[Around-40 Great Figures] 03. Around-40 Tokugawa Yoshimune

Note: The following text is written with an emphasis on entertainment. Please be aware that some of the content may include expressions that differ from historical facts.

The third installment is the wild shogun!Tokugawa Yoshimune!

Introduction: A man who was serious about 'national reconstruction'

Tokugawa Yoshimune was the 8th shogun of the Edo Shogunate.
Even though he was a shogun, it was the Edo period of peace, so he didn't have the flashiness of a Sengoku warlord.
Much less did he strike down villains one after another like in a certain drama starring Ken Matsudaira.
(Of course, he also doesn't dance the Ma-Ken Samba.)

He didn't swing a sword around, nor did he command large armies in massive battles.
Yet, Tokugawa Yoshimune was a shogun who fought for years to rebuild the nation.
He wielded his skills more as a politician than as a samurai or military man.

Moreover, he got serious just as he was approaching his forties.

Now, Yoshimune in his forties, what were you doing at this time?

Basic Information

Tokugawa Yoshimune was born in 1684 in Kii Province (present-day Wakayama Prefecture).
He came from the Kishu Domain, one of the Tokugawa Gosanke (three privileged branches), but he was not a candidate for shogun from childhood.
In fact, as the fourth son, it was highly unlikely he would even become the lord of the Kishu Domain.

However, due to the successive deaths of his older brothers, he inherited the family estate and eventually became shogun, following an unexpected path in life.

Yoshimune became shogun at the age of 32.
At this point, the shogunate was already in a
・Chronic financial difficulties
・A debt hell for samurai
・Political institutional fatigue
・Unstable commodity prices
which was a quite precarious state
.

Upon becoming shogun, Yoshimune embarked on reforms.That was the Kyoho Reforms
.
The reforms carried out for over 20 years starting from when Yoshimune became shogun at 32 (1716) are called the Kyoho Reforms.

The engine really starts running during his forties, when he had established power within the shogunate and possessed both experience and resolve.

[1721– / Age 37–] 1. Kyoho Reforms, into serious mode

The Kyoho Reforms are a term that symbolizes Tokugawa Yoshimune.

However, the content is surprisingly plain.
・Thorough frugality
・Increased revenue through new field development
・Organization of laws and systems
・Rebuilding agriculture and distribution
There are no eccentric policies. There are no one-shot reversals.

Just, single-mindedly,
continuing to do things that are troublesome, unpopular, and time-consuming.

The ability to do this is the abnormality of Yoshimune in his forties.

As mentioned above, frugality occupied a large part of his reforms, and Yoshimune is known as the 'Frugal Shogun'.
But his frugality was not just simple saving or a contest of endurance.
・Cutting unnecessary events
・Reviewing extravagant customs
・Exposing corruption among officials

On the other hand,
・He did not stop necessary investments
・Promoted improvements in agricultural technology
・Emphasized disaster countermeasures and public safety

In short, he separated where to spend and where to cut.
He judged not by emotion, but by numbers and reality.
This is something even modern business managers find difficult to do.

[1721– / Age 37–] 2. Installation of the Meyasubako (Suggestion Box)

One cannot talk about Yoshimune in his forties without mentioning the installation of the Meyasubako.

A mechanism that allowed commoners to directly convey opinions and complaints to the shogun.
In modern terms, a system where opinions fly anonymously to the top.

The target was not within the organization, but the entire nation.
Honestly, it's troublesome and can become unmanageable.

But Yoshimune did it.
Because he understood that,
'The higher up you are, the less you hear the voices on the ground.'

The resolve to face criticism. The resolve to look directly at inconvenient realities.

This, too, was a judgment that would be difficult with youth alone.

The greatness of Yoshimune in his forties

Tokugawa Yoshimune was not a person who destroyed an era like Nobunaga.
He is also a little different from someone who quietly built things up like Tadataka.

He was a person who stopped the bleeding of a massive, crumbling system and kept repairing it.

・It is difficult to get flashy evaluations
・He is disliked in the short term
・It takes time for results to appear

Even so, he did not run away.

It can be said that he was a man who took on the most grueling role at an age when physical strength, experience, and responsibility all become heavy—his forties.

By the way, the Kyoho Reforms were evaluated for rebuilding the shogunate's finances through frugality and institutional review, and they became a model for later reforms.
However, the burden on farmers increased due to higher land taxes, and issues such as an increase in peasant uprisings also arose.
It can be said that it was a reform where success and challenges were mixed.
(In this article, regardless of the success or failure of the Kyoho Reforms, I want to emphasize the attitude of Yoshimune, who did not run away from the difficult problem of shogunate reconstruction and continued to tackle it head-on...!)

Conclusion

What Tokugawa Yoshimune's way of life teaches us is that
'Sustainability is more valuable than flashy results.'

Your forties are surely not the downhill slope of life.
It is an age where you can look at reality and face troublesome issues.

The true identity of the wild shogun was a super-realist who did not get swept away by emotions and continued to believe in numbers and the field.

It's okay not to stand out. It's okay not to have applause.
Even so, move society forward.
That is the 'spirit' of the forty-something Tokugawa Yoshimune.
Ole! (← in the rhythm of a samba)