[:it]

Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康, Gennaio 30, 1543 – Giugno 1, 1616) è stato il fondatore ed il primo shōgun dello shogunato di Tokugawa, che ha effettivamente comandato in Giappone data Battaglia di Sekigahara nel 1600 fino alla ristrutturazione di Meiji nel 1868. Ieyasu ha ottenuto il potere nel 1600, diventato shōgun nel 1603, e abdicato nel 1605 rimanendo al potere fino alla sua morte nel 1616. E’ stato uno dei tre unificatori del Giappone, insieme a lord Nobunaga e Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, in origine Matsudaira Takechiyo , era figlio di Maytsudaira Hirotada, il daimyo di Mikawa del Matsudaira clan e di Odai-no-kata, la figlia del samurai lord Mizuno Tadamasa. I suoi genitori avevano rispettivamente 17 e 15 anni quando nacque Ieyasu.
Nell’anno della sua nascita, il clan Matsudaira si sciolse. Nel 1543, lo zio di Hirotada, Matsudaira Nobutaka, sconfisse il can Oda. Questo diede a Oda Nobuhide modo di attaccare Okazaki. Hirotada divorziò da Odai-no-kata rimandandola dalla sua famiglia per risposarsi nuovamente, infatti Ieyasu aveva 11 fratelli e sorelle.
Siccome Oda Nobunaga continuava ad attaccare Okazaki, nel 1548 Hirotada chiese aiuto ad Imagawa Yoshimoto che accettò l’alleanza.
Oda Nobuhide, venuto a conoscenza di questo accordo, fece rapire Ieyasu dal suo entourage in viaggio verso Sunpu. Ieyasu aveva solo cinque anni all’epoca.
Nobuhide minacciò di giustiziare Ieyasu a meno che suo padre non avesse rotto tutti i legami con il clan Imagawa; tuttavia, Hirotada rifiutò, affermando che sacrificare il proprio figlio avrebbe mostrato la sua serietà nel suo patto con Imagawa. Nonostante questo rifiuto, Nobuhide scelse di non uccidere Ieyasu, ma invece lo trattenne come ostaggio per i successivi tre anni nel Tempio Mansho-ji di Nagoya.
Nel 1549, quando Ieyasu aveva 6 anni, suo padre Hirotada fu assassinato dai suoi stessi vassalli, che erano stati corrotti dal clan Oda. Più o meno nello stesso periodo, Oda Nobuhide morì durante un’epidemia. La morte di Nobuhide ha inferto un duro colpo al clan Oda. Un esercito sotto il comando di Imagawa Sessai assediò il castello dove vivevano Oda Nobuhiro, il primogenito di Nobuhide e il nuovo capo del clan Oda. Con il castello che stava per cadere, Sessai offrì un accordo a Oda Nobunaga, secondogenito di Nobuhide. Egli si offrì di rinunciare all’assedio se Ieyasu fosse stato consegnato a Imagawa.

Photo credits: Rekishinotabi on flickr

La salita al potere (1556-1584)

Nel 1556 Ieyasu divenne ufficialmente maggiorenne, con Imagawa Yoshimoto che presiedeva la sua cerimonia di genpuku. Seguendo la tradizione, cambiò il suo nome da Matsudaira Takechiyo a Matsudaira Jirōsaburō Motonobu. Gli fu anche permesso per un breve periodo di visitare Okazaki per rendere omaggio alla tomba di suo padre e ricevere l’omaggio dei suoi servitori nominali, guidati dal karō Torii Tadayoshi.
Un anno dopo, sposò la sua prima moglie, Lady Tsukiyama, parente di Imagawa Yoshimoto, e cambiò nuovamente il suo nome in Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu. Quando gli fu permesso di tornare a Mikawa, Imagawa gli ordinò quindi di combattere il clan Oda in una serie di battaglie.
Motoyasu ha combattuto la sua prima battaglia nel 1558 all’Assedio di Terabe. Il castellano di Terabe nel Mikawa occidentale, Suzuki Shigeteru, tradì Imagawa sconfiggendo Oda Nobunaga. Questo era all’interno del territorio di Matsudaira, quindi Imagawa Yoshimoto affidò la campagna a Ieyasu e ai suoi servitori di Okazaki. Ieyasu guidò l’attacco in persona, ma dopo aver preso le difese esterne, cominciò ad avere paura di un contrattacco, così si ritirò. Come anticipato, le forze di Oda attaccarono le sue linee, ma Motoyasu era preparato e scacciò l’esercito Oda.
Riuscì a consegnare rifornimenti nell’assedio di Odaka del 1559. Odaka era l’unico dei cinque forti di frontiera contestati dall’attacco di Oda, rimasto nelle mani di Imagawa. Motoyasu lanciò attacchi diversivi contro i due forti vicini, e quando le guarnigioni degli altri forti andarono in suo aiuto, la colonna di rifornimento di Ieyasu riuscì a raggiungere Odaka.
Nel 1560 la leadership del clan Oda era passata al brillante leader Oda Nobunaga. Imagawa Yoshimoto, a capo di un grande esercito (forse 25.000 persone) invase il territorio del clan Oda. A Motoyasu fu assegnata una missione separata per catturare la roccaforte di Marune. Quindi lui e i suoi uomini non erano presenti alla battaglia di Okehazama dove Yoshimoto fu ucciso nell’assalto a sorpresa di Nobunaga.

L’ Alleanza con Oda

Con la morte di Yoshimoto e il clan Imagawa in uno stato di confusione, Motoyasu colse l’occasione per affermare la propria indipendenza e riportare i suoi uomini nel castello abbandonato di Okazaki per reclamare il suo posto.
Motoyasu decise quindi di allearsi con il clan Oda. Era necessario un accordo segreto perché la moglie di Motoyasu, Lady Tsukiyama, e il figlio neonato, Nobuyasu, furono tenuti in ostaggio a Sumpu da Imagawa Ujizane, l’erede di Yoshimoto.
Nel 1561, Motoyasu conquistò la fortezza di Kaminogō, detenuto da Udono Nagamochi, attaccando nella notte, dando fuoco al castello e catturando due dei figli di Udono, che usò come ostaggi per liberare moglie e figlio.
Nel 1563 Nobuyasu era sposato con la figlia di Nobunaga Tokuhime.
Per gli anni successivi Motoyasu si impegnò a riformare il clan Matsudaira e a far pace con Mikawa. Ha anche rafforzato i suoi principali vassalli assegnando loro terre e castelli. Questi vassalli includevano: Honda Tadakatsu, Ishikawa Kazumasa, Kōriki Kiyonaga, Hattori Hanzō, Sakai Tadatsugu e Sakakibara Yasumasa.

Nei suoi primi giorni di daimyō di Mikawa Ieyasu ebbe rapporti difficili con i templi del Jōdō che diventarono sempre più numerosi nel nel 1563-64.
Durante questo periodo, il clan Matsudaira affrontò anche una minaccia proveniente da una fonte diversa. Mikawa fu un importante centro per il movimento Ikkō-ikki, dove i contadini si unirono con i monaci militanti sotto la setta Jōdo Shinshū e respinsero il tradizionale ordine sociale feudale. Motoyasu intraprese diverse battaglie per sopprimere questo movimento nei suoi territori, tra cui la Battaglia di Azukizaka. In un combattimento, fu quasi ucciso da due proiettili che non penetrarono nella sua armatura. Entrambe le parti stavano usando le nuove armi da polvere da sparo che i portoghesi avevano introdotto in Giappone solo 20 anni prima.

Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Crescente influenza politica.

Nel 1567, cambiò ancora il suo nome, questa volta a Tokugawa Ieyasu. Così facendo, rivendicò la discesa dal clan Minamoto. Nessuna prova è stata effettivamente trovata per questa presunta discendenza dall’Imperatore Seiwa. Eppure, il suo nome di famiglia fu cambiato con il permesso della Corte Imperiale, dopo aver scritto una petizione, in cui gli era stato conferito il titolo di cortesia Mikawa-no-kami
Ieyasu rimase un alleato di Nobunaga e i suoi soldati facevano parte dell’esercito di Nobunaga che conquistò Kyoto nel 1568. Nello stesso tempo Ieyasu stava espandendo il suo territorio. Ieyasu e Takeda Shingen, il capo del clan Takeda nella provincia di Kai fecero un’alleanza allo scopo di conquistare tutto il territorio di Imagawa. Nel 1570, le truppe di Ieyasu conquistarono il castello di Yoshida (moderno Toyohashi), ed entrarono nella provincia di Tōtōmi. Nel frattempo, le truppe di Shingen conquistarono la provincia di Suruga (inclusa la capitale di Imagawa, Sunpu). Imagawa Ujizane fuggì al castello di Kakegawa, che Ieyasu pose sotto assedio. Ieyasu quindi negoziò con Ujizane, promettendo che se si fosse arreso, avrebbe aiutato Ujizane a riconquistare Suruga. Ujizane non aveva più nulla da perdere, e Ieyasu finì immediatamente la sua alleanza con Takeda, fstrinse una nuova alleanza con il nemico di Takeda, Uesugi Kenshin del clan Uesugi. Attraverso queste manipolazioni politiche, Ieyasu ottenne il sostegno dei samurai della provincia di Tōtōmi.
Nel 1570, Ieyasu stabilì Hamamatsu come capitale del suo territorio, mettendo suo figlio Nobuyasu a capo di Okazaki.
Lo stesso anno, condusse 5.000 dei suoi uomini a sostenere Nobunaga nella battaglia di Anegawa contro i clan Azai e Asakura.

