Tokugawa Yoshinobu

Tokugawa Yoshinobu, also known as Tokugawa Keiki, was the 15th and last shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned his position as shogun in late 1867, while aiming at keeping some political influence. After these efforts failed following the defeat at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in early 1868, he went into retirement, and largely avoided the public eye for the rest of his life. Tokugawa Yoshinobu was born in Edo as the seventh son of Tokugawa Nariaki, the daimyō of Mito, one of the gosanke, the three branch families of the Tokugawa clan which were eligible to be chosen as shogun. His birth name was Matsudaira Shichirōmaro. His mother, Princess Arisugawa Yoshiko, was a member of the Arisugawa-no-miya, a cadet branch of the imperial family; through her, he was a third cousin of the then-Emperor Ninkō. Shichirōmaro was brought up under strict, spartan supervision and tutelage. His father Nariaki followed the example of the second Mito daimyō, Tokugawa Mitsukuni, who had sent all his sons after the firstborn to be raised in Mito. Shichirōmaro was seven months old when he arrived in Mito in 1838. He was taught in the literary and martial arts, as well as receiving a solid education in the principles of politics and government at Kōdōkan. At the instigation of his father, Shichirōmaro was adopted by the Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa family in order to have a better chance of succeeding to the shogunate and changed his first name to Akimune. He became family head in 1847, coming of age that year, receiving court rank and title, and taking the name Yoshinobu. Upon the death of the 13th shōgun, Iesada, in 1858, Yoshinobu was nominated as a potential successor. His supporters touted his skill and efficiency in managing family affairs. However, the opposing faction, led by Ii Naosuke, won out. Their candidate, the young Tokugawa Yoshitomi, was chosen, and became the 14th shōgun Iemochi. Soon after, during the Ansei Purge, Yoshinobu and others who supported him were placed under house arrest. Yoshinobu himself was made to retire from Hitotsubashi headship. The period of Ii's domination of the Tokugawa government was marked by mismanagement and political infighting. Upon Ii's assassination in 1860, Yoshinobu was reinstated as Hitotsubashi family head, and was nominated in 1862 to be the shōgun's guardian, receiving the position soon afterwards. At the same time, his two closest allies, Matsudaira Yoshinaga and Matsudaira Katamori, were appointed to other high positions: Yoshinaga as chief of political affairs and Katamori as Guardian of Kyoto. The three men then took numerous steps to quell political unrest in the Kyoto area, and gathered allies to counter the activities of the rebellious Chōshū Domain. They also tried to reform the shogunate by bringing the Imperial court and the shogun into closer harmony and allowing the great lords to have some voice in the decision-making processes. Under pressure, Yoshinobu agreed to expel all foreigners from the country on June 25, 1863. When that day passed with no action, however, criticism of the shogunate again increased. In 1864, the radical rulers of the fief of Chōshū openly defied the central government, and Yoshinobu successfully mounted a punitive expedition. After the forces of the shogunate withdrew, however, in 1865, the radicals again assumed power in Chōshū. A second expedition against the fief the following year was defeated, because many of the great lords, alienated by Yoshinobu's attempts to reassert his authority at their expense, refused to come to his aid. In 1866, the shōgun Iemochi died, and Yoshinobu was finally chosen as the 15th shōgun. He accepted the post reluctantly, realizing that the shogunate was in a precarious situation. He tried to maintain a balance between the pro- and anti-shogunate factions, but his efforts were undermined by the increasing power of the Satsuma and Chōshū domains, which had formed an alliance against the shogunate. He also faced opposition from the Imperial court, which was influenced by the radical loyalists who advocated the restoration of the emperor's rule. In 1867, Yoshinobu decided to resign as shogun and return the political power to the emperor, hoping to preserve the Tokugawa house and participate in the future government. He had the support of most of the other daimyōs, who welcomed the end of the shogunate and the establishment of a new order. However, his plan was rejected by the Satsuma and Chōshū leaders, who saw it as a ploy to retain the Tokugawa influence. They also claimed that Yoshinobu had no right to act without the emperor's consent, and that the only legitimate course of action was to overthrow the shogunate by force. They persuaded the young Emperor Meiji to issue an edict abolishing the shogunate. Yoshinobu initially accepted the edict, but later changed his mind and resisted the imperial decree. He gathered his loyal forces and prepared for a military confrontation with the Satsuma-Chōshū alliance. The Boshin War broke out in January 1868, when the shogunate forces clashed with the imperial troops at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi. The battle resulted in a decisive victory for the imperial side, which had superior numbers and modern weaponry. Yoshinobu fled to Edo, where he tried to reorganize his army and seek foreign intervention. However, he soon realized that his cause was hopeless, and that he had no support from the other daimyōs or the foreign powers. He surrendered to the imperial envoy in April 1868, and formally relinquished his authority as shogun. He was spared from execution, but was stripped of his lands and titles. He was placed under house arrest in Mito, his ancestral domain, and later moved to Shizuoka, where he lived in seclusion. Yoshinobu spent his retirement years in various pursuits, such as studying Western culture, painting, photography, and poetry. He also practiced archery and horseback riding, and occasionally traveled around the country. He maintained a correspondence with some of his former allies and enemies, and occasionally received visits from them. He also reconciled with the imperial court, and was granted the title of prince in 1902. He died of pneumonia in 1913, at the age of 75. He was buried at the Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo, near the graves of the shōguns of the Kan'ei-ji mausoleum. He was the last surviving member of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the longest-lived shōgun in Japanese history.