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The Dog Shogun: The Personality and Policies of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
Tsunayoshi (1646–1709), the fifth Tokugawa shogun, is one of the most notorious figures in Japanese history. Viewed by many as a tyrant, his policies were deemed eccentric, extreme, and unorthodox. His Laws of Compassion, which made the maltreatment of dogs an offense punishable by death, earned him the nickname Dog Shogun, by which he is still popularly known today. However, Tsunayoshi’s rule coincides with the famed Genroku era, a period of unprecedented cultural growth and prosperity that Japan would not experience again until the mid-twentieth century. It was under Tsunayoshi that for the first time in Japanese history considerable numbers of ordinary townspeople were in a financial position to acquire an education and enjoy many of the amusements previously reserved for the ruling elite.
Based on a masterful re-examination of primary sources, this exciting new work by a senior scholar of the Tokugawa period maintains that Tsunayoshi’s notoriety stems largely from the work of samurai historians and officials who saw their privileges challenged by a ruler sympathetic to commoners. Beatrice Bodart-Bailey’s insightful analysis of Tsunayoshi’s background sheds new light on his personality and the policies associated with his shogunate. Tsunayoshi was the fourth son of Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604–1651) and left largely in the care of his mother, the daughter of a greengrocer. Under her influence, Bodart-Bailey argues, the future ruler rebelled against the values of his class. As evidence she cites the fact that, as shogun, Tsunayoshi not only decreed the registration of dogs, which were kept in large numbers by samurai and posed a threat to the populace, but also the registration of pregnant women and young children to prevent infanticide. He decreed, moreover, that officials take on the onerous tasks of finding homes for abandoned children and caring for sick travelers.
In the eyes of his detractors, Tsunayoshi’s interest in Confucian and Buddhist studies and his other intellectual pursuits were merely distractions for a dilettante. Bodart-Bailey counters that view by pointing out that one of Japan’s most important political philosophers, Ogyû Sorai, learned his craft under the fifth shogun. Sorai not only praised Tsunayoshi’s government, but his writings constitute the theoretical framework for many of the ruler’s controversial policies. Another salutary aspect of Tsunayoshi’s leadership that Bodart-Bailey brings to light is his role in preventing the famines and riots that would have undoubtedly taken place following the worst earthquake and tsunami as well as the most violent eruption of Mount Fuji in history―all of which occurred during the final years of Tsunayoshi's shogunate.
The Dog Shogun is a thoroughly revisionist work of Japanese political history that touches on many social, intellectual, and economic developments as well. As such it promises to become a standard text on late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth-century Japan.
Based on a masterful re-examination of primary sources, this exciting new work by a senior scholar of the Tokugawa period maintains that Tsunayoshi’s notoriety stems largely from the work of samurai historians and officials who saw their privileges challenged by a ruler sympathetic to commoners. Beatrice Bodart-Bailey’s insightful analysis of Tsunayoshi’s background sheds new light on his personality and the policies associated with his shogunate. Tsunayoshi was the fourth son of Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604–1651) and left largely in the care of his mother, the daughter of a greengrocer. Under her influence, Bodart-Bailey argues, the future ruler rebelled against the values of his class. As evidence she cites the fact that, as shogun, Tsunayoshi not only decreed the registration of dogs, which were kept in large numbers by samurai and posed a threat to the populace, but also the registration of pregnant women and young children to prevent infanticide. He decreed, moreover, that officials take on the onerous tasks of finding homes for abandoned children and caring for sick travelers.
In the eyes of his detractors, Tsunayoshi’s interest in Confucian and Buddhist studies and his other intellectual pursuits were merely distractions for a dilettante. Bodart-Bailey counters that view by pointing out that one of Japan’s most important political philosophers, Ogyû Sorai, learned his craft under the fifth shogun. Sorai not only praised Tsunayoshi’s government, but his writings constitute the theoretical framework for many of the ruler’s controversial policies. Another salutary aspect of Tsunayoshi’s leadership that Bodart-Bailey brings to light is his role in preventing the famines and riots that would have undoubtedly taken place following the worst earthquake and tsunami as well as the most violent eruption of Mount Fuji in history―all of which occurred during the final years of Tsunayoshi's shogunate.
The Dog Shogun is a thoroughly revisionist work of Japanese political history that touches on many social, intellectual, and economic developments as well. As such it promises to become a standard text on late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth-century Japan.
390 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 15, 2018
Y'all. I did it. I FINALLY FINISHED THE DOG SHOGUN.
THIS WAS A SLOG.
Here's the deal: this is a VERY academic work. Long stretches of it are EXTREMELY dry. The Dog Shogun reads a bit like an (unusually long) Ph.D. thesis--I checked to see if it was, but it's not--and there is a lot going on here. Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, has not been well-regarded historically, and Dr Bodart-Bailey is not only writing a biography of him: she is also rehabilitating his image. She interrogates the traditional sources, examining the motives of their author(s) as well as their reliability. She takes a close look at how Tsunayoshi's contemporaries, both commoners and those of high rank, looked at his policies and how their lives were affected. Based solely on this book, it appears few if any other scholars have done this before, and this effort is a major, noteworthy undertaking. I'm tremendously impressed--but I was also, for many chapters, bored out of my mind. I wouldn't say that this is Bodart-Bailey's fault, though: I bought this book expecting a more mass-market biography, and that's not at all what this book is. If I'd paid more attention--even read the blurb on the back--I would have known that.
