History or fiction?

[Tenchimuyo]

I saw a Japanese T.V serie called "Aberenge Shogun" It's about stories of the eighth Tokugawa Shogun, Yoshimune. He always sneaked out of his castle, disguised as a hatamoto. To help the citizens of Edo get their justice against the bad guys.
I was just wondering if the Tokugawa shogun really did this or is it just a fiction.

[Anssi Hakkinen]

It seems nobody knows. But the general opinion on Yoshimune is that he was very big on traditional samurai ethics... He was the only Tokugawa Shôgun (before the 19th century) to attempt to revive the military arts that form the basis of the samurais' position in society.

------------------
"Crystal clear, / Sharp and bright, / The sacred sword / Allows no opening / For evil to roost."
- Ueshiba Morihei O-Sensei

[edyzmedieval]

Hopefully someone cand find out....

[Watchman]

If he had the force of personality and will (or, more likely, enough of an obsession) to get around or through all the courtiers, advisors, bodyguards and sundry other hangers-on adamantly opposed to such un-shogunlike and dangerous and generally unseemly hobbies, why not ? Autocrats have generally had a reasonably easy time pursuing their odd quirks, and he certainly wouldn't have been the first (de facto) monarch to go around in disguise on occasion. Heck, I've been told one of the few Middle Eastern kings left (I think it was the Syrian one) occasionally goes out in disguise to see how things are actually going. 'Course, he takes a bodyguard along.

[KSEG]

I can assure you it's a TOTAL fiction.
Period.