Conflitto con Takeda

Nell’ottobre del 1571, Takeda Shingen, ora alleato del clan Odawara Hōjō, attaccò le terre Tokugawa a Tōtōmi. Ieyasu chiese aiuto a Nobunaga, che gli mandò circa 3000 soldati. All’inizio del 1572 i due eserciti si incontrarono nella battaglia di Mikatagahara. Il considerevolmente più grande esercito di Takeda, sotto la direzione esperta di Shingen, ha travolto le truppe di Ieyasu e causato gravi perdite. Nonostante la sua iniziale reticenza, Ieyasu fu convinto da uno dei suoi generali a ritirarsi. La battaglia fu una grande sconfitta, ma nell’interesse di mantenere l’apparenza di un dignitoso ritiro, Ieyasu ordinò spudoratamente agli uomini del suo castello di accendere torce, suonare tamburi e lasciare i cancelli aperti, per ricevere adeguatamente i guerrieri di ritorno. Con sorpresa e sollievo dell’esercito Tokugawa, questo spettacolo ha fatto insospettire i generali Takeda, quindi invece di assediare il castello, si sono invece accampati per la notte. Questo errore avrebbe permesso a una banda di ninja Tokugawa di razziare il campo nelle ore successive, sconvolgendo ulteriormente l’esercito disorientato di Takeda, e alla fine, nella decisione di Shingen risultò il cancellamento di tutta l’offensiva. Per inciso, Takeda Shingen non avrebbe avuto un’altra possibilità di avanzare su Hamamatsu, tanto meno su Kyoto, poiché sarebbe morto poco dopo l’assedio del castello di Noda un anno dopo, nel 1573.
Nel 1575, Takeda attaccò il castello di Nagashino nella provincia di Mikawa. Ieyasu fece appello a Nobunaga per chiedere aiuto e il risultato fu che Nobunaga venne personalmente a capo di un esercito molto grande (circa 30.000 combattenti). La forza Oda-Tokugawa di 38.000 combattenti conquistò una grande vittoria il 28 giugno 1575, nella battaglia di Nagashino, anche se Takeda Katsuyori sopravvisse alla battaglia e si ritirò di nuovo nella provincia di Kai.
Per i successivi sette anni, Ieyasu e Katsuyori combatterono una serie di piccole battaglie, in seguito alle quali le truppe di Ieyasu riuscirono a strappare il controllo della provincia di Suruga dal clan Takeda.

Nel 1579, la moglie di Ieyasu e il suo erede Nobuyasu furono accusati da Nobunaga di cospirare con Takeda Katsuyori per assassinare Nobunaga, la cui figlia Tokuhime (1559-1636) era sposata con Nobuyasu. Per questo Ieyasu ordinò alla moglie di essere giustiziata e costrinse il suo figlio maggiore, Nobuyasu, a commettere seppuku. Ieyasu quindi nominò il suo terzo figlio, Tokugawa Hidetada, come erede, dal momento che il suo secondo figlio fu adottato da un altro potere in ascesa: il generale del clan Oda,Toyotomi Hideyoshi, che presto sarebbe diventato il più potente daimyō del Giappone.
La fine della guerra con Takeda arrivò nel 1582 quando una forza combinata Oda-Tokugawa attaccò e conquistò la provincia di Kai. Takeda Katsuyori fu sconfitto nella battaglia di Tenmokuzan e poi commise seppuku.

Uma che contiene le ceneri di Tokugawa Ieyasu a Nikkō
Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Morte di Nobunaga

Alla fine di giugno 1582, Ieyasu era vicino a Osaka e lontano dal suo territorio quando apprese che Nobunaga era stato assassinato da Akechi Mitsuhide. Ieyasu gestì il pericoloso viaggio di ritorno a Mikawa. Ieyasu stava mobilitando il suo esercito quando seppe che Hideyoshi aveva sconfitto Akechi Mitsuhide nella battaglia di Yamazaki.
La morte di Nobunaga fece sì che alcune province, governate dai vassalli di Nobunaga, potessero essere conquistate. Il capo della provincia di Kai commise l’errore di uccidere uno degli aiutanti di Ieyasu. Ieyasu invase prontamente Kai e prese il controllo. Hōjō Ujimasa, capo del clan Hōjō, rispose mandando il suo esercito molto più grande a Shinano e poi nella provincia di Kai. Nessuna battaglia fu combattuta tra le truppe di Ieyasu e il grande esercito di Hōjō e, dopo qualche trattativa, Ieyasu e Hōjō accettarono un accordo che lasciò Ieyasu nel controllo delle province di Kai e Shinano, mentre l’Hōjō prese il controllo della provincia di Kazusa (così come pezzi di entrambe le province di Kai e Shinano).
Nello stesso momento (1583) fu combattuta una guerra governare il Giappone tra Toyotomi Hideyoshi e Shibata Katsuie. Ieyasu non prese posizione in questo conflitto, basandosi sulla sua reputazione sia per prudenza che per saggezza. Hideyoshi sconfisse Katsuie alla battaglia di Shizugatake. Con questa vittoria, Hideyoshi divenne il daimyō più potente in Giappone.

Ieyasu e Hideyoshi (1584-1598)

Nel 1584 Ieyasu decise di sostenere Oda Nobukatsu, il primogenito figlio ed erede di Oda Nobunaga, contro Hideyoshi. Questo era un atto pericoloso e avrebbe potuto portare all’annientamento dei Tokugawa.
Le truppe Tokugawa presero la tradizionale roccaforte Oda di Owari; Hideyoshi rispose inviando un esercito ad Owari. La campagna di Komaki fu l’unica volta in cui uno dei grandi unificatori del Giappone combatterono l’un l’altro. La campagna si rivelò indecisa e, dopo mesi di marce e finte infruttuose, Hideyoshi risolse la guerra attraverso la negoziazione. Prima fece pace con Oda Nobukatsu, e poi offrì una tregua a Ieyasu. L’accordo è stato stipulato alla fine dell’anno; il secondo figlio di Ieyasu, Ogimaru (noto anche come Yuki Hideyasu) divenne figlio adottivo di Hideyoshi.
L’aiutante di Ieyasu, Ishikawa Kazumasa, scelse di unirsi al daimyō e così si trasferì a Osaka per stare con Hideyoshi. Tuttavia, pochi altri detentori di Tokugawa hanno seguito questo esempio.
Hideyoshi era comprensibilmente diffidente nei confronti di Ieyasu, e passarono cinque anni prima che combattessero come alleati. I Tokugawa non parteciparono alle invasioni di Hideyoshi di Shikoku e Kyūshū.
Nel 1590, Hideyoshi attaccò l’ultimo daimyō indipendente in Giappone, Hōjō Ujimasa. Il clan Hōjō governò le otto province della regione di Kantō nell’est del Giappone. Hideyoshi ordinò loro di sottomettersi alla sua autorità, ma si rifiutarono. Ieyasu, sebbene amico e occasionale alleato di Ujimasa, si unì alla sua grande forza di 30.000 samurai con l’enorme esercito di Hideyoshi di circa 160.000. Hideyoshi attaccò diversi castelli ai confini del clan Hōjō con la maggior parte del suo esercito che assediava il castello di Odawara. L’esercito di Hideyoshi catturò Odawara dopo sei mesi. Durante questo assedio, Hideyoshi offrì a Ieyasu un accordo radicale. Offrì a Ieyasu le otto province di Kantō che stavano per prendere dall’Hōjō in cambio delle cinque province che Ieyasu controllava attualmente, compresa la sua provincia, Mikaw). Ieyasu ha accettato questa proposta. In preda al potere schiacciante dell’esercito Toyotomi, l’Hōjō accettò la sconfitta, i massimi leader Hōjō si uccisero e Ieyasu entrò in campo prendendo il controllo delle loro province, ponendo fine al regno del clan di oltre 100 anni.

La Battaglia di Sekigahara (1598-1603)

Hideyoshi, dopo altri tre mesi di malattia, morì il 18 settembre 1598. Venne nominalmente succeduto dal suo giovane figlio Hideyori ma, a soli cinque anni, il vero potere era nelle mani dei reggenti. Nei due anni successivi Ieyasu fece alleanze con vari daimyō, specialmente quelli che non avevano amore per Hideyoshi. Fortunatamente per Ieyasu, il più vecchio e rispettato, Toshiie Maeda, morì dopo appena un anno. Con la morte di Toshiie nel 1599, Ieyasu guidò un esercito a Fushimi e conquistò il Castello di Osaka, la residenza di Hideyori. Ciò fece arrabbiare i tre reggenti rimanenti e cominciarono a strutturarsi i piani su tutti i fronti per la guerra. Fu anche l’ultima battaglia di uno dei più leali e potenti servitori di Ieyasu, Honda Tadakatsu.
L’opposizione a Ieyasu era incentrata su Ishida Mitsunari, un potente daimyō che non era uno dei reggenti. Mitsunari ha ideato la morte di Ieyasu e le notizie su questo complotto raggiunsero alcuni dei generali di Ieyasu. Tentarono di uccidere Mitsunari ma fuggì e ottenne protezione da nientemeno che da Ieyasu stesso. Non è chiaro perché Ieyasu proteggesse un potente nemico dai suoi uomini, ma era uno stratega e potrebbe aver pensato che sarebbe stato meglio guidare l’esercito nemico con Mitsunari piuttosto che uno dei reggenti.
Quasi tutti i daimyō e samurai giapponesi si divisero in due fazioni: l’esercito occidentale (gruppo di Mitsunari) e l’esercito orientale (gruppo anti-Mitsunari). Ieyasu sostenne il gruppo anti-Mitsunari e li formò come suoi potenziali alleati. Gli alleati di Ieyasu erano il clan Date, il clan Mogami, il clan Satake e il clan Maeda. Mitsunari si alleò con gli altri tre reggenti: Ukita Hideie, Mōri Terumoto e Uesugi Kagekatsu e molti daimyō dall’estremo orientale di Honshū.
Nel giugno del 1600, Ieyasu e i suoi alleati trasferirono i loro eserciti per sconfiggere il clan Uesugi, che fu accusato di aver pianificato una rivolta contro l’amministrazione di Toyotomi. Prima di arrivare nel territorio di Uesugi, Ieyasu venne a sapere che Mitsunari e i suoi alleati avevano spostato il loro esercito contro Ieyasu. Ieyasu tenne un incontro con i daimyōs e che accettarono di seguirlo. Quindi condusse la maggior parte del suo esercito a ovest verso Kyoto. Alla fine dell’estate, le forze di Ishida catturarono Fushimi.
Ieyasu e i suoi alleati marciarono lungo il Tōkaidō, mentre suo figlio Hidetada seguì il Nakasendō con 38.000 soldati. Una battaglia contro Sanada Masayuki nella provincia di Shinano ritardò le forze di Hidetada, così non arrivarono in tempo per la battaglia principale.
Questa battaglia, combattuta vicino a Sekigahara, fu la più grande e una delle più importanti battaglie della storia feudale giapponese. Cominciò il 21 ottobre 1600, con un totale di 160.000 uomini uno di fronte all’altro. La battaglia di Sekigahara si concluse con una vittoria completa di Tokugawa. Il blocco occidentale fu schiacciato e nei giorni seguenti Ishida Mitsunari e molti altri nobili occidentali furono catturati e uccisi. Tokugawa Ieyasu era ora il governatore di fatto del Giappone.
Subito dopo la vittoria a Sekigahara, Ieyasu ridistribuì la terra ai vassalli che lo avevano servito, lasciò illesi i daimyōs, come il clan Shimazu, ma altri furono completamente distrutti. Toyotomi Hideyori (il figlio di Hideyoshi) perse gran parte del suo territorio che era sotto la gestione dei daimyō occidentali, e fu degradato a daimyō ordinario, non in un governatore del Giappone. Negli anni successivi i vassalli che avevano giurato fedeltà a Ieyasu prima della battaglia, diventarono noti come fudai daimyō, mentre quelli che gli avevano promesso fedeltà dopo la battaglia (in altre parole, dopo che il suo potere era indiscusso) erano conosciuti come Tozama daimyō. I Tozama daimyō erano considerati inferiori ai Fudai daimyōs.

