Tokugawa Nariaki (徳川 斉昭
Tokugawa Nariaki, April 4, 1800 - September 29, 1860) was a prominent Japanese
daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
who ruled the
Mito domainwas a prominent feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period. Beginning with the appointment of Tokugawa Yorifusa by his father, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1608, the Mito branch of the Tokugawa clan controlled the domain until the abolition of the han system in 1871...
(now
Ibaraki prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region on Honshū island. The capital is Mito.- History :Ibaraki Prefecture was previously known as Hitachi Province. In 1871, the name of the province became Ibaraki...
) and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the
Meiji restorationThe , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure...
.
Nariaki was the 3rd son of
Tokugawa Harutoshi' was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who ruled the Mito Domain....
, the seventh generation
daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of
Mitowas a prominent feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period. Beginning with the appointment of Tokugawa Yorifusa by his father, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1608, the Mito branch of the Tokugawa clan controlled the domain until the abolition of the han system in 1871...
. The family headship first passed to Harutoshi's eldest son Narinobu, before being passed on to Nariaki in 1829.
Nariaki was put in charge of Bakufu efforts to defend the country against encroaching foreigners.
Tokugawa Nariaki (徳川 斉昭
Tokugawa Nariaki, April 4, 1800 - September 29, 1860) was a prominent Japanese
daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
who ruled the
Mito domainwas a prominent feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period. Beginning with the appointment of Tokugawa Yorifusa by his father, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1608, the Mito branch of the Tokugawa clan controlled the domain until the abolition of the han system in 1871...
(now
Ibaraki prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region on Honshū island. The capital is Mito.- History :Ibaraki Prefecture was previously known as Hitachi Province. In 1871, the name of the province became Ibaraki...
) and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the
Meiji restorationThe , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure...
.
Clan leader
Nariaki was the 3rd son of
Tokugawa Harutoshi' was a Japanese daimyo of the Edo period, who ruled the Mito Domain....
, the seventh generation
daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of
Mitowas a prominent feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period. Beginning with the appointment of Tokugawa Yorifusa by his father, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1608, the Mito branch of the Tokugawa clan controlled the domain until the abolition of the han system in 1871...
. The family headship first passed to Harutoshi's eldest son Narinobu, before being passed on to Nariaki in 1829.
Bakufu official
Nariaki was put in charge of Bakufu efforts to defend the country against encroaching foreigners. His own view was that the bakufu should strengthen its military and fight the foreigners, and was at odds with
Ii Naosukewas daimyo of Hikone and also Tairō of Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan, a position he held from April 23, 1858 until his death on March 24, 1860. He is most famous for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States, granting access to ports for trade to American merchants and seamen and...
on the issue. He was pro-emperor and favored imperial restoration. Nariaki also greatly expanded the
MitogakuMitogaku refers to a school of Japanese historical and Shinto studies that arose in the Mito domain, in modern-day Ibaraki prefecture.The school had its genesis in 1657 when Tokugawa Mitsukuni , second head of the Mito domain, commissioned the compilation of the Dai Nihon-shi...
school established by
Tokugawa Mitsukuniwas a prominent daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa and succeeded him, becoming the second daimyo of the Mito domain....
. He wrote a document entitled "Japan, Reject the Westerners" in 1853. in this document, he stated ten reasons why Japan should stay isolated from the rest of the world. He said that the Japanese people had a choice between war and peace, but clearly to him, the Japanese people should choose war so that Westerners would not intrude into Japan's affairs.
Nariaki and Naosuke fought over who would succeed the Shogun Iesada, with Nariaki championing his son
YoshinobuPrince Tokugawa Yoshinobu 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...
. Naosuke, who eventually prevailed, favored the
Wakayama DomainThe was a han or Japanese feudal domain in Kii Province , with income of 555,000 koku. The domain was also known as or . The heads of the domain were Kishu-Tokugawa clan, one of Gosanke...
daimyo
Tokugawa Yoshitomiwas the 14th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, who held office 1858 to 1866. During his reign there was much internal turmoil as a result of Japan's first major contact with the United States, which occurred under Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854, and of the subsequent "re-opening" of...
.
Legacy
Nariaki retired in 1844 in favor of his son Yoshiatsu, and died of a heart attack in 1860, at age 61.
Three of the leading figures of the 1860s were in fact natural brothers, all being sons of Nariaki: Hitoshubashi Keiki, who became shogun as Tokugawa Keiki in 1866; Tokugawa Yoshiatsu of Mito; and Ikeda Yoshinori of
InabaInaba was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Tottori Prefecture. Inaba bordered on Harima, Hōki, Mimasaka, and Tajima Provinces.The ancient capital, and the castle town, were at Tottori city....
(
TottoriThe ' was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Inaba and Hōki Provinces . It was ruled by different branches of the Ikeda clan.-List of lords:*Ikeda clan, 1600-1617 #Nagayoshi#Nagayuki...
).
Works by Nariaki
Published posthumously:
- Kōdōkan ki 弘道館記 (1937). Ed. by Meiji Seitoku Kinen Gakkai 明治聖德記念學會. Tokyo: Meiji Seitoku Kinen Gakkai 明治聖德記念學會.
- Meikun ippanshō 明君一斑抄 (1910-1911). Ed. by Kurokawa Mamichi 黒川真道. Tokyo: Dōbunkan 同文館.
Further reading
- Kobayashi Kenji 小林健二 (1998). Tokugawa Nariaki to hansharo 徳川斉昭と反射炉. Tokyo: Sōei Shuppan 創栄出版.
- Lambeti, Matthew V. (1968). A political study of Tokugawa Nariaki of Mito, 1800-1860. New York: Columbia University. (microfilm)
- Ōniwa Kunihiko 大庭邦彦 (1997). Chichi yori Yoshinobu dono e: Mito Nariaki Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu ate shokanshū 父より慶喜殿へ: 水戶斉昭一橋慶喜宛書簡集. Tokyo: Shūeisha 集英社.
External links