View source for Tokugawa Ieshige

{{Short description|Military ruler of Japan from 1745 to 1760}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Tokugawa (surname)|Tokugawa]]|lang=Japanese}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Senior First Rank]]
| name                = Tokugawa Ieshige
| native_name         = {{Nobold|徳川 家重}}
| native_name_lang    = ja
| image               = Tokugawa Ieshige.jpg
| order               = ''[[Shōgun]]''
| monarch             = {{Plainlist|
* [[Emperor Sakuramachi|Sakuramachi]]
* [[Emperor Momozono|Momozono]]}}
| term_start          = 31 October 1745
| term_end            = 25 June 1760
| predecessor         = [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]]
| successor           = [[Tokugawa Ieharu]]
| spouse              =
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1712|1|28|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Minato, Tokyo|Minato]], [[Edo]], [[Tokugawa shogunate]]<br>(now [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]])
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1761|7|13|1712|1|28|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Edo]], [[Tokugawa shogunate]]
| signature           = Tokugawa Ieshige kao.jpg
}}
'''Tokugawa Ieshige'''; 徳川 家重 (28 January 1712 – 13 July 1761) was the ninth ''[[shōgun]]'' of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] of [[Japan]].

The first son of [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]], his mother was the daughter of Ōkubo Tadanao, known as Osuma no kata. His mother died in 1713 when he was only 2 years old, so he was raised by Yoshimune's concubine, Okon no Kata; Okon later gave birth to [[Tokugawa Munetake]], so he was raised by another of Yoshimune's concubines, Okume no Kata, as her biological son.

His childhood name was Nagatomi-maru (長福丸). He underwent the ''[[genpuku]]'' coming-of-age ceremony in 1725. His first wife, Nami-no-miya, was the daughter of Prince [[Fushimi-no-miya]] Kuninaga (伏見宮 邦永親王). In 1733, Nami-no-Miya Masuko had a miscarriage and died. His second wife, Okō, was the daughter of one of the courtiers who had followed his first wife from the Imperial Court to the Shogunal Court in [[Edo]]. This famously good-natured second wife was the mother of Ieharu, who would become Ieshige's heir.<ref>Screech, T. ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822'', p. 130.</ref> In ''Enkyō'' 2 or 1745, Ieshige was made shogun.<ref name="t418">Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du Japon'', p. 418.</ref>

Ieshige suffered from chronic ill health and a severe [[speech defect]] which rendered his speaking nearly incomprehensible.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Totman |first1=Conrad |title=Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu |date=1967 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674688001}}</ref> Yoshimune's choice of Ieshige as his heir created considerable controversy within the shogunate as his younger brothers [[Tokugawa Munetake]] and [[Tokugawa Munetada]] appeared to be far more suitable candidates. Yoshimune continued to insist on his decision, favoring the [[Edo neo-Confucianism|Confucian]] principle of [[primogeniture]]; and Ieshige continued in the role of formal head of the shogunate.  Yoshimune directed affairs after his official retirement in 1745.  This  attention was designed to ensure that Ieshige was secure in his office. Ieshige remained shogun until 1760.

Uninterested in government affairs, Ieshige left all decisions in the hands of his [[Chamberlain of Japan|chamberlain]], {{ill|Ōoka Tadamitsu|jp|大岡忠光|vertical-align=sup}} (1709–1760). He officially retired in 1760 and assumed the title of ''Ōgosho,'' appointed his first son [[Tokugawa Ieharu]] as the 10th ''shōgun'', and died the following year.

Ieshige's second son [[Tokugawa Shigeyoshi]] became the founder of the Shimizu Tokugawa clan, which together with the Tayasu and Hitotsubashi (established by Ieshige's younger brothers) became the ''[[gosankyō]]'', three [[cadet branch]]es of the [[Tokugawa clan|Tokugawa]] family from which future shoguns might be selected if the main line were to die out. They joined the existing three cadet branches, the ''[[gosanke]]'', to which Ieshige's father Yoshimune had been born.

Ieshige's reign was beset by corruption, natural disasters, periods of famine and the emergence of the mercantile class, and his clumsiness in dealing with these issues greatly weakened the rule of Tokugawa.

