was ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of Owari Domain during early-

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Biography

Tokugawa Yoshimichi was the 10th son of the 3rd ''

'' of Owari Domain, Tokugawa Tsunanari by a concubine, Hōju-in, who was believed to have been a commoner. His childhood name was Matsudaira Yabutaro (松平藪太郎) later become Yoshito (吉郎) and changed again to Gorota (五郎太). On August 25, 1695, he was permitted to take the Tokugawa surname in place of Matsudaira, and in December of the same year was awarded with one ''

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

'' from Shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's name, lower 4th court rank and ceremonial court title of Captain of the Left Guards. On the death of his father in 1699, Yoshimichi officially became the 4th Tokugawa ''daimyō'' of Owari Domain with 3rd Court Rank, but since he was only age 11 at the time, his uncle Matsudaira Yoshiyuki served as regent, and he continued to reside at the Yotsuya residence of his mother in Edo until 1705. During this period, he studied

Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

, and

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

, and later was considered to be a scholarly and wise ruler of

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces w ...

. He was awarded the title of '' Chūnagon'' on November 28, 1704. He was also ranked as the 8th master of the

Yagyū Shinkage-ryū is one of the oldest Japanese schools of swordsmanship (''kenjutsu''). Its primary founder was Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, who called the school Shinkage-ryū. In 1565, Nobutsuna bequeathed the school to his greatest student, Yagyū Munetoshi, who ...

school of Japanese swordsmanship. In addition to his official wife (a daughter of court noble Kujō Tsukezane) by whom he had a son, Yoshimichi had also had two concubines, by whom he had two daughters. Yoshimichi died on July 26, 1713, under somewhat uncertain circumstances. It is known that he was held in high regard by Shōgun Tokugawa Ienobu, who approached Yoshimichi in 1712 with regards to his possible succession to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

– a post for which he declared to have no desire or ambition. Plans for Yochimichi to either succeed Ienonu, or to act as regent for Ienobu's infant son were vehemently opposed by Ienobu's councilor, Arai Hakuseki. However, in May 1713, a plot by some of his retainers in Nagoya resulted in twelve sentences of death or '' seppuku,'' and Yoshimichi went into permanently secluded retirement back with his mother, Hōju-in, on July 21 of the same year. He died, reportedly of illness, less than five days later. His grave is at the Owari Tokugawa clan temple of Kenchū-ji in Nagoya.

Family

* Father: Tokugawa Tsunanari * Mother: Hoju-in (1665-1739) * Wife: Kujō Sukehime later Zuishoin, daughter of Kujō Tsukezane * Concubines ** Osan no Kata ** Onoue no Kata * Children: ** Tokugawa Gorota by Sukehime ** Senhime married Kujo Yukinori by Osan ** Mitsuhime married Tokugawa Munekatsu of Takasu Domain and then the Owari Domain, by Onoue

References

* Nakai, Kate Widman. ''Shogunal politics: Arai Hakuseki and the premises of Tokugawa rule''. Harvard University Asia Center (1988). * Papinot, Edmond. (1906) ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon.'' Tokyo: Librarie Sansaish
..Click link for digitized 1906 ''Nobiliaire du japon'' (2003)
* ''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tokugawa, Yoshimichi 1689 births 1713 deaths Tokugawa clan Lords of Owari