Tokugawa Hidetada

Tokugawa Hidetada, 徳川秀忠, (1579 - 1632) was the 2nd Tokugawa shogun who reigned from 1605 to 1623 during the early Edo period of Japan. He was third son of the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

His father Ieyasu, after seizing control of Japan in 1600 from the rival Toyotomi clan and two years after establishing the shogunate at Edo in 1603, relinquished the title of Seii Taishogun to Hidetada in 1605. By establishing a precedent of dynastic succession, the Tokugawa, in the same manner as the Minamoto and Ashikaga, proclaimed and justified the supremacy of the shogunate. Despite relinquishing the title, Ieyasu still held supreme power in the position of Ogosho until his death in 1616.

As shogun, Hidetada took part in the Winter Siege of Osaka in 1614 and the Summer Siege of Osaka in 1615 which finally destroyed the last of the rival Toyotomi clan. Later in 1615, the shogunate established laws governing the samurai (the buke shohatto laws) and imperial court (the kuge shohatto laws).

Hidetada relinquished the title of shogun in 1623 to his second son Tokugawa Iemitsu, however, he still maintained power as Ogosho like his father Ieyasu until his death in 1632.