According to the official genealogy as adopted by Tokugawa Ieyasu, he claimed descent from the prestigious Seiwa Genji lineage, through the branch line as begun by Nitta Yoshishige (1135-1202). The founder of this line took the Nitta name from the locality in the province of Kozuke where he was first assigned as an estate manager. In the following generations, this lineage branched out into numerous sublines; each taking the name of its residential base as its surname. One such was the Tokugawa, taking its name from a village of the same name in the Nitta district of Kozuke province.
Eight generations later, the Tokugawa seemed to have left the Kozuke province and assumed leadership of the Matsudaira, chiefs of a village bearing the same name in neighbouring Mikawa province. Ieyasu was the ninth head of this Matsudaira line, according to his offically adopted genealogy. He was also the one who petitioned the Kyoto court to formally change the family surname to Tokugawa in 1566.
We need not take this genealogy too seriously, since there're issues about its authenticity. Descent from a prestigious lineage, regardless of official documentation, was a necessity in the struggle for national prominence, during these turbulent times when lords were struggling for control of all Japan. In any case, it wasn't until his final victory at Sekigahara in 1600, when he finally adopted one set of pedigrees, tied to the Minamoto line, one of the prime military lineages of the time.
Most studies of the Tokugawa house began in the mid 15th century instead, when the sources permit a more reliable account. At the time, a new generation of provincial military lords, termed as Sengoku daimyo, was on the rise and challenging the old order of the Muromachi shoguns and their provincial agents, the shugo daimyo. The power of these new lords was based on tightly-knit housebands of increasing size and military effectiveness, and their close lord-vassal relationships.
We can trace the beginnings of the Matsudaira line in a number of hilltop forts, common to samurai families, above the valleys of the Yahagi river and its upper tributaries. The Matsudaira village itself was on the Asuke river, some distance above its confluence with the Yahagi. The first two generations were confined to this mountainous area but the third chieftain, Nobimitsu (?-1488) greatly expanded the family holdings into the middle plain of Mikawa province and occupied the castle of Anjo in 1471.
The Matsudaira maintained themselves at Anjo for about 50 years but its location to the west and south of Matsudaira village made it difficult to hold, in the face of the expansion of the Oda house in neighbouring Owari province. In 1524, Kiyoyasu, the chieftain, pulled back to east of the Yahagi river, and based himself at the castle of Okazaki. This castle would serve the Tokugawa until Ieyasu's time, on and off. The castle was well-placed and by the 1550s, the Matsudaira had controlled several districts, covering the interior one third of Mikawa province.
However, the Matsudaira were still non-players in the national struggle, and they existed within a regional power structure aligned to the Imagawa house, whose heads were military governors of Suruga province, and sometimes of Totomi and Mikawa provinces as well. During the 1550s, the Matsudaira were split over whether to remain as vassals to the Imagawa or to realign with the Oda, who were expanding aggressively out of Owari province.
Kiyoyasu's move to Okazaki and towards the east was an implicit decision to look to the Imagawa. However he was killed in 1535 and his successor, Hirotada (1526-1549), father of Ieyasu, acknowledged the Imagawa overlordship, resulting in a branch of the Matsudaira breaking off and joining the Oda. As a result, from the age of six until fourteen, Ieyasu found himself first as a hostage of the Oda and then of the Imagawa.
It was only in 1556 that Ieyasu was allowed to return to Okazaki castle, as head of the Matsudaira family, despite his father having passed away in 1549. He found the Matsudaira houseband in disarray, and was also constantly in the field, as vassal of Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560), during the next few years. Nonetheless, Ieyasu did what he could to repair the damage done during the years of internal dissension.
By the mid 16th century, the contest for the national overlordship was increasingly hot. Imagawa Yoshimoto was one of the first to attempt it. In 1560, he led an army of 25000 men across Mikawa on the way to the capital, but was decisively defeated by a much smaller force led by none other than Oda Nobunaga and was killed during the action. Released from his vassalage, Ieyasu lost no time in entering into a formal alliance with Nobunaga.
Thus Ieyasu now formally began on his rise to power, on his own terms. And now the substance of the article (I'm becoming as wordy as Vry...
