Tokugawa Tsunayoshi: Japan's 'dog shogun' and his laws

Part 1

Who was Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

Tsunayoshi was born in Edo in 1646, the fourth son of the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu. His older brother Ietsuna became shogun first, and Tsunayoshi only took power in 1680 after Ietsuna died without an heir. Because he was not raised to inherit, he was educated as a scholar rather than trained as a warrior. As shogun, he took a strong personal interest in Neo-Confucian philosophy.

He was born in the Year of the Dog according to the Japanese zodiac, and this is said to have shaped his particular concern for dogs. People at the time mockingly called him Inu-Kubō, meaning 'dog shogun', because of how far his protections for dogs went.

Part 2

The shogun's laws to protect dogs

Tsunayoshi issued a long series of rules known as the Edicts on Compassion for Living Things, or Shorui Awaremi no Rei. The edicts began in the 1680s and grew over more than twenty years into more than a hundred separate rules. They started with fairly mild requirements, such as not abandoning sick horses or cattle, then expanded to cover far more. Eventually the rules banned fishing, hunting, keeping animals for performance, and even tying leashes on dogs and cats.

• A man who deserted a sick horse was exiled to a remote island.
• A public officer who threw a stone at a dove was also exiled.
• Killing a dog could bring a death sentence.
• The shogunate even offered a reward for anyone who reported a dog killing.

The edicts also reached beyond dogs, ordering that abandoned children and sick travelers be cared for rather than left to die. Over time the same duty of care was extended to other animals, including horses and birds.

Part 3

Life for Edo's stray dogs under the edicts

As punishments grew harsher, some dog owners abandoned their pets rather than risk being blamed if the animal was hurt or killed. This pushed up the number of stray dogs in Edo. To house them, the shogunate built large kennels at several sites around Edo, including Nakano, Yotsuya and Okubo. The Nakano shelter alone is recorded as covering around 750,000 square meters by 1702 and holding about 80,000 stray dogs. Other accounts describe five kennels across the city covering around 93 hectares in total, with feeding costs that strained the shogunate's finances. The dogs were fed rice, bean paste and sardines, and estimates of how many were housed range from around 50,000 to well over 100,000.

Feeding and housing so many dogs was expensive, and local towns and villages were forced to help cover the cost. Some farmers were even assigned as staff to care for dogs in their own homes. You can imagine how this fell hardest on people who had never asked to take in a stray.

Part 4

Why Tsunayoshi issued the edicts

He had no surviving son, and one account says his mother told him this was punishment for killing animals in a past life, so he should care for animals instead. Another version connects the policy to the early death of his young son, Tokumatsu. A further explanation points to Tsunayoshi's Neo-Confucian beliefs, which held that human nature was good but needed cultivation through self-cultivation. Some accounts also frame the edicts as an attempt to move Japan's culture away from the harsher habits left over from the earlier Warring States period.

Part 5

What happened after Tsunayoshi died

Tsunayoshi died in 1709, and his nephew Tokugawa Ienobu became the next shogun. Ienobu abolished most of the Edicts on Compassion for Living Things soon after taking power. The Nakano dog shelter was torn down, and peach trees were planted on the site, a change still remembered today in the neighborhood name Momoen, meaning Peach Garden. A few of the underlying protections lasted longer, including rules against abandoning children and the sick.

Part 6

How this period is remembered in Japan

His years in power overlapped with the Genroku period, a time of cultural flowering. Some accounts say Japanese people stopped eating dogs after his edicts of mercy for living creatures.