Iehiro Tokugawa: Becoming the 19th Head of the Tokugawa Main House

I feel as though there hasn't been any particular change in my feelings.

Since I have just become the head, I am trying to attend all the memorial services for successive generations myself from this year through next year, but there are so many that it is quite a task. The debut ceremony at Zojoji Temple on January 29th was the conclusion of various events for becoming the head. Originally, I was only supposed to serve as the priest at the annual grand festivals of Nikko Toshogu and Kunozan Toshogu.

In terms of difficulty, there is the management of the Tokugawa Memorial Foundation, which my father, Tsunenari Tokugawa, founded in 2003, the 400th anniversary of the opening of the Edo Shogunate. I have been serving as the chairman since 2021, but now that I have become the head of the house, the weight of responsibility feels even heavier. Until now, we have focused on lending items to exhibitions to increase the foundation's recognition, but for the next three years or so, I want to focus on strengthening our foundation, such as conducting a complete survey of the foundation's collection.

From the time the foundation was established, Professor Akira Hayami of Keio served as a selection committee member for the "Tokugawa Prize," awarded for outstanding achievements in early modern Japanese history research, and the "Tokugawa Encouragement Prize," a scholarship to support the completion of promising doctoral dissertations in early modern Japanese history. Currently, Professor Kazui Tashiro serves as a selection committee member for both prizes and as a director of the foundation.

Since writing has always been the core of my work, I would like to concentrate on that. My experience of struggling with my studies while at Keio was a good catalyst for me to keep thinking about economics, and I have published several books on the subject. From now on, I would like to shift toward historical research, but the field of history is so demanding that many researchers dedicate their entire lives to it without reaching a conclusion. My father also tried to explain what the Edo period was like in works such as "The Genes of Edo," but I first want to write about the history of the Tokugawa Ducal House after the Meiji Restoration. Another thing is unraveling the "mystery" of the Battle of Sekigahara.

Furthermore, as a long-term mission of the foundation, we aim to spread a more accurate understanding of the Edo period both domestically and internationally. The ideal would be for it to be described correctly even in world history textbooks for middle and high schools in various countries.

It was exactly 250 years from the fall of Osaka Castle to the Choshu War (Choshu Expedition). The stability of the reign during this period is in contrast to European countries, which modernized while constantly at war.

Regarding the economy of the Edo period, it is as Professor Ioku says, but on the other hand, the image of national isolation is strong, and there is a misunderstanding that the economy was stagnant. In reality, trade was active. While it is true that Japanese people were prohibited from traveling overseas, diplomacy certainly existed, and above all, the Shogunate and the various domains were enthusiastic about collecting and analyzing overseas information.

Among the knowledge and information collected by the Shogunate, many were of Western origin, but I believe information in Classical Chinese was even more important. Especially after the Opium War, various countries began to place legations in Tianjin, and the Qing Dynasty was forced to engage in diplomacy with the Great Powers. Through the lens of the Qing Dynasty, the true intentions of the Western powers were visible.

Something I have been emphasizing recently is that the very fact that Ieyasu Tokugawa opened the Shogunate in Edo was revolutionary. He carried out massive engineering projects such as diverting the Tone River, performed land reclamation to drastically increase cultivable land, and established a water supply network, performing unprecedented infrastructure development. Compared to the Kinki region, which had been the center of Japan since its founding, this was a grand vision to make the Kanto/Edo region, which had been nothing but a frontier, the new center.

Another thing, though there is no clear data, is that the Shogunate likely had a policy of moving the population to the Kanto and Tohoku regions at that time.

It makes more sense if you consider that everything was done this way—for example, transferring the Sakai family, the most loyal vassals, to Yamagata/Shonai, which originally had no connection to the Tokugawa family, or transferring the Satake family, a noble lineage of the Takeda Genji, from Hitachi to Akita. In the case of the Satake family, the strategy was to increase the recognition of the frontier land of Akita in the Kinki region, the economic center, by moving the prestigious Satake name, which was well-known in Kyoto, to Akita.

It is true that I wear traditional robes and serve as a priest every year at the annual grand festivals of Nikko Toshogu and Kunozan Toshogu, but the Shogun family is, shall we say, nationwide (laughs), and we have relationships with Toshogu shrines in various regions.

For example, there is a Toshogu in Hiroshima as well, and in 2015, its grand festival, the "Tori-go-sairei," was held for the first time in 200 years, and I served as the priest. The previous time was in 1965, the year I was born, but at that time the memory of the atomic bomb was still vivid. Before that was World War I, and before that, the Shogunate's main camp for the Choshu War was placed in Hiroshima; for 200 years, this festival had not been held.

