Background
Tokugawa Iemasa was born in what is now the Sendagaya district of Tokyo, as the eldest son of Tokugawa Iesato.
徳川 家正
Tokugawa Iemasa was born in what is now the Sendagaya district of Tokyo, as the eldest son of Tokugawa Iesato.
He graduated from the law school of Tokyo Imperial University in 1909, and accepted a post in the diplomatic corps of Foreign Ministry the same year.
He was the 17th hereditary head of the former shogunal branch of the Tokugawa clan and the final President of the House of Peers in the Diet of Japan. In 1924, he was appointed Consul-general to the Japanese consulate in Sydney, Australia. In 1929, he was appointed Envoy to Canada and from 1937-1939 served as the Japanese ambassador to Turkey.
On June 19, 1946, he served as the President of the House of Peers, a post which he held until May 2, 1947, when the Allied occupation authorities authorized the current Constitution of Japan abolishing the House of Peers.
His grave is located at the Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo. He was succeeded as head of the Tokugawa clan by Tokugawa Tsunenari.
In 1940, on the death of his father, he inherited the title of kōshaku (公爵, prince) under the kazoku peerage system, and a seat as a member of the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan.