Tokugawa Munetake

Who was Tokugawa Munetake?

Tokugawa Munetake was a Japanese samurai of the mid-Edo period, also known as Tayasu Munetake. The first head of the Tayasu branch of the Tokugawa clan, he held daimyo-level income, but was not a daimyo himself, instead having his residence inside the Tayasu gate of Edo Castle.

The second son of the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune, Munetake was considered by some as the logical choice for heir, as he was both physically fit and also well-educated. However, Yoshimune preferred the route of primogeniture, instead selecting his son Ieshige as heir. Munetake subsequently turned his attention to writing and scholarship, and set the Tayasu house apart from the other two gosankyo houses by keeping it spartan. He had several sons who were brought up in this spartan environment, one of whom was the famed reformer Matsudaira Sadanobu.

As a scholar, Munetake was a student of kokugaku. He studied under Kada Arimaro and Kamō Mabuchi, eventually producing the kokugaku texts Kokka hachiron yogen and Tenkō-gon. He was also an accomplished poet.

As head of the prestigious Tayasu-Tokugawa house, Munetake held the court title of gon-chūnagon and the junior 3rd court rank.