was a ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' in

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 n ...

during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

. He was the seventh Tokugawa lord of the

Owari Domain The was a feudal domain of Japan in the Edo period. Located in what is now the western part of Aichi Prefecture, it encompassed parts of Owari, Mino, and Shinano provinces. Its headquarters were at Nagoya Castle. At its peak, it was rated ...

, and one of the ''

gosanke The , also called simply , or even , 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 ...

''.

Biography

Muneharu was the 20th sonTokugawa Muneharu: Shogun Yoshimune's Rival
Aichi Prefectural Education Center. Accessed May 12, 2008. of

Tokugawa Tsunanari was ''daimyō'' of Owari Domain during early-Edo period Japan. Biography Tokugawa Tsunanari was the son of the second ''daimyō'' of Owari Domain, Tokugawa Mitsutomo by his official wife, Chiyohime later Reisen-in, the daughter of ''shōgun'' T ...

by a concubine later known as Senyoin, and a great-great-grandson of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

. His childhood name was Bangoro (萬五郎). During his lifetime, he rose to the junior third rank in the Imperial court, and held the titular office of '' Gon-Chūnagon'' (acting middle councilor). He was posthumously awarded the junior second rank and the office of '' Gon-Dainagon'' (acting great councilor). Among his brothers were Tokugawa Yoshimichi and Tokugawa Tsugutomo (the fourth and sixth lords of Owari), and

Matsudaira Yoshitaka The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of ...

(second lord of the

Mino Takasu Domain Mino may refer to: Places in Japan * Mino, Gifu, a city in Gifu Prefecture * Mino, Kagawa, a former town in Kagawa Prefecture * Mino, Tokushima, a town in Tokushima Prefecture * Mino, an alternate spelling of Minoh, a city in Osaka Prefecture * M ...

). A sister, Matsuhime, married

Maeda Yoshinori was an Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 5th ''daimyō'' of Kaga Domain in the Hokuriku region of Japan. He was the 6th hereditary chieftain of the Kanazawa Maeda clan. Yoshinori was the third son of Maeda Tsunanori. His mother was a comm ...

, lord of the

Kaga Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.

, which was the richest domain in Japan outside the Tokugawa's own holdings. Muneharu did not marry, but had numerous concubines. His fourth daughter married the '' kampaku'' Konoe Uchisaki.

Loss of power

Given to personal luxury, in 1731, Muneharu published a book, ''Onchiseiyō'' (温知政要), which criticized ruling

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 Kamaku ...

Tokugawa Yoshimune was the eighth '' shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lineage Yoshi ...

for his policy of excessive frugality. In 1739, following a long dispute with Yoshimune, Muneharu was forced into retirement and confined within the grounds of

Nagoya Castle is a Japanese castle located in Nagoya, Japan. Nagoya Castle was constructed by the Owari Domain in 1612 during the Edo period on the site of an earlier castle of the Oda clan in the Sengoku period. Nagoya Castle was the heart of one of the ...

. A relative succeeded him as lord of Owari, taking the name

Tokugawa Munekatsu was a Japanese '' daimyō'' of the Edo period, who ruled the Takasu Domain and then the Owari Domain. As lord of Takasu he used the name . His childhood name was Daigoro (代五郎). Family * Father: Matsudaira Tomoaki (1678-1728), son of Toku ...

. After the death of Yoshimune, Muneharu moved outside the palace grounds. He died in 1764, but was not forgiven, and a metal net was placed over his grave to indicate his status. When a later shōgun installed his own son as lord of Owari, 75 years after the death of Muneharu, he had the net removed as a gesture of pardon.

Family

* Father:

* Mother: Umezu later Senyoin (d.1743) * Concubines: ** Saizu later Geshoin ** Gekkoin ** Iyo no Kata * Children: ** Tomohime (1724-1733) by Saizu ** Hachihime (1726-1731) by Saizu ** Kunimaru (1729-1735) by Saizu ** Shohime (1726-1735) by Gekkoin ** Naohime (1730-1731) by Gekkoin ** Ryuchiyo (1737-1737) by Gekkoin ** Katsuhime (1728-1760) married Konoe Uchisaki by Iyo ** Itsuhime (1730-1731) by Iyo

In fiction

In the popular

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...

television series ''

Abarenbō Shōgun (Abarenbō Shōgun) was a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa ''shōgun''. The program started in 1978 under the title '' ...

'', showing fictitious events in the life of the Shōgun

, Muneharu was frequently presented as the

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. '' Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a charact ...

, repeatedly trying to assassinate Yoshimune and take over the shogunate. Even when he did not appear, many smaller villains acted in his name, or planned to receive their reward from Muneharu when he became shōgun. He was first played by

Akira Nakao is a Japanese actor, TV personality, and artist from Kisarazu, Chiba. Nakao is represented by the Furutachi Project agency. Biography Nakao attended Chiba Prefectural Kisarazu High School from 1958, and entered Musashino Art University from 19 ...

and later by Tokuma Nishioka. As with the series in general, while the setting is historical, the specific acts attributed to Muneharu are fictional. In the book ''Blood Ninja'', he is the father of the main character Taro and enemy to

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tokugawa, Muneharu 1696 births 1764 deaths Lords of Owari Owarirenshi-Matsudaira clan