).
Using Okazaki castle as his base and protected westwards by Nobunaga, Ieyasu pressed eastwards into the lands of his former overlords, the now weakened Imagawa, as well as those of the still powerful Takeda in Suruga province. By 1565, he had controlled Mikawa entirely. In 1566, confident of his position, Ieyasu petitioned the court to change his surname to Tokugawa, leaving the Matsudaira name attached to principal cadet families as well as to be used as a 'gift name' for allies. Along with the surname, Ieyasu received his appointment as the governor of Mikawa and was now recognized as a member of the military aristocracy.
During the next few years, Ieyasu spent his time reorganizing his holdings and resources. In particular, he began converting heads of collateral houses as dependant hereditary vassals, maintaining an even stronger grip over his non-kin military commanders. He also enlarged his houseband at the lowest levels, taking in large numbers of rural samurai, and assigned his enfeoffed vassals to command new expanded military units, formed out of these new recruits.
Ieyasu also worked on maintaining the relationship between the peasantry and his samurai retainers, as well as beginning a systematic survey of his lands. He also confronted the troublesome Ikko religious communities in Mikawa, militant and politically independent, and brought them into his orbit.
On the national level, Ieyasu worked closely with Nobunaga. Ieyasu's control of Mikawa protected Nobunaga's advance on Kyoto in 1568 whereas Nobunaga's control of Owari gave Ieyasu the freedom to concentrate on his eastern front. By 1570, he had taken all of Totomi from the Imagawa and moved his headquarters to Hamamatsu castle, a port town in Totomi. With Nobunaga's help, Ieyasu also began on an all-out effort to destroy the Takeda in Suruga and Kai, though it wasn't until 1582 that the stubborn Takeda were defeated. Which formalized his control of all Suruga province as well.
By now, Ieyasu had control over all or parts of the five provinces of Mikawa, Suruga, Totomi, Kai and Shinano. He was now one of the dozen or so most powerful daimyo in Japan, and acknowledged as 'lord of the five Tokai provinces'. However in 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated by Akechi Mitsuhide and Japan was plunged into temporary chaos.
Ieyasu was then at the port city of Sakai, without a following. By the time he had made his way back to his own forces, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had already killed Akechi and was in the process of taking over the Oda coalition. Ieyasu had missed his chance. He also knew it was dangerous to give in too much to Hideyoshi's takeover. In the next few years, Ieyasu took up the cause of Nobukatsu (1558-1630), Nobunaga's second son, to work off his obligations to the Oda, against Hideyoshi. This involved some actual fighting in the field.
Ieyasu invaded Toyotomi territory in Owari province, winning an engagement at Nagakute, but was fought to a stalemate at Komaki. Though these were minor engagements, they installed a certain respect for the other, in the two men. The standoff was ended with Ieyasu shrewdly submitting to Hideyoshi with a formal visit of submission to Hideyoshi at Osaka castle in 1586. Hideyoshi also found it expedient not to press the issue.
Ieyasu's 2nd son was given to Hideyoshi for adoption while one of Hideyoshi's sisters was given in marriage to Ieyasu. For a time, Hideyoshi's mother was also kept as a hostage in the Tokugawa household. During this time, Ieyasu moved his headquarters further east, to Sumpu. Thus, from 1586 until 1598 when Hideyoshi died, Ieyasu served as a willing ally. Having stood his own in battle, Ieyasu had gained Hideyoshi's respect (and caution) and was thus spared from needlessly depleting his own forces in fighting Hideyoshi's battles.
Hence when Hideyoshi was sending large armies into Shikoku and Kyushu (the two islands to the south of the main island of Honshu), Ieyasu was in the east expanding his holdings, improving on his military and perfecting his administration. He also enlarged his castle at Sumpu and gathered large numbers of personnel there. It was also during these years that he continued on the systematic survey of cultivated land, now the standard practise all over Japan.
