was the second ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamak ...

'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

, the first ''shōgun'' of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

Early life (1579–1593)

Tokugawa Hidetada was born to

and the

Lady Saigō Lady Saigō ( or ', 1552 – 1 July 1589), also known as Oai, was the first consort and trusted confidante of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the samurai lord who unified Japan at the end of the sixteenth century and then ruled as ''shōgun''. She was a ...

on May 2, 1581. This was shortly before

Lady Tsukiyama Lady Tsukiyama or (d. 9 September 1579) was a Japanese noble lady and aristocrat from the Sengoku period. She was the chief consort of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the ''daimyō'' who would become the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunat ...

, Ieyasu's official wife, and their son Tokugawa Nobuyasu were executed on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Oda Nobunaga, who was Nobuyasu's father-in-law and Ieyasu's ally. By killing his wife and son, Ieyasu declared his loyalty to Nobunaga. In 1589, Hidetada's mother fell ill, her health rapidly deteriorated, and she died at

Sunpu Castle was a Japanese castle in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle".Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)Shizuoka It was also referred to as or . His ...

. Later Hidetada with his brother, Matsudaira Tadayoshi, was raised by Lady Achaa, one of Ieyasu's concubines. His childhood name was , later becoming . The traditional power base of the Tokugawa clan was Mikawa. In 1590, the new ruler of Japan,

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

enlisted Tokugawa Ieyasu and others in attacking the domain of the Hōjō in what became known as the

Siege of Odawara (1590) The third occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as Hi ...

. Hideyoshi enlisted Ieyasu for this campaign by promising to exchange the five provinces under Ieyasu's control for the eight Kantō provinces, including the city of Edo. In order to keep Ieyasu from defecting to the Hōjō side (since the Hōjō and the Tokugawa were formerly on friendly terms), Hideyoshi took the eleven-year-old Hidetada as a hostage. In 1592 Hideyoshi presided over Hidetada's coming of age ceremony; it was then that Ieyasu's son dropped his childhood name, Takechiyo (竹千代), and assumed the name Hidetada. He was named the heir of the Tokugawa family, being the eldest surviving son of Ieyasu, and his favorite (since Ieyasu's eldest son had been previously executed, and his second son was adopted by Hideyoshi while still an infant). In 1593, Hidetada returned to his father's side. In 1590, Hidetada married O-Hime (1585–1591), daughter of Oda Nobukatsu and adopted daughter of

. O-Hime died in 1591, and was given the posthumous Buddhist name Shunshoin. In 1595, Hidetada married

Oeyo , , or : 1573 – September 15, 1626) was a prominently-placed female figure in the Azuchi–Momoyama period and early Edo period. She was daughter of Oichi and the sister of Yodo-dono and Ohatsu. When she rose to higher political status during ...

, daughter of Azai Nagamasa and adopted daughter of

. Their wedding was held in Fushimi Castle.

Military achievements (1593–1605)

In 1595, Hidetada married

of the Oda clan and they had two sons, Tokugawa Iemitsu and

Tokugawa Tadanaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. The son of the second ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Hidetada, his elder brother was the third ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Iemitsu. Life Often called ''Suruga Dainagon'' (the major counsellor of Suruga), ...

. They also had several daughters, one of whom,

Senhime (May 26, 1597 – March 11,February 6 in the old calendar 1666), or Lady Sen, was the eldest daughter of the '' shōgun'' Tokugawa Hidetada and later the wife of Toyotomi Hideyori. She was remarried to Honda Tadatoki after the death of her fir ...

, married twice. The other daughter, Kazuko ''hime'', married Emperor Go-Mizunoo (of descent from the

Fujiwara clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until ...

). Knowing his death would come before his son

Toyotomi Hideyori was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga. Early life Born in 1593, he was Hideyoshi's second son. The birth of Hideyori cr ...

came of age, Hideyoshi named five regents—one of whom was Hidetada's father, Ieyasu—to rule in his son's place. Hideyoshi hoped that the bitter rivalry among the regents would prevent any one of them from seizing power. But after Hideyoshi died in 1598 and Hideyori became nominal ruler, the regents forgot all vows of eternal loyalty and were soon vying for control of the nation. Tokugawa Ieyasu was one of the strongest of the five regents, and began to rally around himself an Eastern faction. A Western faction rallied around Ishida Mitsunari. The two factions clashed at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Ieyasu won decisively, which set the stage for Tokugawa rule. Hidetada had led 16,000 of his father's men in a campaign to contain the Western-aligned

Uesugi Uesugi (sometimes written ''Uyesugi'') is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: People *Uesugi clan, a Japanese samurai clan **Uesugi Akisada, (1454–1510), a samurai of the Uesugi clan ** Uesugi Harunori (1751–1822), a Ja ...

