Tokugawa Ienari (
Japanese: 徳川 家斉, November 18, 1773 – March 22, 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving shōgun of the
Tokugawa shogunate of
Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.[1] He was a great-grandson of the eighth shōgun
Tokugawa Yoshimune through his son Munetada (1721–1764), head of the Hitotsubashi branch of the family, and his grandson Harusada (1751–1827).
Ienari died in 1841 and was given the Buddhist name Bunkyouin and buried at
Kan'ei-ji.
Events of Ienari's bakufu
1787 (Tenmei 7): Ienari becomes the 11th shōgun of the
bakufu government.[1]
1788 (Tenmei 7): Riots in rice shops in
Edo and
Osaka.
March 6 – 11, 1788 (Tenmei 8, 29th day of the 1st month – 4th day of the second month): Great Fire of
Kyoto. A fire in the city, which begins at 3 o'clock in the morning of March 6 burns uncontrolled until the 1st day of the second month (March 8); and embers smolder until extinguished by heavy rain on the 4th day of the second month (March 11). The emperor and his court flee the fire, and the Imperial Palace is destroyed. No other re-construction is permitted until a new palace is completed. This fire was considered a major event. The Dutch VOCOpperhoofd in
Dejima noted in his official record book that "people are considering it to be a great and extraordinary heavenly portent."[2]
Ienari's time in office was marked by an era of pleasure, excess, and corruption, which ended in the disastrous Tenpō Famine of 1832–1837, in which thousands are known to have perished.
Family life
First wife
In 1778, the four-year-old Hitotsubashi Toyochiyo (豊千代), a minor figure in the Tokugawa clan hierarchy, was betrothed to Shimazu Shigehime[5] or Tadakohime, the four-year-old daughter of
Shimazu Shigehide, the tozama daimyō of
Satsuma Domain on the island of
Kyūshū. The significance of this alliance was dramatically enhanced when, in 1781, the young Toyochiyo was adopted by the childless shōgun,
Tokugawa Ieharu. This meant that when Toyochiyo became Shōgun Ienari in 1786, Shigehide was set to become the father-in-law of the shōgun.[6] The marriage was completed in 1789, after which Tadako became formally known as Midaidokoro Sadako, or "first wife" Sadako. Protocol required that she be adopted into a court family, and the
Konoe family agreed to take her in but this was a mere formality.[7]
Other relationships
Ienari kept a
harem of 900 women and fathered over 75 children.[8]
Many of Ienari's children were adopted into various daimyō houses throughout Japan, and some played important roles in the history of the
Bakumatsu and
Boshin War. Some of the more famous among them included: