Muneyoshi Tokugawa

Count Muneyoshi Tokugawa
Native name	徳川 宗敬
Born	(1897-05-31)May 31, 1897
Died	May 1, 1989(1989-05-01) (aged 91)
Allegiance	Imperial Japan
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Awards	Order of the Sacred Treasure 1st class, Grand Cordon; Golden Pheasant
Alma mater	University of Tokyo
Other work	Forester, educator, and Shintō priest

Count Muneyoshi Tokugawa (徳川 宗敬, Tokugawa Muneyoshi, May 31, 1897 – May 1, 1989) was a Japanese forester, Imperial Japanese Army second lieutenant, politician, educator, and Shintō priest. His court rank was Junior Third Rank.

Back ground

Muneyoshi was born on 31 May 1897, in the Mito Tokugawa family's villa in Minami-Katsushika District, Tokyo Prefecture (now part of Sumida Ward, Tokyo). He was the second son of the 12th head of the Mito Tokugawa family, Atsuyoshi Tokugawa. His mother was Tokugawa Soko. His birth name was Takanobu. Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun, was his great-uncle.

Tokugawa graduated from the Department of Forestry, Faculty of Agriculture of the Tokyo Imperial University in 1923. He later returned to his alma mater and earned a Doctorate of Agriculture in 1941.

On 19 June 1946, following the resignation of Count Tadamasu Sakai (Lord of Himeji), Tokugawa assumed the position of the 15th Vice President of the House of Peers. With the enactment of the Constitution of Japan, the House of Peers was abolished, making him the last Vice President of the House of Peers (the last President of the House of Peers was Iemasa Tokugawa of the Tokugawa shogun family). In the same year, he became the third president of the Japan Association of Museums.

Tokugawa as a member of the Japanese delegation at the Treaty of San Francisco (second from the left behind Shigeru Yoshida)

In 1947, he won the first House of Councillors election for the national constituency and as one of the top candidates. He joined the conservative parliamentary faction, the Ryokufūkai, and became the chairman of the Ryokufūkai Members' General Meeting. In 1951, as chairman, he was appointed as a plenipotentiary for the San Francisco Peace Treaty and participated in its signing.

Tokugawa was a recipient of the Order of the Sacred Treasure 1st class, Grand Cordon. In 1989 he posthumously received the highest distinction of the Scout Association of Japan, the Golden Pheasant Award.