Background
Tokugawa Yoshimichi was the 10th son of the 3rd daimyō of Owari Domain, Tokugawa Tsunanari by a concubine, Hōju-in, who was believed to have been a commoner.
徳川 吉通
Tokugawa Yoshimichi was the 10th son of the 3rd daimyō of Owari Domain, Tokugawa Tsunanari by a concubine, Hōju-in, who was believed to have been a commoner.
On August 25, 1695, he was permitted to take the Tokugawa surname in place of Matsudaira, and in December of the same year was awarded with one kanji from Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi’s name, lower 4th court rank and ceremonial court title of Captain of the Left Guards. He was awarded the title of Chunagon on November 28, 1704. He was also ranked as the 8th master of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū school of Japanese swordsmanship.
Yoshimichi died on July 26, 1713 under somewhat uncertain circumstances.
lieutenant is known that he was held in high regard by Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu, who approached Yoshimichi in 1712 with regards to his possible succession to the Tokugawa shogunate – a post for which he declared to have no desire or ambition. Plans for Yochimichi to either succeed Ienonu, or to act as regent for Ienari’s infant son were vehemently opposed by Ienari’s councilor, Arai Hakuseki.
However, in May 1713, a plot by some of his retainers in Nagoya resulted in twelve sentences of death or seppuku, and Yoshimichi went into permanently secluded retirement back with his mother, Hōju-in, on July 21 of the same year. He died, reportedly of illness, less than five days later.
His grave is at the Owari Tokugawa clan temple of Kenchū-ji in Nagoya.