clan in Shinano. Ieyasu then ordered Hidetada to march to Sekigahara in anticipation of the decisive battle against the Western faction. But the Sanada clan managed to tie down Hidetada's force, so he arrived too late to assist in his father's narrow but decisive victory. Hidetada and Ieyasu's relationship never recovered. On 3 December 1601, Hidetada's first son, , was born to a young maiden from Kyoto named Onatsu. In September 1602, Chōmaru fell ill and died; his funeral was held at

Zōjō-ji is a Jōdo-shū Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan. It is the main temple of the Jōdo-shū ("Pure Land") Chinzei sect of Buddhism in the Kantō region,. Its mountain name is San'en-zan (三縁山). Zōjō-ji is notable for its relationship wit ...

temple in Shibe. In 1603 Emperor Go-Yōzei granted Ieyasu the title of ''

''. Thus Hidetada became the heir to the shogunate.

''Shōgun'' (1605–1623)

To avoid his predecessor's fate, Ieyasu established a dynastic pattern soon after becoming shogun by abdicating in favor of Hidetada in 1605. Ieyasu retained significant power until his death in 1616; but Hidetada nevertheless assumed a role as formal head of the

bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

bureaucracy. Much to the dismay of Ieyasu, in 1612, Hidetada engineered a marriage between Sen, Ieyasu's favorite granddaughter, and

, who was living as a commoner in Osaka Castle with his mother. When this failed to quell Hideyori's intrigues, Ōgosho Ieyasu and Shogun Hidetada brought an army to Osaka.Titsingh, p. 410. In 1614-1615, at Siege of Osaka, father and son once again disagreed on how to conduct this campaign against the recalcitrant Toyotomi forces in Osaka. In the ensuing siege Hideyori and his mother were forced to commit suicide. Even Hideyori's infant son ( Kunimatsu), that he had with a concubine, was not spared. Only Sen was spared; she later remarried and had a new family. After Ieyasu's death in 1616, Hidetada took control of the ''bakufu''. He strengthened the Tokugawa hold on power by improving relations with the Imperial court. To this end he married his daughter Kazuko to

Emperor Go-Mizunoo was the 108th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Mizunoo's reign spanned the years from 1611 through 1629, and was the first emperor to reign entirely during the Edo period. This 17th-century sovereign was n ...

. The product of that marriage, a girl, eventually succeeded to the throne of Japan to become Empress Meishō. The city of Edo was also heavily developed under his reign.

''Ogosho'' (1623–1632)

In '' Genna'' 9 (1623), Hidetada resigned the government to his eldest son and heir, Tokugawa Iemitsu.Screech, T. ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822''. p.85. Like his father before him, Hidetada became '' Ōgosho'' or retired ''shōgun'', and retained effective power. He enacted draconian anti-Christian measures, which Ieyasu had only considered: he banned Christian books, forced Christian ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

s'' to commit suicide, ordered other Christians to apostatize under penalty of death; and executed fifty-five Christians (both Japanese and foreign) who refused to renounce Christianity or to go into hiding, by burning, along with their children, in

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

in 1628. ''Ōgosho'' Hidetada died in '' Kan'ei'' 9, on the 24th day of the 1st month (March 14, 1632). His

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

posthumous name is . His ashes were ceremoniously laid to rest in the Taitoku-in Mausoleum in Edo. Taitokuin Mausoleum Gate

Honours

Senior First Rank The court ranks of Japan, also known in Japanese as ''ikai'' (位階), are indications of an individual's court rank in Japan based on the system of the state. ''Ikai'' as a system was originally used in the Ritsuryo system, which was the politi ...

(March 30, 1632; posthumous)

Eras

The years in which Hidetada was ''shōgun'' are more specifically identified by more than one

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of ...

or ''

nengō The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...

''. * '' Keichō'' (1596–1615) * '' Genna'' (1615–1624)

Family

Parents

Siblings (Mother side)

Wives and Concubines

Children

Adopted Daughters

Toyotomi Sadako Toyotomi Sadako (豊臣完子,1592 – 1658) was a Japanese noble woman from the Sengoku period and Edo period. She was a daughter of Toyotomi Hidekatsu (Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew) and Oeyo ( Oichi's daughter, Oda Nobunaga niece). In 1609 she ...

(1593–1658) daughter of Toyotomi Hidekatsu with

, later married

Kujō Yukiie , son of regent Kanetaka, was a ''kugyō'' or Japanese court noble of the Edo period (1603–1868). His given name was initially. He held a regent position kampaku from 1608 to 1612 and from 1619 to 1623. He married Toyotomi Sadako (1592–1658), ...

and had 2 Sons:

Nijō Yasumichi , son of Kujō Yukiie and Toyotomi Sadako. He was also adopted son of Nijō Akizane, was a Japanese ''kugyō'' (court noble) of the early Edo period. He held a regent position sesshō from 1635 to 1647. He married a daughter of Emperor Go-Yōzei, a ...

and

Kujō Michifusa , son of regent Yukiie, was a ''kugyō'' or Japanese court noble of the Edo period (1603–1868). He held a regent position sesshō in 1647. He married a daughter of second head of Echizen Domain Matsudaira Tadanao. One of the couple's daughter ...

