Born at the Tayasu residence within Edo Castle, the eighth son of Tokugawa Narimasa, head of the Tayasu house. The Tayasu were a branch of the Tokugawa founded by a son of the eighth shogun Yoshimune, so Shungaku grew up in a family close to the shogun's.
At 10 he became lord of Fukui domain in Echizen (Fukui). The domain was deeply in debt, so with the support of retainers such as Nakane Yukie he worked on thrift and restoring its finances.
At the request of the domain doctor Kasahara Ryōsaku, he backed the spread of vaccination against smallpox. The vaccine Ryōsaku had obtained with great difficulty was spread not only in Fukui but to many other regions.
He opened the domain school Meidōkan to teach both learning and practical knowledge. He promoted the young Hashimoto Sanai and entrusted him with running the school and with domain reform.
He invited the Kumamoto scholar Yokoi Shōnan to serve as adviser on domain government. Shōnan advocated enriching the domain by trading its products, including with foreign countries, and greatly advanced Fukui's reforms.
Because he backed Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu as the shogun's heir and protested the signing of the treaty, the tairō Ii Naosuke ordered him to retire and stay in confinement. From then on he called himself Shungaku. The next year his trusted aide Hashimoto Sanai lost his life in the Ansei Purge.
Released from confinement, he took the weighty post of Supreme Councillor of the shogunate. With Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu he pushed shogunate reform, including easing sankin-kōtai (the Bunkyū Reforms).
Sakamoto Ryōma came to Fukui to ask for funds for Katsu Kaishū's naval school. Shungaku is said to have agreed, and so formed ties with Ryōma and other young shishi.
With Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, Shimazu Hisamitsu, Yamauchi Yōdō and others, he joined the court's Council of Daimyō Advisers. They tried to set national policy by discussion among powerful lords, but could not agree, and the council soon broke up.
He supported the shogun Yoshinobu's return of power to the court. After the imperial restoration he became a senior councillor (gijō) of the new government and worked hard to ease the conflict between the Tokugawa and the new regime.
Yuri Kimimasa, a Fukui samurai, joined the new government and helped draft the text that became the basis of the Charter Oath. Shungaku too held key posts and took part in building the new nation.
After serving as Minister of Civil Affairs and Minister of Finance, he left government office. Afterwards he devoted himself to tasks such as recording what he had seen and heard in the Bakumatsu years.
He died in Tokyo. Having stood between shogunate and court and among the domains to avert conflict, Shungaku is counted as one of the "Four Wise Lords" of the Bakumatsu.
Yokoi ShōnanIi NaosukeShimazu HisamitsuKatsu KaishūHashimoto SanaiSakamoto RyōmaYuri KimimasaYuki Hideyasu
Kawai TsugunosukeOguri TadamasaYamauchi Yōdō (Toyoshige)Saigō TakamoriTakechi Hanpeita (Zuizan)Yoshida ShōinKiyokawa HachirōKondō Isami
People of the Edo period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.