By 1589, Hideyoshi had accomplished the subjugation of Kyushu. Now the only remaining contenders were the Hojo in the Kanto region, and the Date, Gamo, Tsugaru and other families in the far north. At first, Hideyoshi tried to win over the Hojo, using Ieyasu as an intermediary; Ieyasu having married off one of his daughters to Hojo Ujinao (1562-1592). But Ujinao refused to capitulate and Hideyoshi prepared for war. Ieyasu was obliged to participate; his lands were lying between the two. The Hojo was headquartered at Odawara castle and controlled the six Kanto provinces of Izu, Sagami, Musashi, Shimosa, Kazusa and Awa.
In the event, Ieyasu took the initiative and invaded with an army of 30000 men in 6 divisions. The Hojo held out for three months at Odawara castle before it fell in the summer of 1590. Before this, the Date and other daimyo in the north had pledged their allegiance to Hideyoshi. Thus now, Hideyoshi controlled all the daimyo and could claim to the chief of the military estate.
Following the Hojo surrender, Hideyoshi ordered Ieyasu to move out of his Tokai provinces and occupy the vacanted Hojo domains in Kanto. This seemed like an advancement, since it gave Ieyasu control of 6 of the 8 Kanto provinces, and making him the largest landholder in Japan, larger in fact than Hideyoshi's own holdings. However, this move put Ieyasu even further away from Kyoto, the political center of Japan, and uprooted him and his followers from their secured historic holds. Ieyasu's senior vassals saw it as an exile.
Nonetheless, Ieyasu rapidly accomplished the move to Kanto. He received Hideyoshi's formal command on the 13th day of the 7th month, but he had made some plans, having had some prior warning back in the 4th month. By the 1st of the 8th month, he had entered a small castle at Edo, his new headquarters, and center of the future metropolis of Tokyo. Settling in took almost a year. Thousands of families picked up their entire households and equipment to move to new houses in unfamiliar territory. Just as rapidly, Hideyoshi filled the vacanted castles in the Tokai provinces with his own trusted men.
This marked a major turning point in Ieyasu's fortunes, with many unforeseen consequences. There was some evidence to suggest that Hideyoshi expected Ieyasu to have some problems managing the rural samurai in Kanto. However, Ieyasu's prior experience with absorbing the lands of defeated rivals, particularly the Kai province that was taken from the Takeda, held him in good stead. Rather than displaced the rural samurai and even some enfeoffed vassals left behind by the Hojo, he absorbed them all into his organisation and recognized their status as held while under the Hojo.
Eight generations later, the Tokugawa seemed to have left the Kozuke province and assumed leadership of the Matsudaira, chiefs of a village bearing the same name in neighbouring Mikawa province. Ieyasu was the ninth head of this Matsudaira line, according to his offically adopted genealogy. He was also the one who petitioned the Kyoto court to formally change the family surname to Tokugawa in 1566.
We need not take this genealogy too seriously, since there're issues about its authenticity. Descent from a prestigious lineage, regardless of official documentation, was a necessity in the struggle for national prominence, during these turbulent times when lords were struggling for control of all Japan. In any case, it wasn't until his final victory at Sekigahara in 1600, when he finally adopted one set of pedigrees, tied to the Minamoto line, one of the prime military lineages of the time.
Most studies of the Tokugawa house began in the mid 15th century instead, when the sources permit a more reliable account. At the time, a new generation of provincial military lords, termed as Sengoku daimyo, was on the rise and challenging the old order of the Muromachi shoguns and their provincial agents, the shugo daimyo. The power of these new lords was based on tightly-knit housebands of increasing size and military effectiveness, and their close lord-vassal relationships.
We can trace the beginnings of the Matsudaira line in a number of hilltop forts, common to samurai families, above the valleys of the Yahagi river and its upper tributaries. The Matsudaira village itself was on the Asuke river, some distance above its confluence with the Yahagi. The first two generations were confined to this mountainous area but the third chieftain, Nobimitsu (?-1488) greatly expanded the family holdings into the middle plain of Mikawa province and occupied the castle of Anjo in 1471.
The Matsudaira maintained themselves at Anjo for about 50 years but its location to the west and south of Matsudaira village made it difficult to hold, in the face of the expansion of the Oda house in neighbouring Owari province. In 1524, Kiyoyasu, the chieftain, pulled back to east of the Yahagi river, and based himself at the castle of Okazaki. This castle would serve the Tokugawa until Ieyasu's time, on and off. The castle was well-placed and by the 1550s, the Matsudaira had controlled several districts, covering the interior one third of Mikawa province.
