Editing Tokugawa Ieyasu (section)

==Early life (1543–1562)==

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]], January 31, 1543 according to the Western calendar. Originally named {{Nihongo|'''Matsudaira Takechiyo'''|松平 竹千代}}, he was the son of {{Nihongo|[[Matsudaira Hirotada]]|松平 広忠}}, the [[daimyo]] of [[Mikawa Province|Mikawa]] of the [[Matsudaira clan]], and {{Nihongo|[[Odai no Kata]]|於大の方|extra=Lady Odai}}, the daughter of a neighbouring [[samurai|samurai lord]], {{Nihongo|[[Mizuno Tadamasa]]|水野 忠政}}. His mother and father were step-siblings. They were 17 and 15 years old, respectively, when Takechiyo was born.<ref name="McLynn 230">{{Cite book|last=McLynn|first=Frank|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=64vwz3O4QgwC&q=tokugawa+Ieyasu+11+half-brothers+and+sisters&pg=PA230|title=Heroes & Villains: Inside the minds of the greatest warriors in history|date=2009|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4090-7034-4|page=230|language=en}}</ref>

During the [[Muromachi period]], the Matsudaira clan controlled a portion of Mikawa Province (the eastern half of modern [[Aichi Prefecture]]). Ieyasu's father, [[Matsudaira Hirotada]], was a minor local warlord based at Okazaki Castle who controlled a portion of the [[Tōkaidō (road)|Tōkaidō]] highway linking [[Kyoto]] with the eastern provinces. His territory was surrounded by stronger and predatory neighbors, including the [[Imagawa clan]] based in [[Suruga Province]] to the east and the Oda clan to the west. Hirotada's main enemy was [[Oda Nobuhide]], the father of [[Oda Nobunaga]].<ref name="Turnbull-I">{{Cite book |last=Turnbull |first=Stephen |title=Tokugawa Ieyasu |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2012 |isbn=9781849085748 |pages=5–9}}</ref>

In the year of Takechiyo's birth, the Matsudaira clan split. Hirotada's uncle, Matsudaira Nobutaka defected to the Oda clan. This gave Oda Nobuhide the confidence to attack Okazaki. Soon afterwards, Hirotada's father-in-law died, and his heir, [[Mizuno Nobumoto]], revived the clan's traditional enmity against the Matsudaira and declared allegiance to Oda Nobuhide as well. As a result, Hirotada divorced [[Odai no Kata|Odai-no-kata]] and sent her back to her family.<ref name="Turnbull-I"/> Hirotada later remarried to different wives, and Takechiyo eventually had 11 half-brothers and sisters.<ref name="McLynn 230"/>

===Hostage life===
[[File:Okazakijo2.JPG|left|thumb|[[Okazaki Castle]], the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu]]

As Oda Nobuhide continued to attack Okazaki, Hirotada turned to his powerful eastern neighbor, [[Imagawa Yoshimoto]], for assistance. Yoshimoto agreed to an alliance under the condition that Hirotada send his young heir to [[Sunpu Domain]] as a hostage.<ref name="Turnbull-I"/> Oda Nobuhide learned of this arrangement and had Takechiyo abducted.<ref name=Turnbull /> Takechiyo was five years old at the time.<ref name="screech85">[[Timon Screech|Screech]], Timon (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822''. London: [[RoutledgeCurzon]]. {{ISBN|0-7007-1720-X}}, pp. 85, 234; n.b., Screech explains
<blockquote>Minamoto-no-Ieyasu was born in ''Tenbun'' 11, on the 26th day of the 12th month (1542) and he died in ''Genna'' 2, on the 17th day of the 4th month (1616); and thus, his contemporaries would have said that he lived 75 years. In this period, children were considered one year old at birth and became two the following New Year's Day; and all people advanced a year that day, not on their actual birthday.</blockquote></ref> Nobuhide threatened to execute Takechiyo unless his father severed all ties with the Imagawa clan. However, Hirotada refused, stating that sacrificing his own son would show his seriousness in his pact with the Imagawa. Despite this refusal, Nobuhide chose not to kill Takechiyo, but instead held him hostage for the next three years at the [[Anjō|Honshōji Temple]] in [[Nagoya]]. It was rumored that Oda Nobunaga met Takechiyo at the temple, when Takechiyo was six years old, and Nobunaga was 14. However, Katsuhiro Taniguchi reported there is no concrete historical records about this story of first meeting between Takechiyo with Nobunaga.<ref>{{Cite book|author = Katsuhiro Taniguchi  |date= 2017 |title = 天下人の父親・織田信秀 信長は何を学び、受け継いだのか |series = 祥伝社新書 |pages = 126–127}}</ref>

