Fifteenth Tokugawa Shogun. Born in Tokyo, the son of Nariaki Tokugawa, the lord of the Mito Clan. In 1847, he became head of the Hitotsubashi Family. In the dispute over the successor to the 13th Shogun Iesada, he came into conflict with Naosuke Ii, who pushed for Yoshifuku Tokugawa, the lord of the Wakayama Clan. While the problem of signing the United States-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce was in dispute, he was confined to his house under the Ansei Purge. However, in 1862 he became a guardian of the Shogun by Imperial order, and promoted the reforms of the Shogunate administration. In 1866, he became the 15th Shogun. In response to a petition of the Kochi Clan, he decided taisei hokan (the restoration of political power to the Emperor) in 1867 and tried to recover the power of the Tokugawa Family but lost to the anti-Shogunate group and swore allegiance to the Emperor and was placed in confinement at home. After the Meiji Restoration, his confinement was lifted but he was compelled to live quietly in Sunpu in 1869. In 1897, however he moved back to Tokyo and received the title of koshaku (prince) in 1902.