The political structure within which Tsunayoshi governed was the bakuhan system. It established a national authority in the shōgun as well as a regional authority in the daimyō; it also included an increasing amount of bureaucracy to manage both the centralization of power and decentralization of power. This was the feudal hierarchy that Tsunayoshi enforced through the strict application of the samurai code, as he interacted with the shinpan (related houses), fudai (house daimyō), and tozama (outside vassals) daimyō. Immediately after becoming
shōgun, Tsunayoshi gave
Hotta Masatoshi the title of
Tairō, in a way thanking him for ensuring his succession. Almost immediately after he became shogun, he ordered a vassal of the
Takata to commit suicide because of misgovernment, showing his strict approach to the samurai code. He then confiscated his fief of 250,000
koku. During his reign, he confiscated a total of 1,400,000
koku. In 1682,
shōgun Tsunayoshi ordered his censors and police to raise the living standard of the people. Soon, prostitution was banned, waitresses could not be employed in tea houses, and rare and expensive fabrics were banned. Most probably, smuggling began as a practice in Japan soon after Tsunayoshi's authoritarian laws came into effect. In 1684, Tsunayoshi also decreased the power of the
tairō after the assassination of Masatoshi by a cousin in that same year. Nonetheless, due again to maternal advice, Tsunayoshi became very religious, promoting the
Neo-Confucianism of
Zhu Xi. In 1682, he read to the
daimyōs an exposition of the "Great Learning", which became an annual tradition at the
shōguns court. He soon began to lecture even more, and in 1690 lectured about Neo-Confucian work to
Shinto and
Buddhist daimyōs, and even to envoys from the court of Emperor
Higashiyama in
Kyoto. He also was interested in several Chinese works, namely
The Great Learning (
Da Xue) and
The Classic of Filial Piety (
Xiao Jing). Tsunayoshi also loved art and
Noh theater. In 1691,
Engelbert Kaempfer visited Edo as part of the annual
Dutch embassy from
Dejima in
Nagasaki. He journeyed from Nagasaki to
Osaka, to
Kyoto, and there to
Edo. Kaempfer gives us information on Japan during the early reign of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. As the Dutch embassy entered Edo in 1692, they asked to have an audience with Shogun Tsunayoshi. While they were waiting for approval, a fire destroyed six hundred houses in Edo, and the audience was postponed. Tsunayoshi and several of the ladies of the court sat behind reed screens, while the Dutch embassy sat in front of them. Tsunayoshi took an interest in Western matters, and apparently asked them to talk and sing with one another for him to see how Westerners behaved. Tsunayoshi later put on a Noh drama for them. s built in Nakano, Yotsuya and Okubo in
Edo (Tokyo). Even during the famine the Shogunate accommodated 80,000 stray dogs in the kennels in Nakano and gave them 3
go (0.18L) of polished rice, 50
moon (187g) of bean paste and 1
go of sardines daily. The total space for the dog shelters in Nakano was approximately 750,000 square meters in 1702. A devout Buddhist, he sought protection for living beings in the later parts of his rule. In the 1690s and first decade of the 1700s, Tsunayoshi, who was born in the Year of the Dog, thought he should take several measures concerning dogs. A collection of edicts released daily, known as the , told the populace, among other things, to protect dogs, since in Edo there were many stray and diseased dogs walking around the city. Therefore, he earned the pejorative title
Inu-Kubō (犬公方:
Inu=Dog,
Kubō=formal title of Shogun). Yoshiyasu began working with Tsunayoshi at a very young age; eventually, he would rise to the rank of soba yōnin which is a high-ranking title signifying him as Tsunayoshi's private servant and gatekeeper. Additionally, beyond politics, he was a patron of art: he established Rikugien Garden, a traditional Japanese garden, in 1695. The Genroku period, which spanned from 1688 to 1704, was largely concurrent with the majority of Tsunayoshi's reign and was an age that has come to be recognized historically as a celebrated era of artistic achievement in Japanese history. There was a sense of peace and economic stability that existed throughout this time because the preceding century-long period of both peace and isolation that Japan experienced produced a relatively stable economy; as a result, the arts and architectural achievements flourished notably. However, while certainly influenced by the Shogun's patronage of the arts, this cultural renaissance truly represented a larger shift within Japanese society. During the Edo Period, a culture of the common people developed in the urban areas of Japan, including Edo and other major cities such as Osaka and Kyoto. Artistic forms such as kabuki and ukiyo-e (woodblock printing) flourished during this time. Some of the many famous figures who were active during the Genroku era include: playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, kabuki actors, including Ichikawa Danjūrō I, artists who created woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), including Hishikawa Moronobu, and haiku poet Matsuo Bashō. However, despite the cultural advancements that took place during this time, some significant financial problems developed, most notably, the shogunate's devaluation of currency to continue the appearance of prosperity during this period, which caused an immediate, severe increase in prices. In 1701,
Asano Naganori, the
daimyō of
Akō han, having been allegedly insulted by
Kira Yoshinaka in
Edo Castle, attempted to kill him. Asano was executed, but Kira went unpunished. Asano's
forty-seven rōnin avenged his death by killing Kira and became a legend that influenced many plays and stories of the era. The most successful of them was a
bunraku play called
Kanadehon Chūshingura (now simply called
Chūshingura, or "Treasury of Loyal Retainers"), written in 1748 by
Takeda Izumo and two associates; it was later adapted into a
kabuki play, which is still one of Japan's most popular. The earliest known account of the Akō incident in the West was published in 1822 in
Isaac Titsingh's book,
Illustrations of Japan. Tsunayoshi's first son Tokugawa Tokumatsu (1679–1683) died at the age of 4 due to illness. In 1704, Tsunayoshi's only surviving child, Tsuruhime died following a miscarriage and a few months after her husband, his son-in-law, Tokugawa Tsunanori of
Kii Domain also died. Therefore, Tsunayoshi appointed his nephew,
Tokugawa Ienobu, heir apparent in the winter of 1704. Ienobu was the son of his other brother,
Tokugawa Tsunashige, the former Lord of
Kōfu, which was a title Ienobu held himself before becoming
shōgun. Ienobu moved into the official residence of Shogunal heir apparent at the
Western Perimeter of Edo Castle. In 1706, Edo was hit by a typhoon, and
Mount Fuji erupted the following year. It was insinuated that Tsunayoshi was stabbed by his consort after he tried to proclaim an illegitimate child as his heir; this concept, stemming from the
Sanno Gaiki, is refuted in contemporary records which explain that Tsunayoshi had the measles at the end of his life and died on 19 February 1709, in the presence of his entourage. His death was just four days short of his 63rd birthday. He was given the Buddhist name Joken'in () and buried in
Kan'ei-ji. == Legacy ==