Tokugawa Ieshige

Tokugawa Ieshige, born on January twenty-eighth, seventeen twelve, was the ninth shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan. As the first son of Tokugawa Yoshimune, he faced a challenging childhood after the death of his mother, Osuma no kata, when he was just two years old. Raised by his father's concubines, he was given the childhood name Nagatomi-maru and underwent the genpuku coming-of-age ceremony in seventeen twenty-five.

His marital life began with Nami-no-miya, the daughter of Prince Fushimi-no-miya Kuninaga, but tragedy struck in seventeen thirty-three when she suffered a miscarriage and passed away. Ieshige's second wife, Okō, was known for her good nature and bore him a son, Ieharu, who would later succeed him as shōgun. In seventeen forty-five, Ieshige was officially appointed shōgun, a decision that sparked controversy due to his health issues and speech defect, which made his communication nearly incomprehensible.

Despite his position, Ieshige showed little interest in governance, delegating authority to his chamberlain, Ōoka Tadamitsu. His reign, lasting until seventeen sixty, was marked by challenges such as corruption, natural disasters, and famine, which he struggled to manage effectively. Following his official retirement in seventeen sixty, he took on the title of Ōgosho and appointed his son as the tenth shōgun before passing away in seventeen sixty-one.

Ieshige's legacy includes the establishment of the Shimizu Tokugawa clan through his second son, Tokugawa Shigeyoshi, contributing to the future of the Tokugawa lineage. His posthumous title, Junshin-in, reflects his enduring significance, and his remains were scientifically examined between nineteen fifty-eight and nineteen sixty, revealing physical traits that corroborated historical accounts of his speech difficulties.