Tokugawa Mitsukuni
| Tokugawa Mitsukuni | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 11 July 1628 |
| Died | 14 January 1701 (aged 72) |
Tokugawa Mitsukuni (徳川 光圀?, 11 July 1628 – 14 January 1701) or Mito Kōmon (水戸黄門?) was a prominent daimyō who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa (who in turn was the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu) and succeeded him, becoming the second daimyō of the Mito Domain.
He was responsible for assembling the Mitogaku scholars to compile a huge Japanese history, Dai Nihonshi. In it, Japan was depicted as a nation under the Emperor, analogous to that in Chinese dynasties. This helped the rise of nationalism in the late shogunate and in the Mito Domain later.
In 1661, at age 34, he became the daimyō of the Mito han. He anticipated the forcible division of kami and Buddhas (shinbutsu bunri) of 1868 ordering there the destruction of a thousand Buddhist temples and the construction of at least one shrine per village (one village, one shrine policy (一村一社 isson issha?). At age 63, he was awarded the court office of gon-chūnagon, or provisional middle counsellor. In 1691, he retired to his villa, Seizan-sō.
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