Токугава Иесада: Әлсіз шоғун және Бакумацу кезеңінің бастауы

13th shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate

was the 13th shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He held office for five years from 1853 to 1858. He was physically weak and was therefore considered by later historians to have been unfit to be shōgun. His reign marks the beginning of the Bakumatsu period.

Iesada was born in Edo Castle as Masanosuke (政之助)—the fourth son of the 12th shōgun Tokugawa Ieyoshi with his concubine, known as Honjuin. As most of Ieyoshi's children died in infancy or before coming of age, Iesada was appointed heir at a very early age, but his interaction with people was very restricted in an effort to prevent contracting any illnesses. Some historians have theorized that he may have suffered from cerebral palsy. He had suffered from smallpox in early childhood, which left his face pockmarked. On the death of Tokugawa Ienari in 1841, concerns were raised on the fitness of Iesada as heir, with Tokugawa Yoshinobu named as a potential successor. However, this was strongly opposed by the rōjū Abe Masahiro, and Iesada remained heir.

In the difficult situation at the end of the Edo period, the problem of the shogunate before Iesada took office immediately after he took office, and Iesada's constitution was very weak when he succeeded him, and he was even said to be a "wasted person". The abolition refers to the possibility that he may suffer from traumatic cerebral palsy, as well as the performance of the general.

Tokugawa Iesada is featured in the 2008 NHK taiga drama Atsuhime, which chronicles the life of his wife Tenshō in. He is portrayed by Masato Sakai. Iesada's portrayal in this series (unlike most other characterizations of him as an imbecile), presents a romanticized (and largely fictionalized) image him as a reasonable, if weak willed individual, whose interactions with his wife Atsuhime pushed him to exert effort into his work as shōgun.