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| Tokugawa Ieyasu | |
| Born: | January 31, 1543 |
|---|---|
| Place of Birth: | Okazaki Castle, Mikawa province |
| Died: | June 1, 1616 |
| Cause of Death: | Cancer or Syphilis |
| Place of Death: | Sumpu province |
| Style name: | 徳川 家康 |
| Served: | Imagawa Tokugawa |
| Participation(s): | Siege of Ōdaka Castle Siege of Marune Battle of Azukizaka (1564) Battle of Anegawa Battle of Mikatagahara Battle of Nagashino Siege of Takatenjin (1581) Battle of Komaki and Nagakute Battle of Sekigahara Siege of Osaka Castle |
Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康), became the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, inaugurating a prolonged era of relative stability and peace in Japan that endured for approximately 250 years. [1]
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Biography[]
Childhood[]
Born Matsudaira Takechiyo of the Matsudaira clan, he was sent at the age of four as a hostage to secure an alliance with the neighboring Imagawa in 1547. En route, however, he was seized by the rival Oda clan and held until his father Matsudaira Hirotada’s death in 1549. He then briefly returned home before being transferred to the Imagawa as originally intended.[2]
Takechiyo remained under Imagawa control until 1560, during which time he appears to have lived in relative stability. He married, became a father in his teens, and participated in Imagawa military campaigns.[3]
The Imagawa defeat by Oda Nobunaga at the Battle of Okehazama in 1560 enabled Takechiyo to regain leadership of the Matsudaira, after which he entered into alliance with Nobunaga.[4] During this period, he adopted the name Motoyasu. With his domain’s western frontier secured through the alliance with the Oda, Motoyasu redirected his attention toward Imagawa territory to the east.[5]
Rise to Power[]
In 1567, Ieyasu formally petitioned the Imperial Court for authorization to change his surname to Tokugawa, a request that was subsequently granted.[6]
In 1568, Tokugawa Ieyasu consolidated control over the former Imagawa territories, and in 1570 he transferred his headquarters to the former Imagawa stronghold in Shizuoka.[7]
For the next 12 years expanded his lands and influence through Nobunaga's campaigns, despite being forced to kill his first wife and order his son's suicide in 1579 as proof of his loyalty to Nobunaga. Ieyasu seized more land on Nobunaga's death in 1582, becoming master of five provinces by 1583. After inconclusive fighting in 1584, Ieyasu allied with Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi and married his sister. Following victory at the Siege of Odawara Castle in 1590, which secured control of eastern Japan, Hideyoshi moved Ieyasu to new lands in the east to undercut his independence. Ieyasu began building an imposing new headquarters at a small fishing port called Edo, later Tokyo.[8]
Occupied in the east while Hideyoshi pursued his futile invasions of Korea, Ieyasu consolidated his new base and, shortly before Hideyoshi's death in 1598, swore with the other great generals to serve Hideyoshi's successor, his infant son Toyotomi Hideyori. Promptly breaking this oath, he began allying with other leaders and in 1600, aided by treachery, crushed his principal opponents at the Battle of Sekigahara, normally taken as marking the beginning of the Edo period.[9]
Sekigahara[]
In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu assumed the historic title of Shogun, confirming his pre-eminence. In 1605 he passed the title to his son, Tokugawa Hidetada but retained paramount authority, organizing two attacks on Osaka Castle in 1614 and 1615 which finally defeated Toyotomi Hideyori and the remaining Toyotomi forces, thus completing the reunification of Japan under one government.[10]
Ieyasu Tokugawa organized new laws to regulate the court and the military clans, and laid the foundations for over 250 years of peace under Tokugawa rule during the Edo period.[11]
Death[]
After his death, Tokugawa Ieyasu was enshrined at Nikkō as Tōshō Daigongen, a deified manifestation associated with Buddhist belief.[12]
Gallery[]
Sources[]
- ↑ 100 facts Samurai, Miles Kelly pg.44
- ↑ Encarta Encyclopedia 2005.
- ↑ A History of Japan, Kenneth G. Henshall, p. 52.
- ↑ Encarta Encyclopedia 2005.
- ↑ A History of Japan, Kenneth G. Henshall, p. 52.
- ↑ Jeroen Pieter Lamers, Japonius Tyrannus: The Japanese Warlord, Oda Nobunaga Reconsidered, p. 45.
- ↑ A History of Japan, Kenneth G. Henshall, p. 52.
- ↑ Text from Encarta Encylopedia 2005
- ↑ Text from Encarta Encylopedia 2005
- ↑ Text from Encarta Encylopedia 2005
- ↑ Encarta Encyclopedia 2005
- ↑ Encarta Encyclopedia 2005