Mr. Asano also holds a curator's license and was very helpful during the "Tori-go-sairei." Why did the Asano family become the lords of Hiroshima? I think considering this reveals the essence of the Edo period.

Actually, I believe the Tokugawa Shogunate was consistently a "minority ruling party." This is because, in the early Edo period, there were likely strong calls for a third invasion of Korea. It wasn't just people wishing for peace; among the samurai specifically, there may have been a strong desire for war. I think this was especially true in Western Japan, where many people had actually crossed over to the Korean Peninsula to fight.

War was perceived as an opportunity for advancement. There is a high possibility that anger was swirling in Western Japan because they could no longer advance under the "Tokugawa Peace."

On the other hand, Hiroshima is strategically important. Before the Edo period, the Japanese economy was, in essence, about delivering goods from the continent to the Kinki region. The Seto Inland Sea is the main artery of such a Japanese economy. Hiroshima Castle, which commands that artery, was built by Terumoto Mori and completed in 1590, but given its strategic importance, I suspect it was built not just with Hideyoshi's permission, but by his command. And at that point, Hideyoshi was thinking about the invasion of Korea.

Nagamasa Asano, the founder of the Asano family, was the brother-in-law of Hideyoshi's wife, Nene (Kita-no-Mandokoro), but he had a very good relationship with Ieyasu. I believe the arrangement was to entrust Hiroshima—where memories of the Korean invasion were strong and resentment toward the Tokugawa family was high—to a daimyo with such a high "Toyotomi degree."

When I looked into it, it wasn't the Jodo sect (Jodo-shu), but Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo-kyo). Jodo-shu is a Japanese Buddhist denomination founded by Honen Shonin. Jodo-kyo refers to the entire Buddhist thought that forms the background of the Jodo sect, and it is spread throughout various parts of Asia.

In Southeast Asia, most Buddhism is Hinayana (Theravada) Buddhism, but Vietnam has a strong Chinese influence and a Mahayana Buddhist culture.

By the way, the influence of Confucianism is also very strong. I was surprised to see that at my wife's parents' home, they properly perform New Year's Eve rituals on the night of the lunar New Year.

Fuyuko-san is from the Tayasu Tokugawa family, so there is a strong sense of affinity. The 16th head of the main house was adopted from the Tayasu family.

I was a returnee student, and my parents encouraged me, saying, "Since you have the advantage of being able to speak English, it might be good to try taking university entrance exams," so I applied to various places.

I was accepted to Keio and Waseda, and people around me said, "Keio suits you," so I decided to enroll. Looking back, I had no independence at all (laughs).

At the time, I had no interest in Japanese history and was taught by Professor Makoto Terao, who specialized in Western economic history.

That's right. During my student days, I read sci-fi, horror, and fantasy enthusiastically, but now I find reading history books far more interesting. No matter how grand a story you construct in sci-fi or fantasy, it cannot match real history in terms of brilliance, misery, irony, or unexpectedness.

Japan during my student days was enjoying stability and prosperity, and was full of affirmation of the status quo and optimism. I felt a sense of discomfort and constriction in such an environment, which might be why I immersed myself in sci-fi and fantasy, but I gradually realized that reality is far more full of surprises.

I can't avoid watching it this year (laughs). The first episode had a public viewing in Okazaki City, Ieyasu's birthplace, and I watched it there. I think even people from countries who don't know about Japan can enjoy it.

I think Jun Matsumoto, who plays Ieyasu, is very good in his portrayal of a somewhat unreliable character. It seems close to the reality. The depiction of the Matsudaira/Tokugawa vassal group—caring deeply for their lord Ieyasu while speaking their minds bluntly—is also close to reality, I think. I believe it was an atmosphere like a close-knit soccer team.

Hoping to increase the foundation's recognition, I started preparing as soon as the broadcast of "What Will You Do, Ieyasu?" was announced, and started the YouTube channel the year before last.

As for the metaverse, ever since computer graphics (CG) appeared, I had been thinking about whether the town of Edo could be reconstructed in 3D. This was due to the fact that among the world's major cities, Edo/Tokyo has the fewest remnants of its past, and also because while there are many period films and TV dramas, I have at least never seen a screen showing a bird's-eye view of Great Edo.

This project was born from a chance encounter between my long-standing desire and someone who was looking for good material for NFTs and the metaverse. We are aiming for a world-class metaverse from Japan that only Japanese people can create.

I don't have anything as grand as aspirations. In the post-war era, we have been ordinary people, and my father worked hard as an ordinary office worker. My way of life is very different from his, but I believe we are the same in that I want to ensure I am a proper person as a Japanese citizen first. Continuing the family line and operating the foundation are all things that sit upon that foundation.