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TOKUGAWA SUPREME SHOGUN PDF Free Download

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TOKLJGAWA
SUPREME
SHOGUN
Rising through the military ranks, Tokugawa leyasu's
ruthlessness and resolve finally helped end a protracted
civil war. As founder of a new shogunate, he ushered in
a ruling dynasty that endured until the 19th century.
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Japan in the 1 7th century
Hol*aido
I
NoshirooII
Sakatar r
I
Niigata. r
Territory controlled
by the Tokugawa
Area unified by Oda
Nobunaga by 1582
Battle
Fortified castle town
"Five Highways" of
Tokugawa Japan
Mivako
a'
'a9a
Shimoda
Serr of
(E ast lapon
S ea)
II
t Shikoku
PACIFIC
O CEAN
Eo5G|SCoI!VNG lr4APS
vo) BIRTHPLACE
Okazaki Castle
(right) is where
future shogun
Tokugawa leyasu
was born in 1543
The original
castle on the site
was built in the
15th century.
, IVANI4ARCHUVAUMY
II
Yamaouchi
uta
Akamagase\i' r
+
rl-L
lI a
Nagasaki
oOI
5
c-
rokugawa Ieyasu was
not ayoungmanwhen
he became shogun
in 16o3. His rise to
power was long and slow, a jour-
ney that had begun when he was
just 15 years old. Alongthe way-
through a combination of luck,
strategy, patience, and wisdom-he
would survive the turbulent end toJapan's
medieval Sengoku ("Warring States") period
and emerge at age 6o in control ofJapan. When
he died in 1616, he left the nation transformed
and his family firmly in power.
In the rTth century, Japan's official head of
state was the emperor, who was based in Kyoto.
The emperor's shogun was the military com-
mander, a de facto ruler who was feared and
respected by all. The title of shogun is adapted
from the term seii torshogun, meaning"supreme
commander who subdues the barbarians."
The position was officially appointed by the
emperor, but shoguns could and did form
hereditary dynasties that passed power from
one generation to the next.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was no different; he made
moves and enacted policies during his reign
that ensured his family's control over Japan
60 MAY/IUNE2023
long after his death. His descendants would
continue to rule Japan for more than z5o years.
ComingTogether
Born in 1543 to a modest family, Ieyasu began
his career as an administrator and soldier in
the service of other lords. The violence and
instability of the Warring States period long
predated his birth; its roots lay in the late
rzth-century conflict between rival noble
clans, principallythe Taira andthe Minamoto.
Inthe year rr85, the Minamoto claneliminated
their Taira enemies and established the first
shogunate, or military dictatorship, with Mina-
moto Yoritomo as its leader. The shogunate
system itself would last for 7oo years.
"Ihe daimy o, regional feudal lords, swore loyal-
ty to the emperor, who was largely a ceremonial
and religious figure. It was shogunate founder
Yoritomo and his successors who wielded true
executive power. Yet despite the appearance of
an absolute monopoly, the shogunate (a1so called
bakuf-r) often faced rebellion from the daimyo in
the following centuries. Anarchy would reach its
climax after the OninWar 0461 -t+Zl), asucces-
sion dispute over the shogunate that trigtrlered a
Iong civil war. The turbulence lasted almost 15 o
years, aperiodknownas the Warring States.
BECOMING
THE
SHOGUN
1580
Oda Nobunaga
quells centuries
of japanese
civil war. One of
,l his generals is
Tokugawa leyasu.
1600
' leyasu defeats
I his rivals at
the Battle of
. Sekigahara and
takes control of
I the country.
. 1603
After unifying
Japan and
subduing his
nvals, IoKugawa
leyasu becomes
shogun,
1605
leyasu abdicates
, in favor of his son,
'' but continues
to exercise
: power f rom the
sidelines.
''' 1616
: leyasu dies. His
legacy of a stable
Japan isolated
from the world
will endure until
the mid-1BOOs.
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WIVES AND
CONCUBINES
TOKUGAWAIEYASUREGARDED family life as an extension of power. Wives and
concubines were treated ruthlessly or with respect according to their political
expedience. His first marriage, to Tsukiyama-dono (Lady Tsukiyama), was
arranged by his uncle to consolidate an alliance with another clan. In 1579
leyasu had her beheaded when he discovered she was
plotting against Oda Nobunaga, the lord he served
at the time. ln 1586, he married again, this time to
Asahi no kata, half sisterof Toyotomi Hideyoshi,
his dynastic rival. leyasu also had concubines, ..t
among which Saigo-no-Tsubone (Lady 5ai-
go) stood out for her close relationship
with the shogun during his rise
to power. She was a close
conf idante on political
matters and bore him
an heir, Tokugawa Hi-
detada, who succeeded
him as shogun.
