Owari Tokugawa Clan

Politically and Financially The strongest of The Three Branches of the Tokugawa Clan

Following the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu became the first of 15 hereditary shogun, the military rulers of Japan who would watch over 260 years of peace.

He had seen Oda Nobunaga’s family disintegrate on his death, and watched as Toyotomi Hideyoshi died leaving a five year old in charge of the nation. To maintain Tokugawa rule, Ieyasu formed the Tokugawa Gosanke, the three branches of the Tokugawa clan lead by three of his sons to ensure the clan’s survival, and to provide a shogun should the main line ever become extinct. It did, twice. Once in 1716 when the seventh Shogun, Ietsugu, died heirless, and again in 1858 when the thirteenth shogun, Iesada, suffered similar circumstances.