In 1868, in the first year of the Meiji era, Tokugawa Yoshiki announced his surrender, marking the official retirement of the Tokugawa shogunate, which had ruled Japan for more than 260 years. Tokugawa Yoshiki became the king of the fallen country in the shogunate era, and the ending is regrettable.
In the long history of history, the king of the fallen country has often had an ill-fated fate, and Japan is no exception. After the defeat of Hojo, the last shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, he chose to commit suicide in order to avoid humiliation; Although Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, was not killed, he was exiled to Hanoi by Oda Nobunaga and chose to become a monk; Toyotomi Hideyoshi's son, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, chose to commit suicide after his defeat.
Not to mention Tokugawa Keiki, who fought against Emperor Meiji, the ending is even more thought-provoking.
In his later years, Tokugawa Yoshiki could have faced the fate of being killed or placed under house arrest, but he did not suffer these fates in the end. After the surrender, Tokugawa Yoshiki was placed under house arrest, but Emperor Meiji chose to give him preferential treatment for reasons of stabilizing people's hearts and needing the support of his former Tokugawa ministers, so that his later life became colorful.
In the second year of the Meiji era, Tokugawa Yoshiki's house arrest was lifted, and he regained his freedom, but in order to avoid arousing unnecessary suspicion, he chose to go to Shizuoka to live in seclusion for forty-four years, and no longer focused on politics.
Although some of his retainers served in the Meiji period, he avoided meeting with them as much as possible and kept in touch with only a few close people.
Life in Shizuoka as a young man was not easy for Tokugawa Yoshiki. Ever since the return of the Great Government, he has been living a life that is not well-off. After all, the position of Tokugawa Governor had been taken over by his own adopted son, Tokugawa Ietatsu, who believed that it was Tokugawa Yoshiki's bloodless opening of the castle, which led to a significant decline in the Tokugawa family's status.
Although Tokugawa Ieda did not like Tokugawa Yoshiki, he still gave him some living expenses, but this was only enough to cover the basic living expenses, and it was almost impossible to become wealthy.
Emperor Meiji initially had reservations about Tokugawa Yoshiki during a hunting picnic, but as Tokugawa Yoshiki showed his intellectual interest, Emperor Meiji began to gradually improve his treatment, from announcing that his rank had been restored from fourth, to later promoted to second, and then to from first in Meiji 21, second only to first.
Although surveillance still existed, Emperor Meiji's wariness of Tokugawa Yoshiki had been greatly reduced. In the 30th year of the Meiji era, due to the demolition of his residence, Tokugawa Yoshiki returned to live in Tokyo and met with Emperor Meiji for the first time.
After the meeting, Emperor Meiji not only gave him a tour of the Imperial Palace, but also gave him many items. Since then, Emperor Meiji has completely let down his guard and given more respect and trust to Tokugawa Yoshiki.
In the 33rd year of the Meiji era (1899), Tokugawa Yoshiki was given the official position of Musk Kama Gimarquis, who was mainly responsible for managing the palace gardens, and for Tokugawa Yoshiki, this was already a state of extreme satisfaction.
Looking back, it is difficult to express the excitement of political enemies who used to be fighting each other, but now they can be treated so favorably by the royal family, and even awarded a palace official position.
Emperor Meiji granted Tokugawa permission to hunt grounds in order to satisfy Tokugawa Yoshiki's hunting hobby. Later, Emperor Meiji conferred the title of Duke Tokugawa Keiki, which was the honor of his life.
When Tokugawa was 66 years old, Emperor Meiji personally held a duke conferment ceremony and invited him to the palace. This incident not only allowed Tokugawa Yoshiki to completely clear the stigma of the Korean enemy, but also separated him from the Tokugawa clan and became a Chinese family, entering the aristocratic world of Japan.
At the same time, he also gained the right to participate in politics. In general, Emperor Meiji's preferential treatment of Tokugawa Yoshiki was extremely rare.
The Chinese dress symbolizes supreme prestige, and the nobility who attains the title of duke is the best of the best. They were usually the elite of public society such as the Konoe family, the Takaji family, the Kujo family, the Ichijo family, and the Nijo family, or the leaders of samurai societies such as the Tokugawa clan.
These people are not able to obtain the title of duke because of their hard work, they are often congenitally superior and belong to the real minority. However, for other dukes, it was only through sufficient dedication and effort that it was possible to obtain this prestigious title.
For example, Hirobumi Ito, Mori Family, Shimazu Family, Saionji Kobo, Yama Prefecture Aritomo, Shimazu Hisamitsu, Tokudaiji Minoru, Katsura Taro, Iwakura Gumi, etc., are all famous dukes in history.
Therefore, the gold content of the duke can be seen.
Tokugawa Yoshiki's later life was full of variety and ease, and he not only loved photography and painting, but also studied Japanese folk songs, and even his photographs have an important place in history.
Some of Tokugawa Yoshiki's photographic works are mainly oil paintings, and he studied under Kawakami Winter Cliff, the father of modern Western painting in Japan. The subjects of his paintings are often set against the backdrop of rivers and mountains, and almost every landscape painting depicts the image of a bridge, perhaps symbolizing his desire to be a bridge between the modern and the modern.
The painting depicts a magnificent view of nature with delicate brushstrokes.
He loves snow and photography, and his landscapes are idyllic. Although his original intention was only to keep a diary, his work was given an artistic character in his later years.
Unfortunately, photography was not yet developed at that time, and his photographs became valuable materials for the social landscape of the early Meiji era, and are of great historical value.
At the age of 77, Tokugawa Yoshiki lived the longest among all Tokugawa shoguns, and Tokugawa Ieyasu lived to be 73 years old. In 1913, after his death, Emperor Taisho gave him special respect and high treatment.
In addition to sending envoys to his funeral, Empress Zhenming and Empress Dowager Zhaoxian also sent people to attend, as many as 7,000 people attended, including former ministers from his general era and ambassadors from various countries.
The funeral square was packed, as grand as the emperor's funeral.
In order to express his gratitude to Emperor Meiji for forgiving sins and bestowing knighthood, Tokugawa Keiki chose to replace the Tokugawa family's usual Buddhist funeral with a Shinto ceremony, and chose the cemetery in Ueno in Yanaka Spiritual Garden rather than Kaneiji Temple and Zojoji Temple of the previous shoguns.
Although Tokugawa Yoshiki had many children, after a hundred years, the name of the Tokugawa family was suddenly interrupted, which has a certain relationship with the Keiki family's middle fall.
Tokugawa Yoshiki's mansion was once vast, totaling 9,900 square meters, and together with other possessions, his descendants lived in affluence. However, as in other Chinese ethnic groups, the post-war property tax caused his family to lose almost all of their wealth, and the mansion was not preserved.
Tokugawa Yoshiki's last heir was Tokugawa Yoshito, and although he had two sons and a daughter, after the divorce, they all changed their mother's surname, and Tokugawa Yoshitomo did not adopt a son or was willing to take over his own son to inherit the family, so the Keiki clan was severed.
Although the direct lineage of the Tokugawa family has not disappeared, their surname is no longer Tokugawa. After the death of Tokugawa Ietatsu, his eldest son, Tokugawa Iemasa, inherited the family's position, and although he used to be in politics and even held important positions in the House of Nobles, after World War II, the House of Lords was abolished, and his descendants began to engage in business.
Today, the heir to the Tokugawa family is Tokugawa Tsunetaka, and although he is not in politics, his family is still able to maintain a certain amount of decency. The once beautiful top family has also returned to peace after hundreds of years.