5.3 Edo Period 1651 – 1716: The Heirs of Tokugawa Iemitsu
The Heirs of Iemitsu
In 1651 Shogun Iemitsu died. He was succeeded by Tokugawa Ietsuna (1641-1680). Ietsuna was the eldest son of Iemitsu and the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada and the great-grandson of Ieyasu.
During Ietsuna’s rule there were two major rebellions by rōnin (masterless samurai). The problem with the samurai was that with peace there was no work and the social freeze kept those not employed unemployed. They could not enrich themselves by taking booty. There was no upward mobility possible for the lower grades of samurai and their stipend in rice fluctuated in value with the rice market.
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646-1709) was the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty and reigned during the Genroku Era. He was the younger brother of Ietsuna and the son of Iemitsu. Tsunayoshi was brought up not as a samurai but as a scholar and was the first Tokugawa shogun who was not primarily a samurai. Tsunayoshi was heavily influenced by his mother, one of Iemitsu’s concubines. From her he derived strict Buddhist beliefs and he relied upon her advice until her death. Tsunayoshi enjoyed Confucian classics, art, and Noh. He outlawed prostitution, did not allow waitresses to be employed in tea houses, and banned rare and expensive fabrics. He also took an interest in the West from the 1691 visit by Engelbert Kaempfer, who visited Edo as part of the annual Dutch embassy trip.
He is best known for instituting animal protection laws, particularly for dogs, earning the nickname of Inu–Kubō, “the dog shogun.” He issued daily edicts protecting dogs. Mistreatment of dogs was severely punished. He set up a kennel housing 50,000 dogs. Citizens were required to address dogs as O Inu Sama, “Honorable Dog.”
When Tsunayoshi died in 1709, he left no living male heirs.
Tokugawa Ienobu (1662 –1712) the daimyō of Kōfu succeeded Tsunayoshi as the sixth Tokugawa shogun. He was the nephew of Tokugawa Ietsuna and Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.
Ienobu immediately went to work on reforms. He continued the process changing the bakufu to a civilian institution from a military one. He abolished several of the controversial laws and edicts of Tsunayoshi. He revised the Buke-Sho-Hatto (Laws for the Military Houses), which was a collection of edicts by the Tokugawa shogunate governing the responsibilities and activities of daimyō and the samurai. Censorship was discontinued. Cruel punishments and persecutions were discontinued, and the judicial system was reformed.
Ienobu continued Neo-Confucianism as state orthodoxy. Years prior to being shogun, Ienobu’s personal tutor, Arai Hakuseki, taught him the Chinese classics and Confucianism. Ienobu continued to rely on Hakuseki after he became shogun. Neo-Confucianism even appeared in the buke sho-hatto: the samurai were to give themselves equally to the practice of arms and the pursuit of polite learning, i.e., Confucianism.
The Emperor and Court
Ienobu attempted to significantly improve relations with the emperor and the court. In 1711, he had discussions with the Fujiwara regent, Konoe Motohiro, and they decided that younger sons of emperors could form new branches of the imperial throne and that their daughters can marry (in fact, a younger sister of Emperor Nakamikado married Ienobu’s younger son, the future Shogun Ietsugu). They also agreed that the bakufu would offer financial grants to the court. Many court ceremonies were also revived, such as the ceremonial investiture when Tomohito-shinnō was proclaimed crown prince.
After Shogun Ienobu died, he was succeeded by his toddler son, Tokugawa Ietsugu. Tokugawa Ietsugu (1709 –1716) was the seventh shogun of the Tokugawa Dynasty. He was the son of Tokugawa Ienobu, thus making him the grandson of Tsunashige, great-grandson of Iemitsu, great-great grandson of Hidetada, and finally the great-great-great grandson of Ieyasu. He was appointed shogun at the age of 3 and was married to the daughter of Emperor Reigen, at the age of 4. Of course, being too young, the rule of the country was carried on by his advisors, particularly his father’s advisor Hakuseki.
When Ietsugu died of a cold in 1716 at the age of 6, the direct descendants of Tokugawa Iemitsu came to an end. The new shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune was chosen from a lineal Tokugawa branch.