| "Tokugawa," like [[Taira clan|Taira]], [[Fujiwara clan|Fujiwara]], [[Minamoto clan|Minamoto]], and [[Toyotomi clan|Toyotomi]], was an aristocratic clan name, bestowed by the Emperor. This set the Tokugawa apart from those who bore merely a samurai surname, such as Matsudaira,<ref>Only certain branches of Ieyasu's family - the ''Gosanke'' and ''Gosankyô'' mentioned above - were permitted to use the name Tokugawa; lesser branches continued to use the name Matsudaira.</ref> and who were thus ''[[jigenin]]'', outsiders to the Court aristocracy. | | "Tokugawa," like [[Taira clan|Taira]], [[Fujiwara clan|Fujiwara]], [[Minamoto clan|Minamoto]], and [[Toyotomi clan|Toyotomi]], was an aristocratic clan name, bestowed by the Emperor. This set the Tokugawa apart from those who bore merely a samurai surname, such as Matsudaira,<ref>Only certain branches of Ieyasu's family - the ''Gosanke'' and ''Gosankyô'' mentioned above - were permitted to use the name Tokugawa; lesser branches continued to use the name Matsudaira.</ref> and who were thus ''[[jigenin]]'', outsiders to the Court aristocracy. |
| + | The clan survives today, with Tokugawa Tsunenari (b. 1940) being considered the eighteenth head of the clan. Tsunenari has published a book called ''Edo no idenshi'', published in English as ''The Edo Inheritance'', in which he argues against the [[Meiji period]] idea that the [[Edo period]] was a "dark ages," and that the Tokugawa shogunate held Japan back. He regularly attends or presides over special occasions, such as the upcoming 400th annual memorial service for Tokugawa Ieyasu, to be held in 2016.<ref>"[http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/vox/AJ201510260013 VOX POPULI: Revisiting the legend of the 1st Tokugawa shogun]," ''Asahi Shinbun'', 25 Oct 2015.</ref> |
| *****[[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] - son of Nariaki, fifteenth and final Tokugawa shogun | | *****[[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] - son of Nariaki, fifteenth and final Tokugawa shogun |