People of the Edo period (135 people)

Figures who lived in the Edo period, in order of birth. Choose a name to follow that life event by event.

• Hon'ami Kōetsu Calligrapher and craftsman / 1558–1637 (about 79 years)
• Yagyū Munenori Swordsman, fencing master to the shogun / 1571–1646 (about 75 years)
• Tokugawa Hidetada 2nd Edo shogun / 1579–1632 (about 53 years)
• Kasuga no Tsubone Wet nurse of Iemitsu, head of the Ōoku / 1579–1643 (about 64 years)
• Kobori Enshū Daimyō, tea master and garden designer / 1579–1647 (about 68 years)
• Hayashi Razan Confucian scholar (Neo-Confucian) / 1583–1657 (about 74 years)
• Miyamoto Musashi Swordsman and painter / 1584–1645 (about 61 years)
• Ingen Chinese monk, founder of Ōbaku Zen / 1592–1673 (about 81 years)
• Matsudaira Nobutsuna Senior councilor called Wise Izu / 1596–1662 (about 66 years)
• Senhime Wife of Toyotomi Hideyori, daughter of Hidetada / 1597–1666 (about 69 years)
• Tokugawa Iemitsu 3rd Edo shogun / 1604–1651 (about 47 years)
• Nakae Tōju Confucian scholar, "Sage of Ōmi" / 1608–1648 (about 40 years)
• Hoshina Masayuki Lord of Aizu, shogun's guardian / 1611–1673 (about 62 years)
• Nonaka Kenzan Chief retainer of Tosa who drove public works and industrial reform / 1615–1664 (about 49 years)
• Kawamura Zuiken Merchant who opened sea routes and tamed rivers / 1618–1699 (about 81 years)
• Kumazawa Banzan Yomei scholar who helped govern Okayama domain / 1619–1691 (about 72 years)
• Amakusa Shirō Leader of the Shimabara uprising / 1621–1638 (about 17 years)
• Mitsui Takatoshi Merchant, founder of Echigoya / 1622–1694 (about 72 years)
• Yamaga Soko Scholar who criticized Neo-Confucianism and founded Yamaga military science / 1622–1685 (about 63 years)
• Sakai Tadakiyo Tairō under the fourth shogun Ietsuna, nicknamed the "Geba shogun" / 1624–1681 (about 57 years)
• Itō Jinsai Confucian scholar (Kogigaku) / 1627–1705 (about 78 years)
• Tokugawa Mitsukuni Lord of Mito, compiler of the Dai Nihon-shi / 1628–1701 (about 73 years)
• Kaibara Ekiken Confucian scholar and naturalist / 1630–1714 (about 84 years)
• Shibukawa Harumi Astronomer who made Japan's own Jokyo calendar / 1639–1715 (about 76 years)
• Keichū Pioneer of kokugaku who wrote the Man'yō daishōki / 1640–1701 (about 61 years)
• Tokugawa Ietsuna Fourth Tokugawa shogun who shifted rule from force to civil government / 1641–1680 (about 39 years)
• Ihara Saikaku Poet and fiction writer / 1642–1693 (about 51 years)
• Seki Takakazu Mathematician (wasan) / 1642–1708 (about 66 years)
• Matsuo Bashō Haikai poet / 1644–1694 (about 50 years)
• Tokugawa Tsunayoshi 5th Edo shogun / 1646–1709 (about 63 years)
• Chikamatsu Monzaemon Playwright / 1653–1725 (about 72 years)
• Arai Hakuseki Confucian scholar and statesman / 1657–1725 (about 68 years)
• Ogata Kōrin Painter and designer (Rinpa) / 1658–1716 (about 58 years)
• Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu Chamberlain of shogun Tsunayoshi / 1658–1714 (about 56 years)
• Ogiwara Shigehide Kanjō bugyō who carried out the Genroku recoinage / 1658–1713 (about 55 years)
• Ōishi Kuranosuke (Yoshio) Chief retainer of Akō, leader of the Akō rōnin / 1659–1703 (about 44 years)
• Ichikawa Danjūrō I Kabuki actor / 1660–1704 (about 44 years)
• Tokugawa Ienobu Sixth shogun who ended the laws of compassion and promoted government by learning / 1662–1712 (about 50 years)
• Ogyū Sorai Confucian scholar / 1666–1728 (about 62 years)
• Amenomori Hoshu Tsushima Confucian and Korea diplomat / 1668–1755 (about 87 years)
• Ōoka Tadasuke Edo city magistrate / 1677–1751 (about 74 years)
• Tokugawa Yoshimune 8th Edo shogun / 1684–1751 (about 67 years)
• Ishida Baigan Thinker (Sekimon Shingaku) / 1685–1744 (about 59 years)
• Kamo no Mabuchi Scholar of national learning / 1697–1769 (about 72 years)
