It’s the anniversary of the day Tokugawa Ieyasu moved into Edo Castle in 1590. This is a giant event in Japanese history. Hideyoshi controlled most of Japan at the time. He was distrustful of Ieyasu, but wasn’t yet powerful enough to completely crush him. They had an alliance, but it was a very weak one.
The last remaining independent Daimyo in Japan was Hōjō Ujimasa. The Hōjō clan controled the huge Kantō region in eastern Japan. Hideyoshi marched 160,000 men into Kanto and demanded the clan submit to his authority. When they refused, Hideyoshi attached and won.
With control of Kanto, he offered Ieyasu a radical deal, an offer Ieyasu couldn’t refuse. He offered the eight Kanto provinces in exchange for the five that Ieyasu controlled (including his home province of Mikawa). Ieyasu accepted and immediately marched in and took control of Kanto, setting up his home base as Edo castle. [note: Edo is the old name for Tokyo]
It was a huge risk, but he was able to pacify the Hōjō samurai and completely reform Kanto, improving the local economy and the infrastructure of the land. Because Kanto was isolated from the rest of Japan, he was able to maintain autonomy from Hideyoshi and quickly grew to be the second most powerful daimyo in Japan. Using the power, he was able to capture all of Japan for himself and become Shogun within a few short years of Hideyoshi’s death.
There is a old Japanese proverb: “Ieyasu won the Empire by retreating.”
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David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More? |
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