Nobuhiro was trapped by the Imagawa clan but was saved by Oda Nobunaga, Nobuhide's second son and heir, through negotiations. In 1551, an army under the command of Imagawa Sessai laid siege to the castle where Oda Nobuhiro, Nobuhide's illegitimate eldest son was living. Nobuhide's death dealt a heavy blow to the Oda clan. At about the same time, Oda Nobuhide died during an epidemic. In 1549, when Takechiyo was 6, his father Hirotada was murdered by his own vassals, who had been bribed by the Oda clan. It is said that Oda Nobunaga met Takechiyo at this place, when Takechiyo was 6 years old, and Nobunaga was 14 at that time. Despite this refusal, Nobuhide chose not to kill Takechiyo, but instead held him hostage for the next three years at the Honshōji Temple in Nagoya. However, Hirotada refused, stating that sacrificing his own son would show his seriousness in his pact with the Imagawa. Nobuhide threatened to execute Takechiyo unless his father severed all ties with the Imagawa clan. Takechiyo was five years old at the time.

Oda Nobuhide learned of this arrangement and had Takechiyo abducted. Yoshimoto agreed to an alliance under the condition that Hirotada send his young heir to Sunpu Domain as a hostage. Hostage life Īs Oda Nobuhide continued to attack Okazaki, Hirotada turned to his powerful eastern neighbor, Imagawa Yoshimoto for assistance. Hirotada later remarried to different wives, and Takechiyo eventually had 11 half-brothers and sisters. As a result, Hirotada divorced Odai-no-kata and sent her back to her family. Soon afterwards, Hirotada's father-in-law died, and his heir, Mizuno Nobumoto, revived the clan's traditional enmity against the Matsudaira and declared for Oda Nobuhide as well. This gave Oda Nobuhide the confidence to attack Okazaki. In 1543, Hirotada's uncle, Matsudaira Nobutaka defected to the Oda clan. In the year of Takechiyo's birth, the Matsudaira clan was split. They were 17 and 15 years old, respectively, when Takechiyo was born. His mother and father were step-siblings. Originally named Matsudaira Takechiyo ( 松平竹千代), he was the son of Matsudaira Hirotada ( 松平廣忠), the daimyo of Mikawa of the Matsudaira clan, and Odai no Kata ( 於大の方, Lady Odai), the daughter of a neighbouring samurai lord, Mizuno Tadamasa ( 水野忠政). Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in Okazaki Castle on the 26th day of the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Tenbun, according to the Japanese calendar. Okazaki Castle, the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu Hirotada's main enemy was Oda Nobuhide, the father of Oda Nobunaga. His territory was sandwiched between stronger and predatory neighbors, including the Imagawa clan based in Suruga Province to the east and the Oda clan to the west. Ieyasu's father, Matsudaira Hirotada, was a minor local warlord based at Okazaki Castle who controlled a portion of the Tōkaidō highway linking Kyoto with the eastern provinces. Background ĭuring the Muromachi period, the Matsudaira clan controlled a portion of Mikawa Province (the eastern half of modern Aichi Prefecture). He implemented a set of careful rules known as the bakuhan system, designed to keep the daimyo and samurai in check under the Tokugawa Shogunate. He received appointment as shōgun in 1603, and voluntarily abdicated from office in 1605, but remained in power until his death in 1616. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu seized power in 1600, after the Battle of Sekigahara. Ieyasu preserved his strength in Toyotomi's failed attempt to conquer Korea.

He became the most powerful daimyo and the most senior officer under the Toyotomi regime (Hideyoshi's new clan name). He built his castle in the fishing village of Edo (now Tokyo). Under Hashiba, Ieyasu was relocated to the Kanto plains in eastern Japan, away from the Hashiba power base in Osaka. Īfter Oda Nobunaga's death, Ieyasu was briefly a rival of Hashiba Hideyoshi, before declaring his allegiance and fighting on his behalf. He later succeeded as daimyo after his father's death, serving as a vassal and general of the Oda clan, and building up his strength under Oda Nobunaga. The son of a minor daimyo, Ieyasu once lived as a hostage under daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto on behalf of his father. He was one of the three 'Great Unifiers' of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Tokugawa Ieyasu ( 徳川家康, Janu– Jborn Matsudaira Takechiyo and later taking other names ) was the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Evil shogun and diamyos