Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in 1542 at Okazaki Castle in Mikawa Province (present-day Aichi Prefecture), as the son of the castle lord, Matsudaira Hirotada.

When Oda Nobuhide invaded toward Okazaki Castle, Hirotada asked Imagawa Yoshimoto for reinforcements. In return, Yoshimoto demanded Ieyasu as a hostage.
He was sent as a hostage as requested, but on the way, a retainer responsible for his escort betrayed him, and he was sold to Oda Nobuhide as a hostage.

He spent ages 6 to 8 as a hostage under Oda Nobuhide. At age 8, after a hostage exchange, he was sent to Imagawa Yoshimoto and lived there as a hostage.

The year after Imagawa Yoshimoto was killed at the 1560 Battle of Okehazama between Oda Nobunaga and Imagawa Yoshimoto, Tokugawa Ieyasu became independent and formed the Kiyosu Alliance with Oda Nobunaga.

He gradually built power and unified Mikawa Province, which had been split between east and west.
With the help of Takeda Shingen, he attacked and destroyed the Imagawa, who had once held him hostage.

When Takeda Shingen later came into conflict with Oda Nobunaga, Ieyasu was attacked by Shingen and suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Mikatagahara.
After Shingen’s death, Ieyasu went on the offensive and won at the Battle of Nagashino.
The Takeda territory became part of Ieyasu’s domain.

In 1582, Oda Nobunaga (Oda Nobunaga), Ieyasu’s ally, died in the Honnō-ji Incident led by Akechi Mitsuhide.
Ieyasu seized Kai (present-day Yamanashi Prefecture), Shinano (present-day Nagano Prefecture), and Kozuke (present-day Gunma Prefecture), which had been Nobunaga’s lands, and made them his own.
Together with his original territories of Totomi (present-day Shizuoka Prefecture) and Mikawa, he grew into a daimyo ruling five provinces.

During the conflict between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Nobukatsu, son of Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu sided with Nobukatsu’s forces. At the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, he and Nobukatsu repelled Hideyoshi’s army of about 100,000 with a force of around 16,000.

The battle ended in a ceasefire when Nobukatsu accepted Hideyoshi’s peace terms, leaving Ieyasu with no reason to keep fighting Hideyoshi.

After that, as Hideyoshi pushed to unify the country, he approached Ieyasu, a powerful daimyo ruling five provinces, to bring him into submission.
Ieyasu initially refused, but Hideyoshi used every tactic, including marrying off his sister and sending his mother as a hostage, to pressure him.
In the end, Ieyasu gave in and became Hideyoshi’s vassal.

In 1590, after Ieyasu had submitted, Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan through the Odawara Campaign.
Hideyoshi then stripped Ieyasu of his previous lands, ordered him transferred to eight provinces in the Kanto region, and Ieyasu moved his base to Edo Castle.

Hideyoshi’s aim was to weaken Ieyasu’s power, but Ieyasu invested heavily in Kanto governance and military reforms. He placed key retainers across the region and strengthened his control.
He also brought in former Takeda retainers and Hojo retainers to build military strength, and as a result, Ieyasu became even more powerful.
At the same time, he contributed in many ways to Hideyoshi’s rule and steadily earned his trust.

In 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, and in accordance with his will, Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed to the Council of Five Elders, the highest authority under the Toyotomi regime.
Using this power, Ieyasu steadily expanded his influence toward unification, which brought him into conflict with Ishida Mitsunari and others who opposed him.

This rivalry led to the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 between the Western Army led by Ishida Mitsunari and the Eastern Army led by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu’s Eastern Army won.
After the battle, he punished key Western leaders and drastically reduced the Toyotomi clan’s power, unifying Japan once again under his rule.

In 1603, he was appointed Seii Taishogun by the Imperial Court, became Japan’s top authority, and founded the Edo shogunate.

Even after becoming the supreme ruler, the new government was not yet fully stable.
To strengthen control, he implemented policies such as the Buke Shohatto (Laws for the Military Houses) to regulate the daimyo, and the Kinchu Narabini Kuge Shohatto to restrict the Imperial Court and court nobles, aiming to build a stable Tokugawa-led shogunate.

Just two years later, in 1605, he passed the shogunate to his third son, Tokugawa Hidetada.
By having his own child inherit the role, he made it clear that the Edo shogunate would be hereditary.
Even after stepping down, Ieyasu continued to guide politics as the retired shogun (Ogosho).

