Biography
Iemochi, known in his childhood as Kikuchiyo, was the eldest son of the 11th generation Wakayama domain lord Tokugawa Nariyuki (1801-1846) and was born in the domain's residence in Edo (modern-day Minato-ku in Tokyo). Nariyuki was a younger son of the 11th shogun, Tokugawa Ienari.
In 1847, at age 1, he was adopted as the heir of the 12th generation daimyo Tokugawa Narikatsu, and succeeded him in 1850, taking the name Tokugawa Yoshitomi following his coming of age in 1851. However, in 1858 he was named as the successor to the main Tokugawa house due to his cousin the 13th shogun, Iesada, being heirless. The choice of Yoshitomi was not without conflict; there were other factions in the government who supported Tokugawa Yoshinobu or Matsudaira Naritami for shogun; it must be said that both of them, as opposed to Iemochi, were adults. It was upon assuming the office of shogun that Yoshitomi changed his name to Iemochi.
On April 22, 1863 (Bunkyū 3, 5th day of the 3rd month), Shogun Iemochi travelled in a great procession to the capital. He had been summoned by the emperor, and had 3,000 retainers as escort. This was the first time since the visit of Iemitsu in the Kan'ei era, 230 years before, that a shogun had visited Kyoto.
As part of the Kōbu Gattai ("Union of Court and Bakufu") movement, Iemochi was married to Imperial Princess Kazu-no-Miya Chikako daughter of Emperor Ninkō, and younger sister of Emperor Kōmei, but his early death, at the age of 20, put an end to the short marriage. The cause of death is widely reported as heart failure due to beriberi, a disease caused by thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency.
His successor, Yoshinobu, would be the last Tokugawa shogun, seeing an end to the shogunate which gave way to the Meiji Restoration.
Read more about this topic: Tokugawa Iemochi
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