The , also called simply , or even , were the most noble three branches of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful '' daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this cl ...

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 ...

: Owari, Kii, and Mito, all of which were descended from clan founder

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 ...

's three youngest sons, Yoshinao, Yorinobu, and Yorifusa, and were allowed to provide a shōgun in case of need.Iwanami Nihonshi Jiten, ''Tokugawa Gosanke'', ''Tokugawa Owari-ke'', ''Tokugawa Kii-ke'', and ''Tokugawa Mito-ke'' In 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 ...

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 (all with the court position of '' dainagon''). Later, ''Gosanke'' were deprived of their role to provide a ''shōgun'' by three other branches that are closer to the shogunal house: the '' Gosankyō''. Even after the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the abolition of the Edo-period system of administrative domains (''han'') the three houses continued to exist in some form, as they do into the 21st century.

History

After he established his shogunate, Ieyasu proceeded to put members of his family in key positions. Ninth son Yoshinao was nominated ''

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 ...

'' of Nagoya (

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were ...

), tenth son Yorinobu ''daimyō'' of Wakayama ( Kii Province) and eleventh son Yorifusa ''daimyō'' of Mito ( Hitachi Province). From this allocation of fiefs came the names of the houses they founded, officially called , , and ). Ieyasu gave them the right to supply a shōgun in order to ensure the presence of successors to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

in case the main line should become extinct. This occurred twice during the Edo period: when the seventh shōgun died heirless in 1716, and when the thirteenth shōgun died heirless in 1858. The three houses had the highest rank among the ''

shinpan was a class of ''daimyō'' in the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan who were certain relatives of the ''Shōgun''. While all ''shinpan'' were relatives of the ''shōgun'', not all relatives of the shōgun were ''shinpan''; an example of this is the M ...

'', the ''daimyōs'' who were relatives of the shōgun. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, under the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ...

'' system, the heads of the three houses became

marquess A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman ...

es. In 1929 the head of the Mito House was elevated from marquess to

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...

Owari branch

The senior one was the

Owari branch The is a branch of the Tokugawa clan, and it is the seniormost house of the '' Gosanke'' ("three honourable houses of the Tokugawa").Tokugawa Yoshinao, ninth son of Ieyasu. He and his heirs were ''daimyōs'' 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 ...

(''Owari Han''), with its headquarters at

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 ...

. The fief had a rating of 619,500 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'', a ''koku'' being the quantity of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

necessary to feed one person for a year (about 180 liters),Iwanami Kōjien Japanese Dictionary and was the largest of the three. Before the abolition of the shogunate and of the ''han'' system, the house was headed successively by 17 men. Its seniority notwithstanding, the Owari were the only one not to provide a shōgun.

Kii branch

Second in seniority was Kii or Kishū House. The founder was

Tokugawa Yorinobu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Born under the name Nagatomimaru (長福丸), he was the 10th son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, by his concubine Kageyama-dono. On December 8, 1603, Yorinobu received the fief of Mito, then rated at 20 ...

, the tenth son of Ieyasu. Yorinobu was ''daimyō'' of the Kishū Han with its castle at Wakayama and a rating of 555,000 ''koku''. He entered Wakayama in 1619 when the previous ''daimyō'' was transferred. Fourteen members of the Tokugawa clan headed the fief during the Edo Period. It was the only family to directly produce successors to the shōgun, once in 1716 with

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 ...

and again in 1858 with

Tokugawa Iemochi (July 17, 1846 – August 29, 1866) 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. ...

. The fifth Tokugawa ''daimyō'' of Kii was Yoshimune, who later became shōgun and appointed a relative to head the Kii ''Han''. Yoshimune established three new houses, the '' gosankyō'', installing two sons and a grandson as their heads. The ''gosanke'' provided the model for the ''gosankyō.'' However, while Yoshimune granted lands to the ''gosankyō'', the lands were not consolidated into coherent '' han'', but instead were scattered in various places; the total holdings were also smaller than those of the ''gosanke.'' Eventually, one of the ''gosankyō'' houses, the Hitotsubashi house, produced two shoguns, once in 1787 ( Tokugawa Ienari) and again in 1866 (

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 ...

Mito branch

Third in seniority among the ''Gosanke'' was the

Mito branch The is a branch of the Tokugawa clan based in Mito, Ibaraki. History Following the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu appointed his eleventh son, Tokugawa Yorifusa, as ''daimyō'' in 1608. With his appointment, ...

