146 Facts About Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the third of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The son of a minor daimyo, Ieyasu once lived as a hostage under daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto on behalf of his father.

Tokugawa Ieyasu later succeeded as daimyo after his father's death, serving as ally, vassal, and general of the Oda clan, and building up his strength under Oda Nobunaga.

Under Toyotomi, Tokugawa Ieyasu was relocated to the Kanto plains in eastern Japan, away from the Toyotomi power base in Osaka.

Tokugawa Ieyasu built his castle in the fishing village of Edo.

Tokugawa Ieyasu became the most powerful daimyo and the most senior officer under the Toyotomi regime.

Tokugawa Ieyasu preserved his strength during Toyotomi's failed attempts to conquer Korea.

Tokugawa Ieyasu received appointment as shogun in 1603, and voluntarily resigned from his position in 1605, although he still held the de facto control of government until his death in 1616.

Tokugawa Ieyasu implemented a set of careful rules known as the bakuhan system.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's father, Matsudaira Hirotada, was a minor local warlord based at Okazaki Castle who controlled a portion of the Tokaido highway linking Kyoto with the eastern provinces.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's territory was surrounded by stronger and predatory neighbors, including the Imagawa clan based in Suruga Province to the east and the Oda clan to the west.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was briefly allowed to visit Okazaki to pay his respects to the tomb of his father, and receive the homage of his nominal retainers, led by the karo Torii Tadayoshi.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was then allowed to return to Mikawa Province.

Tokugawa Ieyasu then succeeded in delivering supplies during the siege of Odaka Castle a year later.

Tokugawa Ieyasu then used them as hostages to exchange for his wife and son.

Tokugawa Ieyasu undertook several battles to suppress this movement in his territories, including the Battle of Azukizaka.

Some of Tokugawa Ieyasu's vassals were in the Ikko-ikki ranks, notablyHonda Masanobu and Natsume Yoshinobu, who had deserted him for the Ikko-ikki rebellion out of religious sympathy.

In 1566, as Tokugawa Ieyasu declared his independence from the Imagawa clan, he reformed the order of Mikawa province, starting with the Matsudaira clan, after he pacified Mikawa.

Tokugawa Ieyasu strengthened his power base by creating a military government system for the Tokugawa clan in Mikawa which was based on his hereditary vassals, the Fudai daimyo.

Tokugawa Ieyasu then consulted with imperial noble Konoe Motohisa through the mediation of a Mikawa native and the abbot of the Kyo Seiganji Temple.

Tokugawa Ieyasu then gained the permission of the Imperial Court and he was bestowed the courtesy title Mikawa-no-kami and the court rank of Junior 5th Rank, Lower Grade.

Tokugawa Ieyasu remained an ally of Nobunaga and his Mikawa soldiers were part of Nobunaga's army which captured Kyoto in 1568.

In 1568, at the same time, Tokugawa Ieyasu was eager to expand eastward to Totomi Province.

In 1568, Tokugawa Ieyasu besieged the Horikawa Castle in Totomi and captured it in 1569.

Tokugawa Ieyasu then ordered Ishikawa Hanzaburo to massacre the castle prisoners and residents, including women and children.

Imagawa Ujizane fled to Kakegawa Castle, which led Tokugawa Ieyasu to lay siege to Kakegawa.

Tokugawa Ieyasu then negotiated with Ujizane, promising that if Ujizane surrendered himself and the remainder of Totomi, Tokugawa Ieyasu would assist Ujizane in regaining Suruga.

Ujizane had nothing left to lose, and Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately ended his alliance with Takeda, instead making a new alliance with Takeda's enemy to the north, Uesugi Kenshin of the Uesugi clan.

Furthermore, Tokugawa Ieyasu placed the "Iinoya's trio" of clans under the command of his trusted vassal, Ii Naomasa.

In 1570, Tokugawa Ieyasu established Hamamatsu as the capital of his territory, placing his son Matsudaira Nobuyasu in charge of Okazaki.

Tokugawa Ieyasu decided to make a drive for Kyoto at the urging of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, starting by invading Tokugawa lands in Totomi.

Takeda Shingen's first objectives in his campaign against Tokugawa Ieyasu were Nishikawa Castle, Yoshida Castle and Futamata Castle.

Tokugawa Ieyasu asked for help from Nobunaga, who sent him some 3,000 troops.

