Tokugawa Ienari (Japanese: 徳川 家斉, 18 November 1773 – 22 March 1841) was the eleventh and longest-serving shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan who held office from 1787 to 1837.

[1] He was a great-grandson of the eighth shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune through his son Munetada (1721–1764), head of the Hitotsubashi branch of the family, and his grandson Harusada (1751–1827).

In 1778, the four-year-old Hitotsubashi Toyochiyo (豊千代), a minor figure in the Tokugawa clan hierarchy, was betrothed to Shimazu Shigehime[5] or Tadakohime, the four-year-old daughter of Shimazu Shigehide, the tozama daimyō of Satsuma Domain on the island of Kyūshū.

The significance of this alliance was dramatically enhanced when, in 1781, the young Toyochiyo was adopted by the childless shōgun, Tokugawa Ieharu.

[8] Many of Ienari's children were adopted into various daimyō houses throughout Japan, and some played important roles in the history of the Bakumatsu and Boshin War.