Tokugawa Hidetada

Tokugawa Hidetada (born May 2, 1579, Hamamatsu, Japan—died March 15, 1632, Edo [now Tokyo]) was the second Tokugawa shogun, who completed the consolidation of his family’s rule, eliminated Christianity from Japan, and took the first steps toward closing the country to all trade or other intercourse with foreign countries.

In order to assure a smooth succession, the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, named his third and most even-tempered son, Hidetada, to the shogunate in 1605, two years after the establishment of the Tokugawa regime. Hidetada ruled in name only, however, for Ieyasu continued to control the actual workings of the government until his death in 1616, after which Hidetada finished the restructuring of the central government administration.

Apparently fearful of rebellion by Japanese Christians (Kirishitan), who were aided by Spain, Hidetada immediately repeated his father’s ban on Christianity. When his edict was ignored, he had four missionaries executed (1617), the first Christians to be martyred in Japan. In 1622 he ordered the execution of 120 missionaries and Japanese converts. Moreover, he banned all Christian literature and forced his vassals, several of whom were pursuing pro-Christian policies, to institute similar persecutions in their own realms.

In order to regulate outside influence and prevent the further spread of Christianity, Hidetada decreed that foreign vessels, except those from China, enter Japan only through the ports of Nagasaki and Hirado. He severed relations with the Spanish; the English had already closed their unprofitable trading base in Japan. Hidetada’s efforts to isolate Japan were successfully completed by his son and successor, Tokugawa Iemitsu.