Regarding the title: Tsunayoshi was nicknamed the "Dog Shogun" by chroniclers and critics because of his "Laws of Compassion," some of which protected dogs. It wasn't meant to be a flattering moniker, though it may look like one to us. He personally was probably Not That Into dogs. Do not read this expecting dogs. (I know. I KNOW.)
While I did get bored a lot--I put this book aside very often in the last THREE YEARS, good glob--I also learned a tremendous amount about Japanese history and government, shoguns, the 47 ronin, Confucianism, and how the best-intended laws can go awry. (I also learned a new word: "enfeoffed.") Some of the chapters do move more quickly and are great reads. For example: the section on the 47 ronin--arguably the most famous story from Japanese history--was alone worth the effort of reading the whole book (or at least all the preceding chapters, without which I would not have had the necessary context). They ARE still very academic in style, though.
There are two things that would have helped this book: one, a statement at the very beginning that THERE IS A GLOSSARY AT THE END, OH MY GLOB, I WAS FIGURING OUT WORDS LIKE "DAIMYO" FROM CONTEXT, and a family tree. The inclusion of a family tree for books involving dynastic succession seems obvious to me, but there isn't one here, and it drove me bonkers. I may draw one myself and put it in my copy of The Dog Shogun just so I have it. If you pick this book up, I recommend you keep a paper & pen nearby so you can draw one as you go along.
tl;dr Three stars: gets slow, gets boring, but I learned SO MUCH and some sections are cracking. No dogs.
THIS WAS A SLOG.
Here's the deal: this is a VERY academic work. Long stretches of it are EXTREMELY dry. The Dog Shogun reads a bit like an (unusually long) Ph.D. thesis--I checked to see if it was, but it's not--and there is a lot going on here. Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, has not been well-regarded historically, and Dr Bodart-Bailey is not only writing a biography of him: she is also rehabilitating his image. She interrogates the traditional sources, examining the motives of their author(s) as well as their reliability. She takes a close look at how Tsunayoshi's contemporaries, both commoners and those of high rank, looked at his policies and how their lives were affected. Based solely on this book, it appears few if any other scholars have done this before, and this effort is a major, noteworthy undertaking. I'm tremendously impressed--but I was also, for many chapters, bored out of my mind. I wouldn't say that this is Bodart-Bailey's fault, though: I bought this book expecting a more mass-market biography, and that's not at all what this book is. If I'd paid more attention--even read the blurb on the back--I would have known that.
Regarding the title: Tsunayoshi was nicknamed the "Dog Shogun" by chroniclers and critics because of his "Laws of Compassion," some of which protected dogs. It wasn't meant to be a flattering moniker, though it may look like one to us. He personally was probably Not That Into dogs. Do not read this expecting dogs. (I know. I KNOW.)
While I did get bored a lot--I put this book aside very often in the last THREE YEARS, good glob--I also learned a tremendous amount about Japanese history and government, shoguns, the 47 ronin, Confucianism, and how the best-intended laws can go awry. (I also learned a new word: "enfeoffed.") Some of the chapters do move more quickly and are great reads. For example: the section on the 47 ronin--arguably the most famous story from Japanese history--was alone worth the effort of reading the whole book (or at least all the preceding chapters, without which I would not have had the necessary context). They ARE still very academic in style, though.
There are two things that would have helped this book: one, a statement at the very beginning that THERE IS A GLOSSARY AT THE END, OH MY GLOB, I WAS FIGURING OUT WORDS LIKE "DAIMYO" FROM CONTEXT, and a family tree. The inclusion of a family tree for books involving dynastic succession seems obvious to me, but there isn't one here, and it drove me bonkers. I may draw one myself and put it in my copy of The Dog Shogun just so I have it. If you pick this book up, I recommend you keep a paper & pen nearby so you can draw one as you go along.
tl;dr Three stars: gets slow, gets boring, but I learned SO MUCH and some sections are cracking. No dogs.
December 15, 2021
This is worth it just for the chapter on the 47 Ronin . It’s strips the Chushingura myth and depicts a more realistic version .
Tsunayoshi was the only Shogun that was not from the Samurai class, in fact he really didn’t like them . This book examines Tsunayoshi’s bad rep and depicts a very progressive Shogun who oversaw an economic boom and a flourishing of the arts .,
Ordinary people were able to get an education, homeless shelters were built, people were trained and given skills all under his humane laws .
Of course all this would end with his death though his favorite nephew the 8th Shogun Yoshimune would revive many of his uncles policies .
Tsunayoshi was the only Shogun that was not from the Samurai class, in fact he really didn’t like them . This book examines Tsunayoshi’s bad rep and depicts a very progressive Shogun who oversaw an economic boom and a flourishing of the arts .,
Ordinary people were able to get an education, homeless shelters were built, people were trained and given skills all under his humane laws .
Of course all this would end with his death though his favorite nephew the 8th Shogun Yoshimune would revive many of his uncles policies .
July 6, 2022
I was thrilled to learn of the care the Dog Shogun had for dogs and other creatures. History is not my favorite, but the author made it interesting.
July 20, 2009
Interesting and different take on Tsunayoshi than is usually taught, well worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews