59 Tokugawa Ieyasu

(an omission)
Ieyasu thus had left home a hostage at five, lived with the Imagawa until eighteen, from nineteen to fouty was an ally of Nobunaga, although his postion was more that of an underling. After that, until he was fifty-six, he had to be with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In other words, for the fifty years since coming to the age of reason, hardship was heaped upon hardship, but he endured. They say, "experience breeds character" - and there can be no mistake that the hardships of that fifty years impacted on Ieyasu's character.

With Hideyoshi now dead, it was only natural that - given Ieyasu's strengh - he should receive the mandate to govern the realm. There was, however, Hideyoshi's last will to deal with and the desires of the Ousaka faction, so Ieyasu, not wanting to ruin his chance, chose to wait a litle longer.
(an omission)

The mantle of power thus had gone from Nobunaga to Hideyoshi, then from Hideyoshi to Ieyasu. If one compares Ieyasu to Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, however, there are considerable differences.

Nobunaga and Hideyoshi had put Kyouto in the center of their thinking, and although for military necessity they didn't ordinarily live in the capital, they did live as close to Kyouto as they were able, and so chose to live in Azuchi and Fushimi. Ieyasu, on the other hand, was far removed from Kyouto in his seat in Edo, and even in retirement he lived in Sunpu (present-day Shizuoka).

In a similar fashion, Nobunaga had been the minister of the right and Hideyoshi had been the chancellor, and the both of them, as vassals and ministers of the Court, received Imperial orders for the establishments of their governments. Ieyasu, again, in the 8th year of Keichou (1603) was named sei-i tai shougun (literally meaning "barbarian subduing generalissimo") and established his bakufu, or shogunate.

After creating and securing his shogunate, he turned the office over to his heirs. It was again the era of the shougun, after a thirty-year interval since Nobunaga had overthronwn the Ashikaga shogunate in the 1st year of Tenshou (1573).

This might not be a true statement, however. The Ashikaga shogunate from thirty years previous had been based in Kyouto, and one could say that it tied the Court aristocracy with the military class. Ieyasu separated himself far from Kyouto - completely, apart from the Court - and seated his shogunate in Edo, so on that point it more closely resembles the Kamakura shogunate.

In other words, Ieyasu took as his role model Minamoto no Yoritomo. Given that, the careers of these two very closely resemble each other. (an omission)

Although one may say he copied aspects of Yoritomo's methods, he only copied those parts that were good for his own purposes. In his attitude toward the Court, his position was greatly distant from that of Yoritomo. In the 1st year of Genna (1615), the year Ohsaka Castle fell, Ieyasu promulgated the Kuge shohatto (Court Aristocrat Laws) governing the nobility and the Court, as well as the Buke shohatto (Military Household Laws), thereby stengthening the shogunate and placing restrictions on the Court aristocracy and the various daimyou houses. (Rest omitted)
 
59 徳川家康
 
(前略)
 かように家康は、六歳の童児の時に家を離れて人質となり、十九歳までは今川義元の 下にあり、二十歳から四十一歳までは織田信長の同盟者とは云うもののその下風に立ち 、その後五十七歳までの間は、豊臣秀吉の下におらねばならなかったのでした。つまり 物心ついてから五十年間、苦労に苦労をかさねて、辛抱してきたのでした。「習、性と なる」と云いますが、この五十年間の苦労が、家康の性格に大きな永享を与えたに違い ありません。それ故に今、秀吉が亡くなって、実力の上から云えば、あとは当然家康が 天下に号令して良いわけですが、秀吉の遺言もあり、大阪方の希望もありますので、無 理をしないで時機を待っていました。
(中略)
 
 かようにして政治の中心に立つ者は、信長から秀吉、秀吉から家康と移りましたが、 信長や秀吉にくらべますと、家康は大いに様子が変わっています。信長や秀吉は、京都 中心に物を考え、たとえ戦術上の必要から、常に京都に住めないにしても、なるべく京 都の近くに居りたいとして、安土や伏見を考えたでしょう。然し家康は、遠く離れて江 戸に本拠を置き、たとえ隠居しても、駿府(静岡)に住みました。また信長は右大臣、 秀吉は関白となり、二人共朝廷の重臣として天皇を奉じて、天下の政治を行なおうとし ました。ところが家康は、慶長八年(西暦一六〇三年)征夷大将軍に任ぜられて幕府を 開き、江戸城において天下の政治をとり、その体制を固めて、之を子孫に伝えました。 即ち天正元年信長が足利幕府を倒してより三十年ぶりに、再び幕府時代に帰ったわけで す。
 
 いや、そうではありません。三十年前の足利幕府は、之を京都に開いて、いわば公武 一体の形でありました。家康は京都を遠く離れ、朝廷とは全然別個に、江戸に幕府を開 いたのですから、その点では鎌倉幕府に似ています。つまり家康が目標とし、手本とし たのは頼朝であったのです。そう云えばこの両人は、その経歴が非常によく似ていまし ょう。(中略)
 
 然し真似ると云っても、自分の都合の良いように模倣しただけで、朝廷に対する態度 などは、頼朝よりは遥かにきびしいものでした。元和元年にいよいよ大阪城が陥ります と、家康は禁中ならびに公家の諸法度、及び武家諸法度を定め、之によって朝廷及び諸 大名を拘束し、幕府体制を固めました。(以下略)
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