Born the fourteenth son of Ii Naonaka, lord of the Hikone domain (Shiga), with almost no prospect of succeeding.
He lived in a small house below Hikone castle that he named Umoregi-no-ya, "house of a buried tree", devoting about fifteen years to tea, waka, National Learning and swordsmanship.
When the heir of his brother, the lord Naoaki, died, he was unexpectedly adopted by Naoaki and named successor.
He became lord of Hikone and reformed its government. Also a noted tea master, he is said to have popularized the phrase ichigo ichie, "one time, one meeting".
When Perry arrived, he submitted an opinion to the shogunate arguing that Japan should open trade with foreign nations.
He became tairō, the shogunate's highest office. Without imperial sanction he signed the Japan-US Treaty of Amity and Commerce and settled the shogunal succession on Tokugawa Yoshitomi (Iemochi) of Kii.
He harshly punished the lords, nobles and samurai who had opposed the treaty and succession (the Ansei Purge); Yoshida Shōin, Hashimoto Sanai and others were executed.
Under the treaty the ports of Yokohama, Nagasaki and Hakodate opened and foreign trade began.
On a snowy morning outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo castle he was attacked by rōnin, mostly from Mito, and lost his life (the Sakuradamon Incident). The shogunate's authority was gravely weakened.
Matthew C. PerryYoshida ShōinHashimoto SanaiIi NaomasaTokugawa NariakiKawaji ToshiakiraYamauchi Yōdō (Toyoshige)Matsudaira Shungaku (Yoshinaga)
Yokoi ShōnanOgata KōanHotta MasayoshiSakuma ShōzanNabeshima Naomasa (Kansō)Yoshida TōyōShimazu HisamitsuIwase Tadanari
People of the Edo period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.