• Aoki Kon'yō Scholar, "Sweet Potato Teacher" / 1698–1769 (about 71 years)
• Yosa Buson Haiku poet and painter / 1716–1784 (about 68 years)
• Itō Jakuchū Painter / 1716–1800 (about 84 years)
• Tanuma Okitsugu Senior councillor (rōjū) / 1719–1788 (about 69 years)
• Maeno Ryōtaku Scholar of Dutch learning, physician / 1723–1803 (about 80 years)
• Ike no Taiga Literati painter / 1723–1776 (about 53 years)
• Suzuki Harunobu Ukiyo-e artist, pioneer of full-color prints / 1725–1770 (about 45 years)
• Hiraga Gennai Naturalist and inventor / 1728–1780 (about 52 years)
• Motoori Norinaga Scholar of National Learning / 1730–1801 (about 71 years)
• Sugita Genpaku Physician, Dutch-studies scholar / 1733–1817 (about 84 years)
• Maruyama Ōkyo Painter, founder of the Maruyama school / 1733–1795 (about 62 years)
• Ueda Akinari Yomihon author and kokugaku scholar / 1734–1809 (about 75 years)
• Hayashi Shihei Thinker who urged coastal defense / 1738–1793 (about 55 years)
• Inō Tadataka Merchant and surveyor / 1745–1818 (about 73 years)
• Hanawa Hokiichi Scholar of Japanese classics / 1746–1821 (about 75 years)
• Shiba Kokan Western-style painter and Dutch-studies scholar / 1747–1818 (about 71 years)
• Tsutaya Jūzaburō Publisher / 1750–1797 (about 47 years)
• Uesugi Yōzan Lord of Yonezawa / 1751–1822 (about 71 years)
• Daikokuya Kōdayū Ship captain who returned from Russia / 1751–1828 (about 77 years)
• Kitagawa Utamaro Ukiyo-e artist / 1753–1806 (about 53 years)
• Mogami Tokunai Explorer who went to Ezo, the Kurils and Sakhalin nine times / 1754–1836 (about 82 years)
• Ōtsuki Gentaku Rangaku scholar and physician / 1757–1827 (about 70 years)
• Ryōkan Zen monk and poet / 1758–1831 (about 73 years)
• Matsudaira Sadanobu Senior councillor (Kansei reforms) / 1759–1829 (about 70 years)
• Katsushika Hokusai Ukiyo-e artist / 1760–1849 (about 89 years)
• Hanaoka Seishū Surgeon, pioneer of general anesthesia / 1760–1835 (about 75 years)
• Santō Kyōden Popular fiction writer and artist / 1761–1816 (about 55 years)
• Kobayashi Issa Haiku poet / 1763–1828 (about 65 years)
• Jippensha Ikku Comic fiction writer / 1765–1831 (about 66 years)
• Kyokutei Bakin Novelist / 1767–1848 (about 81 years)
• Takadaya Kahei Shipowner and merchant / 1769–1827 (about 58 years)
• Satō Issai Confucian head of the Shōheizaka academy who trained many talents and wrote the Genshi Shiroku / 1772–1859 (about 87 years)
• Hirata Atsutane Scholar of national learning / 1776–1843 (about 67 years)
• Zusho Hirosato Satsuma elder who cleared the domain's huge debts and rebuilt its finances / 1776–1849 (about 73 years)
• Mamiya Rinzō Explorer and surveyor / 1780–1844 (about 64 years)
• Rai San'yō Confucian scholar and historian / 1780–1832 (about 52 years)
• Hirose Tanso Confucian scholar who founded Kangien, a private academy open to all classes / 1782–1856 (about 74 years)
• Aizawa Seishisai Mito scholar who systematized sonnō jōi thought in the Shinron / 1782–1863 (about 81 years)
• Ninomiya Sontoku Agrarian reformer (Ninomiya Kinjirō) / 1787–1856 (about 69 years)
• Ōshio Heihachirō Former Osaka official, Confucian scholar / 1793–1837 (about 44 years)
• Watanabe Kazan Tahara elder, painter, Dutch scholar / 1793–1841 (about 48 years)
• Mizuno Tadakuni Senior councillor (Tenpō reforms) / 1794–1851 (about 57 years)
• Matthew C. Perry US Navy commodore / 1794–1858 (about 64 years)
• Philipp Franz von Siebold German physician and naturalist / 1796–1866 (about 70 years)
• Utagawa Hiroshige Ukiyo-e landscape artist / 1797–1858 (about 61 years)
• Utagawa Kuniyoshi Ukiyo-e artist / 1797–1861 (about 64 years)
• Takashima Shūhan Gunnery expert who staged Japan's first Western-style artillery drill / 1798–1866 (about 68 years)
• Udagawa Yōan Rangaku scholar who coined words like "oxygen" and "cell" and introduced chemistry and botany to Japan / 1798–1846 (about 48 years)
