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Yoshitomo Tokugawa, great-grandson of last shogun , dies at 67

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/09/27/national/yoshitomo-tokugawa-great-grandson-last-shogun-dies-67

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Yoshitomo Tokugawa, a photographer and great-grandson of the last shogun, died of a heart attack Monday, people close to him said Wednesday. He was 67.

His great-grandfather, Yoshinobu, was the 15th and last Tokugawa shogun who ceded political power to Emperor Meiji , ending the Edo Period (1603-1868).

Tokugawa, a native of Shizuoka Prefecture and resident of Hitachinaka in Ibaraki Prefecture, was also known as a coffee enthusiast who roasted coffee beans and sold "Tokugawa Shougun Coffee" together with a local coffee company. He died at a hospital in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Yoshinobu had been the focus of attention in recent times as this year marks the 150th anniversary of Taisei Hokan, or the restoration of political authority to the Emperor.

Short bio:

Yoshitomo Tokugawa Biography | Photographer | Japan

Yoshitomo is not to be confused with Tokugawa Tsunenari, the current head of the main house of Tokugawa as well as the Tokugawa Foundation.

Yoshitomo was the fourth head of the Yoshinobu-ke, a cadet branch started by Yoshinobu, the last Tokugawa shogun, in 1902. Yoshinobu himself hailed from the Mito Tokugawa.

Two other famous members of the Mito branch:

Tokugawa Mitsukuni | Japan Forum

Tokugawa Nariaki | Japan Forum
 
Last Shogun died in 1913.....in 2017 his great-grandson dies.

President John Tyler died in 1845....in 2017 has two grandsons still alive.
 
President John Tyler died in 1845....in 2017 has two grandsons still alive.

What an amazing feat of longevity! I wonder what their secret is. According to Wikipedia, Tyler died in 1862, but left office in 1845. Being a lifetime shogun must have been strenuous: the average lifespan of the Tokugawa shogun was just 50 years.
 
President John Tyler died in 1845....in 2017 has two grandsons still alive.

What an amazing feat of longevity! I wonder what their secret is. According to Wikipedia, Tyler died in 1862, but left office in 1845. Being a lifetime shogun must have been strenuous: the average lifespan of the Tokugawa shogun was just 50 years.
 
You're right; I looked at the wrong date.

I forget the exact details, but he had some children very late in life and then one of those also fathered children very late in life. The two surviving grandchildren are in their 90s, I think. In another oddity, the U.S. is still paying veteran survivor benefits to the child of a veteran of the Civil War, which ended in 1865.
 
On the topic of longevity, what is interesting to me is that only about 1.5% of Japanese people alive today were living during the reign of any emperor other than the most recent two: Hirohito and Akihito.
 
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