The battle was a major defeat, but in the interest of maintaining the appearance of a dignified withdrawal, Tokugawa Ieyasu brazenly ordered the men in his castle to light torches, sound drums, and leave the gates open, to properly receive the returning warriors.

At some point, Tokugawa Ieyasu tried to capture Inui Castle in Totomi Province, but strong resistance from its garrison commander, Amano Kagehira, forced Tokugawa Ieyasu to abort the siege.

Meanwhile, Tokugawa Ieyasu himself learned about Yashiro's further crimes of corruption in governance through a vassal's report.

Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered his wife to be executed and forced his son to commit seppuku because of these accusations.

In 1580, Tokugawa Ieyasu built five fortresses in order to isolate Takatenjin Castle from external supplies and reinforcements.

In 1581, Tokugawa Ieyasu forces managed to subdue Tanaka castle, and recapture Takatenjin castle, where Okabe Motonobu was killed during the fight.

The end of the war with Takeda Katsuyori came in 1582, when a combined Oda-Tokugawa Ieyasu force attacked and conquered Kai Province, where Katsuyori was cornered and defeated at the Battle of Tenmokuzan, and then committed seppuku.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu heard that Nobunaga had been killed by Akechi Mitsuhide he had only a few companions with him, notably Sakai Tadatsugu, Ii Naomasa, and Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakibara Yasumasa and some others.

Regardless which theory was true, historians agreed that when his path ended at Kada, the Tokugawa Ieyasu group suffered one last attack by Ochimusha-gari outlaws as they reached the territory of Koka ikki clans of Jizamurai who were friendly to the Tokugawa Ieyasu clan.

The Koka ikki samurais assisted Tokugawa Ieyasu in eliminating the threat of the Ochimusha-gari outlaws and escorted them until they reached Iga Province, where they were further protected by other allied clans from Iga ikki who accompanied Tokugawa Ieyasu and his group until they safely reached Mikawa.

Portuguese missionary Luis Frois recorded in his work History of Japan that during this journey, Tokugawa retainers including Sakai Tadatsugu, Ii Naomasa and Honda Tadakatsu fought their way out of raids and harassment from Ochimusha-gari outlaws while escorting Ieyasu, while paying bribes of gold and silver to those Ochimusha-gari outlaws that could be bribed.

Matsudaira Ietada recorded in his journal, Ietada nikki, the Ieyasu's escorts suffered around 200 casualties during their journey, and when they arrived at Ietada's residence in Mikawa, they only had about 34 personnel left, including high-ranking Tokugawa generals including Tadatsugu, Naomasa, Tadakatsu, Sakakibara, Okubo Tadayo, Hattori Hanzo, and others.

The next day, Ieyasu sent a letter to Masatsuna instructing him to begin the construction of a castle at Shimoyama, Minobu Town in the Kai Kawachi domain, the former base of Anayama Nobutada, one of Tokugawa's retainers who was killed by outlaws during his escape after the Honno-ji Incident.

Tokugawa Ieyasu then dispatched Sone Masatada, formerly one of Shingen Takeda's three most prominent generals, to the Erinji area with 500 men to confront a Hojo force that numbered 3,000 men.

Several days later, Osuga Yasutaka, a senior Tokugawa Ieyasu vassal, inspected Masatada's troops, where he commended the cooperation of Masatada lieutenant, Kubota Masakatsu.

Tokugawa Ieyasu sent his generals Okubo Tadayo, Ishikawa Yasumichi and Honda Hirotaka along with his son Yasushige as reinforcements for them to resist the Hojo.

At some point during this war, the Tokugawa Ieyasu clan gained support from the Tomohisa clan.

Tokugawa Ieyasu informed the Oda clan of the developments in Shinano and Kai.

Tokugawa Ieyasu deployed his forces to various fortresses in the Kofu Basin to oppose Ujinao, who had camped his army in the area of present-day Hokuto City.

Tokugawa Ieyasu managed to recruit more samurai clans who had formerly served under various Takeda generals such as Ichijo Nobutatsu, Yamagata Masakage, and Hara Masatane with the assistance of Ii Naomasa.

Tokugawa Ieyasu realized the Hojo plan to encircle him, and dispatched Mizuno Katsunari and Torii Mototada to lead 2,000 soldiers to intercept them, where they managed to rout the Hojo troops and prevent the encirclement.

Up to this point, Tokugawa Ieyasu was generally still at a disadvantage in the war.