At that point, the Toyotomi clan, which had once unified the country, had not yet been eliminated, and forces opposed to the Edo shogunate gathered around them.
To destroy the Toyotomi, Ieyasu raised an army and drove them toward defeat in the Osaka Winter and Summer Campaigns of 1614 and 1615, solidifying the Edo shogunate.

In 1616, Tokugawa Ieyasu died, and the following year he was enshrined at Kunozan Toshogu Shrine.
Some say he died from indigestion after eating too much tempura, but the direct cause is widely believed to have been stomach cancer.

It’s surprising that “Tanuki Oyaji,” an insult used for a sly old man, became Tokugawa Ieyasu’s nickname.

It wasn’t just because of his stocky build. Some say it also reflected his shrewd, calculating nature.

Here’s one episode often cited.

When Ieyasu was the daimyo of Mikawa, he struggled against an Ikkō-ikki uprising in his territory.
He made peace by accepting the rebels’ demands and got their group to disband.
But as soon as they did, he reversed course and used force to suppress those who had taken part in the uprising.

With multiple stories like this, it’s easy to see why the nickname stuck.

With the “Tanuki Oyaji” nickname and his build, he may seem mild-mannered, but he was actually very competitive.

In 1573, at the Battle of Mikatagahara, Ieyasu suffered a crushing defeat to Takeda Shingen.
As he fled, the story goes that fear made him soil himself on horseback.
Unaware at first, he was told by a retainer, and instead of admitting it, he insisted, “It’s not poop, it’s miso.”

Maybe it was because he was in front of his men, but it’s an oddly endearing episode.

There’s a story from the period when Tokugawa Ieyasu served Toyotomi Hideyoshi: when Hideyoshi asked, “What is your greatest treasure,” Ieyasu replied, “My treasure is my retainers who will risk their lives to ride into battle for me.”

It shows how deeply he valued the people who served him.

In surveys like “Which Sengoku warlord would you want as your boss,” Tokugawa Ieyasu often ranks highly, and this “loyal-to-his-retainers” image may be one reason.

Tokugawa Ieyasu is also known for being extremely frugal and hating unnecessary spending.

,He got angry when retainers had new clothes made
,He kept wearing the same clothes for a long time
,He didn’t repair a broken stable
and many other stories show just how tight-fisted he could be.

That said, he spent without hesitation when it truly mattered, suggesting he practiced frugality because he valued money, not because he was simply stingy.

Tokugawa Ieyasu lived to 75 in an era when average life expectancy was said to be around 35.
Of course, surviving countless battles played a role, but another reason was that he was a serious “health geek.”

Records describe him favoring nutritious barley rice, mixing herbal medicines himself, and never skipping daily exercise, showing strong self-discipline.

It’s said his taste in women changed with age: when he was younger, he preferred older women, but in his 60s he shifted to favoring teenage girls.

Even in old age, he continued fathering children. It’s said he had 20 wives and 16 children.
Leaving heirs for the Tokugawa family and the Edo shogunate may have been important, but even so, that number feels like a lot.

Built to protect the Imperial Palace and to serve as lodging when traveling to Kyoto, Nijo Castle is now a major sightseeing spot.

During the reign of Iemitsu, the third shogun, it underwent major renovations to welcome the emperor.
These renovations added Kano Tan-yu famous painted panels, along with elaborate carvings and metal ornaments, creating a brilliantly lavish castle that showcased the stability of the Edo shogunate.

It’s also where the 15th shogun, Yoshinobu, declared his intent to return political power to the Imperial Court (Taisei Hokan), making it a castle that witnessed the Tokugawa clan’s rise and decline.

After winning the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu had Nagoya Castle built as a safeguard in case the Toyotomi forces in Osaka attacked.

Two golden shachihoko shine atop the massive roof. With towering stone walls, deep moats, and one of Japan’s largest and most formidable castle layouts, it sent a clear message of Tokugawa prestige to the Toyotomi.
The pair of golden shachihoko at the top of the five-roofed main keep has become a symbol of Nagoya.

Built in 1617, the year after Tokugawa Ieyasu’s death, Nikko Toshogu Shrine is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Shrines and Temples of Nikko.”

Master artisans from across Japan created rich decorations and carvings. Highlights include the Sacred Stable, famous for the Three Wise Monkeys carving (“see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil”), and the Yomeimon Gate, also called the “Higurashi-no-mon” (the gate you could look at all day) because it’s covered in countless vividly colored carvings. There’s no shortage of things to see.