Tokugawa IenobuA shogun whose reign ended in a short one

Even in the Edo period, from the fourth shogun onwards, the shoguns were no longer direct descendants of the first Tokugawa Ieyasu, and were increasingly chosen from the Gosanke family and other branches. Nevertheless, the shogunate's rule remained stable, and it shifted course from military rule to civil rule.

In the midst of all this, Tokugawa Ienobu became the sixth Shogun. He became Shogun late and his reign was short, but he promoted Arai Hakuseki and other vassals to the Shogunate. We will introduce the life of this man who conducted stable politics.

Birth and complicated childhood

He was born on April 25, 2nd year of the Kanbun era (June 11, 1662) as the eldest son of Tokugawa Tsunashige at the Edo Nezu residence (present-day Nezu, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo). His mother was Tanaka Tokimichi's daughter, Yasuko. He was the eldest illegitimate child born to his mother, Yasuko, of low social standing, when his father was 19 years old, just before taking his legal wife, and so he was treated as an illegitimate child, even though he was the son of a feudal lord.

His father was afraid of public opinion and so entrusted him to his vassal, Niimi Masanobu, and so as an adopted son he took the name Niimi Sakon.

His birth mother passed away in 1664.

At the age of 9, he was officially called back as the successor to Tsunashige, who had no other sons, and when he came of age he was given the name Tsunatoyo, the first part of his uncle's name, the 4th Shogun, Ietsuna Tokugawa. On October 25, 1678, his father Tsunashige died, and at the age of 17, he inherited the family headship and was raised by his grandmother Junsei-in.

Who was Tokugawa Tsunashige?

Tokugawa Tsunashige was the lord of the Kofu domain in Kai Province.

Not only was he the father of the 6th Shogun of the Edo Shogunate, Tokugawa Ienobu, but he was also the third son of the 3rd Shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, the younger brother of the 4th Shogun, Tokugawa Ietsuna, and the older brother of the 5th Shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, making him a person of close descent from the main Tokugawa Shogunate family in Edo.

His mother was a concubine named Natsu (Junsei-in), his foster mother was his aunt Tenju-in (Senhime, daughter of Tokugawa Hidetada, wife of Toyotomi Hideyori, and later wife of Honda Tadatoki), and his wet nurse was Matsuzaka no Tsubone (daughter of Hatakeyama Yoshitsugu).

In April 1651 (Keian 4), just before the death of the third shogun, Iemitsu, he was granted the Kofu domain with 150,000 koku of rice and began living in a mansion in Sakurada, Edo.

His territories were scattered across Kai, Musashi, Shinano, Suruga, and Omi provinces, and he never traveled to his own territory. Later, he was appointed as a councilor in the imperial court, and came to be known as the Prime Minister of Kofu because of his Chinese name.

In 1654 (Shoo 3), the villa Kofu Hamayashiki (later Hama Rikyu) was built. In 1661 (Kanbun 1), he was granted an additional 100,000 koku, bringing his total to 250,000 koku. In 1662 (Kanbun 2), his eldest son Toramatsu (later Tsunatoyo and Ienobu) was born, but because he was an illegitimate child, he was left in the care of his retainers.

He died at the age of 35 in 1678 (Enpo 6), before his older brother, Ietsuna.

Candidate for the 5th and 6th Shogun

In 1680, when the 4th Shogun, Tokugawa Ietsuna, fell seriously ill, Tsunayoshi, along with Tsunashige's younger brother, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the lord of the Tatebayashi domain in Kozuke, became a leading candidate for the 5th Shogun, as Ietsuna had no sons. However, at that time, the senior councilor Hotta Masatoshi, who was related by blood to Iemitsu, was in conflict with the powerful chief minister Sakai Tadakiyo during Ietsuna's administration, and strongly recommended Ietsuna's half-brother Tsunayoshi as a candidate for Shogun, which meant that Tsunayoshi did not become Shogun.

However, the fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi, also had no male heir, and at one point the name of Tsunayoshi's son-in-law, Tokugawa Tsunanori, lord of the Kishu domain, was mentioned as a possible successor.

However, as he was the grandson of the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, and was therefore closer to the main Tokugawa bloodline, he was officially appointed as the heir to the shogunate and renamed "Ienobu."

He was adopted by Tsunayoshi and finally entered the Nishinomaru of Edo Castle on December 5, 1704 (December 31), when he was 43 years old, which was later than the previous Shoguns. With Tsunayoshi's succession as Shogun, the Kofu Tokugawa family became extinct and their vassals were organized as Shogunate retainers.

