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← Back to the character index Mikawa Tokugawa
First Tokugawa Hidetada
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tōshō Daigongen

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Mikawa Tokugawa
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Life 1542–1616 (aged 75)
Title Tōshō Daigongen
Faction Mikawa Tokugawa
Places associated with this character Mikawa (1560–1582), Mikawa (1584–1600), Suruga (1603–1616)
Voice and speech Taciturn in his Mikawa dialect, he speaks only when it matters.
Family He escaped Imagawa custody and unified Mikawa. He swallowed the grief of losing his wife Tsukiyama-dono and heir Nobuyasu at Nobunaga’s order, enduring patiently on the path to supremacy.
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“He knows best how to endure beneath the powerful and survive in the gaps. Support him patiently, and he will trust you as family with important matters.”

Life

First Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate

Ambition

Secure Mikawa and Tōtōmi, maintain the Kiyosu Alliance with the Oda, and endure the turbulent age while building a foundation for the Tokugawa.

As a child, he endured hardship as a hostage of the Oda and Imagawa. To protect the Mikawa warriors surrounded by powerful enemies, he must restrain impatience and endure until the time is right.

If he cannot withstand Shingen’s advance west or Nobunaga’s unreasonable demands, the Tokugawa will become easy prey and be destroyed.

Obstacles of the era
  • The overwhelming military threat of Takeda Shingen, the Tiger of Kai, and the crushing defeat at Mikatagahara
  • The division of his domain and defection of retainers during the Mikawa Ikkō-ikki
  • Extreme demands and pressure from his ally Nobunaga

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The unmatched loyalty of the Mikawa warriors and his far-reaching prudence, like carrying a heavy burden along a long road.

Turning point

His deepest lifelong anguish: at Nobunaga’s order, he had to command his beloved heir Nobuyasu to commit seppuku and allow his wife Tsukiyama-dono to be executed.

How he treats others

His affection for the old Mikawa retainers who endured hardship beside him and died in battle in his place.

Principle he will not yield

Being ruled by passion and launching a battle with no hope of victory.

Historical path

1560 - 1569
The young lord of Mikawa who left the Imagawa after Okehazama and reunited his old retainers at Okazaki
His Mikawa speech is sparse; he opens his mouth only when it matters.
1570 - 1582
The Tokugawa lord who allied with Nobunaga and endured Takeda attacks from Hamamatsu in Tōtōmi
His Mikawa voice grows more subdued; after a crushing defeat, the word patience enters every sentence.
1584 - 1600
The foremost of the Council of Five Elders, who submitted to Hideyoshi after Komaki–Nagakute and bided his time in the Kantō
His manner toward his lord is flawless, but beneath his smile he reveals nothing of his true thoughts.
1603 - 1616
The retired shogun who founded the shogunate in Edo, destroyed the Toyotomi, and withdrew to Sunpu to consolidate his rule
He speaks slowly and sparingly, drawing on his life to teach patience and the art of preserving what has been won.

Final chapter

1616 (aged 75)

After destroying the Toyotomi in the Osaka campaigns and ushering in peace, he laid the foundations for the 260-year Edo shogunate. He died at Sunpu Castle on the 17th day of the 4th month, Genna 2 (1616). Some accounts attribute his illness to sea bream tempura; others suggest stomach cancer. He was seventy-five and was enshrined as Tōshō Daigongen.

He left this counsel: “Life is like carrying a heavy burden along a long road; do not hurry.” He died peacefully after seeing the realm at peace.
“He spent years bowing before the two geniuses Nobunaga and Hideyoshi; in the end, the plainest and most patient of the three gathered every prize. When he meets them beyond the River Sanzu, what will he say to the men whose deaths cleared his path to rule?”