Shōgun (1603-1605)

Il 24 marzo 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu ricevette il titolo di shōgun dall’imperatore Go-Yōzei. Ieyasu aveva 60 anni. Era sopravvissuto a tutti gli altri grandi uomini del suo tempo: Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Shingen, Kenshin. Come shōgun, usò i suoi ultimi anni per creare e consolidare lo shogunato Tokugawa, che inaugurò il periodo Edo ed era il terzo governo di shogunato (dopo il Kamakura). Rivendicò la discesa dal clan Minamoto, attraverso il clan Nitta. I suoi discendenti si sarebbero sposati nel clan di Taira e nel clan Fujiwara. Lo shogunato Tokugawa governò il Giappone per i successivi 250 anni.
Seguendo un modello giapponese ben consolidato, Ieyasu abdicò la sua posizione ufficiale di shōgun nel 1605. Il suo successore fu suo figlio ed erede, Tokugawa Hidetada. Potrebbero esserci stati diversi fattori che hanno contribuito alla sua decisione, incluso il suo desiderio di evitare di legarsi ai doveri cerimoniali, di rendere più difficile per i suoi nemici attaccare il vero centro di potere e di assicurare una più agevole successione di suo figlio. L’abdicazione di Ieyasu non ha avuto alcun effetto sull’estensione pratica dei suoi poteri o del suo governo; ma Hidetada assunse tuttavia un ruolo di capo formale della burocrazia dello shogunal.

Ōgosho (1605-1616)

Ieyasu, in qualità di shōgun in pensione (大 御所 ōgosho), rimase l’effettivo sovrano del Giappone fino alla sua morte. Si ritirò nel castello di Sunpu, ma supervisionò anche la costruzione del castello di Edo, un imponente progetto di costruzione che è durato per il resto della vita di Ieyasu. Il risultato è stato il castello più grande di tutto il Giappone, i costi per la costruzione del castello sono stati sostenuti da tutti gli altri daimyō, mentre Ieyasu ha raccolto tutti i benefici. Il donjon centrale, o tenshu, bruciò nel 1657. Oggi, il Palazzo Imperiale si trova al posto del castello.
Nel 1611 Ieyasu, a capo di 50.000 uomini, visitò Kyoto per assistere all’incoronazione dell’imperatore Go-Mizunoo. A Kyoto, Ieyasu ordinò la ristrutturazione della corte e degli edifici imperiali e costrinse i restanti daimyos occidentali a firmargli un giuramento di fedeltà.

Nel 1613, compose il Kuge Shohatto (公家諸法度), un documento che sottoponeva la corte sotto stretta supervisione dei daimyo, lasciandoli come semplici prestanome cerimoniali.
Nel 1615 Ieyasu preparò il Buhat shohatto (武家諸法度), un documento che illustrava il futuro del regime Tokugawa.

Relazioni con potenze straniere

Come Ōgosho, Ieyasu supervisionò anche gli affari diplomatici con Paesi Bassi, Spagna e Inghilterra. Ieyasu scelse di allontanare il Giappone dall’influenza europea a partire dal 1609, sebbene lo shogunato continuasse a concedere diritti commerciali preferenziali alla Compagnia olandese delle Indie Orientali e consentì loro di mantenere una “fabbrica” ​​per scopi commerciali.
Dal 1605 fino alla sua morte, Ieyasu si consultò frequentemente con il maestro d’armi inglese e pilota, William Adams, che, fluente in giapponese, assistette lo shogunato nella negoziazione dei rapporti commerciali.

I tentativi significativi di limitare l’influenza dei missionari cristiani in Giappone risalgono al 1587 durante lo shogunato di Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Tuttavia, nel 1614, Ieyasu era sufficientemente preoccupato per le ambizioni territoriali spagnole che firmò un editto di espulsione cristiana. L’editto bandiva la pratica del cristianesimo e portava all’espulsione di tutti i missionari stranieri. Sebbene alcune operazioni commerciali minori rimasero a Nagasaki, questo editto limitò drasticamente il commercio estero e segnò la fine della testimonianza cristiana aperta in Giappone fino al 1870.

Assedio di Osaka

L’ultima minaccia rimasta al dominio di Ieyasu era Toyotomi Hideyori, il figlio e legittimo erede di Hideyoshi. Ora era un giovane daimyō che viveva nel castello di Osaka. Molti samurai che si opposero a Ieyasu si radunarono attorno a Hideyori, affermando di essere il legittimo sovrano del Giappone. Ieyasu ha criticato la cerimonia di apertura di un tempio costruito da Hideyori; era come se avesse pregato per la morte di Ieyasu e per la rovina del clan Tokugawa. Ieyasu ordinò a Toyotomi di lasciare il Castello di Osaka, ma gli abitanti si rifiutarono e convocarono i samurai per radunarsi all’interno del castello. Poi i Tokugawa, con un enorme esercito guidato da Ieyasu e lo shōgun Hidetada, assediarono il castello di Osaka in quello che oggi è conosciuto come “l’assedio invernale di Osaka”. Alla fine, Tokugawa fu in grado di far precipitare le trattative e un armistizio dopo aver diretto il fuoco e minacciato la madre di Hideyori, Yodo-dono. Tuttavia, una volta che il trattato fu concordato, Tokugawa riempì di sabbia i fossati esterni del castello in modo che le sue truppe potessero attraversarlo. Attraverso questo stratagemma, Tokugawa ottenne un enorme tratto di terra attraverso la negoziazione e l’inganno. Ieyasu tornò al castello di Sunpu, ma dopo che Toyotomi rifiutò un altro ordine di lasciare Osaka, lui e il suo esercito alleato di 155.000 soldati attaccarono di nuovo il castello di Osaka nell ‘”assedio estivo di Osaka”.
Alla fine, nel 1615, il castello di Osaka cadde e quasi tutti i difensori furono uccisi tra cui Hideyori, sua madre (la vedova di Hideyoshi, Yodo-dono) e suo figlio neonato. Sua moglie, Senhime (una nipote di Ieyasu), implorò di salvare le vite di Hideyori e Yodo-dono. Ieyasu rifiutò e obbligò entrambi a commettere un suicidio rituale, o forse uccise entrambi. Alla fine, Senhime fu rimandato vivo a Tokugawa.

La morte

Nel 1616, Ieyasu morì all’età di 73 anni. Si pensa che la causa della morte sia stata il cancro o la sifilide. Il primo shogun Tokugawa fu deificato postumo con il nome Tōshō Daigongen, il “Grande Gongen, la luce dell’est”. (Si ritiene che un Gongen sia un Buddha che è apparso sulla Terra sotto forma di un kami per salvare esseri senzienti). Nella vita, Ieyasu aveva espresso il desiderio di essere divinizzato dopo la sua morte per proteggere i suoi discendenti dal male. Le sue spoglie furono sepolte nel mausoleo dei Gongen a Kunōzan, Kunōzan Tōshō-gū . Come opinione comune, molte persone credono che “dopo il primo anniversario della sua morte, le sue spoglie sono state nuovamente sepolte nel Santuario di Nikkō, Nikkō Tōshō-gū. I suoi resti sono ancora lì”. Nessuno dei due santuari si è offerto di aprire le tombe, quindi la posizione dei resti fisici di Ieyasu è ancora un mistero. Lo stile architettonico del mausoleo divenne noto come gongen-zukuri, ovvero in stile gongen. In primo luogo è stato dato il nome buddista Tosho Dai-Gongen , poi dopo la sua morte è stato cambiato in Hogo Onkokuin.

Tomba Ieyasu a Tōshō-gū
Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Era della regola di Ieyasu

Ieyasu aveva un certo numero di qualità che gli hanno permesso di salire al potere. Era sia attento che audace, ai tempi giusti e nei posti giusti. Calcolatore e sottile, Ieyasu cambiò alleanze quando pensò che avrebbe beneficiato del cambiamento. Si alleò con il clan tardo Hōjō; poi si unì all’esercito di conquista di Hideyoshi, che distrusse l’Hōjō; e lui stesso ha assunto le loro terre. In questo era come gli altri daimyo del suo tempo. Quella era un’era di violenza, morte improvvisa e tradimento. Non era molto benvoluto né personalmente popolare, ma era temuto e rispettato per la sua leadership e la sua astuzia. Ad esempio, ha saggiamente tenuto i suoi soldati fuori dalla campagna di Hideyoshi in Corea .
Era capace di una grande lealtà: una volta alleatosi con Oda Nobunaga, non andò mai contro di lui, ed entrambi i leader approfittarono della loro lunga alleanza. Era noto per essere leale nei confronti dei suoi amici, si diceva che avesse anche una stretta amicizia con il suo vassallo Hattori Hanzō. Si dice tuttavia che ricordasse i torti subiti e che abbia giustiziato un uomo perché lo aveva insultato quando era giovane

Ieyasu proteggeva molti ex servitori di Takeda dall’ira di Oda Nobunaga, che era noto per nutrire un aspro rancore verso i Takeda. Ma sapeva anche essere spietato, ad esempio, ordinò le esecuzioni della sua prima moglie e del suo figlio maggiore, un genero di Oda Nobunaga ed era anche uno zio della moglie di Hidetada, Oeyo.
Era crudele, implacabile e spietato nell’eliminazione dei sopravvissuti di Toyotomi dopo Osaka. Per giorni, dozzine e decine di uomini e donne sono stati braccati e giustiziati, incluso un figlio di Hideyori di otto anni da una concubina decapitata.
A differenza di Hideyoshi, non aveva alcun desiderio di conquistare nulla al di fuori del Giappone voleva soltanto portare ordine, porre fine alla guerra aperta e governare il Giappone.
Mentre all’inizio fu tollerante del cristianesimo, il suo atteggiamento cambiò dopo il 1613 e le esecuzioni dei cristiani aumentarono bruscamente.
Il passatempo preferito di Ieyasu era la falconeria. Lo considerava un eccellente allenamento per un guerriero. “Quando vai in campagna, impari a comprendere lo spirito militare e anche la dura vita delle classi inferiori: eserciti i muscoli e alleni le tue arti. Riesci a camminare e correre e diventando indifferente al caldo e freddo, e quindi è poco probabile che tu possa soffrire di qualche malattia “. Ieyasu nuotava spesso; anche in vecchiaia si dice che abbia nuotato nel fossato del Castello di Edo.
Ha anche preso una borsa di studio e religione, frequentando studiosi come Hayashi Razan.