Later, Hanzo captured Sanogoya Castle in Izu Province under the cover of heavy rain, causing Tokugawa Ieyasu to elicit praise for this achievement.

The problems for the Hojo clan increased by the day as Tokugawa Ieyasu established contact with daimyo lords from north-east Japan including the Satake, Yuki, and Utsunomiya clans, who threatened to invade the Hojo from behind while the Hojo were still engaging Tokugawa Ieyasu in battle.

The Hojo clan sent Hojo Ujinobu as representative, while the Tokugawa Ieyasu sent Ii Naomasa as representative for the preliminary meetings.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu's decision garnered protest from Sakakibara Yasumasa, who went so far as to threaten Naomasa.

Tokugawa Ieyasu did not take a side during the Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Shibata Katsuie conflict, where Hideyoshi defeated Katsuie at the Battle of Shizugatake.

At first, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered his generals Mizuno Tadashige and Mizuno Katsunari to capture Hoshizaki Castle.

Hidemasa decided to retreat when Tokugawa Ieyasu brought his main forces forward.

Later, as another Toyotomi vanguard led by Mori Nagayoshi entered the area, Tokugawa Ieyasu had his senior generals, Sakai Tadatsugu, Okudaira Nobumasa, and Matsudaira Ietada, beat Nagayoshi's troops, forcing him to retreat.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu had already retreated before Hideyoshi's main forces arrived.

At first, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered Torii Mototada, who served as the county magistrate of Kai, to collect military laws, weapons, and military equipment from the time of Takeda Shingen and bring them to Hamamatsu Castle in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered all former Takeda vassals who served him to impart any military doctrines and structures they knew from their service to the Takeda clan.

In 1591, Tokugawa Ieyasu gave up control of his five provinces and moved all his soldiers and vassals to his eight new provinces in the Kanto region.

The moment Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed to rule Kanto, he immediately assigned his premier vassals, including Ii Naomasa, Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Sakai Ietsugu, the son of Sakai Tadatsugu, to each control a large area of the former Hojo clan territories in Kanto.

Meanwhile, Tokugawa Ieyasu himself established his personal seat of power in Edo town, which at that time was an underdeveloped town in Kanto.

Tokugawa Ieyasu reformed the Kanto region, controlled and pacified the Hojo samurai, and improved the underlying economic infrastructure.

Also, because Kanto was somewhat isolated from the rest of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu was able to ally with daimyo of north-eastern Japan including Date Masamune, Mogami Yoshiaki, Satake Yoshishige and Nanbu Nobunao; he was able to maintain a unique level of autonomy from Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule.

Nevertheless, Watanabe Daimon stated that, while the general opinion was that Tokugawa Ieyasu was reluctant about his transfer to Kanto, this perception was unfounded.

Yuichiro added that aside from the samurai from Imagawa, Takeda, and Hojo, the Mikawa samurai clans who were traditional followers of the Tokugawa clan lost their sense of independence after being transferred into a new unfamiliar territory, which increased their sense of dependence on Ieyasu, in effect further minimizing the possibility of them going renegade and betraying Ieyasu, as Ishikawa Kazumasa had done several years earlier.

Tokugawa Ieyasu managed to establish his home base in Kanto, and built sustainable economic infrastructure in the region.

Later, though still in early 1593, Tokugawa Ieyasu himself was summoned to Hideyoshi's court in Nagoya as a military advisor and was given command of troops meant as reserves for the Korean campaign.

Tokugawa Ieyasu stayed in Nagoya intermittedly for the next five years.

From this point on, Tokugawa Ieyasu spent longer and longer periods in Fushimi Castle than in his underdeveloped residence, Edo Castle.

The five that were chosen as tairo for Hideyori were Maeda Toshiie, Mori Terumoto, Ukita Hideie, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was the most powerful of the five.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was nominally succeeded by his young son Hideyori but as he was just five years old, the real power was in the hands of the regents.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was in charge of political affairs in Fushimi Castle at that moment, attempted to arbitrate the situation.

Tokugawa Ieyasu then negotiated a promise to let Mitsunari retire and to review the assessment of the Battle of Ulsan Castle in Korea.

Tokugawa Ieyasu had his second son, Yuki Hideyasu, escort Mitsunari to Sawayama Castle.

Tokugawa Ieyasu gained support from Mogami Yoshiaki, brother-in-law of Masamune and a powerful eastern daimyo, who had held a grudge against the Toyotomi clan since Hideyoshi executed his daughter in the Hidetsugu Incident of 1595.

