IYEMITSU TOKUGAWA, t (1601-51). A Japanese statesman of the seventeenth eentury. grandson I) f the founder of the Tokugawa line of Shoguns. Ile sueceetled to the title in 1624, and proved himself the ablest, after lyeyasu, of the fifteen shoguns of the line. lie continued, and complet ed in 16:3S-41. the policy of his grandfather in excluding all foreign influences, not only expel ling all foreigners and eradicating every trace of Christianity, hut also forbidding all natives, under penalty of death, to leave the country: and the Better to secure this end, lie ordered the destruc tion of all seagoing vessels, The Dutch were confined to the little artificial island of Deshima, in Nagasaki Harbor, and their intercourse with the outer world was limited to two ships a year. The English had already retired from Ilirado. The persecution of the Christians was tierce and bloody, and in 1638 :37,000 of them were hurled from the precipitous cliffs of Pappenherg near Nagasaki, and thousands more were tortured to death. lie rebuilt and greatly enlarged Yedo, and erected the gorgeous shrines at Nikko, where lie lies beside his illustrious grandfather. Con sult Griffis, The i kado's Kin pire (New York, 1876).
IYEYASil (or IEYAST1) TOKUGAWA, to'kiza-gli'w5. (1542-1616). A famous .Japanese general and statesman, the first Shogun of the Tokug,awa line, and the founder of the peace and order under which the Japanese lived from the year 1601 to 1SG8. Though a descendant of the famous Minamoto elan, his father was a humble peasant. Ile served with distinction under both Nolaunaga and llideyosid (env.). On the death of Ilideyoshi, in 159S, great dissen sions arose among the territorial barons or daimins in regard to his successor. Many. in. eluding Iyeyasn. had sworn to protect Hide yosliPs son Ilideyori, then a child of six, and to secure his succession; but many more opposed his claim as the son of a person of low birth, and sided with 1veyasu when a movement against him eompelled him to take up arms. in a bloody battle at Sekigahara, on October 16, IWO, lye yasu utterly routed his enemies, killing 10,000 of them. Wholesale contiseations followed, and with these lands be rewarded his adherents in such a way as to secure his own authority throughout the country. Later he captured the castle at Osaka. where the ebild ITideyori was with his mother. and in 1603 reported to the Mikado, receiving from him the appointment of Bead of the Minamoto elan, and that of Sei-i-tai Shogun, or `Barbarian - great - general.'
Not long after he received the submission and homage of the barons at Yeti°, which he made his capital. The better to maintain his authority, he ordained that each of the daimios should, with a certain number of his armed retainers, remain in Yedo six months of the year, and their wives and families should be left as host ages when they visited their own domains. He then began extensive internal improvements; he enlarged the castle at Yedo, made streets and canals, built bridges, erected buildings, drained marshes, constructed the great highway called Tokaido, which runs along the eastern coast from Yedo to Kioto, and effected many other great and lasting improvements for the betterment of the country. In 1605 he concluded peace with Korea, reestablished friendly relations with China, and retired in favor of his son Hidetada, reserving to himself, however, a large measure of control. He then took up his abode in his castle at Sumpu (now Shidzuoka), in the Province of Suruga, occupying himself with the collection of hooks and manuscripts, and the composition (as is be lieved) of the document, in one hundred sections, known as Time Legacy (or Testament) of lye yasu, containing laws or rules to be observed in governing the country. His policy, which aimed at the unification of the country, included as one of its features the exclusion of aliens and the alien religion, Christianity. in 1614 he issued a proclamation ordering all Romish propagand ists and leaders of churches to he deported. their churches to he destroyed, and compulsory recan tation of the faith by the converts. Large num bers were deported, and thousands were mas sacred in the persecutions that followed. The Portuguese and Spanish were expelled, but the Dutch and English, who first arrived in Japan during this period, received commercial privi leges, the former being allowed to settle at Nagasaki, and the latter at Hirado.
Iyeyasu died at Swum:, and was buried at Knnosan in Surage, but later his remains were interred in a mausoleum at Nikko. Ile was canonized as To Sho Dai-Gongen, but is com monly spoken of as Gongen Sama. His festival falls on the 17th day of the fourth month. Con sult: Rein, Japan (London. 1884) ; Lowder, The Legacy of lyegasu (Yokohama, 1874) ; and Grigsby, in the Transactions of the Asiatic So ciety of Japan, vol. viii. (Tokio, 1875).