• Tokugawa Nariaki Lord of Mito domain / 1800–1860 (about 60 years)
• Egawa Hidetatsu Intendant of Nirayama, gunnery expert / 1801–1855 (about 54 years)
• Kawaji Toshiakira Late-Edo finance magistrate and envoy to Russia / 1801–1868 (about 67 years)
• Takano Chōei Physician and Dutch scholar / 1804–1850 (about 46 years)
• Townsend Harris First US consul general in Japan / 1804–1878 (about 74 years)
• Fujita Toko Mito scholar and aide to Tokugawa Nariaki / 1806–1855 (about 49 years)
• Shimazu Nariakira Lord of Satsuma / 1809–1858 (about 49 years)
• Yokoi Shōnan Thinker, Kumamoto samurai / 1809–1869 (about 60 years)
• Ogata Kōan Physician and Dutch scholar (Tekijuku) / 1810–1863 (about 53 years)
• Hotta Masayoshi Chief rōjū who pushed for opening the country and sought imperial sanction for the treaty / 1810–1864 (about 54 years)
• Sakuma Shōzan Thinker and military scholar / 1811–1864 (about 53 years)
• Ii Naosuke Tairō (chief minister) / 1815–1860 (about 45 years)
• Nabeshima Naomasa (Kansō) Lord of Saga, pioneer of modernization / 1815–1871 (about 56 years)
• Yoshida Tōyō Tosa councillor who led reforms and trained Gotō Shōjirō and others / 1816–1862 (about 46 years)
• Shimazu Hisamitsu Father of the Satsuma lord who led the domain in the late Edo period / 1817–1887 (about 70 years)
• Iwase Tadanari Late Edo diplomat who signed the Harris Treaty / 1818–1861 (about 43 years)
• Abe Masahiro Chief senior councillor / 1819–1857 (about 38 years)
• Katsu Kaishū Shogunate official / 1823–1899 (about 76 years)
• Ōmura Masujirō Military scholar, founder of the modern army / 1824–1869 (about 45 years)
• John Manjirō Interpreter and educator / 1827–1898 (about 71 years)
• Kusumoto Ine Physician trained in Western medicine / 1827–1903 (about 76 years)
• Kawai Tsugunosuke Chief retainer of Nagaoka / 1827–1868 (about 41 years)
• Oguri Tadamasa Shogunate official, finance magistrate / 1827–1868 (about 41 years)
• Yamauchi Yōdō (Toyoshige) Lord of Tosa who proposed the return of power to the court / 1827–1872 (about 45 years)
• Saigō Takamori Satsuma samurai and statesman / 1828–1877 (about 49 years)
• Matsudaira Shungaku (Yoshinaga) Lord of Fukui and Bakumatsu statesman / 1828–1890 (about 62 years)
• Takechi Hanpeita (Zuizan) Leader of the Tosa Loyalist Party / 1829–1865 (about 36 years)
• Yoshida Shōin Chōshū thinker and teacher / 1830–1859 (about 29 years)
• Kiyokawa Hachirō Activist who formed the Rōshigumi and set the stage for the Shinsengumi / 1830–1863 (about 33 years)
• Kondō Isami Commander of the Shinsengumi / 1834–1868 (about 34 years)
• Hashimoto Sanai Fukui samurai and thinker / 1834–1859 (about 25 years)
• Hijikata Toshizō Vice-commander of the Shinsengumi / 1835–1869 (about 34 years)
• Komatsu Tatewaki (Kiyokado) Satsuma chief retainer who supported the Satchō Alliance and the return of power / 1835–1870 (about 35 years)
• Sakamoto Ryōma Activist from Tosa / 1836–1867 (about 31 years)
• Atsuhime (Tenshō-in) Wife of the 13th shogun Iesada / 1836–1883 (about 47 years)
• Matsudaira Katamori Lord of Aizu, Protector of Kyoto / 1836–1893 (about 57 years)
• Yamaoka Tesshū Shogunal retainer, master of sword, Zen and calligraphy / 1836–1888 (about 52 years)
• Tokugawa Yoshinobu 15th and last Edo shogun / 1837–1913 (about 76 years)
• Nakaoka Shintarō Tosa samurai, leader of the Rikuentai / 1838–1867 (about 29 years)
• Takasugi Shinsaku Chōshū samurai (Kiheitai) / 1839–1867 (about 28 years)
• Kusaka Genzui Chōshū samurai, sonnō jōi activist / 1840–1864 (about 24 years)
• Okita Sōji Shinsengumi first unit captain / 1842–1868 (about 26 years)
• Princess Kazu Imperial princess, wife of shogun Iemochi / 1846–1877 (about 31 years)

Other periods

Yayoi/KofunAsukaNaraHeianKamakuraMuromachiSengoku/Azuchi-MomoyamaEdoMeijiTaishō

All people