德川家康

Tokugawa Ieyasu (德川家康, January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Son of a minor daimyo, Tokugawa once lived as a hostage, on behalf of his father, under another Daimyo. He later succeeded as daimyo after his father's death, serving as vassal and general under Oda Nobunaga, building up his strength. After Oda's death, Tokugawa was briefly a rival of fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi, before declaring allegiance to Toyotomi and fighting on his behalf. Under Toyotomi, Tokugawa was relocated to the Kanto plains in eastern Japan, away from the Toyotomi power base in Osaka. He built his castle in the fishing village of Edo (now Tokyo). He was to become the most powerful daimyo and the most senior officer under the Toyotomi regime.

Tokugawa preserved his strength in Toyotomi's failed attempt to conquer Korea. After Toyotomi's death, Ieyasu seized power in 1600, after the Battle of Sekigahara. He received appointment as shōgun in 1603, and voluntarily abdicated from office in 1605, but remained in power until his death in 1616. He implemented a set of careful rules known as the bakuhan system, designed to keep the daimyos and samurai in check under the Tokugawa Shogunate.

His given name is sometimes spelled Iyeyasu, according to the historical pronunciation of the kana character we. Ieyasu was posthumously enshrined at Nikkō Tōshō-gū with the name Tōshō Daigongen (東照大權現).