Tokugawa Ieyasu

Ieyasu was born in 1542. Ieyasu was born into the family of a local Warrior. One of many such families struggling to survive in the hostile period . His childhood was scarcely auspicious. His father was involved in a network of shifting alliances that repeatedly drew him into battle. When Ieyasu was two, his mother was permanently separated from his father's family because of one such change in alliances, and when he was seven, military adversity compelled …

…to assure that the title was recognized as a Tokugawa family position. By the time of his death Ieyasu (1616) had built the largest castle in the world, a huge network of broad moats, towering stone walls, long wooden parapets, huge gatehouses, and great fireproof warehouses full of rice and coin. Around it lay mansions in which the daimyos lived as hostages. Edo became a bustling town and port, full of artisans, traders, clerks, and laborers.