The Tokugawa shogunate, like the Japanese imperial family, was bound by a "magic spell.".
That is, very few of their children can reach adulthood.
Tokugawa Ieki, the longest-serving shogun in the Edo shogunate, succeeded him at the age of 14 and gave way at the age of 64, having more than 40 side chambers and giving birth to 55 babies in his lifetime, but less than half of them were adults, but this was a high record.
It was also based on this status quo that the founder of the shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, would create the Gosan family, the lord of the Chuei Dynasty, the eighth shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi, and would create the Gosankei, so that when the Tokugawa clan was extinct, he could pass on the talents from these branches and become the shogun of the Seiyi.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was in power for 50 years, and his son Tokugawa Ieyasu was 45 years old when he succeeded to the throne.
(Tokugawa Shogunate Harem Daio)
Interestingly, the average life expectancy of Japanese men at that time was only 45 years.
Although Tokugawa Ieyasu may not know this data, the intuitive impression of the early death of the people at the time is inevitable.
For Tokugawa Ieyake, who had only ascended to the throne in the "old age of the wind", and whose father was still the Emperor of the Imperial Palace and the Emperor Taishang, there would undoubtedly be much more to think about life than his contemporaries. There are also many more troubles in the family.
He had 27 children, but only his family lived to adulthood.
And this xiang, who has had smallpox and scars on his face, is only willing to communicate with his own grandmother; he is weak and sickly, often cramps, and can scare people to death.
The outer courtiers and the daimyo knew that the family was useless, and it was likely that they would die one day, so they quickly took sides.
The Minami clan wanted to support Tokugawa Fukukei, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was the son of Tokugawa Kishun, the great nayan of the Kii domain.
The Hitotsubashi faction wanted to support Ichibashi Keiki, which had passed from the Mito Tokugawa family to the Hitotsubashi family.
They all seemed to ignore the current general's thoughts, and perhaps they were all expecting him to die early.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was naturally unhappy, although my son was ill, in the end it was my son, and in terms of blood, Iehimo was the best heir to the shogun.
In 1853, Japan was worried about internal and external troubles, and the Americans came by gunboats, which could not be easily dismissed; the country was chaotic and wanted to be a general.
(Black Ship)
Around this time, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was already in poor health, suddenly made a major discovery.
- The Tokugawa shogunate, where there is a word in the name that is left and right, there is no heir to succeed.
The fourth generation of generals, the fifth generation of generals, both are like this;
Seven generations of generals succeeded him, and died at the age of eight;
Ten generations of generals, Ieji, the son of Ieki, was so clever that he suddenly suffered from stomach pain at the age of 17 and died three days later. At that time, it was rumored that he had been poisoned.
Jiaqing said to his son Jiaxiang, when you are on the throne, you must change your name.
Tokugawa Ieyasu obeyed his father's orders, and sure enough, after taking the throne, he changed his name to Iejō.
However, it is useless to change it.
He had no heirs in all three main chambers; though he had side chambers, he had nothing to come out of.
In "Ōo Japan", it is humorously written that when Ikusei is slept by the most beloved side room Shiga, I should be chatting or playing some games that make Ikusei happy.
(Tokugawa Ieori stills)
It can be seen that the generals who have been eliminated in one generation are not because of bad names, but obviously, there are other reasons.
First, there is no male style, like a family.
Second, the medical skills are not good, not only the general's family, the heavenly royal family, and the common people's home, so is the case. The more you are born, the more you die.
Third, close relatives marry, and there are many defective children. It is not necessary to lack hands and feet, lack of heart and eyes, and in terms of life span, it is also inherently short.
Fourth, it is not excluded that some babies are assassinated.
I can't help but think that in ancient times, there were young emperors who were destroyed and said that if there was an afterlife, they would not want to regenerate the royal family; the children of the Tokugawa clan who died prematurely may not want to be born in the Tokugawa family.