Due delle sue famose citazioni:

La vita è come un lungo viaggio con un pesante fardello. Lascia che il tuo passo sia lento e fermo, non inciampare. Persuaditi che l’imperfezione e l’inconveniente sono la cosa maggiore dei mortali, e non ci sarà spazio per il malcontento, né per la disperazione. Quando sorgono desideri ambiziosi nel tuo cuore, ricorda i giorni di estremismo che hai attraversato. La tolleranza è la radice di ogni tranquillità e sicurezza per sempre. Guarda l’ira del tuo nemico. Se solo sai cosa vuol dire conquistare, e non sai cosa vuol dire sconfiggere. Trova difetti in te stesso piuttosto che agli altri.
I forti virili nella vita sono quelli che capiscono il significato della parola pazienza. Pazienza significa limitare le proprie inclinazioni. Ci sono sette emozioni: gioia, rabbia, ansia, adorazione, dolore, paura e odio, e se un uomo non cede il passo a questi può essere chiamato paziente. Non sono forte come potrei essere, ma ho sempre saputo e praticato la pazienza. E se i miei discendenti desiderano essere come sono, devono studiare la pazienza.[:en]

Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康, Jan. 30, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate, who effectively commanded the Battle of Sekigahara in Japan in the 1600s until the reconstruction of Meiji in 1868. Ieyasu obtained power in 1600, became shōgun in 1603, and abdicated in 1605 remaining in power until his death in 1616. He was one of the three unifiers of Japan, along with Lord Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, originally Matsudaira Takechiyo, was the son of Maytsudaira Hirotada, the daimyo of Mikawa of the Matsudaira clan and of Odai-no-kata, the daughter of the samurai lord Mizuno Tadamasa. His parents were 17 and 15 years old when Ieyasu was born.
In the year of his birth, the Matsudaira clan broke up. In 1543, Hirotada’s uncle, Matsudaira Nobutaka, defeated the can Oda. This gave Oda Nobuhide a way to attack Okazaki. Hirotada divorced from Odai-no-kata by sending her back to his family to remarry again, in fact Ieyasu had 11 brothers and sisters.
As Oda Nobunaga continued to attack Okazaki, Hirotada in 1548 asked for help from Imagawa Yoshimoto who accepted the alliance.
Oda Nobuhide, having learned of this agreement, had Ieyasu kidnapped by his entourage on his way to Sunpu. Ieyasu was only five years old at the time.
Nobuhide threatened to execute Ieyasu unless his father broke all ties with the Imagawa clan. However, Hirotada refused, stating that sacrificing his son would show his seriousness in his pact with Imagawa. Despite this refusal, Nobuhide chose not to kill Ieyasu, but instead held him hostage for the next three years in the Manshoji Temple of Nagoya.
In 1549, when Ieyasu was 6 years old, his father Hirotada was assassinated by his own vassals, who had been corrupted by the Oda clan. Around the same time, Oda Nobuhide died during an epidemic. The death of Nobuhide has dealt a blow to the Oda clan. An army under the command of Imagawa Sessai besieged the castle where Oda Nobuhiro, the eldest son of Nobuhide and the new head of the Oda clan lived. With the castle about to fall, Sessai offered an agreement to Oda Nobunaga, the second son of Nobuhide. He offered to renounce the siege if Ieyasu had been delivered to Imagawa.

Photo credits: Rekishinotabi on flickr

The ascent to power (1556-1584)

In 1556 Ieyasu officially became an adult, with Imagawa Yoshimoto presiding over his genpuku ceremony. Following the tradition, he changed his name from Matsudaira Takechiyo to Matsudaira Jirōsaburō Motonobu. He was also allowed for a brief period to visit Okazaki to pay homage to his father’s grave and to receive the homage of his nominal servants, guided by the karō Torii Tadayoshi.
A year later, he married his first wife, Lady Tsukiyama, a relative of Imagawa Yoshimoto, and changed his name to Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu again. When he was allowed to return to Mikawa, Imagawa then ordered him to fight the Oda clan in a series of battles.
Motoyasu fought his first battle in 1558 at the Siege of Terabe. Terabe’s castellan in western Mikawa, Suzuki Shigeteru, betrayed Imagawa by defeating Oda Nobunaga. This was within the territory of Matsudaira, so Imagawa Yoshimoto entrusted the campaign to Ieyasu and his servants of Okazaki. Ieyasu led the attack in person, but after taking external defenses, he began to be afraid of a counterattack, so he retired. As anticipated, the Oda forces attacked its lines, but Motoyasu was prepared and drove out the Oda army.
He managed to deliver supplies to the siege of Odaka in 1559. Odaka was the only one of the five frontier forts challenged by the Oda clan attack, nevertheless it remained in the hands of Imagawa. Motoyasu launched diversions against the two strong neighbors, and when the garrisons of the other forts came to his aid, Ieyasu’s supply column managed to reach Odaka.
In 1560 the leadership of the Oda clan had passed to the brilliant leader Oda Nobunaga. Imagawa Yoshimoto, head of a large army (perhaps 25,000 people) invaded the territory of the Oda clan and Motoyasu was assigned a separate mission to capture the stronghold of Marune. So he and his men were not present at the Battle of Okehazama where Yoshimoto was killed in Nobunaga’s surprise assault.

The Alliance with Oda

With the death of Yoshimoto and the Imagawa clan in a state of confusion, Motoyasu took the opportunity to assert his independence and bring his men back to the abandoned Okazaki castle to claim his place.
Motoyasu then decided to ally with the Oda clan. A secret agreement was needed because Motoyasu’s wife, Lady Tsukiyama, and her newborn son, Nobuyasu, were held hostage to Sumpu by Imagawa Ujizane, Yoshimoto’s heir.
In 1561, Motoyasu conquered the fortress of Kaminogō, detained by Udono Nagamochi, attacking in the night, setting fire to the castle and capturing two of the sons of Udono, who he used as hostages to free his wife and son.
In 1563 Nobuyasu was married to Nobunaga’s daughter Tokuhime.
For the following years, Motoyasu undertook to reform the Matsudaira clan and make peace with Mikawa. He also strengthened his main vassals by assigning them lands and castles. These vassals included: Honda Tadakatsu, Ishikawa Kazumasa, Kōriki Kiyonaga, Hattori Hanzō, Sakai Tadatsugu and Sakakibara Yasumasa.

In the early days of Mikawa Ieyasu’s daimyō he had difficult relationships with the temples of Jōdō, which became increasingly numerous in 1563-64.
During this period, the Matsudaira clan also faced a threat from a different source. Mikawa was an important center for the Ikkō-ikki movement, where the peasants united with the militant monks under the Jōdo Shinshū sect and rejected the traditional feudal social order. Motoyasu undertook several battles to suppress this movement in its territories, including the Battle of Azukizaka. In a fight, he was almost killed by two bullets that did not penetrate his armor. Both sides were using the new gunpowder weapons that the Portuguese introduced to Japan only 20 years earlier.

Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Growing political influence

In 1567, he changed his name again, this time to Tokugawa Ieyasu. In doing so, he claimed the descent from the Minamoto clan. No evidence was actually found for this alleged lineage from the Emperor Seiwa. Yet, his family name was changed with the permission of the Imperial Court, after writing a petition, in which he was awarded the courtesy title Mikawa-no-kami.
Ieyasu remained an ally of Nobunaga and his soldiers were part of the Nobunaga army that conquered Kyoto in 1568. At the same time Ieyasu was expanding its territory. Ieyasu and Takeda Shingen, the head of the Takeda clan in the province of Kai, made an alliance with the aim of conquering the whole territory of Imagawa. In 1570, Ieyasu’s troops conquered the castle of Yoshida (modern Toyohashi), and entered the province of Tōtōmi. Meanwhile, the Shingen troops conquered the province of Suruga (including the capital of Imagawa, Sunpu). Imagawa Ujizane fled to the castle of Kakegawa, which Ieyasu laid siege to. Ieyasu then negotiated with Ujizane, promising that if he surrendered, he would help Ujizane regain Suruga. THe latter had nothing left to lose, and Ieyasu immediately ended his alliance with Takeda, forcing a new alliance with Takeda’s enemy, Uesugi Kenshin of the Uesugi clan. Through these political manipulations, Ieyasu obtained support from the samurai of the Tōtōmi province.
In 1570, Ieyasu established Hamamatsu as the capital of his territory, placing his son Nobuyasu at the head of Okazaki.
The same year, he led 5,000 of his men to support Nobunaga at the Battle of Anegawa against the Azai and Asakura clans.

Conflict with Takeda

In October 1571, Takeda Shingen, now an ally of the Odawara Hōjō clan, attacked the Tokugawa lands at Tōtōmi. Ieyasu asked Nobunaga for help, receiving from him about 3,000 soldiers. At the beginning of 1572 the two armies met in the battle of Mikatagahara. The considerably larger Takeda army, under the expert leadership of Shingen, overwhelmed the Ieyasu’s troops and caused serious casualties. Despite his initial reticence, Ieyasu was persuaded by one of his generals to withdraw. The battle was a great defeat, but in the interest of maintaining the appearance of a dignified retreat, Ieyasu shamelessly ordered the men of his castle to light torches, play drums and leave the gates open, to adequately receive the returning warriors. To the surprise and relief of the Tokugawa army, this spectacle made General Takeda suspicious, so instead of besieging the castle, they camped out for the night. This error would have allowed a band of Tokugawa ninja to raid the field in the following hours, further disrupting Takeda’s disoriented army, and in the end, Shingen’s decision resulted in the cancellation of the entire offensive. Incidentally, Takeda Shingen would not have had another chance to advance on Hamamatsu, much less on Kyoto, since he would have died shortly after the siege of Noda Castle a year later, in 1573.
In 1575, Takeda attacked Nagashino Castle in the province of Mikawa. Ieyasu appealed to Nobunaga for help and the result was that Nobunaga personally headed a very large army (about 30,000 fighters). The Oda-Tokugawa force of 38,000 fighters won a great victory on June 28, 1575, at the Battle of Nagashino, however Takeda Katsuyori survived the battle and retreated back to the province of Kai.
For the next seven years, Ieyasu and Katsuyori fought a series of small battles, following which Ieyasu’s troops managed to wrest control of the Suruga province from the Takeda clan.

