The was founded in 1902 when

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

permitted

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Prince 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 of his position as shogun in late 1867, while aiming ...

, the last ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'' of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, to found a house with the highest rank of

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

, kōshaku (Prince). The title was officially declared obsolete in 1947, though the family still maintained it until the death of

Yoshitomo Tokugawa was the 4th-generation head of the ''Tokugawa Yoshinobu-ke'', the branch of the Tokugawa line started by the last Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Biography Born in Sena, in Shizuoka Prefecture, he went to school in Tokyo, later engaging in a career ...

in 2017. The wife of

Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu was the third son of Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) and Empress Teimei (Sadako) and a younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito). He became heir to the Takamatsu-no-miya (formerly Arisugawa-no-miya), one of the four ''shinnōke'' or branches of ...

(third son of

Emperor Taishō was the 123rd Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and the second ruler of the Empire of Japan from 30 July 1912 until his death in 1926. The Emperor's personal name was . According to Japanese custom, while reigni ...

) was Kikuko Tokugawa, daughter of the second Prince of the Yoshinobu-ke, Yoshihisa.

Heads of the Family

# 1902–1913 公爵徳川慶喜 Prince

, 1st Prince of the Yoshinobu-ke (1837–1913) # 1913–1922 公爵徳川慶久 Prince Yoshihisa Tokugawa, 2nd Prince of the Yoshinobu-ke (1884–1922) # 1922–1993 公爵徳川慶光 Prince Yoshimitsu Tokugawa, 3rd Prince of the Yoshinobu-ke (1913–1993) # 1993–2017 徳川慶朝

, 4th head of the Yoshinobu-ke (1950–2017)

References

* 1902 establishments in Japan 2017 disestablishments in Japan Kazoku Tokugawa clan {{noble-stub