Background
Tsunayoshi Tokugawa was born on 23 February 1646 born in Edo Castle, he was a son of the third shogun, Iemitsu.
徳川 綱吉
Tsunayoshi Tokugawa was born on 23 February 1646 born in Edo Castle, he was a son of the third shogun, Iemitsu.
In 1651 he was made lord of the castle of Tatebayashi in the province of Kozuke. In 1680 the fourth shogun, Ietsuna, who was Tsunayoshi’s elder brother, fell gravely ill, and because he had no heir, Tsunayoshi was made his adopted son. When Ietsuna died the same year, Tsunayoshi succeeded to the position of shogun. He thereupon dismissed Sakai Tadakiyo from the post of tairo (senior councilor of state), the highest ministerial position in the shogunate, and in 1681 appointed Hotta Masatoshi to the position. In 1684, however, Hotta Masatoshi was assas-sinated in Edo Castle, and thereafter, in 1688, Tsunayoshi raised Yanagi- sawa Yoshiyasu to the post of sobayonin, or intermediary between the shogun and the roju (councilors of state), and relied heavily upon him.