The New International Encyclopædia/Tokugawa

​Tokugawa, tō′ko̅o̅-gä′wȧ. The name of the great family which ruled Japan for more than two centuries and a half (1600–1868). Its founder was Ieyasu, one of the five generals from the east of Japan who restored peace after centuries of feudal strife and anarchy. He claimed descent from an early Emperor through the Minamoto family, and took their hereditary title ‘shogun’ (general). He made Yedo, then an obscure village, the capital of Japan, reformed the laws, and established the system which was characteristic of Japan and made it unique in the eyes of foreigners. Ieyasu retired in 1604 to Shidzuoka, but continued to rule through his son until his death in 1616. His descendants were shoguns to the number of fourteen. The greatest of them was Iemitsu, his grandson, who ruled from 1623 to 1649. Most of the Tokugawa shoguns were weaklings and debauchees. The fifteenth shogun resigned his powers to the Emperor in 1868 and retired to Shidzuoka. Since that time the family has exerted no political power.

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