Tokugawa09

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​Script By: James Hires
​ Tokugawa Ieyashu was born on the 31st of January 1543. He is the Shogun that united Japan under a single ruler. His origional name was Matsudaria Takechiyo. He was a man who was loyal to his friends, but he fought for power at an early stage with Imagawa who had taken him hostage when he was a young man. He could be a heartless at times. Once Ieyashu appointed one of his rival's sons as regent, only to kill him soon after thus consolidating his rule even more. Before Ieyashu was Shogun however, he was a very close ally with the oda clan. Ieyashu also set up a sucessful empire, not only because he destroyed his competition but because he actually kept the rulers of the different provinces in line unlike those of so many other empires, like the Holy Roman Empire. Ieyashu did this by requireing that each Diamyo leave his wife and first born son in Edo (currently Tokyo) on the threat that if he should step out of line then the Shogun would kill his wife and first born hier. He also set up the Bakhuan, a precursor to our IRS in the ways that they were tax collectors and if you didn't pay up, they will send you letters, then people will come to your door, finally if you didn't pay up the Shogun would send soldiers and they would throw you in jail. His dynasty also used gunpowder weapos like the hand cannon, which fired small rocks in a spray pattern, think of it as an ancient shotgun. This helped him conquer the kingdoms and territories that still used swords and spears. He set up a dynasty that lasted from 1603 to 1867 during this time his dynasty were the De Facto rulers of Japan, his dynasty was one of the longest running in Japanese history. Overall he has gone down in the history books as a man who did something great by doing several things bad, if not evil. However he has appeared in many video games such as Age of Empires III.

