Tokugawa Yoshinobu

Tokugawa Yoshinobu (October 28, 1837 (Tenpō 8/9/29) – Taishō 2 (1913)) was the fifteenth Seii Taishōgun of the Edo shogunate. He was the seventh son of Tokugawa Nariaki, lord of Mito Domain; after succeeding the Hitotsubashi house, he inherited the position of shogun on January 10, 1867 (Keiō 2/12/5). He was the last Seii Taishōgun in Japanese history.

Assumption of the Shogunate and the Return of Political Power

From the outset of his tenure as shogun, Yoshinobu faced the political crisis of the shogunate and the rise of the Satsuma and Chōshū forces, and he pushed forward with reforms of shogunate governance and the strengthening of its military along Western lines. In the tenth month of Keiō 3 (1867), Yoshinobu carried out the Taisei Hōkan (return of political power to the imperial court), in the hope of prolonging Tokugawa rule and taking part in the new order. It was also a political decision that forestalled Satsuma and Chōshū, who favored overthrowing the shogunate by force.

The Battle of Toba-Fushimi and Submission

Even after the Taisei Hōkan, in the first month of Keiō 4 (1868), the former shogunate forces clashed with the new government forces at Toba-Fushimi. During the fighting, Yoshinobu suddenly fled Osaka Castle, returned to Edo by warship, and thereafter showed a thoroughgoing attitude of submission. This action has been criticized as cowardly, but some also value it highly as a decision that avoided needless bloodshed. The bloodless surrender of Edo Castle (in the fourth month of Keiō 4) is a symbolic event of this policy of submission.

Life After the Meiji Restoration

After being confined at Mito, he was pardoned following the Meiji Restoration and retired in Shizuoka. He lived out his later years devoted to hobbies such as photography, hunting, and bicycling. In 1902 he was granted the rank of prince (kōshaku), and he died in 1913 at the age of 76. As the last shogun of the late Edo period, he was one of the few people who witnessed the birth of modern Japan.