How Did Tokugawa Ieyasu Win Japan? The Patient Hostage Who Founded a 250-Year Shogunate

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) became shogun in 1603 after winning the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, and the shogunate he founded ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He is the third of Japan's three great unifiers, after Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the one whose work lasted. His great quality was patience: he survived a childhood as a hostage, served and outlived two more brilliant men, and moved decisively only when the moment was right.

A childhood as a hostage

Ieyasu was born in 1543 at Okazaki Castle in Mikawa Province, with the childhood name Matsudaira Takechiyo. His family was a small clan caught between powerful neighbours, and as a boy he was handed over as a hostage, first to the Oda clan and then to the Imagawa clan. Years spent as a pawn in other people's politics taught him caution, observation and the value of waiting.

Breaking free after Okehazama

His chance came in 1560, when Imagawa Yoshimoto was killed by Oda Nobunaga at the Battle of Okehazama. Ieyasu broke away from the weakened Imagawa and in 1562 formed an alliance with Nobunaga. The alliance held for twenty years, and it protected Ieyasu's eastern flank while he expanded his territory in Mikawa and Tōtōmi provinces.

A defeat he never forgot

Ieyasu's career was not a string of victories. In 1573 he suffered a heavy defeat at Mikatagahara against the famous warlord Takeda Shingen. The Takeda were finally destroyed in 1582. Learning from defeat, rather than avoiding it, became part of his reputation.

Serving Hideyoshi, moving to Edo

After Nobunaga was killed in 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi rose to the top. Ieyasu chose to serve him rather than fight him to the end. In 1590 Hideyoshi moved Ieyasu to the Kantō plain in the east, perhaps to keep him far from the political centre. Ieyasu built his base at a small castle town called Edo. That town is now Tokyo.

The move looked like a demotion. In fact it gave Ieyasu a large, rich territory, far from the costly Korean campaigns that drained many of Hideyoshi's other lords.

Sekigahara, 1600

When Hideyoshi died in 1598, he left a young son and a council of powerful lords to govern for him. Ieyasu was the strongest of them. Tension between his supporters and the loyalists of the Toyotomi family led to war, and in October 1600 the two sides met at Sekigahara. Ieyasu's Eastern Army won a decisive victory, helped by key defections from the opposing side during the battle.

Shogun

In 1603 Ieyasu became shogun. Just two years later, in 1605, he officially retired in favour of his son Hidetada, while keeping real control until his death. The early handover was a smart move: it showed that the title belonged to the Tokugawa family, not just to one man.

The Toyotomi family remained a potential threat in Osaka. In the Sieges of Osaka of 1614–15, Ieyasu destroyed them. He died in 1616.

A foreign samurai

One of the most surprising people at Ieyasu's court was an Englishman. William Adams, a navigator who arrived in Japan in 1600, became an adviser to Ieyasu and was given samurai status, one of very few Westerners ever to receive it. His story later inspired novels and television dramas.

The long Tokugawa peace

Ieyasu's system, a balance of graded rewards and punishments for the regional lords, kept Japan largely at peace for more than two centuries. His successors later adopted the policy of strict limits on foreign contact known as sakoku. The Edo period that followed saw the growth of cities, trade, and popular arts such as kabuki and woodblock prints.

A well-known Japanese verse compares the three unifiers' attitudes to a cuckoo that will not sing: Nobunaga would kill it, Hideyoshi would find a way to make it sing, and Ieyasu would wait until it sang. It is a later saying, not a historical quote, but it captures why Ieyasu ended up with the prize.

Learn with Ieyasu: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
to bide your time	to wait patiently for the right moment	She bided her time before asking for a raise.
slow and steady wins the race	patience beats speed	Learn ten words a day: slow and steady wins the race.
a blessing in disguise	something that seems bad but turns out good	The move to Edo was a blessing in disguise.
to play the long game	to plan for long-term success	Good investors play the long game.
to learn the hard way	to learn from painful experience	He learned the hard way at Mikatagahara.

Try this: Ieyasu waited for the cuckoo to sing. Write three English sentences about a skill you are "playing the long game" with, using "bide your time" and "slow and steady wins the race".