Iemasa Tokugawa

In this Japanese name, the family name is Tokugawa.

Tokugawa Iemasa

Born	(1884-03-23)March 23, 1884 Tokyo, Japan
Died	February 18, 1963(1963-02-18) (aged 78)
Spouse(s)	daughter of Shimazu Tadayoshi
Children	Iefusa Tokugawa

Prince Tokugawa Iemasa (徳川家正, March 23, 1884 – February 18, 1963) was a Japanese political figure of the Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was the 17th hereditary head of the former shogunal branch of the Tokugawa clan and the final President of the House of Peers in the Diet of Japan.

Biography

Tokugawa Iemasa was born in what is now the Sendagaya district of Tokyo, as the eldest son of Tokugawa Iesato. He graduated from the law school of Tokyo Imperial University in 1909, and accepted a post in the diplomatic corps of Foreign Ministry the same year. In 1924, he was appointed Consul-general to the Japanese consulate in Sydney, Australia. In 1929, he was appointed Envoy to Canada and from 1937 to 1939 served as the Japanese ambassador to Turkey.

In 1940, on the death of his father, he inherited the title of kōshaku (公爵, "prince") under the kazoku peerage system, and a seat as a member of the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan. On June 19, 1946, he served as the President of the House of Peers, a post which he held until May 2, 1947, when the Allied occupation authorities authorized the current Constitution of Japan abolishing the House of Peers.

He died of heart disease at his home in Shibuya, Tokyo, on February 18, 1963, and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, 1st class. His grave is located at the Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo. He was succeeded as head of the Tokugawa clan by Tokugawa Tsunenari.

References

Banno, Junji. The Establishment of the Japanese Constitutional System. Routledge (1992). ISBN 0-415-00497-7
Lebra, Sugiyama Takie. Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility. University of California Press (1995). ISBN 0-520-07602-8
Sims, Richard. Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868–2000. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23915-7

External links

Yanaka Cemetery (Japanese)

Political offices
Preceded by Tokugawa Iesato	Tokugawa family head 1940–1963	Succeeded by Tokugawa Tsunenari
Preceded by Tokugawa Kuniyuki	President of the House of Peers 1946–1947	Succeeded by (post abolished)

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