Tokugawa Mitsukuni

Tokugawa Mitsukuni (born July 11, 1628, Mito, Hitachi Province, Japan—died Jan. 14, 1701, Nishiyama, Hitachi Province) was a Japanese feudal lord who began the compilation of the Dai Nihon shi (“History of Great Japan”), a comprehensive rewriting of Japanese history modelled after the great Chinese dynastic histories. Mitsukuni’s project, which was not finally completed until 1906 (although most of the work was done during his lifetime), helped establish Confucian philosophy in Japan and also served to reawaken Japanese nationalistic feelings and loyalty to the throne.

Scion of the ruling Tokugawa family and grandson of the first Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mitsukuni was an influential member of the Tokugawa government as well as the lord of Mito, one of the most important independent fiefs in the country.

After leading a dissolute life as a youth, Mitsukuni became interested in classical studies, feeling that all earlier works dealing with Japanese history were mere calendars of events. He was 30 years old when he began the compilation of his history.

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The structure of the Dai Nihon shi is similar to that of the historical studies done by the 12th-century Chinese Neo-Confucian thinker Chu Hsi; Mitsukuni, like Chu Hsi, intended his study to be morally instructive, evaluating men of the past and thus teaching the men of the present about the nature of virtue. Mitsukuni was fortunate to gain the aid of many eminent scholars, especially that of the Chinese Ming dynasty loyalist Chu Shun-shui (q.v.).

In tracing the history of the Japanese Imperial family and the steps by which the power of the throne had been usurped by the shoguns, Mitsukuni revived loyalty to the emperor. As a result, the Mito fief became one of the leading centres of the movement that resulted in the Meiji Restoration (1868), which overthrew the shogunate and restored power to the Imperial house.