Tokugawa Ieyoshi (?? ??,
June 22, 1793–
July 27, 1853; r.1837–1853) was the 12th
shogun of the
Tokugawa shogunate of
Japan.
[1]He was the second son of the 11th shogun, Tokugawa Ienari, and employed Mizuno Tadakuni to conduct the Tenpo reform.
Ieyoshi was utterly surprised and unprepared upon receiving word of the arrival of Matthew Perry's ships in Edo Bay.[2] Whether from shock or from some other cause, Shogun Ieyoshi soon began to feel very sick and died shortly afterwards.
Tokugawa Ieyoshi is a minor character in Stephen Sondheim's musical "Pacific Overtures," in which he is murdered by his mother, using poisoned chrysanthemum tea.
