Daimyo, victor of Sekigahara, first Tokugawa shogun
Famous for
Winning Sekigahara and founding the Tokugawa shogunate
Signature
Patience, endurance and shrewd timing
Legacy
Over two centuries of Tokugawa peace
Of the three great unifiers, it was Tokugawa Ieyasu who reaped the harvest. Where Nobunaga and Hideyoshi built and could not hold, Ieyasu waited, endured, and at the decisive moment struck to found a peace that outlived him by two and a half centuries.
The patient ally
For decades Ieyasu was the steady junior partner, allied to Nobunaga and then serving Hideyoshi1, holding his own domains in the east and biding his time. A Japanese saying casts the three men through a bird that will not sing: Nobunaga would kill it, Hideyoshi would coax it, and Ieyasu would wait for it to sing, a fair portrait of his patience.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, portrait attributed to Kano Tan'yu, early Edo period. Osaka Castle Museum. Public domain
Sekigahara
When Hideyoshi died in 1598 he left a young son2 and a council of rival regents. Ieyasu manoeuvred against them, and in 1600 the quarrel came to battle at Sekigahara. In a single foggy autumn day, turned by the defection of a wavering ally3, Ieyasu crushed the western coalition and made himself the effective master of Japan1.
Kobayakawa Hideaki, whose defection to Ieyasu during the battle turned Sekigahara. Portrait from the early 17th century, Kodai-ji, Kyoto. Public domain
The Tokugawa shogunate
In 1603 the emperor named Ieyasu1shogun, and he set about building a lasting order from his base at Edo, the future Tokyo4. To secure it he destroyed the last of Hideyoshi's heirs at the sieges of Osaka in 1614 and 16155. The shogunate he founded ruled Japan until 1868, an era of internal peace remembered as the Edo period6.
The summer campaign at Osaka in 1615, right screen of a 17th century folding screen commissioned by Kuroda Nagamasa, who fought there. Osaka Castle Museum. Public domain
Ieyasu died in 16161, having achieved what his predecessors could not: not just to win Japan, but to keep it. Meet the other great commanders of feudal Japan.
Sources and notes
Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.
He was a daimyo (1543 to 1616) who won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, became shogun in 1603 and founded the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled Japan for over 250 years.
What is Tokugawa Ieyasu famous for?
For his patience and endurance, his decisive victory at Sekigahara, and for founding a shogunate that brought Japan a long era of peace.
What was the Battle of Sekigahara?
A great battle in 1600 in which Ieyasu defeated the western coalition loyal to Hideyoshi's heir, opening his way to the shogunate.
Did Ieyasu finish unifying Japan?
Yes; building on Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, he secured lasting control, confirmed at the sieges of Osaka in 1614 and 1615 that destroyed the Toyotomi.
How long did the Tokugawa shogunate last?
It ruled Japan from 1603 until 1868, an era of internal peace and isolation known as the Edo period.
Why is Ieyasu remembered as patient?
Because he served under Nobunaga and Hideyoshi for decades before making his own bid for power, waiting for the right moment to strike at Sekigahara.
Win the peace of a united Japan
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