Tokugawa Ieharu
The famine led to a spike in a number of protests and peasant rebellions, culminating in the Edo riots of 1787. Traditionalist opponents of the reform interpreted it as the "voice of Heaven" being followed by the "voice of the people". With the assassination of his son and the death of his patron Tokugawa Ieharu, Tanuma fell from power. The result was that the reforms and the relaxation of the strictures of "sakoku" were blocked.