In 1579, Ieyasu’s wife and his heir Nobuyasu were accused by Nobunaga of conspiring with Takeda Katsuyori to assassinate Nobunaga, whose daughter Tokuhime (1559-1636) was married to Nobuyasu. This is why Ieyasu ordered his wife to be executed and forced his eldest son, Nobuyasu, to commit seppuku. Ieyasu then named his third son, Tokugawa Hidetada, as heir, since his second son was adopted by another rising power: the general of the Oda clan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who would soon become the most powerful daimyo of Japan.
The end of the war with Takeda came in 1582 when a combined Oda-Tokugawa force attacked and conquered the province of Kai. Takeda Katsuyori was defeated at the Battle of Tenmokuzan and then committed seppuku.

Uma containing the ashes of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Nikkō
Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Death of Nobunaga

At the end of June 1582, Ieyasu was near Osaka and far from his territory when he learned that Nobunaga had been murdered by Akechi Mitsuhide. Ieyasu managed the dangerous journey back to Mikawa and he was mobilizing his army when he learned that Hideyoshi had defeated Akechi Mitsuhide in the battle of Yamazaki.
Nobunaga’s death meant that some provinces, governed by Nobunaga’s vassals, could be conquered. The head of the province of Kai made the mistake of killing one of Ieyasu’s helpers so he promptly invaded Kai and took control. Hōjō Ujimasa, head of the Hōjō clan, responded by sending his much larger army to Shinano and then to the province of Kai. No battle was fought between the Ieyasu’s troops and the great army of Hōjō. However, after some negotiations, Ieyasu and Hōjō accepted an agreement that left Ieyasu in control of the provinces of Kai and Shinano, while Hōjō took control of the province of Kazusa (as well as pieces from both the provinces of Kai and Shinano).
At the same time (1583) a war was waged to rule Japan between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Shibata Katsuie. Ieyasu took no position in this conflict, relying on his reputation both for prudence and for wisdom. Hideyoshi defeated Katsuie at the Battle of Shizugatake and with this victory, he became the most powerful daimyo in Japan.

Ieyasu and Hideyoshi (1584-1598)

In 1584 Ieyasu decided to support Oda Nobukatsu, the eldest son and heir of Oda Nobunaga, against Hideyoshi. This was a dangerous act and could have led to the annihilation of the Tokugawa clan.
The Tokugawa troops took the traditional Oda stronghold of Owari while Hideyoshi replied by sending an army there. The Komaki campaign was the only time one of Japan’s great unifiers fought each other. The campaign proved to be undecided, and after months of marches and unsuccessful feuds, Hideyoshi resolved the war through negotiation. First made peace with Oda Nobukatsu, and then offered a respite to Ieyasu. The agreement was stipulated at the end of the year and Ieyasu’s second son, Ogimaru (also known as Yuki Hideyasu) became Hideyoshi’s adoptive son.
Ieyasu’s aide, Ishikawa Kazumasa, chose to join the daimyo and so he moved to Osaka to be with Hideyoshi. However, few other Tokugawa keepers have followed this example.
Hideyoshi was understandably suspicious of Ieyasu, and this was five years before they fought as allies. The Tokugawa did not participate in the invasions of Hideyoshi of Shikoku and Kyūshū.
In 1590, Hideyoshi attacked the last independent daimyo in Japan, Hōjō Ujimasa. The Hōjō clan ruled the eight provinces of the Kantō region in eastern Japan. Hideyoshi ordered them to submit to his authority, but they refused. Ieyasu, even if he was a friend and occasional ally of Ujimasa, joined his great strength of 30,000 samurai with the huge Hideyoshi army of about 160,000 men. Hideyoshi attacked several castles on the edge of the Hōjō clan with most of his army besieging Odawara Castle. Hideyoshi’s army captured Odawara after six months. During this siege, Hideyoshi offered a radical deal to Ieyasu. He offered to Ieyasu the eight provinces of Kantō that were about to take from Hōjō in exchange for the five provinces Ieyasu controlled at the time, including Ieyasu’s one, Mikawa. Ieyasu accepted this proposal. Prey to the overwhelming power of the Toyotomi army, the Hōjō accepted the defeat, the top leaders Hōjō killed themselves and Ieyasu entered the field taking control of their provinces, putting an end to the clan kingdom of over 100 years.

The Battle of Sekigahara (1598-1603)

Hideyoshi, after another three months of illness, died on September 18, 1598. He was nominally succeeded by his young son Hideyori but, at only five years, the real power was in the hands of the regents. In the next two years Ieyasu made alliances with various daimyōs, especially those who had no love for Hideyoshi. Fortunately for Ieyasu, the oldest and most respected, Toshiie Maeda, died just a year later. With Toshiie’s death in 1599, Ieyasu led an army to Fushimi and conquered Osaka Castle, Hideyori’s residence. This angered the three remaining regents and began to structure their plans on all fronts for the war. It was also the last battle of one of Ieyasu’s most loyal and powerful servants, Honda Tadakatsu.
The opposition to Ieyasu focused on Ishida Mitsunari, a powerful daimyo who was not one of the regents. Mitsunari conceived Ieyasu’s death, and news about this plot reached some of the Ieyasu generals. They tried to kill Mitsunari but he escaped and obtained protection from none other than Ieyasu himself. It is not clear why Ieyasu protected a powerful enemy from his men, but he was a strategist and may have thought it would be better to drive the enemy army with Mitsunari rather than one of the regents.
Almost all Japanese daimyōs and samurai split into two factions: the western army (Mitsunari group) and the eastern army (anti-Mitsunari group). Ieyasu supported the anti-Mitsunari group and formed them as its potential allies. Ieyasu’s allies were the Date clan, the Mogami clan, the Satake clan and the Maeda clan. Mitsunari allied himself with the other three regents: Ukita Hideie, Mōri Terumoto and Uesugi Kagekatsu and many daimyō from the eastern end of Honshū.
In June 1600, Ieyasu and his allies transferred their armies to defeat the Uesugi clan, who was accused of planning an uprising against the Toyotomi administration. Before arriving in the territory of Uesugi, Ieyasu learned that Mitsunari and his allies had moved their army against Ieyasu. He held a meeting with the daimyos and they agreed to follow him, so he led most of his army west to Kyoto. At the end of the summer, Ishida’s forces captured Fushimi.
Ieyasu and his allies marched along the Tōkaidō, while his son Hidetada followed the Nakasendō with 38,000 soldiers. A battle against Sanada Masayuki in Shinano province delayed Hidetada’s forces, so they did not arrive in time for the main battle.
Fought near Sekigahara, this battle was the largest and one of the most important battles in Japanese feudal history. It began on October 211600, with a total of 160,000 men facing each other. The battle of Sekigahara ended with a complete victory of Tokugawa. The western block was crushed and in the following days Ishida Mitsunari and many other Western nobles were captured and killed and Tokugawa Ieyasu was now the de facto governor of Japan.
Immediately after the victory at Sekigahara, Ieyasu redistributed the land to the vassals who had served him, he left some the daimyōs unharmed, like the Shimazu clan, but others were completely destroyed. Toyotomi Hideyori (Hideyoshi’s son) lost most of his territory that was under the management of the western daimyō, and was degraded to ordinary daimyō, not to a governor of Japan. In subsequent years the vassals who had sworn loyalty to Ieyasu before the battle became known as fudai daimyō, while those who promised him loyalty after the battle (in other words, after his power was unquestioned) were known as Tozama daimyō. The latter were considered inferior to the Fudai daimyōs.

Shōgun (1603-1605)

On March 24, 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu received the shōgun title from Emperor Go-Yōzei and he was 60 years old. He had survived all the other great men of his time: Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Shingen, Kenshin. As shōgun, he used his last years to create and consolidate the Tokugawa shogunate, which inaugurated the Edo period and was the third shogunal government (after Kamakura), claiming the descent from the Minamoto clan, through the Nitta clan. His descendant will then marry into the Taira clan and the Fujiwara clan. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan for the next 250 years.
Following a well-established Japanese model, Ieyasu abdicated his official shōgun position in 1605 and his successor was his son and heir, Tokugawa Hidetada. There may have been several factors that contributed to his decision, including his desire to avoid being bound by ceremonial duties, to make it harder for his enemies to attack the true center of power and to ensure a smoother succession of his son. The abdication of Ieyasu had no effect on the practical extension of his powers or his government. However, Hidetada assumed the formal role of the shogunal bureaucracy.

Ōgosho (1605-1616)

Ieyasu, as a retired shōgun (大 御所 ōgosho), remained the effective ruler of Japan until his death. He retired to Sunpu Castle, but also oversaw the construction of Edo Castle, an impressive construction project that lasted for the rest of Ieyasu’s life. The result was the biggest castle in all of Japan, the cost of building it was supported by all the other daimyōs, while Ieyasu collected all the benefits. The central donjon, or tenshu, burned in 1657 and today, the Imperial Palace is in place of that castle.
In 1611 Ieyasu leading 50,000 men, visited Kyoto to witness the coronation of Emperor Go-Mizunoo. In Kyoto, Ieyasu ordered the reconstruction of the imperial court and buildings, forcing the remaining Western daimyos to sign an oath of loyalty to him.

In 1613, he composed the Kuge Shohatto (公家諸法度), a document that submitted the court under the daimyo’s close supervision, leaving them as simple ceremonial nominees.
In 1615 Ieyasu prepared the Buhat shohatto (武家諸法度), a document that illustrated the future of the Tokugawa regime.

Relations with foreign powers

Like Ōgosho, Ieyasu also oversaw diplomatic affairs with the Netherlands, Spain and England. Ieyasu chose to remove Japan from European influence from 1609, although the shogunate continued to grant preferential commercial rights to the Dutch East India Company and allowed them to maintain a “factory” for commercial purposes.
From 1605 until his death, Ieyasu frequently consulted with the English master of arms and pilot, William Adams, who, fluent in Japanese, assisted the shogunate in the negotiation of commercial relations.

