the name of a Japanese family which provided the ruling dynasty of shoguns from 1603 until the revolution which restored the power of the mikado in 1867. The founder of this dynasty was Iyeyasu Tokugawa (1542-1616), a great general and consummate politician, who was connected by descent with the Minamoto clan. The most famous of the subsequent shoguns was his grandson Iyemitsu (from 1623 to 1650. (See JAPAN: History.)