Tokugawa Ieyasu

1543 – 1616 · died at about 73^[1][2]

Politics & Leadership

Fun Facts About Tokugawa Ieyasu

• Tokugawa Ieyasu was kidnapped at age five by a rival warlord, and his father refused the kidnapper's demands even when he threatened to execute the boy.^[1]
• Ieyasu was the model for Lord Toranaga in James Clavell's novel Shōgun and in its TV adaptations of 1980 and 2024.^[1]
• Ieyasu mistook his doctor's diagnosis of stomach cancer for a tapeworm, refused the medicine prepared for him, and ended the dispute by exiling the physician.^[1]
• After a heavy defeat at Mikatagahara, Ieyasu had his castle gates left open with torches lit; suspecting a trap, the Takeda generals did not besiege the castle.^[1]
• Ieyasu swam often, and even late in life he is reported to have swum in the moat of Edo Castle.^[1]
• Ieyasu was deified after his death as Tōshō Daigongen, and the exact location of his remains is still a mystery.^[1]
• Tokugawa Ieyasu and William Shakespeare both died in 1616.^[1][2][3][4]
• Tokugawa Ieyasu was alive at the same time as Rembrandt — their lives overlapped for 10 years (1606–1616).^[1][2][5][6]

Tokugawa Ieyasu was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The son of a minor daimyo, Ieyasu once lived as a hostage under daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto on behalf of his father. He later succeeded as daimyo after his father's death, serving as ally, vassal, and general of the Oda clan, and building up his strength under Oda Nobunaga.^[1]

Contemporaries

Miguel de Cervantes

69 yr overlap

Akbar the Great

62 yr overlap

Elizabeth I

60 yr overlap

Tycho Brahe

55 yr overlap

Francis Bacon

55 yr overlap

Sir Francis Drake

53 yr overlap

Galileo Galilei

52 yr overlap

William Shakespeare

52 yr overlap

Johannes Kepler

45 yr overlap

Caravaggio

39 yr overlap

Peter Paul Rubens

39 yr overlap

Suleiman the Magnificent

23 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Tokugawa Ieyasu

When was Tokugawa Ieyasu born?

Tokugawa Ieyasu was born on January 31, 1543, and died on June 1, 1616.

How old was Tokugawa Ieyasu at death?

Tokugawa Ieyasu was born on January 31, 1543, and died on June 1, 1616, at age 73.

What was Tokugawa Ieyasu known for?

Tokugawa Ieyasu was known for: Founder of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate. Tokugawa Ieyasu was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The son of a minor daimyo, Ieyasu once lived as a hostage under daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto on behalf of his father. He later succeeded as daimyo after his father's death, serving as ally, vassal, and general of the Oda clan, and building up his strength under Oda Nobunaga.

Who was alive at the same time as Tokugawa Ieyasu?

Tokugawa Ieyasu's closest contemporary was Miguel de Cervantes. Their lives overlapped for 69 years.