded as shogun by Tsunayoshi.
Tadakiyo retired, embarrassed, and shortly after, Tokugawa Ietsuna died in 1680. His posthumous name was Genyūin. 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.
Eras of Ietsuna's bakufu
The years in which Ietsuna was shogun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.- KeianKeianwas a after Shōhō and before Jōō. This period spanned the years from February 1648 through September 1652. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:...
(1648–1652) - Jōō (1652–1655)
- MeirekiMeirekiwas a after Jōō and before Manji. This period spanned the years from April 1655 to July 1658. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:* 1655 : The era name was changed to mark the enthronement of Emperor Go-Sai...
(1655–1658) - ManjiManji (era)was a after Meireki and before Kanbun. This period spanned the years from July 1658 through April 1661. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:* 1658 : The era name was changed to mark a disastrous, great fire in Edo...
(1658–1661) - KanbunKanbun (era), also romanized as Kambun, was a after Manji and before Enpō. This period spanned the years from April 1661 to September 1673. The reigning emperors were and .-Change of era:...
(1661–1673) - EnpōEnpo, also Empo, was a after Kanbun and before Tenna. This period spanned the years from September 1673 to September 1681. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:...
(1673–1681)