Tokugawa Iemitsu, the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada, held a special place in the heart of his grandfather, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Although his younger brother Tadanaga was favored by their parents and initially considered as Hidetada’s successor, Ieyasu asserted that Iemitsu would inherit the position. Interestingly, during his childhood, Iemitsu shared the same name as his grandfather, Takechiyo.
In 1617, Iemitsu celebrated his Coming of Age ceremony, marking the official transition to adulthood and adopting the name Iemitsu. He was officially declared as the future shogun, a proclamation that was contested by his younger brother, sparking a bitter rivalry between them. When Hidetada passed away in 1632, Iemitsu, fearing his brother's ambitions, compelled Tadanaga to commit seppuku to eliminate any threat to his authority.
Moreover, Iemitsu disregarded the regents, a group of daimyo appointed by his father to serve as advisors, instead favoring his own circle of trusted friends. While this decision caused discontent among the daimyo, it led to the establishment of a robust and centralized government. Any dissent from the daimyo was swiftly dealt with, often resulting in their forced removal from positions of influence.
Iemitsu was responsible for implementing the Sankin Kotai system, which required daimyo to travel between their provinces and Edo (Tokyo), spending designated periods attending the court and maintaining separate residences in the city, where their families were held as hostages. This system served to control the daimyo and impose financial strain, limiting their ability to acquire arms, armor, and maintain large armies. Additionally, Iemitsu enforced Japan's isolationist policies, known as Sakoku, prohibiting foreigners from entering the country and restricting Japanese citizens from leaving. Foreign trade was strictly regulated and conducted solely at Deshima, a small island in Nagasaki.
Legend has it that in 1620, Iemitsu had a dispute with his childhood friend, as well as his homosexual partner and retainer, Sakabe Gozaemon, resulting in Gozaemon's death during a confrontation while they were bathing together. Seventeen years later, the Shimabara Rebellion erupted, with over 27,000 individuals killed or executed in protest against Iemitsu's policies.
Shogun Iemitsu passed away at the age of 47 on June 8, 1651, and was succeeded by his son, Tokugawa Ietsuna.
See also
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Minamoto no Yoshitsune
Minamoto no Yoshitsune was the son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and his second wife, Tokiwa Gozen, as well as the younger half-brother of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the first shogunate, who had once suffered defeat in the struggle against the Taira clan. Yoshitsune spent his childhood in exile at the Kuramayama Temple. According to legend, he studied not so much Buddhist sutras there as the arts of war. At the age of fifteen, he entered the service of the governor in Mutsu, Fujiwara Hidehira.
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Miyoshi Chokei
The eldest son of Miyoshi Nagamoto (Motonaga), at the age of seventeen and with the support of Miyoshi Masanaga and Matsunaga Hisahide, invaded Kinai, the inner provinces of Japan, and in 1539 seized control of Kyoto. In 1543 he expelled Hosokawa Ujitsuna from the commercial city of Sakai and appointed his own brother, Sōgo Kazunari, as the city’s new leader. In 1548 he took the name Chōkei. When a conflict arose between him and Masanaga, Chōkei appealed to his liege lord, Hosokawa Harumoto, asking him to raise troops in the provinces of Settsu, Izumi, and Kawachi, but Harumoto instead chose to ally with Masanaga against Chōkei.
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Matsudaira Ietada
Matsudaira Ietada, also known as Tomomo-no Suke, was the eldest son of Matsudaira Koretada, the head of the Fukozu branch of the Matsudaira clan. Ietada was born in 1555 at Fukozu Castle. When he reached adulthood (for samurai children this age range was between 11 and 17), the Fukozu-Matsudaira clan was under the authority of Tokugawa Ieyasu and commanded by Sakai Tadatsugu. In the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, Tadatsugu’s unit, which included both Ietada and his father, took part in the assault on the fort on Mount Tobigasu-yama. During the fighting, Koretada was killed, and twenty-year-old Ietada became the new head of the clan.
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Matsudaira Tadaakira
Tadaakira was the fourth son of Okudaira Nobumasa, a vassal of the Tokugawa clan, and his mother was Kame, the eldest daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1588, Tadaakira was adopted by Ieyasu and received the Matsudaira family name; at that time, he bore the name Kiyotada.
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Mashita Nagamori
Nagamori possessed remarkable diplomatic and administrative talent while remaining a brave warrior. He is believed to have come from the village of Mashita in the province of Owari, which today is part of Aichi Prefecture. He was a vassal of Oda Nobunaga and later served Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In the Battle of Komaki–Nagakute in 1584, Nagamori took at least two enemy heads. Later, he was entrusted with overseeing major public construction projects, including the reconstruction of Fushimi Castle and the building of the large Sanjō and Gojō bridges in Kyoto.
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Magara Jurōzaemon Naotaka
Magara Jurōzaemon Naotaka was a vassal of Asakura Yoshikage from the province of Echizen, and very little is known about his life, including even the exact year of his birth. Magara gained his renown through his heroic death at the Battle of Anegawa in 1570. In this battle, the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu confronted the armies of Asai and Asakura, with Ieyasu taking command of the left flank and fighting against the Asakura forces. After crossing the shallow Anegawa River, which separated the two armies, Tokugawa’s finest generals — Honda Tadakatsu and Sakakibara Yasumasa — launched an assault on the headquarters of Asakura Kagetake, the commander-in-chief of the Echizen army. The attack by Honda Tadakatsu was so swift that Kagetake found himself almost completely surrounded by enemy troops.
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Kusunoki Masashige
Kusunoki Masashige was, without exaggeration, a genius of guerrilla warfare. If not for this talented commander, Emperor Go-Daigo would likely have failed not only to ascend the throne, but even to put up any real resistance against the powerful Hojo clan.
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Kobayakawa Takakage
Kobayakawa Takakage was rightfully considered one of the most intelligent men of his era. Even Kuroda Kanbei, the celebrated strategist famed for his cunning—about whom people said he could outwit even a fox—admitted that Takakage was his equal in intellect, and at times even surpassed him. After the death of his father, Mōri Motonari, Takakage effectively governed the Mōri clan for many years while serving as advisor to his nephew, Mōri Terumoto.
