Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

1646–1709

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was the fifth Tokugawa shogun, ruling from 1680 to 1709. His government promoted Neo-Confucian learning and strict ceremonial authority, but he became notorious for animal-protection edicts; the Akō Incident unfolded during his reign.

Laura Joh Rowland’s Shinju places Tokugawa Tsunayoshi within a narrative shaped by family, marriage and personal loyalty, crime, espionage and covert power, and art, learning and intellectual life. John Allyn’s 47 Ronin is set in 1701, Lord Asano Naganori is ordered to receive imperial envoys at Edo Castle and must learn the court's elaborate ceremonial from Kira Yoshinaka. Other novels featuring Tokugawa Tsunayoshi include Laura Joh Rowland’s Bundori, Laura Joh Rowland’s The Way of the Traitor, Laura Joh Rowland’s The Concubine’s Tattoo, Laura Joh Rowland’s The Samurai’s Wife, and Laura Joh Rowland’s Black Lotus.

Series

Series featuring Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1 series)

Sano Ichiro Novels in Order

by Laura Joh Rowland 18 books 4.0

The Sano Ichiro novels follow a samurai investigator serving Tokugawa Tsunayoshi from 1689 to 1709. Beginning with Shinju, Sano repeatedly places evidence and personal conscience against orders designed to protect status. His work moves from Edo Castle and the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter to Nagasaki, Kyoto and Japan’s northern…

All books in this series