|
Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川 家光,
1604 -
1651) was the 3rd
Tokugawa shogun who reigned from
1623 to
1651 during the early
Edo period of
Japan.
Born as the second son of the second
shogun
Tokugawa Hidetada, he became a shogun in
1623 when his father retired and initiated the
cloistered rule as
Ogosho lasting until
1632. To ensure the power of the shogunate, he eliminated a number of
daimyos and established the central administration, lasting for the
next 200 years until the
Meiji Era. He established the alternating residency and hostage system
(Sankin
Kotai) in
1635, set the isolation policy, or
Sakoku eventually closing off Japan from the rest of the world
between
1633 and
1639, and saw the final eradication of
Christians on the Japanese islands. He also completed anti-Christian
policies; he executed or expelled all of remaining Christian missionaries
and required the entire Japanese to register them to Buddishm temples.
When the rebel againt this policy rose in the
Shimabara, he supressed it harshly. The main domestic and foreign
policies of the Tokugawa shogunate was completed by him.
Iemitsu was succeeded after his death by his eldest son
Tokugawa Ietsuna in
1651.
Preceded by:
Tokugawa Hidetada |
Tokugawa shoguns |
Succeeded by:
Tokugawa Ietsuna |
|