. Its founder was Tokugawa Yorifusa, the eleventh son of Ieyasu. Their fief was the Mito Han in Hitachi Province, with its castle in

Mito Mito may refer to: Places *Mito, Ibaraki, capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan *Mito, Aichi, a Japanese town *Mito, Shimane, a Japanese town * Mitō, Yamaguchi, a Japanese town * Mito District, a district in the province of Concepción, Per ...

and lands rated initially at 250,000 ''koku'', and later (1710) at 350,000. Eleven men headed the house, including Tokugawa (Mito) Mitsukuni. The Mito House was not allowed to provide a shōgun, but only his vice. It did manage however to produce one when one of its sons,

, was adopted by the Hitotsubashi (one of the Kii House's three ''Gosankyō'') in 1848 and became the last shōgun as a member of that house.

Genealogy of the ''Gosanke'' heads

Owari branch

# Yoshinao # Mitsutomo # Tsunanari # Yoshimichi # Gorōta # Tsugutomo # Muneharu # Munekatsu # Munechika # Naritomo # Nariharu # Naritaka # Yoshitsugu # Yoshikumi # Mochinaga # Yoshinori # Yoshikatsu # Yoshiakira # Yoshichika # Yoshitomo # Yoshinobu # Yoshitaka The 22nd head of the Owari House is Mr. (born 1961), who in 2005 succeeded his late father, becoming director of the

Tokugawa Art Museum The is a private art museum, located on the former '' Ōzone Shimoyashiki'' compound in Nagoya, central Japan. Its collection contains more than 12,000 items, including swords, armor, Noh costumes and masks, lacquer furniture, Chinese and Japan ...

in Nagoya.Asahi Simbun A

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

resident, he commutes to

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

during weekends. His main activities are the museum and realty management.

Kii branch

(1601–1671, r. 1619–1667) # Mitsusada (1626–1705, r. 1667–1698) #Tsunanori (1665–1705, r. 1698–1705) #Yorimoto (1680–1705, r. 1705) # Yoshimune (1684–1751, r. 1705–1716) (later became shōgun with the same name) #Munenao (1682–1757, r. 1716–1757) # Munemasa (1720–1765, r. 1757–1765) #Shigenori (1746–1829, r. 1765–1775) #Harusada (1728–1789, r. 1775–1789) #Harutomi (1771–1852, r. 1789–1832) #Nariyuki (1801–1846, r. 1832–1846) #Narikatsu (1820–1849, r. 1846–1849) # Yoshitomi (1846–1866, r. 1849–1858) (later became shōgun with the name Iemochi) #Mochitsugu (1844–1906, r. 1858–1869) #Yorimichi (1872-1925, r. 1869-1925) #Yorisada (1892-1954, r. 1925-1954) #Yoriaki (1917-1958, r. 1954-1958) #Gō (1924-unknown, r. 1958-1965) #Kotoko (b.1956, r. 1965-still) The 19th head of the Kii House is Ms. (born in 1956). Although she is not married and has no children, she was chosen as head of the clan because there were no other direct descendants. An architect,Se
her page
at the site of the Architect Studio Japan, she owns and operates her own construction company in

Ginza Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous i ...

, Tokyo. Unlike the other two, the Kii House does not have a museum of its own, and has given its properties of historical value to museums, such as the Wakayama Prefectural Museum. Effectively extinct

Mito branch

# Yorifusa # Mitsukuni # Tsunaeda # Munetaka # Munemoto # Harumori # Harutoshi # Narinobu # Nariaki # Yoshiatsu # Akitake # Atsuyoshi # Kuniyuki # Kuninari # Narimasa The 15th head of the Mito House is Mr. (born in 1958). From July 2009 he is also the director of

's . He presently works for Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. A

resident, he commutes to Mito on weekends.

Other uses of the term

In modern Japanese, the word ''gosanke'' is used to refer to "the strongest three" or "the most famous three" in various contexts. For example, the Imperial Hotel,

Hotel Okura is a luxury hotel opened in 1962 in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is operated by Okura Hotels and was a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. The historic main wing was demolished in 2015, with a modern replacement on the site opened in 2019, r ...

, and

Hotel New Otani Tokyo The Hotel New Otani Tokyo is a large hotel located in Tokyo, Japan operated by New Otani Hotels and opened in 1964. The hotel currently has 1,479 rooms and 39 restaurants. It has hosted numerous heads of state and is home to a 400-year-old gard ...

are often referred to as one of the of Tokyo. The Otani Hotel was built in the Kioi district of Tokyo, where the Tokyo residence of the Kii House was located. The " 8-bit ''gosanke''", similarly to the "1977 trinity" in America, refers to the leading Japanese machines in the early home computing era.

Notes

References

* ''

Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...

'', October 1, 2009, evening issue, page 1. ''Kafū sorezore Tokugawa Gosanke'' * Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version * Iwanami Nihonshi Jiten (岩波日本史辞典), CD-Rom Version. Iwanami Shoten, 1999–2001. * Papinot, E. (1910). "Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan". 1972 Printing. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo, . {{refend