Meanwhile, opposition to Tokugawa Ieyasu centered around Ishida Mitsunari, one of Hideyoshi's Go-Bugyo, or top administrators of Hideyoshi's government, and a powerful daimyo who was not one of the regents.

Tokugawa Ieyasu had the support of the anti-Mitsunari group, and formed them into his potential allies.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's allies were Kato Kiyomasa, Fukushima Masanori, Mogami Yoshiaki, Hachisuka Iemasa, the Kuroda clan, the Hosokawa clan and many daimyo from eastern Japan.

War became imminent when Uesugi Kagekatsu, one of Hideyoshi's appointed regents, defied Tokugawa Ieyasu by building up his military at Aizu.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu officially condemned him and demanded that he come to Kyoto to explain himself, Kagekatsu's chief advisor, Naoe Kanetsugu, responded with a counter-condemnation that mocked Tokugawa Ieyasu's abuses and violations of Hideyoshi's rules.

Tokugawa Ieyasu held a meeting with the Eastern Army daimyo, and they agreed to follow Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The Eastern Army led by Tokugawa Ieyasu initially numbered 75,000 men, with the Western Army at a strength of 120,000 men under Ishida Mitsunari.

Tokugawa Ieyasu had secretly communicated with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew, Kobayakawa Hideaki.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu was angry at his son Hidetada, whose army was late to arrive, leading to an unexpectedly long siege against Ueda castle.

Meanwhile, Tokugawa Ieyasu pardoned his enemies who defended Ueda castle, including Sanada Masayuki and Sanada Yukimura, at the behest of Ii Naomasa and Sanada Nobuyuki.

Tokugawa Ieyasu redistributed the domain fiefs of all the daimyo lords who supported him during the war, such as increasing Ii Naomasa domain to 180,000 koku.

Tokugawa Ieyasu promoted many of his own hereditary vassals to domains of at least 10,000 koku for their stipends.

Historian Watanabe Daimon suspected this was because Tokugawa Ieyasu was still wary of the existence of Toyotomi clan which had been inherited by Toyotomi Hideyori.

In 1602, Tokugawa Ieyasu changed his surname from "Minamoto" to "Fujiwara".

The reason for this changing was because Emperor Go-Yozei wanted to appoint Tokugawa Ieyasu to be a court noble.

However, there was no precedent in the Tokugawa bloodline as the Minamoto clan which Ieyasu ancestry claimed, was a samurai clan rather than a noble family.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was 60 years old and had outlasted all the other great men of his times: Oda Nobunaga, Takeda Shingen, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Uesugi Kenshin.

Tokugawa Ieyasu claimed descent from the Minamoto clan who had founded the Kamakura shogunate, by way of the Nitta clan.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's successor was his son and heir, Tokugawa Hidetada.

In 1604, Todo Takatora and Date Masamune advised the Shogunate government to introduce a rule across Japan that each feudal lord was obliged to maintain a residence in Edo, the capital of the shogunate, which Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately accepted and implemented officially.

From 1605 onwards, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had retired from the official position of shogun and became a retired shogun, remained the effective ruler of Japan until his death.

Tokugawa Ieyasu retired to Sunpu Castle in Sunpu, but he supervised the building of Edo Castle, a massive construction project which lasted for the rest of Tokugawa Ieyasu's life.

The cost of building the castle was borne by all the other daimyo, while Tokugawa Ieyasu reaped the benefits.

In 1608, Tokugawa Ieyasu assigned control of the Tsu Domain to Takatora.

Tokugawa Ieyasu stripped Tsutsui Sadatsugu of ownership rights before giving them to Takatora.

Furthermore, it is thought that Tokugawa Ieyasu expropriated the land and gave it to the Todo clan as political strategy against the Toyotomi clan, even though he was a patron of the Toyotomi family, Todo Takatora was considered a close ally of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Tokugawa Ieyasu did not have Hideyori work on national construction, nor did he have him swear to the Three Laws.

Watanabe Daimon saw that the Three Laws issued by Tokugawa Ieyasu was a maneuver to isolate Hideyori politically by making all other influential daimyo lords obey him.

Tokugawa Ieyasu chose to distance Japan from European influence starting in 1609, although the shogunate still granted preferential trading rights to the Dutch East India Company and permitted them to maintain a "factory" for trading purposes.

