Tokugawa Iemochi
- Birth: 1846
- Death: 1866
- Titles: Jusanmi Sakonoe Chujo,Shonii Gondainagon, Naidaijin, Ukonoe Taisho, Seii Taishogun, Juichii, Udaijin, Zoshoichii Dajodaijin
- Childhood Name: Kikuchiyo, Yoshitomi
- Japanese: 徳川家茂 (Tokugawa Iemochi)
Tokugawa Iemochi was born in the Kishû Tokugawa residence in Edo in 1846. He became the head of the Kishû Tokugawa at age four.
There was a faction that supported Tokugawa Yoshinobu as successor to the shogun Iesada, but when Iesada died in 1858, Iemochi became the 14th Tokugawa Shogun by the recommendation of Ii Naosuke. This was during the Bakumatsu period, and the Bakufu was pressured by both internal elements (Sonnô Jôi) as well as outside (Foreign countries). The Bakufu promoted marriage between the Imperial court and the Shogunate to appease the Sonnô Jôi extremists.
In 1862, Iemochi and Princess Kazu-no-Miya 和宮 (Emperor Kômei's younger sister) wedded in a magnificent ceremony, the most visible show of the Kôbu Gattai policy.
In 1863, Iemochi visited Kyoto at the request (or demand) of the Imperial Court, the first visit by a shogun since Iemitsu's over two-hundred years before. He was accompanied by the Roshigumi (the future Shinsengumi), which had been conscripted to accompany him as part of his entourage.
In 1866, during the second Choshu expedition, Iemochi died in Osaka castle. His grave is in Zôjô-ji 増上寺, Tokyo.
References
- Tokugawa Iemochi-the life and times of the 14th Shogun, Tokugawa Memorial Foundation 2007
