| Tokugawa
Ieyasu (1543-1616). Japanese military leader and statesman, founder
of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns. Born Matsudaira Takechiyo of the Matsudaira
military clan, Ieyasu grew up in a chaotic period of feuding clans. He
was sent at four years old as a hostage to cement a Matsudaira alliance
with the neighbouring Imagawa clan in 1547, but was captured en route by
their common enemy, the Oda clan. Held until his father's death in 1549,
Ieyasu returned home briefly before going back to the Imagawa as a hostage.
Their defeat by Oda Nobunaga in 1560 freed Ieyasu to regain leadership
of the Matsudaira, and he immediately allied with Nobunaga, changing his
name to Tokugawa Ieyasu and seizing Imagawa land.
In 1570 he moved his headquarters to former Imagawa territory and for
the next 12 years expanded his lands and influence through Nobunaga's campaigns,
despite being forced to kill his first wife and order his son's suicide
in 1579 as proof of his loyalty to Nobunaga. He seized more land on Nobunaga's
death in 1582, becoming master of five provinces by 1583. After inconclusive
fighting in 1584, Ieyasu allied with Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi
and married his sister. Following victory at Odawara in 1590, which secured
control of eastern Japan, Hideyoshi moved Ieyasu to new lands in the east
to undercut his independence. Ieyasu began building an imposing new headquarters
at a small fishing port called Edo, later Tokyo. Occupied in the east while
Hideyoshi pursued his futile invasions of Korea, Ieyasu consolidated his
new base and, shortly before Hideyoshi's death in 1598, swore with the
other great generals to serve Hideyoshi's successor, his infant son Hideyori.
Promptly breaking this oath, he began allying with other leaders and in
1600, aided by treachery, crushed his principal opponents at the battle
of Sekigahara, normally taken as marking the beginning of the Edo period.
In 1603 he assumed the historic title of shogun, confirming his pre-eminence.
In 1605 he passed the title to his son but retained paramount authority,
organizing two attacks on Osaka Castle in 1614 and 1615 which finally defeated
Hideyori and the remaining Toyotomi forces, thus completing the reunification
of Japan under one government. He organized new laws to regulate the court
and the military clans, and laid the foundations for over 250 years of
peace under Tokugawa rule during the Edo period. After his death he was
enshrined at Nikko as Tosho Daigongen, an aspect of the Buddha.
Made of solid cold cast resin and hand painted.
Height: 13.5" |
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