The Exceptional Successor: Second Shogun – Tokugawa Hidetada

Building the Foundation of the Long-term Edo Shogunate with Political Acumen No Less Than Ieyasu’s

　This has been a concept weighed since ancient times: which is more difficult, establishing a family (or a company, interchangeably) and making it first-rate, or maintaining and passing down that family.

　In the world of history, Tokugawa Ieyasu is interpreted as the “founder”, and Hidetada as the “conservator”. In this sense, the second shogun, Hidetada, admirably accomplished “conservation” and handed over the Edo shogunate as an unshakeable entity to the third shogun, Iemitsu.

　Hidetada was born in 1579, the year in which Ieyasu’s legitimate son, Nobuyasu, committed seppuku. His birth mother was Saigo-no-Tsubone, the most beloved concubine of Ieyasu. Although Hidetada was five years younger than his elder brother, Hideyasu, his upbringing was viewed as the future successor of the Tokugawa family due to his mother’s background.

　His childhood name was Chōmaru, and he was twice taken hostage by Hideyoshi around 1590, during the siege of Odawara (Hōjō conquest). It was then that he received a character from Hideyoshi’s name and became known as Hidetada. In 1595, he married Eyo, the second daughter of Azai Nagamasa, and in 1597, their first daughter, Senhime, was born. Hidetada, who was 20 when Hideyoshi died, led the Tokugawa main force of 30,000 in the Battle of Sekigahara two years later, advancing through Nakasendō. However, on the way, he was significantly delayed by Sanada Masayuki and Nobushige at Ueda and failed to make it to the battle. After the battle, Ieyasu consulted his retainers on who among the brothers Hideyasu, Hidetada, and Tadayoshi was suitable as a successor. As a result, Hidetada, despite his delay at Sekigahara, was chosen as the successor.

　In 1603, when Ieyasu was appointed as Shogun, he made Hidetada the Right Guard General, and two years later, transferred the position of Shogun to him. Even then, Ieyasu retained real power as the retired shogun, but Hidetada created an era of “peace,” known as “Gen’na Enbu”. Hidetada, with no significant “military exploits”, had political acumen. Actually, it was Hidetada who developed Edo and built the city, and the ‘Rōjū system’ of government was also Hidetada’s work (although he must have had brains behind him). He might not have been flashy, but the foundation for the long-term rule of the Edo shogunate was solidified by Hidetada.

　Especially after transferring the position of Shogun to Iemitsu, Hidetada reigned as the retired shogun and exhibited political power no less than Ieyasu’s. Hidetada was not a “mediocre shogun” as seen by later historians but a splendid second-generation leader who quietly radiated “intensity.”

　Hidetada wonderfully played the role of transitioning from the “military” era to the “administrative” era.

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