[[File:TokugawaIeshige grave.JPG|thumb|Ieshige's commemorative memorial at [[Zōjō-ji]] ]]
Ieshige died in 1761.  His [[posthumous title]] is ''Junshin-in;'' and his grave is at the Tokugawa family mausoleum at [[Zōjō-ji]] in [[Shiba, Tokyo|Shiba]]. His remains were disinterred and underwent scientific investigation from 1958 to 1960. It was discovered that his teeth were crooked and badly deformed, confirming historical references to his speech defect.

==Family==
* Father: [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]]
* Mother: Osuma no Kata (1688–1713)
* Adopted Mother: Okume no Kata later Kakuju-in (1697–1777)
* Wife: {{ill|Nami-no-Miya Masuko|jp|増子女王|vertical-align=sup}} (1711–1733) later Shōmei'in and buried in [[Kan'ei-ji]]
* Concubines: 
** Oko no Kata later Shinshin'in (d. 1748)
** Oshizu no Kata
** Oyu no Kata (1721–1789) later Ansho-in
* Children:
** [[Tokugawa Ieharu]] born by Oko no Kata
** [[Tokugawa Shigeyoshi]] born by Oitsu no Kata

==Eras during Ieshige's rule==
The years in which Ieshige was shogun are more specifically identified by more than one [[Japanese era names|era name]] or ''[[nengō]]''.<ref name="t418"/>
* ''[[Enkyō (Edo period)|Enkyō]]''  (1744–1748)
* ''[[Kan'en]]''  (1748–1751)
* ''[[Hōreki]]''  (1751–1764)

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center |ref=<ref name=descent>{{cite web|url=https://reichsarchiv.jp/%e5%ae%b6%e7%b3%bb%e3%83%aa%e3%82%b9%e3%83%88/%e5%be%b3%e5%b7%9d%ef%bc%88%e5%be%b7%e5%b7%9d%ef%bc%89%e6%b0%8f%ef%bc%88%e5%b0%86%e8%bb%8d%e5%ae%b6%ef%bc%89#iesige|title=Genealogy|website=Reichsarchiv|access-date=4 July 2018|language=ja}}</ref> 
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Tokugawa Ieshige, 9th [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa Shōgun]]'''
|2= 2. [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]], 8th [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa Shōgun]] (1684-1751)
|3= 3. [[:ja:深徳院|Shintokuin]] (1688-1713)
|4= 4. [[Tokugawa Mitsusada]], 2nd ''daimyō'' of [[Kishū Domain|Kishū]] (1627-1705)
|5= 5. [[:ja:浄円院|Jōenin]] (1655-1726)
|6= 6. [[:ja:大久保忠直 (紀州藩士)|Ōkubo Tadanao]] (d. 1726)
|7= 7. Ōkubo 
|8= 8. [[Tokugawa Yorinobu]], 1st ''daimyō'' of [[Kishū Domain|Kishū]] (1602-1671)
|9= 9. Nakagawa-dono
|10=
|11=
|12=12. Kanō Hisashi 
|13= 
|14=14. [[:ja:大久保忠舊|Ōkubo Tadafuru]] (d. 1646)
|15=  
}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Timon Screech|Screech]], Timon. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns:  Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822.'' London: [[Routledge]].  {{ISBN|0-7007-1720-X}}
* [[Isaac Titsingh|Titsingh]], Isaac. (1822). ''Illustrations of Japan.''  London: Ackerman.
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/[[Hayashi Gahō]], 1652], ''[[Nipon o daï itsi ran]]''; ou, [https://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran ''Annales des empereurs du Japon.'']  Paris: [[Royal Asiatic Society|Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland]].
*Totman, Conrad.  (1967). ''Politics in the Tokugawa bakufu, 1600–1843''. Cambridge: [[Harvard University Press]].

== External links ==
*{{commons-inline}}

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{{succession box | title=''[[Shōgun]]'':<br />Tokugawa Ieshige | before=[[Tokugawa Yoshimune]] | after=[[Tokugawa Ieharu]] | years=1745–1760}}
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{{Tokugawa dynasty (Japan)}}
{{Tokugawa chronology (Japan)}}
{{Tokugawa_officials}}
{{Shoguns}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokugawa, Ieshige}}
[[Category:1712 births]]
[[Category:1761 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century shōguns]]
[[Category:Kishū-Tokugawa clan]]
[[Category:Tokugawa shōguns]]
[[Category:Tokugawa clan]]