Tokugawa Akitake
| Tokugawa Akitake | |
|---|---|
| 徳川 昭武 | |
Tokugawa Akitake
|
|
| 11th Daimyo of Mito | |
|
In office 1868–1871 |
|
| Monarch | Emperor Meiji |
| Preceded by | Tokugawa Yoshiatsu |
| Succeeded by | -domain abolished- |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 26, 1853 Edo, Japan |
| Died | July 3, 1910 (aged 56) Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Tokugawa Akitake (徳川 昭武?, October 26, 1853 – July 3, 1910) was a younger half-brother of the Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu and final daimyo of Mito Domain. He represented the Tokugawa shogunate at the courts of several European powers during the final days of Bakumatsu period Japan.
Tokugawa Akitake was born as the 18th son of Tokugawa Nariaki, at the Mito Domain’s secondary Edo residence in in 1853, the same year of the Perry Expedition to Japan. Due to concerns of safety, he was moved to Mito Domain at the age of six months, and returned to Edo in 1863. The same year, he was sent to Kyoto as a figurehead representative of Mito Domain, due to the illness (and death in 1864) of his elder brother Matsudaira Akikuni. Kyoto was in a very disturbed situation at the time, with pro-Shogunate forces battling pro-Sonnō jōi rōnin and samurai from anti-Shogunate western domains in the streets and at the Kinmon Incident, and he was forced to change residences frequently for safety. On the death of the 14th shogun, Tokugawa Iemochi in 1866, he was recalled to Edo, and his name was changed from Matsudaira Akitoku (松平 昭徳?) to Tokugawa Akitake. In 1867, he was proclaimed head of the Shimizu-Tokugawa clan, one of the Gosankyō branches of the Tokugawa who were permitted to rise to the position of Shogun.
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