We continue our story about the activities of the greatest unifier of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Last time we left him the winner on the Sekigahara field, but what did he do when he destroyed his main enemy Ishida Mitsunari?
First of all, Ieyasu took care of the economy and redistributed the land (and income) belonging to the daimyo defeated by them. He took the best lands for himself, and did not offend his followers. Then the lands were received by the Toyotomi vassals, who joined the Tokugawa immediately before the battle of Sekigahara, that is, they seemed to have changed their minds and that's what they were paid for. The Toyotomi clans remained, and Ieyasu himself, ironically, was still his vassal, the Mori and Shimazu clans. The traitor Kobayakawa Hideaki, whose act decided the fate of the battle and the country, did not receive lands. Ieyasu apparently did not want to create a precedent and encourage this kind of betrayal.
This is how Ieyasu Tokugawa was. He also loved falconry. Therefore, he is depicted with a falcon on his hand.
In 1603, 60-year-old Ieyasu was finally granted the title of "Great Shogun of the Conqueror of the Barbarians" to the 60-year-old Ieyasu, after which he immediately created a new government of the country - the shogunate in the city of Edo (modern Tokyo). The new shogunate became the third and last shogunate in Japanese history, after the Minamoto and Ashikaga shogunates. But he also turned out to be the most durable and ruled the country for 250 years.
However, Ieyasu did not hold on to this title for long and in 1605 transferred it to his eldest son Tokugawa Hidetada. He remembered too well the fate of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who did not take timely care of their successors and let this important matter go by itself. However, power still belonged to Ieyasu. Indeed, according to Japanese tradition, the son had no right to disobey his father. He could order him to kill his beloved wife and children and … the son, if only he did not want to lose face in the eyes of society, had to do it immediately. Moreover, this was by no means a simple censure. No one would serve such a lord, for unquestioning respect for parents was an unwritten law of Japanese society.
In 1607, Ieyasu decided to return to the city of his youth - Sunpu, and make it his new residence, and leave his son in Edo Castle. Here, the former shogun began to develop such a state system that would allow his shogunate to maintain power for centuries. And let's say right away that he succeeded!
"Modern Ieyasu" (center), surrounded by their commanders.
In 1611, while at the coronation of Emperor Go-Mizunoo, Tokugawa made an important political move. He got his formal overlord, Toyotomi Hideyori, to come to the capital at his invitation. And in Japan it was accepted that the higher one cannot visit the lower ones at their invitation. Only … "expressing your desire." Therefore, all Japanese took this visit as a kind of recognition by the Toyotomi clan of the superiority of the Tokugawa clan.
Then Ieyasu began to restrict the rights of the capital's aristocracy of the Kuge and the imperial court itself, who often intervened in politics for their own benefit and provoked the samurai clans to enmity with each other.
Formally, Tokugawa Ieyasu passed his title of shogun to his son, but power was still in his hands. But he had much more free time, and he used it to compile the "Code of Samurai Clans" ("Buke shohatto"), which determined the norms of life and behavior of a samurai not only in the service, but also in his personal life, and in which all the traditions of the military-feudal class of Japan, which had previously been transmitted orally, were presented in a concise form. This "code" became the very famous codes of Bushido, according to which the samurai now began to live. It became the basis of samurai behavior for all subsequent times. But most importantly, in accordance with it, the samurai were transformed from warrior landowners into landless city officials.
Now Ieyasu had no other opponents except the Toyotomi clan.
He had many influential vassals, and most importantly was the third center of power in the country. And if Ieyasu suddenly died, Toyotomi could well regain power in the country. Therefore, he decided to get rid of his young opponent once and for all.
Costume parade in honor of Ieyasu Tokugawa.
To begin with, he began to drain Toyotomi's coffers by offering him various costly construction projects. And Hideyori couldn't refuse them. There are people for whom the opinion of the majority is of great importance, and now, apparently, due to his youth and inexperience, he was among them. Meanwhile, only one thing is important in life - who pays whom and how much. And it turned out that Hideyori paid out of his own pocket to his own detriment.
And then Ieyasu provoked a conflict, the reason for which was … the inscription on the bell for the Hoko-ji temple, restored with the money of Toyotomi Hideyori himself. Taking advantage of the fact that the same characters in Chinese and Japanese have different meanings, Ieyasu saw a curse addressed to him in the inscription made. Moreover, the Tokugawa was supported by the Kyoto monks (and how would they, I wonder, did they not?), Who not only confirmed his groundless interpretation, but also accused the Toyotomi clan of sacrilege.