Significant attempts to limit the influence of Christian missionaries in Japan date back to 1587 during Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s shogunate. However, in 1614, Ieyasu was sufficiently concerned about the Spanish territorial ambitions that he signed an edict of Christian expulsion. The edict banished the practice of Christianity and led to the expulsion of all foreign missionaries. Although some minor commercial operations remained in Nagasaki, this edict drastically limited foreign trade and marked the end of Christian witness open in Japan until 1870.

Siege of Osaka

The last threat to Ieyasu’s dominion was Toyotomi Hideyori, Hideyoshi’s son and rightful heir. He was now a young daimyo who lived in Osaka Castle. Many samurai who opposed Ieyasu gathered around Hideyori, claiming to be the legitimate ruler of Japan. Ieyasu criticized the opening ceremony of a temple built by Hideyori because it was as if he had prayed for the death of Ieyasu and the ruin of the Tokugawa clan. Ieyasu ordered Toyotomi to leave Osaka Castle, but the inhabitants refused and summoned the samurai to gather inside the castle. Then the Tokugawa, with a huge army led by Ieyasu and the shōgun Hidetada, besieged Osaka Castle in what is now known as the “winter siege of Osaka”. In the end, Tokugawa was able to join the negotiations and an armistice after the attack and after threatening Hideyori’s mother, Yodo-dono. However, once the treaty was agreed upon, Tokugawa filled the castle’s outer moats with sand so that his troops could cross it. Through this stratagem, Tokugawa obtained a huge tract of land through negotiation and deception. Ieyasu returned to Sunpu Castle, but after Toyotomi refused another order to leave Osaka, he and his allied army of 155,000 soldiers attacked Osaka Castle again in the “Osaka Summer Siege”.
Eventually, in 1615, Osaka Castle fell and almost all the defenders were killed including Hideyori, his mother (Hideyoshi’s widow, Yodo-dono) and his newborn son. His wife, Senhime (Ieyasu’s niece), pleaded to save the lives of Hideyori and Yodo-dono, but Ieyasu refused and forced both to commit a ritual suicide, or perhaps both killed. In the end, Senhime was sent back to the Tokugawa clan alive.

The death

Ieyasu died at the age of 73 in 1616. It is thought that the cause of death was cancer or syphilis. The first Tokugawa shogun was posthumously deified with the name Tōshō Daigongen, the “Great Gongen, the light of the east”. It is believed that a Gongen is a Buddha who appeared on Earth in the form of a kami to save sentient beings.
In life, Ieyasu had expressed th desire to be deified after his death to protect his descendants from evil. His remains were buried in the Gongen mausoleum in Kunōzan, Kunōzan Tōshō-gū. As a general opinion, many people believe that after the first anniversary of his death, his remains were buried again in the Nikkō Shrine, Nikkō Tōshō-gū and they are still there today. Neither of the two sanctuaries offered to open the tombs, so the location of the physical remains of Ieyasu is still a mystery. The architectural style of the mausoleum became known as gongen-zukuri, or gongen style. First he was given the Buddhist name Tosho Dai-Gongen, then after his death he was changed to Hogo Onkokuin.

Ieyasu Tomb in Tōshō-gū
Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Ieyasu’s rule era

Ieyasu had a number of qualities that enabled him to rise to power. He was both attentive and audacious, in the right times and in the right places. Calculating and subtle, Ieyasu changed alliances when he thought he would benefit from the change. He allied himself with the late Hōjō clan, then he joined the army of conquest of Hideyoshi, who destroyed Hōjō and he himself took over their lands. In this he was like the other daimyo of his time. That was an era of violence, sudden death and betrayal. He was neither very popular nor personally popular, but he was feared and respected for his leadership and his cunning. For example, he wisely kept his soldiers out of Hideyoshi’s campaign in Korea.
He was capable of great loyalty: once he allied himself with Oda Nobunaga, he never went against him, and both leaders took advantage of their long alliance. He was known to be loyal to his friends, and was said to have a close friendship with his vassal Hattori Hanzō. It is said, however, that he remembered the wrongs he had suffered and that he executed a man because he had insulted him when he was young.

Ieyasu protected many former Takeda servants from the wrath of Oda Nobunaga, who was known to harbor a bitter rancor toward Takeda. But he also knew he was ruthless, for example, he ordered the executions of his first wife and his eldest son, a son-in-law of Oda Nobunaga and he was also Hidetada’s wife uncle.
He was cruel, implacable and ruthless in eliminating Toyotomi survivors after Osaka. For days, dozens and dozens of men and women were hunted down and executed, including Hideyori’s eight-year-old son from a beheaded concubine.
Unlike Hideyoshi, he had no desire to win anything outside of Japan. He just wanted to bring order, end the open war and rule Japan.
While at the beginning it was tolerant of Christianity, its attitude changed after 1613 and Christian executions increased sharply.
Ieyasu’s favorite pastime was falconry. He considered it an excellent training for a warrior. “When you go to the countryside, you learn to understand the military spirit and the hard life of the lower classes: you exercise your muscles and you train your limbs. You can walk and run and become indifferent to the heat and cold, and therefore it is very unlikely that you may suffer from some disease “. Ieyasu often swam and even in old age it is said that he swam in the moat of Edo Castle.
He also took a scholarship and religion, attending scholars such as Hayashi Razan.

Two of his famous quotes

Life is like a long journey with a heavy burden. Let your pace be slow and steady, do not stumble. Persuade yourself that imperfection and inconvenience are the greatest thing of mortals, and there will be no room for dissatisfaction or despair. When ambitious wishes arise in your heart, remember the days of extremism that you went through. Tolerance is the root of all tranquility and security forever. Watch the wrath of your enemy. If you only know what it means to conquer, and you do not know what it means to defeat. Find flaws in yourself rather than others.

The strong virile in life are those who understand the meaning of the word patience. Patience means limiting one’s inclinations. There are seven emotions: joy, anger, anxiety, adoration, pain, fear and hate, and if a man does not give way to these he can be called a patient. I’m not as strong as I could be, but I always knew and practiced patience. And if my descendants want to be as they are, they have to study patience.[:ja]

Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康, Jan. 30, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate, who effectively commanded the Battle of Sekigahara in Japan in the 1600s until the reconstruction of Meiji in 1868. Ieyasu obtained power in 1600, became shōgun in 1603, and abdicated in 1605 remaining in power until his death in 1616. He was one of the three unifiers of Japan, along with Lord Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, originally Matsudaira Takechiyo, was the son of Maytsudaira Hirotada, the daimyo of Mikawa of the Matsudaira clan and of Odai-no-kata, the daughter of the samurai lord Mizuno Tadamasa. His parents were 17 and 15 years old when Ieyasu was born.
In the year of his birth, the Matsudaira clan broke up. In 1543, Hirotada’s uncle, Matsudaira Nobutaka, defeated the can Oda. This gave Oda Nobuhide a way to attack Okazaki. Hirotada divorced from Odai-no-kata by sending her back to his family to remarry again, in fact Ieyasu had 11 brothers and sisters.
As Oda Nobunaga continued to attack Okazaki, Hirotada in 1548 asked for help from Imagawa Yoshimoto who accepted the alliance.
Oda Nobuhide, having learned of this agreement, had Ieyasu kidnapped by his entourage on his way to Sunpu. Ieyasu was only five years old at the time.
Nobuhide threatened to execute Ieyasu unless his father broke all ties with the Imagawa clan. However, Hirotada refused, stating that sacrificing his son would show his seriousness in his pact with Imagawa. Despite this refusal, Nobuhide chose not to kill Ieyasu, but instead held him hostage for the next three years in the Manshoji Temple of Nagoya.
In 1549, when Ieyasu was 6 years old, his father Hirotada was assassinated by his own vassals, who had been corrupted by the Oda clan. Around the same time, Oda Nobuhide died during an epidemic. The death of Nobuhide has dealt a blow to the Oda clan. An army under the command of Imagawa Sessai besieged the castle where Oda Nobuhiro, the eldest son of Nobuhide and the new head of the Oda clan lived. With the castle about to fall, Sessai offered an agreement to Oda Nobunaga, the second son of Nobuhide. He offered to renounce the siege if Ieyasu had been delivered to Imagawa.

Photo credits: Rekishinotabi on flickr

The ascent to power (1556-1584)

In 1556 Ieyasu officially became an adult, with Imagawa Yoshimoto presiding over his genpuku ceremony. Following the tradition, he changed his name from Matsudaira Takechiyo to Matsudaira Jirōsaburō Motonobu. He was also allowed for a brief period to visit Okazaki to pay homage to his father’s grave and to receive the homage of his nominal servants, guided by the karō Torii Tadayoshi.
A year later, he married his first wife, Lady Tsukiyama, a relative of Imagawa Yoshimoto, and changed his name to Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu again. When he was allowed to return to Mikawa, Imagawa then ordered him to fight the Oda clan in a series of battles.
Motoyasu fought his first battle in 1558 at the Siege of Terabe. Terabe’s castellan in western Mikawa, Suzuki Shigeteru, betrayed Imagawa by defeating Oda Nobunaga. This was within the territory of Matsudaira, so Imagawa Yoshimoto entrusted the campaign to Ieyasu and his servants of Okazaki. Ieyasu led the attack in person, but after taking external defenses, he began to be afraid of a counterattack, so he retired. As anticipated, the Oda forces attacked its lines, but Motoyasu was prepared and drove out the Oda army.
He managed to deliver supplies to the siege of Odaka in 1559. Odaka was the only one of the five frontier forts challenged by the Oda clan attack, nevertheless it remained in the hands of Imagawa. Motoyasu launched diversions against the two strong neighbors, and when the garrisons of the other forts came to his aid, Ieyasu’s supply column managed to reach Odaka.
In 1560 the leadership of the Oda clan had passed to the brilliant leader Oda Nobunaga. Imagawa Yoshimoto, head of a large army (perhaps 25,000 people) invaded the territory of the Oda clan and Motoyasu was assigned a separate mission to capture the stronghold of Marune. So he and his men were not present at the Battle of Okehazama where Yoshimoto was killed in Nobunaga’s surprise assault.

