Tokugawa Ienari (, November 18, 1773 – March 22, 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837. He was a great-grandson of the eighth shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune through his son Munetada (1721–1764), head of the Hitotsubashi branch of the family, and his grandson Harusada (1751–1827). Ienari died in 1841 and was given the Buddhist name Bunkyouin and buried at Kan'ei-ji.

Events of Ienari's bakufu

Ienari's time in office was marked by an era of pleasure, excess, and corruption, which ended in the disastrous Tenpō Famine of 1832–1837, in which thousands are known to have perished.

Family life

First wife

In 1778, the four-year-old Hitotsubashi Toyochiyo (豊千代), a minor figure in the Tokugawa clan hierarchy, was betrothed to Shimazu Shigehime or Tadakohime, the four-year-old daughter of Shimazu Shigehide, the tozama daimyō of Satsuma Domain on the island of Kyūshū. The significance of this alliance was dramatically enhanced when, in 1781, the young Toyochiyo was adopted by the childless shōgun, Tokugawa Ieharu. This meant that when Toyochiyo became Shōgun Ienari in 1786, Shigehide was set to become the father-in-law of the shōgun. The marriage was completed in 1789, after which Tadako became formally known as Midaidokoro Sadako, or "first wife" Sadako. Protocol required that she be adopted into a court family, and the Konoe family agreed to take her in but this was a mere formality.

Other relationships

Ienari kept a harem of 900 women and fathered over 75 children. Many of Ienari's children were adopted into various daimyō houses throughout Japan, and some played important roles in the history of the Bakumatsu and Boshin War. Some of the more famous among them included:

Parents and siblings

Wife and concubines

Children

Notable descendants

Tokugawa Nariyuki (1801–1846) Asahime (1803–1843) married Matsudaira Naritsugu Tokugawa Naritaka Yo-hime (1813–1868) married Maeda Nariyasu Matsudaira Naritami Suehime Kiyo-hime Tokugawa Narikatsu (1820–1850) Hachisuka Narihiro Tokugawa Ieyoshi

Eras of Ienari's bakufu

The years in which Ienari was shōgun are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.

Ancestry