Tokugawa Iesada
Tokugawa Iesada (徳川 家定 (May 6, 1824 – August 14, 1858) was the 13th shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

 of the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

 of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 who held office for only 5 years, from 1853 to 1858. He was physically weak and therefore unfit to be shogun in this period of great challenges. His reign marks the beginning of the Bakumatsu period.

Reign

Having risen to power soon after the Black Ships

Black Ships

The Black Ships was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa to Nagasaki...

 episode, he is held to have been responsible for the Unequal Treaties

Unequal Treaties

“Unequal treaty” is a term used in specific reference to a number of treaties imposed by Western powers, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, on Qing Dynasty China and late Tokugawa Japan...

 (Convention of Kanagawa

Convention of Kanagawa

On March 31, 1854, the or was concluded between Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy and the Tokugawa shogunate.-Treaty of Peace and Amity :...

, Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty

Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty

The between Britain and Japan was signed October 14, 1854 in Nagasaki. The United Kingdom was represented by Admiral Sir James Stirling, with the governors of Nagasaki representing the Tokugawa shogunate ....

, Harris Treaty, Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce

Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce

The was signed on August 26, 1858 by Lord Elgin and the then representatives of the Japanese government . This was an unequal treaty, that gave Japan semi-colonial status.The concessions which Japan made were threefold:...

) which broke the sakoku

Sakoku

was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...

and opened the Japanese frontliners to foreign influences. Kōmei

Emperor Komei

was the 121st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kōmei's reign spanned the years from 1846 through 1867.-Genealogy:Before Kōmei's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was ;, his title was ....

, the reigning Emperor of Japan

Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...

 emperor at the time, was a major opponent of his policies. This strengthened the Sonnō jōi

Sonno joi

is a Japanese political philosophy and a social movement derived from Neo-Confucianism; it became a political slogan in the 1850s and 1860s in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, during the Bakumatsu period.-Origin:...

 movement.

He was married to Princess Atsu

Tenshōin

, also known as , was the wife of , the 13th Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.Her father belonged to the family of the Shimazu clan in Satsuma....

, the adopted daughter of the daimyo of Satsuma Shimazu Nariakira

Shimazu Nariakira

was a Japanese feudal lord of the Edo period, the 28th in the line of Shimazu clan lords of Satsuma Domain. He was renowned as an intelligent and wise lord, and was greatly interested in Western learning and technology...

.

Ii Naosuke

Ii Naosuke

was 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...

 rose to the rank of tairō

Tairo

Tairō was a high-ranking official position in the bakuhan taisei government of Japan. The tairō would preside over the governing Rōjū council in the event of an emergency. A tairō would be nominated from among a group of samurai families who supported Tokugawa Ieyasu...

 under him.

Iesada died childless in 1858, which caused factions within the bakufu to clash over the succession. Tokugawa Nariaki

Tokugawa Nariaki

Tokugawa Nariaki was a prominent Japanese daimyo who ruled the Mito domain and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji restoration.- Clan leader :...

 of Mito

Mito Domain

was a prominent feudal domain in Japan during the Edo period. Its capital was the city of Mito, and it covered much of present-day Ibaraki Prefecture. Beginning with the appointment of Tokugawa Yorifusa by his father, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1608, the Mito branch of the Tokugawa clan...

, Satsuma and others wanted to see Tokugawa Yoshinobu

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...

 as his successor, while the Ōoku

Ooku

The refers to the harem of Edo Castle, the section where the women connected to the reigning Shōgun resided. Similar areas in the castles of powerful Daimyō were also referred to by this term.This included the shōgun's mother, wife, and concubines...

 and shogunate officials like Ii Naosuke supported Tokugawa Iemochi

Tokugawa Iemochi

was 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...

, and succeeded. These quarrels ended in the Ansei Purge

Ansei Purge

The Ansei Purge was a purge, in 1858 and 1859, of over 100 people from the bakufu, various han, and the Japanese Imperial court...

.

Eras of Iesada's bakufu

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

• Kaei
  Kaei
  was a after Kōka and before Ansei. This period spanned the years from February 1848 through November 1854. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:...
  
  (1848–1854)
• Ansei
  Ansei
  was a after Kaei and before Man'en. This period spanned the years from November 1854 through March 1860. The reigning emperor was .- Change of era :...
  
  (1854–1860)

Western Encounters

Townsend Harris

Townsend Harris

Townsend Harris was a successful New York City merchant and minor politician, and the first United States Consul General to Japan...

 had an audience with him during the negotiations for the Harris Treaty.

In fiction

Tokugawa Iesada is featured in the 2008 NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

 Taiga drama

Taiga drama

is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...

 Atsuhime

Atsuhime

, literally Princess Atsu, is the 47th NHK Taiga drama. It began on January 6, 2008 and aired throughout, completing its run with 50 episodes. The story chronicles the life of Tenshōin, based on Tomiko Miyao's 1984 novel .-Background:...

, which chronicles the life of his wife. He is portrayed by Masato Sakai

Masato Sakai

is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 31st Yokohama Film Festival for Kuhio taisa and Nankyoku ryourinin and the award for best supporting actor at the 2008 Nikkan Sports Film Award, at the 33rd Hochi Film Award and at the 51st Blue Ribbon Awards...

.