Tokugawa Ieyasu was born into a period of war and bloodshed in feudal Japan. Alliances into powerful clans and a good patience allowed him to slowly earn his way up the ranks and through numerous battles until he finally put to rest the battling warlords who sought control of the country. With little to stand in his way, Tokugawa Ieyasu took the title of Shogun. Under Tokugawa rule, Japan was grace with over 250 years of peace until an eroding economic and political system gave way to western powers urging Japan to open its ports. The Unification of Japan under one government was indeed a triumph as it brought prosper to the people of Japan.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was born Matsudaira Takechiyo of the Matsudaira military clan in 1543. Ieyasu grew up in the small fishing village of Edo (later to be claimed as headquarters for the shogunate) during the sengoku jidai (period of warring states). The Matsudaira clan had been arguing over whether to ally with the Imagawa clan, or the Oda clan, and many clan members were in disagreement over whom to support. When he was just four years old, Ieyasu was sent as a hostage to establish an alliance with the Imagawa in 1547, but was intercepted by Oda Nobuhide on his way to Imagawa land. Held by the Oda until his father’s death in 1549, he then ended up with the Imagawa for another ten years. The Imagawa clans defeat by Nobuhide’s son, Oda Nobunaga, freed Ieyasu to regain leadership of the Matsudaira and immediately allied with the Nobunaga, changing his name to Tokugawa and occupying what was left of Imagawa land (Samurai Commanders 14, 15, 16).
Things started to turn bad when Ieyasu made a brief pact with Takeda Shingen to seize the rest of Imagawa territory. Takeda Shingen took most of the land for himself leaving Ieyasu with just a small portion of land. To make things worse, Ieyasu attempted to form an alliance with Takeda Shingen’s greatest enemy, Uesugi Kenshin and provoked the Takeda by moving his headquarters to...