The Dog Shogun

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi Visiting Nikko Shrine, woodblook print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1875.

When considering Japan's Edo Period, one often reflects on the Tokugawa shogunate, a military dictatorship that ushered in over 250 years of internal peace and stability through strict social controls, an isolationist foreign policy known as Sakoku, and a centralized feudal system.

During the Edo period (1603-1868), there were 15 shoguns, starting with Tokugawa Ieyasu and ending with Tokugawa Yoshinobu. This era of peace, ending a century of civil war, and facilitated significant cultural and economic growth. But how popular were these shoguns? Certainly, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who established the Tokugawa shogunate and unified Japan in the early 17th century, was very popular. What about the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, Ieyasu's third son, the fourth shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna, or even Tokugawa Yoshimune, who was not a son of any former shogun but rather a member of a cadet branch of the Tokugawa clan?

I aim to explore this question by examining all 15 shoguns who governed Japan for 250 years, beginning with perhaps the most unpopular, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, who lived from 1646-1709 and served as Japan's fifth shogun.

Often referred to as the "dog shogun," he became unpopular for enacting a series of animal welfare laws, particularly for dogs. Appointed shogun in 1680, following the death of his brother Tokugawa Ietsuna, Tsunayoshi led one of the most prosperous and peaceful eras in Japanese history. He was deeply committed to Neo-Confucian philosophy, which he integrated into his policies, especially through his "Edicts on Compassion for Living Things." Initially, he implemented laws requiring aid for sick travelers and abandoned infants. Later, he issued edicts to protect animals, especially dogs, due to his personal fondness for them. However, the extreme nature of these laws, including harsh penalties for animal cruelty and restrictions on hunting and hawking, led to widespread unpopularity.

Early Tokugawa shoguns like Ieyasu and Hidetada showed little interest in such ideas, being primarily warriors. In contrast, Tsunayoshi, influenced by his mother's encouragement of literature and religion during his childhood, actively promoted Confucianism.

Tsunayoshi imposed the death penalty for anyone harming a dog, required that dogs be addressed with honorifics, and constructed large kennels for stray dogs in various locations around Edo, with the largest and most renowned being in Nakano. Other sites included Yotsuya and Okubo. The Nakano kennel was expanded to cover approximately 750,000 to 1,000,000 square meters (about 143 soccer fields). It was estimated that Tsunayoshi maintained 100,000 dogs at government expense, feeding them a diet of rice and dried fish.

The five dogs commemorating the holding facility ordered by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the Dog Shogun, in front of the Nakano municipal office.

To common people, Tsunayoshi’s moral edicts seemed absurd. Leashing cats and dogs was forbidden. Hawking, a favored pastime of the warrior class, was banned, forcing hawkers into new trades. Hunting was severely restricted, negatively affecting many livelihoods. Eventually, Tsunayoshi introduced a complex system of prohibitions on consuming animals and fish and using certain animal parts; leather was also banned. Then came the Ako Incident (also known as the revenge of the forty-seven ronin), further diminishing public opinion of the fifth shogun.

In 1701, Asano Naganori, the Lord of Ako, attacked an official named Kira Yoshinaka inside Edo Castle after the official insulted him during preparations for a court ceremony. Kira was only slightly injured, but such a disturbance was a capital offense. Asano was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a high-ranking court official.

After two years of planning, the 47 samurai left masterless (ronin) avenged their lord by killing Kira. Anticipating the authorities' intolerance of their vendetta, they were ready for execution. However, due to substantial public support, the shogun ordered the ronin to commit seppuku as an honorable punishment for murder. This verdict was significant because it illustrated that, despite the retainers' display of loyalty to their former lord, the government would not tolerate random acts of violence. Yet, in popular opinion, the incident was seen as heroic, and the shogun's verdict, while enforcing the Edicts on Compassion for Living Things, was deemed unacceptable.

Unfortunately, the public was powerless to effect change, and these moral regulations persisted until Tsunayoshi’s death in 1709. Lacking a son, he was succeeded by his nephew, Tokugawa Ienobu, who promptly repealed most of Tsunayoshi’s unpopular laws. Ienobu's reign was brief: He ascended in 1709 and died in 1712, becoming known for integrating the ideas of Confucian scholar Arai Hakuseki into governance. Consequently, Tsunayoshi’s legacy of moral edicts is generally considered to have been entirely dismantled shortly after his death.