In the 1570s, three warriors would rise to
power and bring this chaotic period to an end.
They were Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hidey-
oshi, and Tokugawa leyasu. A feudal lord and
feared military leader, Nobunaga headed the
powerful Oda clan after eliminating his local
rivals in the r55os.In the following decade, he
turned his attentions toward to the rest ofJapan
and launched a campaign to secure power on a
Iarger stage. In 1562 Tokugawa Ieyasu allied his
clan and his warriors with the Oda clan where he
would gain power and influence while serving
as a commander under Nobunaga.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's beginnings were hum-
ble; he began his career as a foot soldier in the
Oda army. Nobunaga noticed his talents and
nurtured them, allowing the young man to rise
through the ranks and become a lord himself.
After Nobunaga's assassina-
tion in r582, Hideyoshi
avenged his leader's
death, taking power
and rulingJapan for
JAPANESE MONS ARE SIMILAR
TO EUROPEAN COATS OF ARi\,4S.
THE TOKUGAWA i\,40N FEATURES
THREE HOLLYHOCK tEAVES.
DETIMONT/ALAI\4YIACI
BATTLETO END
ALL BATTLES
A 19th-century
screen (right)
depicts the Battle
of Sekigahara
(1600), which
cleared Tokugawa
leyasu's path to
the shogunate
and marked the
begining of the end
of centuries of war.
CONFIDANT
CONCUBINE
Portrait of Saigo-
no-Tsubone (left),
Tokugawa
leyasu's favorite
concubine,
adviser, and mother
to his heir, who
would become the
second shogun,
UIG/ALBU,I
some 12 years. When Hideyoshi died in 1598,
his five-year-old son, Toyotomi Hideyori, was
named successor. A regency council was es-
tablished to govern the country until the boy
reached the age of majority.
Among the five council members was
Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had risen through the
ranks of the Oda clan and proved his loyalty. A
powerfulgeneral and daimyo, Ieyasuhad anar-
my at his command-and a tense relationship
with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Upon Hideyoshi's
death, Tokugawa Ieyasu broke his oath of al-
legiance to the Toyotomi dynasty and seized
power as lord ofJapan in 1599.
Another member of the regenry council, Ishi-
da Mitsunari, moved to defend the Toyotomi
heir. On October 2t,1,6oo,the two sides came
face-to-face at the Battle of Sekigahara. This
climactic battle brought the Warring States pe-
riod to a definitive end when Tokugawa leyasu,s
forces secured victory.
Officers loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori who
managed to survive the battle were soon cap-
tured and killed. Aweek later, the severed heads
ofthe vanquished were hung from trees on an
avenue in Kyoto, the imperial capital, as a warn-
ing. The young Toyotomiwas forced to abandon
any claims to power, although Tokugawa Ieyasu
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TF]E
SHOGUN'S
COMPOTJND
TOKUGAWAIEYASU set up his court rn Edo, a 15th-century
castle he would expand into a vast complex with a
ten-miie perimeter-today it's the historic nucleus of
modern Tokyo. Protected by 40-foot-high outer walls,
the fortress contained several districts, each separated
by walls and gates. The main district, Honmaru, held the
shogun's residence, Q A daimyo or samural who came
to pay homage to the shogun crossed G) a bridge before
being led through @ a passageway to G) the residential
palace. Protected by O a five-story tower, the palace
had reception rooms and ooku (women's quarters),
where hundreds practiced weaving and ikebana, the
art of f lower arranging. @ Off icials came and went
bearing dispatches, monks rang bells, and O gamurai
demonstrated archery or trained with wooden swords
called bokken
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RUTER'5 RESIDENCE,
A PAINTING FROI\,ITHE IMIDITTH
CENTURY ILLUSTRATES THE SHOGUN'S
DISTRICT IN THE FORTRESS OF EDO
(TOKYO), BUILT BY IOKUGAWA I'YASU
GRANGER/A6E FOTOSTOCK
Ievasu also reduced the possibility of rebel-
lion by preventing a daimyo from having more
than one fortress witl-rin his fiefdom. The pol-
icy, institutionalized by his successors, led to
the destruction of more than 6oo fortifica-
tions and citadels across Japan. By contrast.
the great Tokugawa fortress in Edo grew larger
and larger. High-quality materials, salvaged
from the daiymo-owned buildings that had
been demolished, were
used to expand it.
But perhaps the most
effective method of
keeping the great feudal
lords under control was
to force many of them to
reside in Edo for periods.
