Tokugawa Ieyasu（Jan 31, 1543 ~ Jine 1, 1616 ）

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the first of the Tokugawa Shogun.
Born January 31 1543 at Okazaki Castle in Aichi Prefecture,
the young Ieyasu, was sent as a hostage to the Imagawa clan
by his father, Hidetada, who sought their help in the fight against
the Oda. Enroute to his captors’ castle at Suruga, the convoy was intercepted by the enemy and the boy was taken to Oda Nobuhide,
who offered peace terms to the Tokugawa on such difficult conditions
that Hidetada refused even at the risk of his young son’s life.
Ieyasu was then confined to a Temple in Nagoya, where he endured
many hardships.

Ieyasu took part in the 1560 battle between the Imagawa and
the Oda at Okehazama, when the 25,000 Imagawa soldiers were
trounced by 2,500 Oda samurai. With the death of Imagawa
Yoshimoto, Ieyasu was at last free. Upon his return to Okazaki
Castle he allied himself with Oda Nobunaga, who had indirectly
brought about his freedom.

Ieyasu faced near total defeat in 1571 when the Takeda clan attacked his northern provinces of Totomi
in the Battle of Mikatagahara. Four years later, and with the assistance of Oda Nobunaga, we would get
his revenge, decimating the Takeda forces at the Battle of Nagashino. Following the death of Nobunaga,
Ieyasu would face off against Hideyoshi at the battle of Komaki Nagakute in 1584, although relations
between the powerful men would later improve.

On his deathbed Hideyoshi, having ruled a unified nation for nearly 15 years, called for the then 56 year
old Ieyasu. Hideyoshi who had done so much to unify and stabilize Japan was entrusting the most powerful
of the daimyo to lead the council of regents who would attend to his five year old son and designated heir
Hideyori. Ieyasu readily agreed and upon the death of the Taiko, or ‘Great Chancellor’ as Hideyoshi was
titled, Ieyasu installed himself in Hideyoshi’s sumptuous Fushimi Castle and immediately began to make
moves to assume complete power of the country. His actions invoked the ire of a number of his
contemporaries, many of whom openly condemned his plans, ripping the nation into two factions, east
and west. These two great armies met on October 21, 1600 on the small plain of Sekigahara, the gateway
between the mountains dividing the country, and where the strategically important arterial routes, the
Tokaido and Nakasendo highways merged. Ieyasu would emerge victorious from what was to become the
biggest, bloodiest, most decisive battle in samurai history.

Three years after the Battle of Sekigahara, Ieyasu was invested with the title of Shogun, establishing
a dynasty that would rule Japan for 250 years. Ieyasu is said to have died from stomach cancer in 1616 
aged 73, a ripe old age for a man at the center of the period of civil war and who had taken part in over
90 battles.

Details remaining from later in Ieyasu’s life show him to have stood about 156.5cm tall, with girth
measurements ranging from 100 to 120cm. Order forms for split toe tabi socks show his feet measured
22.7cm. His inner leg was about 80cm, while his leg from knee to foot was 35cm long. Hand prints show
his hands were 18cm from palm base to fingertips.