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Research

Tokugawa was the Shogun that united Japan. He was born in 1542 and died in 1616. He led an amazing life. His life's accomplishments include, Defeating the Hojo of Odawara in 1590 and recieved land and set up a government around Edo (currently Tokyo). He appointed regent to Hideyoshi's son womb he killd in 1615. [|**http://712educators.about.com/cs/biographies/p/ieyasu.htm**]. **Tokugawa Ieyasu** (1542-1616) had an unpromising childhood as hostage of the Imagawa, for whom he fought as a young man against **Oda Nobunaga**. His first experience of battle was at the siege of Terabe.**http://www.answers.com/topic/ieyasu.**Ieyasu is known for being loyal towards his personal friends and generals whom he rewarded. However, he also remembered those who wronged him in the past. It is said that Ieyasu executed a man who insulted him when he was just a child. Ieyasu's favourite past-times were swimming and hawking. He also enjoyed Noh, a form of Japanese drama traditionally identified with the austerity of the samurai class__.http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Tokugawa_Ieyasu_-_Ieyasu_as_a_person/id/2058246__.Tokugawa Ieyasu - Early life 1543-1556. Tokugawa Ieyasu was born on January 31, 1543 in the Mikawa province. Originally named Matsudaira Takechiyo, he was the son of Matsudaira Hirotada (1526-1549), a lord of Mikawa who spent most of his time at war with the Oda and Imagawa clans. The Matsudaira family was split: one side wanted to be a vassal of the Imagawa clan, while the other side preferred the Oda. http://www.experiencefestival.com/tokugawa_ieyasu_-_early_life_1543-1556 In 1556, Ieyasu came of age, and, following tradition, changed his name to Matsudaira Jirōsaburō Motonobu (松平次郎三郎元信). One year later, at the age of 16 (according to [|East Asian age reckoning]), he married his first wife and changed his name again to Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu (松平 蔵人之介 佐元康). Allowed to return to his native Mikawa, the Imagawa ordered him to fight the Oda clan in a series of battles. Ieyasu won his first battle at the [|Siege of Terabe] and later succeeded in delivering supplies to a border fort through a bold night attack. In 1560 the leadership of the Oda clan had passed to the brilliant leader [|Oda Nobunaga]. Yoshimoto, leading a large Imagawa army (perhaps 20,000 strong) then attacked the Oda clan territory. Ieyasu with his Mikawa troops captured a fort at the border and then stayed there to defend it. As a result, Ieyasu and his men were not present at the [|Battle of Okehazama] where Yoshimoto was killed by Oda Nobunaga's surprise assault. With Yoshimoto dead, Ieyasu decided to ally with the Oda clan. A secret deal was needed because Ieyasu's wife and infant son, [|Nobuyasu] were held hostage in Sumpu by the Imagawa clan. In 1561, Ieyasu openly broke with the Imagawa and captured the fortress of Kaminojo. Ieyasu was then able to exchange his wife and son for the wife and daughter of the ruler of Kaminojo castle. For the next few years Ieyasu set about reforming the Matsudaira clan and pacifying Mikawa. He also strengthened his key vassals by awarding them land and castles in Mikawa. They were: [|Honda Tadakatsu], [|Ishikawa Kazumasa], [|Koriki Kiyonaga], [|Hattori Hanzō], [|Sakai Tadatsugu], and [|Sakakibara Yasumasa]. Ieyasu defeated the military forces of the Mikawa Monto within Mikawa province. The Monto were a warlike group of monks that were ruling [|Kaga Province] and had many temples elsewhere in Japan. They refused to obey Ieyasu's commands and so he went to war with them, defeating their troops and pulling down their temples. In one battle Ieyasu was nearly killed when he was struck by a bullet which did not penetrate his armor. Both Ieyasu's Mikawa troops and the Monto forces were using the new gunpowder weapons which the Portuguese had introduced to Japan just 20 years earlier. In 1567, Ieyasu changed his name yet again, his new [|family name] was //Tokugawa// and his [|given name] was now //Ieyasu.// In so doing, he claimed descent from the [|Minamoto] clan. No proof has actually been found for this claimed descent from [|Seiwa] //tennō,// the 56th Emperor of Japan.[|[2]] Ieyasu remained an ally of Oda Nobunaga and his Mikawa soldiers were part of Nobunaga's army which captured [|Kyoto] in 1568. At the same time Ieyasu was expanding his own territory. He and [|Takeda Shingen], the head of the [|Takeda clan] in [|Kai Province] made an alliance for the purpose of conquering all the Imagawa territory. In 1570, Ieyasu's troops captured [|Tōtōmi Province] while Shingen's troops captured [|Suruga province] (including the Imagawa capital of Sumpu). Ieyasu ended his alliance with Takeda and sheltered their former enemy, [|Imagawa Ujizane]; he also allied with [|Uesugi Kenshin] of the Uesugi clan—an enemy of the Takeda clan. Later that year, Ieyasu led 5,000 of his own men supporting Nobunaga at the [|Battle of Anegawa] against the [|Azai] and [|Asakura] clans. In October 1571, Takeda Shingen, now allied with the [|Hōjō clan], attacked the Tokugawa lands of Tōtōmi. Ieyasu asked for help from Nobunaga, who sent him some 3,000 troops. Early in 1573 the two armies met at the [|Battle of Mikatagahara]. The Takeda army, under the expert direction of Shingen, hammered at Ieyasu's troops until they were broken. Ieyasu fled with just 5 men to a nearby castle. This was a major loss for Ieyasu, but Shingen was unable to exploit his victory because Ieyasu quickly gathered a new army and refused to fight Shingen again on the battlefield. Fortune smiled on Ieyasu a year later when Takeda Shingen died at a siege early in 1573. Shingen was succeeded by his less capable son [|Takeda Katsuyori]. In 1575, the Takeda army attacked Nagashino Castle in Mikawa province. Ieyasu appealed to Nobunaga for help and the result was that Nobunaga personally came at the head of his very large army (about 30,000 strong). The Oda-Tokugawa force of 38,000 won a great victory on [|June 28], [|1575] , at the [|Battle of Nagashino], though Takeda Katsuyori survived the battle and retreated back to Kai province. For the next seven years, Ieyasu and Katsuyori fought a series of small battles. Ieyasu's troops managed to wrest control of Suruga province away from the Takeda clan. In 1579, Ieyasu's wife, and his eldest son, [|Matsudaira Nobuyasu], were accused of conspiring with Takeda Katsuyori to assassinate Nobunaga. Ieyasu's wife was executed and Nobuyasu was forced to commit [|seppuku]. Ieyasu then named his third and favorite son, [|Tokugawa Hidetada], as heir, since his second son was adopted by another rising power: [|Toyotomi Hideyoshi], the future ruler of all Japan. The end of the war with Takeda came in 1582 when a combined Oda-Tokugawa force attacked and conquered Kai province. Takeda Katsuyori, as well as his eldest son Takeda Nobukatsu, were defeated at the [|Battle of Temmokuzan] and then committed [|seppuku]. In late 1582, Ieyasu was near [|Osaka] and far from his own territory when he learned that Nobunaga had been assassinated by [|Akechi Mitsuhide]. Ieyasu managed the dangerous journey back to Mikawa, avoiding Mitsuhide's troops along the way, as they were trying to find and kill him. One week after he arrived in Mikawa, Ieyasu's army marched out to take revenge on Mitsuhide. But they were too late, Hideyoshi—on his own—defeated and killed Akechi Mitsuhide at the [|Battle of Yamazaki]. The death of Nobunaga meant that some provinces, ruled by Nobunaga's vassals, were ripe for conquest. The leader of Kai province made the mistake of killing one of Ieyasu's aides. Ieyasu promptly invaded Kai and took control. [|Hōjō Ujimasa], leader of the Hōjō clan responded by sending his much larger army into [|Shinano] and then into Kai province. No battles were fought between Ieyasu's forces and the large Hōjō army and, after some negotiation, Ieyasu and the Hōjō agreed to a settlement which left Ieyasu in control of both Kai and Shinano provinces, while the Hōjō took control of Kazusa province (as well as bits of both Kai and Shinano province). At the same time (1583) a war for rule over Japan was fought between [|Toyotomi Hideyoshi] and [|Shibata Katsuie]. Ieyasu did not take a side in this conflict, building on his reputation for both caution and wisdom. Hideyoshi defeated Katsuie at the [|Battle of Shizugatake]—with this victory, Hideyoshi became the single most powerful [|daimyo] in Japan. [] Book Source... The Encyclopedia of World History 1450-1750 Page 384 The Tokugawa shoguns were the de facto rulers of Japan from 1603 to 1867 page 385 The main power during the Tokugawa shogunate were the daimyo who were like princes, they ruled thier own states (much like the princes of the Holy Roman Empire.) To keep the Daimyos in order thier wife and hier both had to be left in Edo, the capital at all times as hostages to make sure the Daimyo didn't do anything funny to threaten the Shogunate. The bakuhan were the Japanese equivalent to our IRS, they levied taxes from thier local villages and gave those funds to the Shogun in Edo. Page 386 Ieyashu was granted the shogunate in 1603 and his family ruled until 1867. everything else about him can be found above, his main major accomplishment was uniting Japan's warring city states into one unifyed country. Pictures From right, Shogun Tokugaawa Ieyshu, His emblem(which appeared on the Japanese flag until Americans found Japan), Ieashu's Tomb