He died three years after assuming the position of Shogun.

In 1709, following the death of the fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi, he became the sixth shogun at the unusually late age of 48.
He gradually abolished the circulation of the Hoei Tsūhō coin, reformed the liquor tax, and partially abolished the Law on the Compassion for Living Things, the abolition of which was especially welcomed by the common people. Furthermore, following the resignation of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, he appointed Mabe Akifusa as chamberlain and Arai Hakuseki as scholars, and strongly promoted the civil government that had begun in the time of Tsunayoshi, and attempted financial reforms such as diplomacy with the Ryukyu Kingdom and the Joseon Dynasty, the issuance of the Hoei Law, and the issuance of the Shotoku Gold and Silver Coins by Arai Hakuseki.

However, after three years in office, he died on October 14, 1712 (November 12, 1712) at the age of 51 (died at the age of 50). Like Ietsuna and Tsunayoshi, Ienobu was not blessed with a successor, and the shogunate was succeeded by Ienobu's fourth son, Tokugawa Ietsugu, who was only three years old, and politics continued to depend on Hazamabe and Arai Hakuseki.

Civil government

Bunchiseiji refers to the period of government from the fourth shogun of the Edo shogunate, Tokugawa Ietsuna, to the seventh shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu.
The reigns from the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, to the third shogun, Iemitsu, are also known as military rule, and were a period in which the foundations of the Edo Shogunate were consolidated.

At that time, Toyotomi Hideyori was still alive and there were still potential conflicts in Osaka, and although the country had been unified, there were still some unstable areas, so it was necessary to be strict.

After the downfall of the Toyotomi clan in the Siege of Osaka, any other daimyo who rebelled against the shogunate or who violated the laws of the Buke Shohatto were ruthlessly demoted or reduced in status, regardless of whether they were related to the shogunate, hereditary vassals, or outsiders. As a result, a great number of ronin (masterless samurai) were born who lost their lords, and as they longed for war, public order deteriorated.

Furthermore, the daimyo's alternate attendance and auxiliary construction work, which were carried out to emphasize their military power as Shogun, resulted in huge expenses for the daimyo, which in turn led to hardship for the peasants.Then, the Great Kan'ei Famine, which occurred from 1640 to 1643, caused damage nationwide, revealing the limitations of the reliance on military power at the time.

When Iemitsu died of illness, his successor, the fourth shogun Ietsuna, was still a child, so in 1651, Masayuki Yui conspired with Tadaya Maruhashi and others to seize Ietsuna and stage an uprising to criticize the shogunate government and rescue ronin (masterless samurai) (Keian Incident). In addition, with Bekki Shozaemon plotting to attack the senior councilors (Shoo Incident), the shogunate was forced to change its policy from military rule.

Civil government: The era of Ietsuna

In place of the young Ietsuna, those who assisted the shogunate as advisors to the shogun were his uncle, Hoshina Masayuki, the lord of Aizu domain, and Sakai Tadakiyo, the lord of Umabashi domain and a senior councilor.

In particular, Masayuki Hoshina relaxed the ban on adopting children at the end of their lives in order to reduce the number of daimyo who were forced to relinquish their titles, which was the cause of the rise of ronin. In 1663, he revised the Buke Shohatto (laws for warriors) (Kanbun Code), prohibited suicide by junshi (committing suicide to a lord), which was common at the time, and abolished the daimyo witness system in which daimyo had to provide hostages.

This eliminated the military spirit that had continued since the Sengoku period, and the master-vassal relationships between the shogun and daimyo, and between daimyo and their vassals, changed from personal relationships to relationships in which the vassals served the master's household, ushering in a major change.
In addition, in 1664, he received the Kanbun Inchi certificate, thereby establishing himself as Shogun.

In rural areas, this was also a time when farmers began to decline due to the division and inheritance of farmland.

The shogunate and each feudal domain's financial resources depended on rice paid as annual tax, so in order to sustain the peasants, an order restricting land division was issued in 1673.

During this period, as Edo expanded as a city, the development of a water supply system became an issue, and the Tamagawa Aqueduct was constructed. In addition, the stable peace of the feudal lords reduced the burden of military service, and the domain governments became stable. With the Great Kan'ei Famine as a backdrop, new rice fields were developed vigorously, and as a result, the economy of the domains also developed.