However, the Matsudaira were still non-players in the national struggle, and they existed within a regional power structure aligned to the Imagawa house, whose heads were military governors of Suruga province, and sometimes of Totomi and Mikawa provinces as well. During the 1550s, the Matsudaira were split over whether to remain as vassals to the Imagawa or to realign with the Oda, who were expanding aggressively out of Owari province.
Kiyoyasu's move to Okazaki and towards the east was an implicit decision to look to the Imagawa. However he was killed in 1535 and his successor, Hirotada (1526-1549), father of Ieyasu, acknowledged the Imagawa overlordship, resulting in a branch of the Matsudaira breaking off and joining the Oda. As a result, from the age of six until fourteen, Ieyasu found himself first as a hostage of the Oda and then of the Imagawa.
It was only in 1556 that Ieyasu was allowed to return to Okazaki castle, as head of the Matsudaira family, despite his father having passed away in 1549. He found the Matsudaira houseband in disarray, and was also constantly in the field, as vassal of Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560), during the next few years. Nonetheless, Ieyasu did what he could to repair the damage done during the years of internal dissension.
By the mid 16th century, the contest for the national overlordship was increasingly hot. Imagawa Yoshimoto was one of the first to attempt it. In 1560, he led an army of 25000 men across Mikawa on the way to the capital, but was decisively defeated by a much smaller force led by none other than Oda Nobunaga and was killed during the action. Released from his vassalage, Ieyasu lost no time in entering into a formal alliance with Nobunaga.
Thus Ieyasu now formally began on his rise to power, on his own terms. And now the substance of the article (I'm becoming as wordy as Vry...
). Using Okazaki castle as his base and protected westwards by Nobunaga, Ieyasu pressed eastwards into the lands of his former overlords, the now weakened Imagawa, as well as those of the still powerful Takeda in Suruga province. By 1565, he had controlled Mikawa entirely. In 1566, confident of his position, Ieyasu petitioned the court to change his surname to Tokugawa, leaving the Matsudaira name attached to principal cadet families as well as to be used as a 'gift name' for allies. Along with the surname, Ieyasu received his appointment as the governor of Mikawa and was now recognized as a member of the military aristocracy.
During the next few years, Ieyasu spent his time reorganizing his holdings and resources. In particular, he began converting heads of collateral houses as dependant hereditary vassals, maintaining an even stronger grip over his non-kin military commanders. He also enlarged his houseband at the lowest levels, taking in large numbers of rural samurai, and assigned his enfeoffed vassals to command new expanded military units, formed out of these new recruits.
Ieyasu also worked on maintaining the relationship between the peasantry and his samurai retainers, as well as beginning a systematic survey of his lands. He also confronted the troublesome Ikko religious communities in Mikawa, militant and politically independent, and brought them into his orbit.
On the national level, Ieyasu worked closely with Nobunaga. Ieyasu's control of Mikawa protected Nobunaga's advance on Kyoto in 1568 whereas Nobunaga's control of Owari gave Ieyasu the freedom to concentrate on his eastern front. By 1570, he had taken all of Totomi from the Imagawa and moved his headquarters to Hamamatsu castle, a port town in Totomi. With Nobunaga's help, Ieyasu also began on an all-out effort to destroy the Takeda in Suruga and Kai, though it wasn't until 1582 that the stubborn Takeda were defeated. Which formalized his control of all Suruga province as well.
By now, Ieyasu had control over all or parts of the five provinces of Mikawa, Suruga, Totomi, Kai and Shinano. He was now one of the dozen or so most powerful daimyo in Japan, and acknowledged as 'lord of the five Tokai provinces'. However in 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated by Akechi Mitsuhide and Japan was plunged into temporary chaos.
