Tokugawa Ieshige

• Born: 1711
• Died: 1761
• Reign as Shogun: 1745-1760
• Japanese: 徳川家重 (Tokugawa Ieshige)

Tokugawa Ieshige was a younger son of Tokugawa Yoshimune, and succeeded Yoshimune to become the ninth Tokugawa shogun in 1745. He stepped down in favor of his eldest son, Tokugawa Ieharu, on 1760/5/13, and died the following year.

Ieshige has been described by Conrad Totman as "a tragic wreck of a man, suffering from a crippled body, hopeless alcoholism, and a speech defect which left him incoherent."

He became shogun on 1745/11/2, after his father Yoshimune officially stepped down roughly a month earlier, on 9/25.

Ieshige was succeeded as shogun by his eldest son, Tokugawa Ieharu. A younger son, Tokugawa Shigeyoshi, founded the branch Shimizu Tokugawa clan.

Preceded by: Tokugawa Yoshimune

Tokugawa Shogun 1745-1760

Succeeded by: Tokugawa Ieharu

References

• James Lewis, “Beyond Sakoku: The Korean Envoy to Edo and the 1719 Diary of Shin Yu-Han,” Korea Journal 25:11 (1985), 40n15.