The move pur an enor-
mous financial burden
on the daimyo, limiting
their ability to main-
tain troops that would
threaten the shogun. At
SIGNED, HIDEY0RI lN l60l T0Y0T0lr4l
HIDEYOSH]'S HEIR HIDEYORI WROTE
IN SHODO (jAPANESE CAtL GRAPHY)
"H]DEYOR], TIGHT YEARS OLD,"
SCTLA lORENCE
TMPEAOR iN
THE F.Ah4II-Y
Go-Mizunoo
(left) reigned as
emperor from i6'11
to 1629. He had
close ties to the
shogunate through
his wife, leyasu's
granddaughter,
Masako,
ALAilYTACI
EI.IDGAME
ATOSAKA
A painted screen
(righi) depicts
ihe 1614 siege
of Osaka, where
leyasu eliminated
his rival, Toyotomi
llffil"''
the same time, having daimyo in Edo brought a
significant injection of wealth to the city. By the
time Tokugawa Iemitsu, Ieyasu's grandson, be-
came the third Tokugawa shogun, the practice of
Edo residency was institutionalized in a policy
designed to maintain central control (sonkin-
kotai); a daimyo had to stay in Edo for a full year
out of every two.
Securing a Dynasty
In r6o5, Ieyasu abdicated in favor of his third
son, Hidetada. Ieyasu hoped to push Hide-
tada into gaining ruling experience while he
retreated into the role of ogosho, or shadow
shogun. in practice, however, Ieyasu continued
to hold the reins of government.ln r6rr Ieyasu
had no qualms about deposing the emperor
Go-Yozei and replacing him with Go-Mizunoo.
The latter was a more suitable age for marrying
Ieyasu's granddaughter Masako, a union that
leyasu duly arranged.
With almost all political opposition tied up
by t6t4, only one loose end remained: Tovoto-
mi Hideyori, the young regent who leyasu, as a
member of the regency council, had vowed to
protect. The shogun had 1et the voung man live
in the Osaka fortress and tried to secure Hid-
eyori's loyalty by marrying hrm to one of his
daughters, Sen. But when Hideyori came of age,
some generals and daimyos saw in the young
man aplausible alternative to Tokugawapower.
But a s1y Ieyasu saw the threat coming and
was prepared. In 16r+, under the guise that
Hideyori was plotting a rebellion, Ieyasu led his
army to Osaka to lay siege to Hideyori's seem-
ingly impregnable fortress. The siege lasted
several months until finaIly, in June 1615, the
troops of both sides (3oo,ooo soldiers in all)
faced each other in abloodypitchedbattle. Re-
alizing his defeat, Hideyori committed seppuku
(suicide by disembowelment), a practice seen
by warriors as honorable. The Tokugawa troops
massacred Hideyori's foliowers in a bloodbath
that left observers stunned.
In the words of the Spanish merchant Ber-
nadino de Aviia Gir6n, who witnessed the
events: "Osaka was Homer's Troy that day.
Taking pity, the mothers threw their chil-
dren off the castle walls, or else they smashed
them against the wal1. I pray to God that I
never attend another such he11." During the
battle, Ieyasu showed no mercy, even to his
great-grandson Kunimatsu, son of Hideyori
and Sen. The boy, aged just seven, was be-
headed and took the Toyotomi lineage with
him to the grave.
AS LARGE
AS LIFE
A statue of
Tokugawa
leyasu (left) can
be seen at the
Tosho-gu shrine
within the Nikko
temple complex,
a World Heritage
site in Japan.
ROBERT HARDING/NA]IONAL
GEOGRAPH]C IMAGE COLLECTION
SHRINE FOR
ASHOGUN
A Shinto shrine
(right) was built
as a mausoleum
for leyasu by
his grandson,
lemitsu, the
third Tokugawa
;1,,o*'n
The Siege ofOsaka consoiidated the Tokuga-
wa dynasty's grip onJapan, and it would not let
go for centuries; it held onto power until the
Meiji Restoration in rB6B. Tokugawa leyasu
died in r6r6, and his heirs maintained absolute
authority over Japan, imposing a strict class
system on its people while keeping the nation
isolated from foreign powers.
While many official histories regard
Tokugawa Ieyasu as an extraordinary poiiti-
cian and hero, his rule and legacy have come to
be viewed with more ambivalence by histori-
ans. If the shogun achieved stability, he did so
at the cost of taking away freedoms from fellow
citizens. He stamped the name of Tokugawa
across the annals for generations, but did so
with the blood of thousands.
A spECtALlsT tN JAPANESE HtsToRy AUTH0R ANroHto l,licurzrrecHrs
H]5TORY ATTHE UNIVERSITY OF CORDOBA, SPAIN,
Learn more
Shogur: The life and Times of Tokugawa leyasu:
-Iapan i Greatest Ruler
A L. Sadler, Tuttle Pub ishing,2a22.
A Concise History ofJapan
Brett L Walker, Cambridge University Press, 2015.
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