The Alliance with Oda

With the death of Yoshimoto and the Imagawa clan in a state of confusion, Motoyasu took the opportunity to assert his independence and bring his men back to the abandoned Okazaki castle to claim his place.
Motoyasu then decided to ally with the Oda clan. A secret agreement was needed because Motoyasu’s wife, Lady Tsukiyama, and her newborn son, Nobuyasu, were held hostage to Sumpu by Imagawa Ujizane, Yoshimoto’s heir.
In 1561, Motoyasu conquered the fortress of Kaminogō, detained by Udono Nagamochi, attacking in the night, setting fire to the castle and capturing two of the sons of Udono, who he used as hostages to free his wife and son.
In 1563 Nobuyasu was married to Nobunaga’s daughter Tokuhime.
For the following years, Motoyasu undertook to reform the Matsudaira clan and make peace with Mikawa. He also strengthened his main vassals by assigning them lands and castles. These vassals included: Honda Tadakatsu, Ishikawa Kazumasa, Kōriki Kiyonaga, Hattori Hanzō, Sakai Tadatsugu and Sakakibara Yasumasa.

In the early days of Mikawa Ieyasu’s daimyō he had difficult relationships with the temples of Jōdō, which became increasingly numerous in 1563-64.
During this period, the Matsudaira clan also faced a threat from a different source. Mikawa was an important center for the Ikkō-ikki movement, where the peasants united with the militant monks under the Jōdo Shinshū sect and rejected the traditional feudal social order. Motoyasu undertook several battles to suppress this movement in its territories, including the Battle of Azukizaka. In a fight, he was almost killed by two bullets that did not penetrate his armor. Both sides were using the new gunpowder weapons that the Portuguese introduced to Japan only 20 years earlier.

Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Growing political influence

In 1567, he changed his name again, this time to Tokugawa Ieyasu. In doing so, he claimed the descent from the Minamoto clan. No evidence was actually found for this alleged lineage from the Emperor Seiwa. Yet, his family name was changed with the permission of the Imperial Court, after writing a petition, in which he was awarded the courtesy title Mikawa-no-kami.
Ieyasu remained an ally of Nobunaga and his soldiers were part of the Nobunaga army that conquered Kyoto in 1568. At the same time Ieyasu was expanding its territory. Ieyasu and Takeda Shingen, the head of the Takeda clan in the province of Kai, made an alliance with the aim of conquering the whole territory of Imagawa. In 1570, Ieyasu’s troops conquered the castle of Yoshida (modern Toyohashi), and entered the province of Tōtōmi. Meanwhile, the Shingen troops conquered the province of Suruga (including the capital of Imagawa, Sunpu). Imagawa Ujizane fled to the castle of Kakegawa, which Ieyasu laid siege to. Ieyasu then negotiated with Ujizane, promising that if he surrendered, he would help Ujizane regain Suruga. THe latter had nothing left to lose, and Ieyasu immediately ended his alliance with Takeda, forcing a new alliance with Takeda’s enemy, Uesugi Kenshin of the Uesugi clan. Through these political manipulations, Ieyasu obtained support from the samurai of the Tōtōmi province.
In 1570, Ieyasu established Hamamatsu as the capital of his territory, placing his son Nobuyasu at the head of Okazaki.
The same year, he led 5,000 of his men to support Nobunaga at the Battle of Anegawa against the Azai and Asakura clans.

Conflict with Takeda

In October 1571, Takeda Shingen, now an ally of the Odawara Hōjō clan, attacked the Tokugawa lands at Tōtōmi. Ieyasu asked Nobunaga for help, receiving from him about 3,000 soldiers. At the beginning of 1572 the two armies met in the battle of Mikatagahara. The considerably larger Takeda army, under the expert leadership of Shingen, overwhelmed the Ieyasu’s troops and caused serious casualties. Despite his initial reticence, Ieyasu was persuaded by one of his generals to withdraw. The battle was a great defeat, but in the interest of maintaining the appearance of a dignified retreat, Ieyasu shamelessly ordered the men of his castle to light torches, play drums and leave the gates open, to adequately receive the returning warriors. To the surprise and relief of the Tokugawa army, this spectacle made General Takeda suspicious, so instead of besieging the castle, they camped out for the night. This error would have allowed a band of Tokugawa ninja to raid the field in the following hours, further disrupting Takeda’s disoriented army, and in the end, Shingen’s decision resulted in the cancellation of the entire offensive. Incidentally, Takeda Shingen would not have had another chance to advance on Hamamatsu, much less on Kyoto, since he would have died shortly after the siege of Noda Castle a year later, in 1573.
In 1575, Takeda attacked Nagashino Castle in the province of Mikawa. Ieyasu appealed to Nobunaga for help and the result was that Nobunaga personally headed a very large army (about 30,000 fighters). The Oda-Tokugawa force of 38,000 fighters won a great victory on June 28, 1575, at the Battle of Nagashino, however Takeda Katsuyori survived the battle and retreated back to the province of Kai.
For the next seven years, Ieyasu and Katsuyori fought a series of small battles, following which Ieyasu’s troops managed to wrest control of the Suruga province from the Takeda clan.

In 1579, Ieyasu’s wife and his heir Nobuyasu were accused by Nobunaga of conspiring with Takeda Katsuyori to assassinate Nobunaga, whose daughter Tokuhime (1559-1636) was married to Nobuyasu. This is why Ieyasu ordered his wife to be executed and forced his eldest son, Nobuyasu, to commit seppuku. Ieyasu then named his third son, Tokugawa Hidetada, as heir, since his second son was adopted by another rising power: the general of the Oda clan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who would soon become the most powerful daimyo of Japan.
The end of the war with Takeda came in 1582 when a combined Oda-Tokugawa force attacked and conquered the province of Kai. Takeda Katsuyori was defeated at the Battle of Tenmokuzan and then committed seppuku.

Uma containing the ashes of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Nikkō
Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Death of Nobunaga

At the end of June 1582, Ieyasu was near Osaka and far from his territory when he learned that Nobunaga had been murdered by Akechi Mitsuhide. Ieyasu managed the dangerous journey back to Mikawa and he was mobilizing his army when he learned that Hideyoshi had defeated Akechi Mitsuhide in the battle of Yamazaki.
Nobunaga’s death meant that some provinces, governed by Nobunaga’s vassals, could be conquered. The head of the province of Kai made the mistake of killing one of Ieyasu’s helpers so he promptly invaded Kai and took control. Hōjō Ujimasa, head of the Hōjō clan, responded by sending his much larger army to Shinano and then to the province of Kai. No battle was fought between the Ieyasu’s troops and the great army of Hōjō. However, after some negotiations, Ieyasu and Hōjō accepted an agreement that left Ieyasu in control of the provinces of Kai and Shinano, while Hōjō took control of the province of Kazusa (as well as pieces from both the provinces of Kai and Shinano).
At the same time (1583) a war was waged to rule Japan between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Shibata Katsuie. Ieyasu took no position in this conflict, relying on his reputation both for prudence and for wisdom. Hideyoshi defeated Katsuie at the Battle of Shizugatake and with this victory, he became the most powerful daimyo in Japan.

Ieyasu and Hideyoshi (1584-1598)

In 1584 Ieyasu decided to support Oda Nobukatsu, the eldest son and heir of Oda Nobunaga, against Hideyoshi. This was a dangerous act and could have led to the annihilation of the Tokugawa clan.
The Tokugawa troops took the traditional Oda stronghold of Owari while Hideyoshi replied by sending an army there. The Komaki campaign was the only time one of Japan’s great unifiers fought each other. The campaign proved to be undecided, and after months of marches and unsuccessful feuds, Hideyoshi resolved the war through negotiation. First made peace with Oda Nobukatsu, and then offered a respite to Ieyasu. The agreement was stipulated at the end of the year and Ieyasu’s second son, Ogimaru (also known as Yuki Hideyasu) became Hideyoshi’s adoptive son.
Ieyasu’s aide, Ishikawa Kazumasa, chose to join the daimyo and so he moved to Osaka to be with Hideyoshi. However, few other Tokugawa keepers have followed this example.
Hideyoshi was understandably suspicious of Ieyasu, and this was five years before they fought as allies. The Tokugawa did not participate in the invasions of Hideyoshi of Shikoku and Kyūshū.
In 1590, Hideyoshi attacked the last independent daimyo in Japan, Hōjō Ujimasa. The Hōjō clan ruled the eight provinces of the Kantō region in eastern Japan. Hideyoshi ordered them to submit to his authority, but they refused. Ieyasu, even if he was a friend and occasional ally of Ujimasa, joined his great strength of 30,000 samurai with the huge Hideyoshi army of about 160,000 men. Hideyoshi attacked several castles on the edge of the Hōjō clan with most of his army besieging Odawara Castle. Hideyoshi’s army captured Odawara after six months. During this siege, Hideyoshi offered a radical deal to Ieyasu. He offered to Ieyasu the eight provinces of Kantō that were about to take from Hōjō in exchange for the five provinces Ieyasu controlled at the time, including Ieyasu’s one, Mikawa. Ieyasu accepted this proposal. Prey to the overwhelming power of the Toyotomi army, the Hōjō accepted the defeat, the top leaders Hōjō killed themselves and Ieyasu entered the field taking control of their provinces, putting an end to the clan kingdom of over 100 years.

