The Last Man – Tokugawa Yoshinobu
By William Budd, Second Year History
The last man in a system spanning over 260 years, Tokugawa Yoshinobu was the 15th and final shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate. On this day in 1867, he resigned his position at the culmination of 15 years of reforms aiming to modernise Japan and move it away from the feudal governance that characterised the Japanese system from 1603 onwards.
The Tokugawa shogunate was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603, following the ‘Warring States’ or Sengoku period which dominated the prior two centuries. Marked by its strict feudal class system, with the clan governing alongside the samurai lords, or daimyo, the period of Tokugawa rule saw significant economic development for Japan. Agricultural advancements like crop rotations led to better rice yields, and urbanisation in cities like Osaka, Kyoto and Edo fuelled the development of a mercantile class with sophisticated banking systems and national trade networks.
However, despite the positive overall economic impact, by the mid-19th century, disdain was building for the shogunate. Economic hardship, corruption at the highest levels of government, and foreign intervention after years of isolationism highlighted deep flaws in the Japanese system, significantly undermining the shogun’s authority.
It is with this context that Tokugawa Yoshinobu came to power in 1866. With the death of the previous shogun Imeochi in the same year, Yoshinobu was selected, and wasted no time in instituting sweeping reforms across the shogunate. He envisioned a more centralised, efficient style of government. Councils and ministers would oversee proceedings in a more Western-style administrative body, simultaneously reducing the power of the daimyo.
Yoshinobu also pioneered military restructuring, adopting Westernised military training methods, tactics and weapons. In the face of foreign threats, Yoshinobu was convinced the best method was to modernise and mobilise. The importation of ships from Western nations for a newly revived navy, as well as the bringing in of foreign military advisors linked together his desire to modernise as well as his attempts to integrate and negotiate more effectively with Western powers.
Tokugawa Yoshinobu in court uniform
Despite these efforts to reform, many daimyo and samurai were deeply opposed to the rule of the shogunate in favour of direct imperial control. It is at this point that Yoshinobu resigned as shogun, although he was still looking to maintain influence over political affairs. However, following the establishment of The Empire of Japan during the Meiji Restoration, and the defeat of the Tokugawa loyalists in the Boshin War, the flames of shogunate rule were definitively snuffed out.
With Yoshinobu’s resignation, 260 years of Tokugawa rule came to an end. His efforts to rescue the shogunate system had failed, and whilst it was not a problem of his own creation, his attempts to rapidly modernise a stagnating and corrupt political system stand as a testament to his vision of a better Japan.
Edited by Ben Bryant