Ieyasu was then at the port city of Sakai, without a following. By the time he had made his way back to his own forces, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had already killed Akechi and was in the process of taking over the Oda coalition. Ieyasu had missed his chance. He also knew it was dangerous to give in too much to Hideyoshi's takeover. In the next few years, Ieyasu took up the cause of Nobukatsu (1558-1630), Nobunaga's second son, to work off his obligations to the Oda, against Hideyoshi. This involved some actual fighting in the field.
Ieyasu invaded Toyotomi territory in Owari province, winning an engagement at Nagakute, but was fought to a stalemate at Komaki. Though these were minor engagements, they installed a certain respect for the other, in the two men. The standoff was ended with Ieyasu shrewdly submitting to Hideyoshi with a formal visit of submission to Hideyoshi at Osaka castle in 1586. Hideyoshi also found it expedient not to press the issue.
Ieyasu's 2nd son was given to Hideyoshi for adoption while one of Hideyoshi's sisters was given in marriage to Ieyasu. For a time, Hideyoshi's mother was also kept as a hostage in the Tokugawa household. During this time, Ieyasu moved his headquarters further east, to Sumpu. Thus, from 1586 until 1598 when Hideyoshi died, Ieyasu served as a willing ally. Having stood his own in battle, Ieyasu had gained Hideyoshi's respect (and caution) and was thus spared from needlessly depleting his own forces in fighting Hideyoshi's battles.
Hence when Hideyoshi was sending large armies into Shikoku and Kyushu (the two islands to the south of the main island of Honshu), Ieyasu was in the east expanding his holdings, improving on his military and perfecting his administration. He also enlarged his castle at Sumpu and gathered large numbers of personnel there. It was also during these years that he continued on the systematic survey of cultivated land, now the standard practise all over Japan.
By 1589, Hideyoshi had accomplished the subjugation of Kyushu. Now the only remaining contenders were the Hojo in the Kanto region, and the Date, Gamo, Tsugaru and other families in the far north. At first, Hideyoshi tried to win over the Hojo, using Ieyasu as an intermediary; Ieyasu having married off one of his daughters to Hojo Ujinao (1562-1592). But Ujinao refused to capitulate and Hideyoshi prepared for war. Ieyasu was obliged to participate; his lands were lying between the two. The Hojo was headquartered at Odawara castle and controlled the six Kanto provinces of Izu, Sagami, Musashi, Shimosa, Kazusa and Awa.
In the event, Ieyasu took the initiative and invaded with an army of 30000 men in 6 divisions. The Hojo held out for three months at Odawara castle before it fell in the summer of 1590. Before this, the Date and other daimyo in the north had pledged their allegiance to Hideyoshi. Thus now, Hideyoshi controlled all the daimyo and could claim to the chief of the military estate.
Following the Hojo surrender, Hideyoshi ordered Ieyasu to move out of his Tokai provinces and occupy the vacanted Hojo domains in Kanto. This seemed like an advancement, since it gave Ieyasu control of 6 of the 8 Kanto provinces, and making him the largest landholder in Japan, larger in fact than Hideyoshi's own holdings. However, this move put Ieyasu even further away from Kyoto, the political center of Japan, and uprooted him and his followers from their secured historic holds. Ieyasu's senior vassals saw it as an exile.
Nonetheless, Ieyasu rapidly accomplished the move to Kanto. He received Hideyoshi's formal command on the 13th day of the 7th month, but he had made some plans, having had some prior warning back in the 4th month. By the 1st of the 8th month, he had entered a small castle at Edo, his new headquarters, and center of the future metropolis of Tokyo. Settling in took almost a year. Thousands of families picked up their entire households and equipment to move to new houses in unfamiliar territory. Just as rapidly, Hideyoshi filled the vacanted castles in the Tokai provinces with his own trusted men.
This marked a major turning point in Ieyasu's fortunes, with many unforeseen consequences. There was some evidence to suggest that Hideyoshi expected Ieyasu to have some problems managing the rural samurai in Kanto. However, Ieyasu's prior experience with absorbing the lands of defeated rivals, particularly the Kai province that was taken from the Takeda, held him in good stead. Rather than displaced the rural samurai and even some enfeoffed vassals left behind by the Hojo, he absorbed them all into his organisation and recognized their status as held while under the Hojo.