The Battle of Sekigahara (1598-1603)

Hideyoshi, after another three months of illness, died on September 18, 1598. He was nominally succeeded by his young son Hideyori but, at only five years, the real power was in the hands of the regents. In the next two years Ieyasu made alliances with various daimyōs, especially those who had no love for Hideyoshi. Fortunately for Ieyasu, the oldest and most respected, Toshiie Maeda, died just a year later. With Toshiie’s death in 1599, Ieyasu led an army to Fushimi and conquered Osaka Castle, Hideyori’s residence. This angered the three remaining regents and began to structure their plans on all fronts for the war. It was also the last battle of one of Ieyasu’s most loyal and powerful servants, Honda Tadakatsu.
The opposition to Ieyasu focused on Ishida Mitsunari, a powerful daimyo who was not one of the regents. Mitsunari conceived Ieyasu’s death, and news about this plot reached some of the Ieyasu generals. They tried to kill Mitsunari but he escaped and obtained protection from none other than Ieyasu himself. It is not clear why Ieyasu protected a powerful enemy from his men, but he was a strategist and may have thought it would be better to drive the enemy army with Mitsunari rather than one of the regents.
Almost all Japanese daimyōs and samurai split into two factions: the western army (Mitsunari group) and the eastern army (anti-Mitsunari group). Ieyasu supported the anti-Mitsunari group and formed them as its potential allies. Ieyasu’s allies were the Date clan, the Mogami clan, the Satake clan and the Maeda clan. Mitsunari allied himself with the other three regents: Ukita Hideie, Mōri Terumoto and Uesugi Kagekatsu and many daimyō from the eastern end of Honshū.
In June 1600, Ieyasu and his allies transferred their armies to defeat the Uesugi clan, who was accused of planning an uprising against the Toyotomi administration. Before arriving in the territory of Uesugi, Ieyasu learned that Mitsunari and his allies had moved their army against Ieyasu. He held a meeting with the daimyos and they agreed to follow him, so he led most of his army west to Kyoto. At the end of the summer, Ishida’s forces captured Fushimi.
Ieyasu and his allies marched along the Tōkaidō, while his son Hidetada followed the Nakasendō with 38,000 soldiers. A battle against Sanada Masayuki in Shinano province delayed Hidetada’s forces, so they did not arrive in time for the main battle.
Fought near Sekigahara, this battle was the largest and one of the most important battles in Japanese feudal history. It began on October 211600, with a total of 160,000 men facing each other. The battle of Sekigahara ended with a complete victory of Tokugawa. The western block was crushed and in the following days Ishida Mitsunari and many other Western nobles were captured and killed and Tokugawa Ieyasu was now the de facto governor of Japan.
Immediately after the victory at Sekigahara, Ieyasu redistributed the land to the vassals who had served him, he left some the daimyōs unharmed, like the Shimazu clan, but others were completely destroyed. Toyotomi Hideyori (Hideyoshi’s son) lost most of his territory that was under the management of the western daimyō, and was degraded to ordinary daimyō, not to a governor of Japan. In subsequent years the vassals who had sworn loyalty to Ieyasu before the battle became known as fudai daimyō, while those who promised him loyalty after the battle (in other words, after his power was unquestioned) were known as Tozama daimyō. The latter were considered inferior to the Fudai daimyōs.

Shōgun (1603-1605)

On March 24, 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu received the shōgun title from Emperor Go-Yōzei and he was 60 years old. He had survived all the other great men of his time: Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Shingen, Kenshin. As shōgun, he used his last years to create and consolidate the Tokugawa shogunate, which inaugurated the Edo period and was the third shogunal government (after Kamakura), claiming the descent from the Minamoto clan, through the Nitta clan. His descendant will then marry into the Taira clan and the Fujiwara clan. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan for the next 250 years.
Following a well-established Japanese model, Ieyasu abdicated his official shōgun position in 1605 and his successor was his son and heir, Tokugawa Hidetada. There may have been several factors that contributed to his decision, including his desire to avoid being bound by ceremonial duties, to make it harder for his enemies to attack the true center of power and to ensure a smoother succession of his son. The abdication of Ieyasu had no effect on the practical extension of his powers or his government. However, Hidetada assumed the formal role of the shogunal bureaucracy.

Ōgosho (1605-1616)

Ieyasu, as a retired shōgun (大 御所 ōgosho), remained the effective ruler of Japan until his death. He retired to Sunpu Castle, but also oversaw the construction of Edo Castle, an impressive construction project that lasted for the rest of Ieyasu’s life. The result was the biggest castle in all of Japan, the cost of building it was supported by all the other daimyōs, while Ieyasu collected all the benefits. The central donjon, or tenshu, burned in 1657 and today, the Imperial Palace is in place of that castle.
In 1611 Ieyasu leading 50,000 men, visited Kyoto to witness the coronation of Emperor Go-Mizunoo. In Kyoto, Ieyasu ordered the reconstruction of the imperial court and buildings, forcing the remaining Western daimyos to sign an oath of loyalty to him.

In 1613, he composed the Kuge Shohatto (公家諸法度), a document that submitted the court under the daimyo’s close supervision, leaving them as simple ceremonial nominees.
In 1615 Ieyasu prepared the Buhat shohatto (武家諸法度), a document that illustrated the future of the Tokugawa regime.

Relations with foreign powers

Like Ōgosho, Ieyasu also oversaw diplomatic affairs with the Netherlands, Spain and England. Ieyasu chose to remove Japan from European influence from 1609, although the shogunate continued to grant preferential commercial rights to the Dutch East India Company and allowed them to maintain a “factory” for commercial purposes.
From 1605 until his death, Ieyasu frequently consulted with the English master of arms and pilot, William Adams, who, fluent in Japanese, assisted the shogunate in the negotiation of commercial relations.

Significant attempts to limit the influence of Christian missionaries in Japan date back to 1587 during Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s shogunate. However, in 1614, Ieyasu was sufficiently concerned about the Spanish territorial ambitions that he signed an edict of Christian expulsion. The edict banished the practice of Christianity and led to the expulsion of all foreign missionaries. Although some minor commercial operations remained in Nagasaki, this edict drastically limited foreign trade and marked the end of Christian witness open in Japan until 1870.

Siege of Osaka

The last threat to Ieyasu’s dominion was Toyotomi Hideyori, Hideyoshi’s son and rightful heir. He was now a young daimyo who lived in Osaka Castle. Many samurai who opposed Ieyasu gathered around Hideyori, claiming to be the legitimate ruler of Japan. Ieyasu criticized the opening ceremony of a temple built by Hideyori because it was as if he had prayed for the death of Ieyasu and the ruin of the Tokugawa clan. Ieyasu ordered Toyotomi to leave Osaka Castle, but the inhabitants refused and summoned the samurai to gather inside the castle. Then the Tokugawa, with a huge army led by Ieyasu and the shōgun Hidetada, besieged Osaka Castle in what is now known as the “winter siege of Osaka”. In the end, Tokugawa was able to join the negotiations and an armistice after the attack and after threatening Hideyori’s mother, Yodo-dono. However, once the treaty was agreed upon, Tokugawa filled the castle’s outer moats with sand so that his troops could cross it. Through this stratagem, Tokugawa obtained a huge tract of land through negotiation and deception. Ieyasu returned to Sunpu Castle, but after Toyotomi refused another order to leave Osaka, he and his allied army of 155,000 soldiers attacked Osaka Castle again in the “Osaka Summer Siege”.
Eventually, in 1615, Osaka Castle fell and almost all the defenders were killed including Hideyori, his mother (Hideyoshi’s widow, Yodo-dono) and his newborn son. His wife, Senhime (Ieyasu’s niece), pleaded to save the lives of Hideyori and Yodo-dono, but Ieyasu refused and forced both to commit a ritual suicide, or perhaps both killed. In the end, Senhime was sent back to the Tokugawa clan alive.

The death

Ieyasu died at the age of 73 in 1616. It is thought that the cause of death was cancer or syphilis. The first Tokugawa shogun was posthumously deified with the name Tōshō Daigongen, the “Great Gongen, the light of the east”. It is believed that a Gongen is a Buddha who appeared on Earth in the form of a kami to save sentient beings.
In life, Ieyasu had expressed th desire to be deified after his death to protect his descendants from evil. His remains were buried in the Gongen mausoleum in Kunōzan, Kunōzan Tōshō-gū. As a general opinion, many people believe that after the first anniversary of his death, his remains were buried again in the Nikkō Shrine, Nikkō Tōshō-gū and they are still there today. Neither of the two sanctuaries offered to open the tombs, so the location of the physical remains of Ieyasu is still a mystery. The architectural style of the mausoleum became known as gongen-zukuri, or gongen style. First he was given the Buddhist name Tosho Dai-Gongen, then after his death he was changed to Hogo Onkokuin.

Ieyasu Tomb in Tōshō-gū
Photo credits: wikipedia.org

Ieyasu’s rule era

Ieyasu had a number of qualities that enabled him to rise to power. He was both attentive and audacious, in the right times and in the right places. Calculating and subtle, Ieyasu changed alliances when he thought he would benefit from the change. He allied himself with the late Hōjō clan, then he joined the army of conquest of Hideyoshi, who destroyed Hōjō and he himself took over their lands. In this he was like the other daimyo of his time. That was an era of violence, sudden death and betrayal. He was neither very popular nor personally popular, but he was feared and respected for his leadership and his cunning. For example, he wisely kept his soldiers out of Hideyoshi’s campaign in Korea.
He was capable of great loyalty: once he allied himself with Oda Nobunaga, he never went against him, and both leaders took advantage of their long alliance. He was known to be loyal to his friends, and was said to have a close friendship with his vassal Hattori Hanzō. It is said, however, that he remembered the wrongs he had suffered and that he executed a man because he had insulted him when he was young.

Ieyasu protected many former Takeda servants from the wrath of Oda Nobunaga, who was known to harbor a bitter rancor toward Takeda. But he also knew he was ruthless, for example, he ordered the executions of his first wife and his eldest son, a son-in-law of Oda Nobunaga and he was also Hidetada’s wife uncle.
He was cruel, implacable and ruthless in eliminating Toyotomi survivors after Osaka. For days, dozens and dozens of men and women were hunted down and executed, including Hideyori’s eight-year-old son from a beheaded concubine.
Unlike Hideyoshi, he had no desire to win anything outside of Japan. He just wanted to bring order, end the open war and rule Japan.
While at the beginning it was tolerant of Christianity, its attitude changed after 1613 and Christian executions increased sharply.
Ieyasu’s favorite pastime was falconry. He considered it an excellent training for a warrior. “When you go to the countryside, you learn to understand the military spirit and the hard life of the lower classes: you exercise your muscles and you train your limbs. You can walk and run and become indifferent to the heat and cold, and therefore it is very unlikely that you may suffer from some disease “. Ieyasu often swam and even in old age it is said that he swam in the moat of Edo Castle.
He also took a scholarship and religion, attending scholars such as Hayashi Razan.

Two of his famous quotes

Life is like a long journey with a heavy burden. Let your pace be slow and steady, do not stumble. Persuade yourself that imperfection and inconvenience are the greatest thing of mortals, and there will be no room for dissatisfaction or despair. When ambitious wishes arise in your heart, remember the days of extremism that you went through. Tolerance is the root of all tranquility and security forever. Watch the wrath of your enemy. If you only know what it means to conquer, and you do not know what it means to defeat. Find flaws in yourself rather than others.

The strong virile in life are those who understand the meaning of the word patience. Patience means limiting one’s inclinations. There are seven emotions: joy, anger, anxiety, adoration, pain, fear and hate, and if a man does not give way to these he can be called a patient. I’m not as strong as I could be, but I always knew and practiced patience. And if my descendants want to be as they are, they have to study patience.[:]