.(Hidekatsu was Oeyo's former husband who died in

Japanese Invasions of Korea Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

) ** Chiyohime (1597–1649), daughter of Ogasawara Hidemasa and Toku-hime (Tokuhime was daughter of

Matsudaira Nobuyasu was the eldest son of Matsudaira Ieyasu. His ''tsūshō'' ("common name") was . He was called also , because he had become the lord of in 1570. Because he was a son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, he is often referred to, retroactively, as . Biography No ...

) and married

Hosokawa Tadatoshi was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Hosokawa Tadatoshi"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 359 細川忠利at ''Nihon jinmei daijiten''; retrieved 2013-5-29. He was the head of Kumamoto Domai ...

had 1 son: Hosokawa Mitsunao of

Kumamoto Domain The , also known as , was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Higo Province in modern-day Kumamoto Prefecture.

** Katsuhime (1618–1678), daughter of

with Honda Tadatoshi and married

Ikeda Mitsumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003).html" ;"title="DF 18 of 80">"Ikeda" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 14 DF 18 of ...

, had 1 son and 1 daughter: Ikeda Tsunamasa, Torihime ** Kamehime (1617–1681), daughter of Katsuhime with Matsudaira Tadanao and married Takamatsu no Miya Yoshihito-Shinnō ** Kisahime (1598–1656), daughter of Yūki Hideyasu and married Mōri Hidenari had 1 son: Mori Tsunanori of Chōshū Domain ** Binhime (1607–1652) daughter of Okudaira Iemasa of Utsunomiya Domain and married

Horio Tadaharu Horio Tadaharu (堀尾忠晴; 1596 – 26 October 1633) was a tozama ''daimyō'' in Japan during the Edo period. His father was Horio Tadauji and his grandfather was Horio Yoshiharu. He was the third leader of the Matsue clan. He married ...

had 1 daughter married Ishikawa Kadokatsu ** Furuhime (1607–1659), daughter of

Ikeda Terumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. His court title was '' Musashi no Kami''. Terumasa was also known by the nickname ''saigoku no shōgun'', or, "The ''Shōgun'' of Western Japan". Terumasa fought in many of the battles of the ...

with

Tokuhime Tokuhime may refer to: * Tokuhime (Oda) (徳姫) (1559–1636), daughter of Oda Nobunaga; also known as Gotokuhime * Tokuhime (Tokugawa) (督姫) (1565–1615), daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu * (登久姫) (1576–1607), daughter of Matsudaira ...

(Tokuhime was Hidetada's sister) and married

Date Tadamune was an early Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 2nd '' daimyō'' of the 625,000 ''koku'' Sendai Domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. He was the half-brother of Date Hidemune of Uwajima Domain. Biography Tadamune was born as Tor ...

had 2 sons and 1 daughter: Torachiyo, Date Mitsumune, and Nabehime married Tachibana Tadashige ** Tsuruhime (d. 1672), daughter of

Sakakibara Yasumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period through early Edo period, who served the Tokugawa clan. As one of the Tokugawa family's foremost military commanders, he was considered one of its Shitennō (Tokugawa clan), "Four Guardian K ...

and married Ikeda Toshitaka of Himeji Domain had 1 son:

** Hisahime (1606–1628) daughter of Matsudaira Tadayoshi of Sekiyado Domain and married Kuroda Tadayuki of Fukuoka Domain ** Takashi-ho-in (1602–1656), daughter of Gamō Hideyuki with Furihime (Hidetada's younger sister) and married Kato Tadahiro of

Kumamoto Domain The , also known as , was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Higo Province in modern-day Kumamoto Prefecture.

had 1 son: Katō Mitsuhiro ** daughter of Okada Mototsugu and married Soma Toshitane of Soma Nakamura Domain

Ancestry

Notes

References

* Screech, Timon. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822''. London: RoutledgeCurzon. * Titsingh, Isaac. (1822). ''Illustrations of Japan''. London: Ackerman. * Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō,_1652.html" ;"title="Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652">Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652 ''Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou
Annales des empereurs du Japon
' Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. * Totman, Conrad. (1967). ''Politics in the Tokugawa bakufu, 1600–1843''. Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

. * Wilson, Richard L. (1985)
''Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743)''
(PhD thesis/dissertation). Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas.
OCLC 19111312
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokugawa, Hidetada 1581 births 1632 deaths 16th-century Japanese people 17th-century shōguns Tokugawa shōguns Tokugawa clan People of Azuchi–Momoyama-period Japan People of Edo-period Japan