This bell, or rather the inscription on it, was used by Tokugawa as a "Belli incident" to start a war with Toyotomi.
Hideyori tried to explain that the meaning of the inscriptions is different, but who would listen to him ?! Then he announced that he was inviting all the ronin to his castle in Osaka. And Ieyasu just needed that. He announced to Hideyori that he was preparing a war, a rebellion, a conspiracy and … began military operations against him, explaining to everyone that he was the first to start.
In November 1614, Ieyasu was finally able to begin the most important work of his life - the siege of Osaka Castle - the main citadel of the Toyotomi clan. Ieyasu's army numbered more than 200 thousand people. The siege was reduced to local battles for the forts located along its perimeter. No other types of struggle were possible due to the inaccessibility of the Osaka castle, surrounded on all sides by rice fields.
This nature of the conduct of hostilities was beneficial to Ieyasu, since success or failure depended mainly on numerical superiority. Although in the battles for the Sanada redoubt, whose defense was led by Sanada Yukimura, the Tokugawa troops were defeated.
Winter had come and the castle still held on. Then Ieyasu brought up the artillery and began to bombard the castle. The Dutch gunners fired and shot so well that they nearly blew off Hideyori's own head with a cannonball, while another cannonball hit the room of his mother, Princess Eateri, and killed two of her maids. As a result, Hideyori got scared (or was his mother scared, and he listened to her!) And offered to start negotiations for peace. As a result, the parties agreed that they would stop hostilities, but Hideyori also had to demolish the outer fortifications of the castle and disband his troops. Ieyasu's soldiers immediately set to work and as a result, by January 1615, the entire outer line of Osaka's defense was eliminated.
Realizing what this situation could lead to, Toyotomi set about restoring the fortifications. By this, they gave Ieyasu a reason to again present them with an ultimatum: stop the restoration of the castle, disband the ronin troops, but, most importantly, leave the castle in Osaka and live in the castle that the shogun will show them. It is clear that Hideyori could not agree to this and Tokugawa declared war on him for the second time.
Monument to Ieyasu Tokugawa in Okazaki Park.
The siege began again, but now it was already clear to everyone that the defeat of Toyotomi was only a matter of time. It was decided to attack Ieyasu and - come what may. And, yes, indeed, Hideyori's troops managed to break through to the very headquarters of Ieyasu. But he still did not have enough strength, and his army suffered a crushing defeat. In a stalemate, both Toyotomi Hideyori and his mother committed seppuku. This is how the Toyotomi clan ceased to exist!
Now Ieyasu was the main ruler of Japan, and his son was the shogun! The emperor granted him the post of chief minister of the country, daijo-daijin. But less than a few months after that, he fell seriously ill. Exactly what is unknown. Tokugawa loved to eat well, had 18 concubines, so it is not at all surprising that his health simply could not withstand such excessive loads for his age.
Ieyasu Tokugawa died on June 1, 1616, at 10 o'clock in the morning, in Sumpu Castle at the age of 73.
The cast gate at the Nikko Tosho-gu shrine leading to the Tokugawa tomb.
He was buried in a temple in Nikko Tosho-gu and received the posthumous name Tosho-Daigongen (“The Great Savior God Who Illuminated the East”), under which he was included in the list of Japanese divine spirits Kami.
Tomb of Ieyasu Tokugawa.
Interestingly, unlike Oda Nobunaga, who maintained relations with Portugal and Spain and did not object to the missionary activities of the Jesuits who spread Catholicism in Japan, Tokugawa preferred to build relations with the Protestant Netherlands. And since 1605, William Adams, an English sailor and Dutch trade agent, became Ieyasu's adviser on European politics. It is believed that he incited Ieyasu and his son to persecute the Catholic religion in Japan, which ultimately led to the almost complete closure of the country to the West. Only the Dutch had the right to trade with Japan. Already in 1614, Ieyasu by his decree prohibited the stay of missionaries and converted Christians in the country. Repressions fell upon believers with demonstrative mass crucifixions on crosses. A small number of Christians managed to move to the Spanish Philippines, but all those who remained were forcibly converted to Buddhism. Nevertheless, a small group of Japanese managed to remain faithful to Christianity, which they professed in deep secrecy until 1868, when in Japan, during the Meiji reforms, freedom of religion was finally proclaimed.
Ieyasu's handwritten advice on how a samurai can succeed in his affairs. From the collection of the Nikko Temple.
P. S. The story of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the English sailor William Adams is reflected in the novels "The Knight of the Golden Fan" by Christopher Nicole and "The Shogun" by James Clavell.
