Prince Tokugawa Yoshinobu was the 15th and last shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate,but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned his position as shogun in late 1867,while aiming at keeping some political influence. After these efforts failed following the defeat at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in early 1868,he went into retirement,and largely avoided the public eye for the rest of his life.
Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867,under foreign diplomatic and military pressure,Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government. The major ideological-political divide during this period was between the pro-imperial nationalists called ishin shishi and the shogunate forces,which included the elite shinsengumi swordsmen.
Tokugawa Nariaki was a prominent Japanese daimyō who ruled the Mito Domain and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji Restoration.
The Ansei Purge was a multi-year event during the Bakumatsu period of Japanese history,between 1858 and 1860,during which the Tokugawa shogunate imprisoned,executed,or exiled those who did not support its authority and foreign trade policies. The purge was undertaken by Ii Naosuke in opposition to Imperial Loyalists.
Tokugawa Iemochi was the 14th shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan,who held office from 1858 to 1866. During his reign there was much internal turmoil as a result of the "re-opening" of Japan to western nations. Iemochi's reign also saw a weakening of the shogunate.
Tokugawa Iesada was the 13th shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He held office for five years from 1853 to 1858. He was physically weak and was therefore considered by later historians to have been unfit to be shōgun. His reign marks the beginning of the Bakumatsu period.
Ii Naosuke was a daimyō of Hikone (1850–1860) and also Tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate,Japan,a position he held from April 23,1858,until his death,assassinated in the Sakuradamon Incident on March 24,1860. He is most famous for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States,granting access to ports for trade to American merchants and seamen and extraterritoriality to American citizens. He was also an enthusiastic and accomplished practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony,in the Sekishūryū style,and his writings include at least two works on the tea ceremony.
The Matsudaira clan was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village,in Mikawa Province. During the Sengoku period,the chieftain of the main line of the Matsudaira clan,Matsudaira Motoyasu became a powerful regional daimyo under Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi and changed his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu. He subsequently seized power as the first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan during the Edo period until the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Under the Tokugawa shogunate,many cadet branches of the clan retained the Matsudaira surname,and numerous new branches were formed in the decades after Ieyasu. Some of those branches were also of daimyō status.
The TokugawaGosanke,also called simply Gosanke,or even Sanke,were the most noble three branches of the Tokugawa clan of Japan:Owari,Kii,and Mito,all of which were descended from clan founder Tokugawa Ieyasu's three youngest sons,Yoshinao,Yorinobu,and Yorifusa,and were allowed to provide a shōgun in case of need. In the Edo period the term gosanke could also refer to various other combinations of Tokugawa houses,including (1) the shogunal,Owari and Kii houses and (2) the Owari,Kii,and Suruga houses.
Matsudaira Tadateru was a daimyō during the Edo period of Japan. He was the sixth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was born in Edo Castle during the year of the dragon (tatsu),and as a child his name was Tatsuchiyo (辰千代). His mother was Lady Chaa,a concubine of Ieyasu. Ieyasu sent the boy to live with a vassal,Minagawa Hiroteru,daimyō of the Minagawa Domain in Shimotsuke Province.
Tokugawa Naritaka was a Japanese daimyō of the early late-Edo period. The son of the 11th shōgun Tokugawa Ienari,he succeeded Tokugawa Narimasa as head of the Tayasu Tokugawa house,before succeeding to the Tokugawa house of Owari Domain in 1839. His childhood name was Tanabenosuke (要之丞).
Matsudaira Naritami was a Japanese daimyō of the late Edo period who ruled the Tsuyama Domain of Mimasaka Province.
Mito was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.
Tokugawa Mochinaga was a Japanese samurai who was an influential figure of the Bakumatsu period. His childhood name was Chinzaburo (鎮三郎).
Matsudaira Yoshinaga,also known as Matsudaira Keiei,or better known as Matsudaira Shungaku (春嶽) was a Japanese daimyō of the Edo period. He was head of the Fukui Domain in Echizen Province. He is counted as one of the "Four Wise Lords of the Bakumatsu period",along with Date Munenari,Yamauchi Yōdōand Shimazu Nariakira. "Yoshinaga" is his imina and "Shungaku" is his gō.
Manabe Akikatsu was the 7th daimyō of Sabae Domain in Echizen Province under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. His courtesy title was Shimōsa-no-kami,and his Court rank was Junior Fifth Rank,Lower Grade,later raised to Junior Fourth Rank,Lower Grade. He was the 8th hereditary chieftain of the Manabe clan.
Tokugawa Yoshinori was a Japanese daimyō of the late Edo period,who ruled the Owari Domain. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yoshikatsu,who was the 14th daimyō of Owari by Otama no Kata. His childhood name was Motochiyo (元千代).
The Takasu Domain was a Japanese domain located in Mino Province. For most of its history,it was ruled by the Takasu-Matsudaira,a branch of the Tokugawa clan of Owari Domain.
AndōNobumasa was a late-Edo period Japanese samurai,and the 5th daimyō of Iwakitaira Domain in the Tōhoku region of Japan,and the 10th hereditary chieftain of the Andōclan. He was the eldest son of AndōNobuyori and his mother was a daughter of Matsudaira Nobuakira of Yoshida Domain. His childhood names were Kinnoshin and Kinnosuke and he was known most of his life as AndōNobuyuki,taking the name of Nobumasa only after he became a rōjū.
The Aomatsuba Incident took place from February 13 to 18,1868 in Nagoya Castle,central Japan.
