Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in 1543 to a minor warlord in Okazaki. He grew up in a time of great chaos and disorder in Japan (the sengoku period), he was forced to spend most of his childhood as a hostage of the Imagawa clan. Ieyasu received military and political training from the Imagawa family and became a military leader. He allied himself with two senior leaders firstly with Oda Nobunaga and later on with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. On Toyotomi Hideyoshi' suggestion, Ieyasu built his base in the village of Edo (modern-day Tokyo). When Hideyoshi died in 1598 his only heir was his 5 year old son who was not old enough to take over his Hideyoshi’s position. Ieyasu had by that time organized the largest and most effective army in Japan. In 1600 Ieyasu