In addition to Masayuki, other feudal lords who governed well during this period and were known as wise rulers included Ikeda Mitsumasa, the lord of Okayama, Tokugawa Mitsukuni, the lord of Mito, and Maeda Tsunanori, the lord of Kaga. However, the destruction of Edo Castle in the Great Fire of Meireki and its rebuilding, the decrease in gold mining from the Aikawa Gold Mine in Sado, and the fall in the price of rice relative to the prices of other goods led to financial difficulties for the shogunate.

After Hoshina Masayuki retired in 1669, Sakai Tadakiyo, who had been promoted to chief advisor, was ordered by Ietsuna to take charge of collective leadership along with other senior councilors including Inaba Masanori, Kuze Hiroyuki, Tsuchiya Kazunao, and Itakura Shigenori. He promoted the development of distribution and economic policies throughout the country, including thorough reform of religious sects, ordering the creation of a national register of religious sect members, dispatching inspectors to various provinces, establishing rules for mountains and rivers in various provinces, and ordering the wealthy merchant Kawamura Zuiken to develop shipping routes eastward and westward.

Civil government: The era of Tsunayoshi

In 1680, Ietsuna died without an heir, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the lord of the Tatebayashi domain. Soon after Tsunayoshi became the fifth shogun, the chief advisor, Hotta Masatoshi, was stabbed to death in the palace by the junior councilor Inaba Masayasu, and the chamberlain Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu gained real power.

Tsunayoshi had been fond of Confucianism since his time as lord of the Tatebayashi domain, and its influence was naturally reflected in his policies. In 1683, he issued the Tenwa Buke Shohatto.

It states, "Encourage the arts, martial arts, loyalty, and filial piety, and observe proper etiquette." It is a significant departure from the "way of archery and horse riding" that had been included in the Genna Buke Shohatto, and is said to have been intended to establish order through etiquette based on loyalty to one's lord and filial piety to one's ancestors.

We have also implemented the following measures to build and strengthen order through civility:
In order to strengthen the Shogun's authority, Imperial Court policies were relaxed, the Imperial Estate was increased by 10,000 koku, the Yushima Seido Temple was built, and Hayashi Houko was appointed head of the university.

Furthermore, since Tsunayoshi also had no heir, he issued the Order for the Protection of Animals, the Order for the Compassionate Treatment of Living Things, in 1687. On the one hand, it cannot be denied that this exacerbated the shogunate's financial difficulties. On the other hand, as can be seen from the Order for the Mourning of a Person (a law that stipulated the period of mourning for the death of a close relative) and the Order for the Prohibition of Abandoning Children, which were issued around the same time, it is said that the aim was to strengthen government by instilling a sense of morality in the people.

As mentioned above, the chronic financial deficit that had been occurring since Ietsuna's time worsened due to the extravagant spending of Tsunayoshi and his birth mother, Keishoin, and the adoption of the Edict for Compassionate Showing of Living Things, so the shogunate appointed Ogiwara Shigehide as the Chief Accountant and carried out the Genroku recoinage.Although the shogunate made profits from issuing currency, it also brought about what we would now call inflation, making life difficult for the common people.

On the other hand, this also led to the flourishing of Genroku culture, especially in the Kamigata region. He also established the Nagasaki Kaisho (exchange office) and restricted trade within Nagasaki.

Ienobu actively promoted the appointment of civil servants

Tokugawa Ienobu, who became the sixth shogun, actively appointed civil servants, just like his predecessor Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. Since the time of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, he had placed a high value on Ogiwara Shigehide, a shogunate official who had an excellent track record in financial matters. Ogiwara Shigehide played an active role as the brains behind financial policy in the Edo shogunate, not only during Tokugawa Ienobu's reign, but also afterwards.

However, he dismissed Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, who had served as a chamberlain to Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and had risen to the rank of chief advisor, and who held enormous power at the time, and carried out a bold bloodbath.

Although some policies were inherited from the Tokugawa Tsunayoshi era, he also did not hesitate to implement proactive reforms. As part of this policy of promoting talented people, he appointed such vassals from the Kofu era as Mabe Akifusa and Arai Hakuseki.

They advocated "virtuous rule" based on the idea of governing the people with the virtue of rulers, and were valued as the actual executors of the shogunate government under Tokugawa Ienobu.

It is true that there is a tendency to say that Ienobu is not highly regarded because he was the oldest of the 15 Tokugawa Shoguns to become Shogun and because his reign ended after only three years. However, the policies of his reign were continued by the 7th Shogun, and in recent years he has come to be regarded as having governed well.