In 1549, when Takechiyo was six,<ref name="screech85"/> his father Hirotada died of unknown causes. There was a popular theory that he was murdered by his vassals, who had been bribed by the Oda clan. However, a scholarly article published by Muraoka Mikio in 2015 states that the assassination theory is unreliable and Hirotada's death may have been caused by a natural illness.<ref name="muraoka">{{Cite journal|author=Muraoka Mikio |title=織田信秀岡崎攻落考証|journal=中京大学文学論叢|issue=1|date=2015}}</ref> 

Around the same time, Oda Nobuhide died during an epidemic. Nobuhide's death dealt a heavy blow to the Oda clan.

In 1551, an army under the command of [[Sessai Chōrō|Imagawa Sessai]] laid siege to the castle where Oda Nobuhiro, Nobuhide's illegitimate eldest son, was living. Nobuhiro was trapped by the Imagawa clan but was saved through negotiation by Oda Nobunaga, Nobuhide's second son and heir. Sessai made an agreement with Nobunaga to take Takechiyo back to Imagawa, and he agreed. Takechiyo, now nine years old, was taken as a hostage to Sunpu. 

At Sunpu, he was treated fairly well as a potentially useful ally of the Imagawa clan until 1556 when he was 14 years old.<ref name="screech85"/> Yoshimoto decided that the Matsudaira clan's territory would be inherited by Takechiyo in the future, with the aim that the Imagawa clan could rule the area by extensions of their Matsudaira clan as their vassal, including Zuien-in (the daughter of Matsudaira Nobutada and Takechiyo's great-aunt), who was the only member of the Anjo Matsudaira clan left in Okazaki Castle.<ref>Shinko Kiichi, "Okazaki under the control of the castle lord and Matsudaira Motoyasu, a subordinate of the Imagawa clan," New Edition of the History of Okazaki City, Middle Ages, Chapter 3, Section 4, Items 5 and 6, 1989.... Here, Okazaki quoted ishi in his book Oishi, Yasushi (2019). 今川義元 [Imagawa Yoshimoto]. シリーズ・中世関東武士の研究 第二七巻. 戎光祥出版</ref>{{sfn|Oishi|2019|pp=134–141}}{{efn|In addition, during this time of hostages in Sunpu, Hojo Ujinori of [[Hōjō clan]] was also a hostage in Sunpu castle, so there is a theory that Ieyasu and Ujinori had been friends since that time, and this theory was included in the Dai Nihon Shiryō (''collection of historical documents from the ninth to the seventeenth century'') and other sources.<ref>Suruga Magazine (a geography book of Suruga Province in the early 19th century, written by Abe Masanobu)</ref>}}

=== Service under Imagawa clan ===
{{Main|Siege of Marune|Battle of Okehazama|Siege of Kaminogo Castle}}

In 1556, Takechiyo officially came of age, with Imagawa Yoshimoto presiding over his ''[[genpuku]]'' ceremony. Following tradition, he changed his name from Matsudaira Takechiyo to {{Nihongo|'''Matsudaira Jirōsaburō Motonobu'''|松平 次郎三郎 元信}}. He was also briefly allowed to visit [[Okazaki Castle|Okazaki]] to pay his respects to the tomb of his father, and receive the homage of his nominal retainers, led by the ''[[karō]]'' [[Torii Tadayoshi]].<ref name="Turnbull-I"/>

One year later, at the age of 15 (according to [[East Asian age reckoning]]), he married his first wife, [[Lady Tsukiyama]], a relative of Imagawa Yoshimoto, and changed his name again to {{Nihongo|'''Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu'''|松平 蔵人佐 元康}}. A year later, their son, [[Matsudaira Nobuyasu]], was born. He was then allowed to return to Mikawa Province. There, the Imagawa ordered him to fight against the Oda clan in a series of battles.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bottomley |first=Ian |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63666433 |title=Shogun: the life of Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu |date=2005 |publisher=Royal Armouries |others=Royal Armouries Museum |isbn=0-948092-58-0 |location=Leeds, UK |oclc=63666433}}</ref>

