Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
5th Edo Shogun
In office 1680–1709
Monarch	Emperor Reigen Emperor Higashiyama
Preceded by	Shogun: Tokugawa Ietsuna Lord of Tatebayashi: Matsudaira Norihisa
Succeeded by	Shogun: Tokugawa Ienobu Lord of Tatebayashi: Tokugawa Tokumatsu
Personal details
Born	(1646-02-23)23 February 1646
Died	19 February 1709(1709-02-19) (aged 62)
Children	Tsuruhime (b. 1677) Tokugawa Tokumatsu (1679–1683) Tokugawa Chomatsu (1683–1686) Yanagisawa Yoshisato (1686–?) Adopted: Tokugawa Ienobu Kichihime Yaehime Matsuhime Takehime
Father	Tokugawa Iemitsu (Father) Keishouin (Mother)

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (徳川 綱吉^?, February 23, 1646 – February 19, 1709) was the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, thus making him the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Tsunayoshi is known for instituting animal protection laws, particularly for dogs. This earned him the nickname of "the dog shogun". He had a dog named Takemaru.

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was born on February 23, 1646, in Edo. He was the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu by one of his concubines, named Otama, later known as Keishōin 桂昌院 (1627–1705). Tsunayoshi had an elder brother already five years old, who would become the next shogun after Iemitsu's death, Tokugawa Ietsuna. Tsunayoshi was born in Edo and after his birth moved in with his mother to her own private apartments in Edo Castle. "The younger son (Tsunayoshi) apparently distinguished himself by his precociousness and liveliness at an early age, and the father, the third shogun, Iemitsu, became fearful that he might usurp the position of his duller elder brothers [and] thus he ordered that the boy (Tsunayoshi) not to be brought up as a samurai/warrior, as was becoming for his station, but be trained as a scholar."

While his father was shogun, his mother was an adopted daughter of the Honjō family, led by Honjō Munemasa (1580–1639) in Kyoto. His mother's natural parent was Rokujo Arizumi, a court noble in Kyoto. This remarkable woman was very close with Tsunayoshi in his young years, and while his older brother Ietsuna began to rely on regents for much of his reign, Tsunayoshi did exactly the opposite, relying on his remarkable mother for advice until her death.

In 1651, Shogun Iemitsu died when Tsunayoshi was only five years old. His older brother, Tokugawa Ietsuna, became shogun. For the most part, Tsunayoshi's life during the reign of his brother Shogun Ietsuna is unknown, but he never advised his brother.