Tokugawa Ienari

Tokugawa Ienari (, November 18, 1773 – March 22, 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837. He was a great-grandson of the eighth shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune through his son Munetada (1721–1764), head of the Hitotsubashi branch of the family, and his grandson Harusada (1751–1827). Ienari died in 1841 and was given the Buddhist name Bunkyouin and buried at Kan'ei-ji. Events of Ienari's bakufu 1787 (Tenmei 7): Ienari becomes the 11th shōgun of the bakufu government. 1788 (Tenmei 7): Riots in rice shops in Edo and Osaka. March 6 – 11, 1788 (Tenmei 8, 29th day of the 1st month – 4th day of the second month): Great Fire of Kyoto. A fire in the city, which begins at 3 o'clock in the morning of March 6 burns uncontrolled until the 1st day of the second month (March 8); and embers smolder until extinguished by heavy rain on the 4th day of the second month (March 11). The emperor and his court flee the fire, and the Imperial Palace is destroyed. No other re-construction is permitted until a new palace is completed. This fire was considered a major event. The Dutch VOC Opperhoofd in Dejima noted in his official record book that "people are considering it to be a great and extraordinary heavenly portent." February 28, 1793 (Kansei 5, on the 18th day of the 1st month): Collapse of the peak of Mount Unzen. March 17, 1793 (Kansei 5, on the 6th day of the 2nd month): Eruption of Mt. Biwas-no-kubi April 15, 1793 (Kansei 5, on the 1st day of the 3rd month): The Shimabara earthquake. May 10, 1793 (Kansei 5, on the 1st day of the 4th month): Eruption of Mt. Miyama. September 1817, the Shōgun orders the expulsion of Titia Bergsma, the first European woman to visit Japan 1833–1837, the Tenpō famine 1837 (Tenpō 7): Tokugawa Ieyoshi becomes the 12th shōgun of the bakufu government. Ienari's time in office was marked by an era of pleasure, excess, and corruption, which ended in the disastrous Tenpō Famine of 1832–1837, in which thousands are known to have perished.