Motoyasu fought his first battle in 1558 at the [[siege of Terabe]]. The lord of Terabe, [[Suzuki Shigeteru]] (or {{ill|Suzuki Shigetatsu|jp|鈴木重辰 (日向守)|vertical-align=sup}}), betrayed the Imagawa by defecting to Oda Nobunaga. This was nominally within Matsudaira territory, so Imagawa Yoshimoto entrusted the campaign to Motoyasu and his retainers from Okazaki. Motoyasu led the attack in person, but after taking the outer defences, he burned the main castle and withdrew. As anticipated, the Oda forces attacked his rear lines, but Motoyasu was prepared and drove off the Oda army.<ref name="Turnbull-I2">{{Cite book |last=Turnbull |first=Stephen |title=Tokugawa Ieyasu |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2012 |isbn=9781849085748 |page=10}}</ref>

He then succeeded in delivering supplies during the siege of [[Ōtaka Castle|Odaka Castle]] a year later. Odaka was one of five disputed frontier forts under attack by the Oda clan, and the only one that still remained under Imagawa control. Motoyasu launched diversionary attacks against the two neighboring forts and, when the garrisons of the other forts came to assist, Motoyasu's supply column was able to reach Odaka.{{sfn|Turnbull |1998 |p=215}}

By 1559, the leadership of the Oda clan had passed to Oda Nobunaga. In 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto, leading a large army of 25,000 men, invaded Oda territory. Motoyasu was assigned a separate mission to capture the stronghold of Marune in the [[Siege of Marune]] operation. As a result, he and his men were not present at the [[Battle of Okehazama]] where Yoshimoto was killed in a surprise assault by Nobunaga,<ref name=Turnbull/>{{rp|37}} In the end, Motoyasu managed to capture Marune castle.{{sfn|Honda |2010|p=56}} 

Later, in response to the news of Yoshimoto's death, Motoyasu sent lookouts to check the state of the battle and then retreated from Odaka Castle at midnight. After leaving Odaka Castle, Motoyasu's forces headed for Okazaki with Asai Michitada as their guide. On the way, they were stopped by the Mizuno clan's forces at Chiryu, but because Asai Michitada was with them, they were not attacked. Having escaped from danger, Motoyasu entered Daijuji Temple outside Okazaki Castle the following day.<ref name="Hamada Kōichirō After Okehazama">{{cite web |author1=Yasutsune Owada (小和田泰経) |author2=Rekishijin Editorial Department |title=実は徳川家康は、桶狭間の戦いで今川方として獅子奮迅の活躍をしていた！|trans-title=In fact, Tokugawa Ieyasu fought bravely on the Imagawa side in the Battle of Okehazama! |url=https://www.rekishijin.com/26834 |website=Rekishijin |publisher=ABC ARC, inc. |access-date=24 June 2024 |language=Ja |date=2023 |quote=From "The Truth About Tokugawa Ieyasu" in the February 2023 issue of Rekishijin article}}</ref>

With Imagawa Yoshimoto dead, and the Imagawa clan in a state of confusion, Motoyasu used the opportunity to assert his independence and marched his men back into the abandoned [[Okazaki Castle]] and reclaimed his ancestral seat.<ref name="Turnbull-I2"/> Motoyasu then decided to ally with Oda Nobunaga.<ref name=sam>{{Cite book|last =Turnbull |first= Stephen R. |title= The Samurai: A Military History |publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co. |place=New York |year =1977|page= 144}}</ref> Motoyasu's wife, [[Lady Tsukiyama]], and infant son, Matsudaira Nobuyasu, were held hostage in [[Sunpu Castle|Sunpu]] by [[Imagawa Ujizane]], Yoshimoto's heir, so the deal was secret.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bottomley |first=Ian |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63666433 |title=Shogun : the life of Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu |date=2005 |publisher=Royal Armouries |others=Royal Armouries Museum |isbn=0-948092-58-0 |location=Leeds, UK |pages=12 |oclc=63666433}}</ref>

In 1561, Motoyasu openly ended his allegiance to the Imagawa clan and captured [[Siege of Kaminogō Castle|Kaminogō]] castle. Kaminogō was held by Udono Nagamochi. Resorting to stealth, Motoyasu forces under [[Hattori Hanzō]] attacked under cover of darkness, setting fire to the castle and capturing two of Udono's sons. He then used them as hostages to exchange for his wife and son.{{sfn|Turnbull |1998 |p=216}}