From 1605 until his death, Tokugawa Ieyasu frequently consulted English shipwright and pilot, William Adams.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had entrusted Harunobu with the purchase of agarwood, was initially concerned that a retaliatory act would cut off trade with Portuguese ships.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu later gave Harunobu permission to capture Pessoa after he had been guaranteed that Manila ships of Spanish merchants would be able to replenish raw silk and other goods carried by Portuguese ships and expected Dutch ships to continue arriving.

Tokugawa Ieyasu changed his decision and the merchants were allowed to leave for Macau with their property.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was angered when he heard that Catholic followers had gathered at Okamoto's execution to offer prayers and sing hymns.

In 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu was sufficiently concerned about Spanish territorial ambitions and signed the Christian Expulsion Edict.

The last remaining threat to Tokugawa Ieyasu's rule was Toyotomi Hideyori, the son and rightful heir to Hideyoshi.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was now a young daimyo living in Osaka Castle.

Many samurai who opposed Tokugawa Ieyasu rallied around Hideyori, claiming that he was the rightful ruler of Japan.

Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered Hideyori to leave Osaka Castle, but those in the castle refused and summoned samurai to gather within the castle.

Tokugawa forces, with a huge army led by Ieyasu and shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, laid siege to Osaka Castle in what is known as "the Winter Siege of Osaka".

However, once the treaty had been agreed on, the Tokugawa Ieyasu filled in the castle's outer moats with sand so their troops could walk across.

Tokugawa Ieyasu returned to Sunpu Castle, but after Toyotomi Hideyori refused another order to leave Osaka, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his allied army of 155,000 soldiers attacked Osaka Castle again in "the Summer Siege of Osaka".

Tokugawa Ieyasu refused and either required them to commit seppuku, or killed both of them.

The first Tokugawa Ieyasu shogun was posthumously deified with the name Tosho Daigongen, the "Great Gongen, Light of the East".

In life, Tokugawa Ieyasu had expressed the wish to be deified after his death to protect his descendants from evil.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's remains were buried at the Gongens' mausoleum at Kunozan, Kunozan Tosho-gu.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was first given the Buddhist name Tosho Dai-Gongen, then, after his death, it was changed to Hogo Onkokuin.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu misinterpreted Katayama's diagnosis of his illness as a tapeworm infestation.

Tokugawa Ieyasu possessed about 42 tons of gold as the Tokugawa Shogunate had implemented the centralization of gold and silver mine ownership, unlike previous eras of government in Japan, in which possession of mine ownership was managed by local lords through the shogunate authorization.

John T Kuehn saw Ieyasu as being capable of complex long game strategies, both politically and militarily, as shown during his conflict against Ishida Mitsunari.

Tetsuo Owada personally praised how Tokugawa Ieyasu managed to be quickly accepted by the citizens of the Kanto region and his ability to rule there without unrest after he transferred there, by continuing the lenient tax policies of the Hojo clan in order to gain sympathy.

However, Koichiro points out that Tokugawa Ieyasu was capable of bravery as showed by personally entering the battlefield during the rebellion, while pointing out several anecdotes about Tokugawa Ieyasu as a youth showing promise as a capable military tactician when he still under the wing of the Imagawa clan.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was capable of great loyalty: once he allied with Oda Nobunaga, he never went against him, and both leaders profited from their long alliance.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was known for being loyal towards his personal friends and vassals, whom he rewarded.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was said to have a close friendship with his vassal Hattori Hanzo.

Tokugawa Ieyasu protected many former Takeda retainers from the wrath of Oda Nobunaga, who was known to harbour a bitter grudge towards the Takeda.

However, Tokugawa Ieyasu known to be capable of forgiveness, such as how he gave pardon to Watanabe Moritsuna after he rebelled against Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Ikko-ikki uprisings in Mikawa.

Tokugawa Ieyasu regarded it as excellent training for a warrior.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was interested in various kenjutsu skills, was a patron of the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu school, and had them as his personal sword instructors.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was known for his devotion to the Jodo-shu school of Buddhism throughout his life, having been born into the Matsudaira clan which followed Jodo Buddhism.

Tokugawa Ieyasu readily accepted this advice, and constantly repeated the nembutsu until the day he died.

In Dinosaur King, Tokugawa Ieyasu appears in episode 63 of season 2.

Minamoto-no-Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in Tenbun 11, on the 26th day of the 12th month and he died in Genna 2, on the 17th day of the 4th month ; and thus, his contemporaries would have said that he lived 75 years.