Clan leader Nariaki was the 3rd son of
Tokugawa Harutoshi, the seventh-generation
daimyō of
Mito. The family headship first passed to Harutoshi's eldest son Narinobu, before being passed on to Nariaki in 1829. Nariaki was also leader of the
Jōi (expel the barbarian) party and made a Bakufu adviser on national defence. His childhood name was Torasaburo (虎三郎) later changed to Keisaburo (敬三郎).
Bakufu official Nariaki was put in charge of
Bakufu efforts to defend the country against encroaching foreigners. His own view was that the bakufu should strengthen its military and fight the foreigners, and was at odds with
Ii Naosuke on the issue. He was pro-emperor and favored imperial restoration. Nariaki also greatly expanded the
Mitogaku school established by
Tokugawa Mitsukuni. He wrote a document entitled "Japan, Reject the Westerners" in 1853. in this document, he stated ten reasons why Japan should stay isolated from the rest of the world. He said that the Japanese people had a choice between war and peace, but clearly to him, the Japanese people should choose war so that Westerners would not intrude into Japan's affairs. Nariaki was significantly influenced by the
Kokugaku school.
Ōkuni Takamasa, a student of
Hirata Atsutane attempted to persuade him to combine ritual with technology in order to protect Japan's borders and expand Japan as an empire. This depended on reinvigorating the Japanese "national spirit". in favor of his son
Yoshiatsu, and died of a heart attack in 1860, at age 60. Three of the leading figures of the 1860s were in fact natural brothers, all being sons of Nariaki: Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, who became the 15th and last shōgun as
Tokugawa Yoshinobu in 1866;
Tokugawa Yoshiatsu of Mito; and
Ikeda Yoshinori of
Inaba (
Tottori). ==Family==