The Tokugawa Ieyasu Kagemusha (Shadow Warrior) Doppelganger Theory
Was Tokugawa Ieyasu Replaced With a Stand-In Double?
The Kurosawa Akira movie Kagemusha contained an interesting storyline: The warlord Takeda Shingen died and was replaced by a body double, a Kagemusha, which translates to shadow warrior.
There have long been rumors that this had actually happened to the founder of the Edo Shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, that he had died, or had been killed at some point, and replaced with a look-alike. The theories differ depending on when he is considered to have been replaced.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was regarded as divine throughout the Edo period, and no one doubted his origins, however in April 1902, Muraoka Soichiro (Nov. 21, 1850- May 25, 1932) a former samurai who saw action in the Boshin War and a Meiji period (1868-1912) public servant and educator, published a book titled Shiwaku Tokugawa Ieyasu Jiseki, A History of Tokugawa Ieyasu, through publishing company Minyuusha, a company owned by historian Tokutomi Soho. Shigeno Yasukumi, a doctor of literature, and professor at Tokyo Imperial University's College of Letters, wrote the foreword to this book lending it a great deal of credence.