Tokugawa clan

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Tokugawa clan
Tokugawa family crest.svg
Tokugawa clan mon
Home province
Parent house
Final rulerTokugawa Yoshinobu
Current headTsunenari Tokugawa
Founding year
  • 13th century (original line)
  • 1567 (restored line)
Ruled until
Cadet branchesVarious

The Tokugawa clan (徳川氏、德川氏, Tokugawa-shi or Tokugawa-uji) was a powerful daimyō family of Japan. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) by the Nitta clan. The early history of this clan remains a mystery.[2] Members of the clan ruled Japan as shōguns from 1603 to 1867.


Minamoto no Yoshishige (1135–1202), grandson of Minamoto no Yoshiie (1041–1108), was the first to take the name of Nitta. He sided with his cousin Minamoto no Yoritomo against the Taira clan (1180) and accompanied him to Kamakura. Nitta Yoshisue, 4th son of Yoshishige, settled at Tokugawa (Kozuke province) and took the name of that place. Their provincial history book did not mention Minamoto clan or Nitta clan.[3]

The nominal originator of the Matsudaira clan was reportedly Matsudaira Chikauji, who was originally a poor Buddhist monk.[2][4] He reportedly descended from Nitta Yoshisue in the 8th generation and witnessed the ruin of the Nitta in their war against the Ashikaga. He settled at Matsudaira (Mikawa province) and was adopted by his wife's family. Their provincial history book claimed that this original clan was Ariwara clan.[3] Because this place is said to have been reclaimed by Nobumori Ariwara, one theory holds that Matsudaira clan was related to Ariwara no Narihira.[5]

Matsudaira Nobumitsu (15th century), son of Chikauji, was in charge of Okazaki Castle, and strengthened the authority of his family in the Mikawa province. Nobumitsu's great-great-grandson Matsudaira Kiyoyasu made his clan strong, but was assassinated. In 1567, his grandson Tokugawa Ieyasu (then known as Matsudaira Motonobu) (1542–1616) obtained from the Emperor permission to revive the name Tokugawa. In so doing, he claimed descent from the Minamoto clan.

The clan rose to power at the end of the Sengoku period, and to the end of the Edo period they ruled Japan as shōguns. There were fifteen Tokugawa shōguns. Their dominance was so strong that some history books use the term "Tokugawa era" instead of "Edo period".

In addition, the heads of the gosanke (the three branches with fiefs in Owari, Kishū, and Mito) bore the Tokugawa surname. Additional branches became the gosankyō: the Tayasu, Hitotsubashi, and Shimizu Tokugawa clans. Many daimyōs with the Matsudaira surname descended from the Tokugawa. Examples include the Matsudaira of Fukui and Aizu. Members of the Tokugawa clan intermarried with prominent daimyo and the Imperial family.


Simplified genealogy, showing complete lines of descent[edit]




The crest derives from a mythical clan, the Kamo clan, which legendarily descended from Yatagarasu.[7] Matsudaira village was located in Higashikamo District, Aichi Prefecture. Although Emperor Go-Yōzei offered a new crest, Ieyasu continued to use the crest, which was not related to Minamoto clan.[8]


Family members[edit]



Important retainers[edit]


  1. ^ "...Tokugawa (1605-1868)" Warrior Rule in Japan, page 11. Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b 徳川家康展 (in Japanese). Aichi Prefectural Library. Archived from the original on 2005-04-19. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  3. ^ a b 十四松平の城・寺・墓を訪ねて (in Japanese). Okazaki. 2000. Archived from the original on 2009-01-14. Retrieved 2008-12-27.
  4. ^ Ryōtarō Shiba (1962). "Ieyasu Tokugawa" (in Japanese). Shinchosha. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  5. ^ (in Japanese) Kazue Tanaka. 古代史の謎を解き明かす「モード・タ」. Google Books. via Bungeisha. 2000. 101.
  6. ^ "徳川（德川）氏（将軍家）". Reichsarchiv. Retrieved 19 April 2014. (in Japanese)
  7. ^ 賀茂別雷神社 (in Japanese). Kyoto sightseeing taxi. Archived from the original on 2009-01-12. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  8. ^ (in Japanese) Ryu Miura. 戦国武将・闇に消されたミステリー. Google Books. via PHP Kenkyusho. 2005. 283.

External links[edit]