Tokugawa Ieyasu was a Samurai warrior who became Shogun (leader) of all Japan. His descendants ruled for hundreds of years.
A DIFFICULT CHILDHOOD
Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in 1543, during the Era of Warring States, the son of a Samurai warrior. His family were split between supporting two different warring clans, the Imagawa and the Oda. Ieyasu’s father preferred the Imagawa. When the Oda invaded Ieyasu’s hometown, his father sent his son to live with the Imagawa in return for their help in fighting off the Oda. But on the way he was kidnapped by the Oda clan. Ieyasu was only five at the time. Two years later, the Oda gave Ieyasu to the Imagawa, where he was raised, trained and fought as a warrior.
A BIT OF BASHING
In 1560, the Imagawa clan chief was killed in a battle with Oda Nobunaga and Ieyasu, now aged 17, returned to his family’s small castle. He switched his loyalties and allied himself to Oda Nobunaga, and gradually expanded his domain by leading war parties against his neighbours. By the 1580s he was an important baron.
BAD PARENTING
In 1579, Ieyasu’s eldest son was accused of plotting against his father. As punishment (and possibly with some persuasion from Oda Nobunaga), Ieyasu ordered his son to commit suicide, and had his son’s wife executed.
MORE BASHING
In 1582 Oda Nobunaga killed himself because he’d been wounded by someone less important than him (this was the kind of thing expected of a Samurai). His general, Hideyoshi, took his place. Ieyasu and Hideyoshi together organised an army and navy and took control of new lands. Ieyasu now had lots of new territory, which he looked after and defended carefully. When he wasn’t waging war or ordering people to kill themselves, he enjoyed swimming and falconry.
BATTLE OF SEKIGAHARA
Hideyoshi died in 1598 and there was a struggle among the Samurai lords to take his place. Ieyasu had the biggest army in the whole of Japan. In 1600, he won the Battle of Sekigahara and was now in control of most of the country. In 1603 he was made Shogun, the most powerful general in Japan. After only two years he retired and made his son Shogun in his place, but really he was still running things from behind the scenes.
A WARRIOR’S LEGACY
When he died at the age of 73, Ieyasu’s castle at Edo was the biggest in the world, and he’d brought an end to the Era of Warring States. Ieyasu’s descendants went on to rule Japan for another 250 years.
