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Hirotada Tokugawa

Hirotada Tokugawa (1526-1545) was a daimyo of Japan who was the lord of the Mikawa Tokugawa clan. Hirotada was the father of the future shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa and a vassal of Yoshimoto Imagawa, and for the early years of his tenure as feudal lord, he fought against the Oda clan.

Biography[]

Hirotada Tokugawa 2

Hirotada Tokugawa was born in 1526 to the Tokugawa/Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Prefecture, in present-day Japan. Hirotada became the daimyo at a young age and commanded an army into the Oda clan's Owari Province at the age of 19 while serving as a vassal of Yoshimoto Imagawa. Hirotada's army, in part commanded by his retainer and relative Hidenaga Matsudaira, engaged the Oda daimyo Nobuhide Oda's army at the battle of Owari Fields, a final encounter between the Oda and their Tokugawa enemies. Hirotada's army was charged by the Oda forces and both Hirotada and Hidenaga were involved in the melee fighting on horseback with their bodyguards. Hirotada was cut down from his horse while fighting Oda Yari-wielding Ashigaru troops, and shortly after, Okazaki Castle fell to the Oda clan. His son Ieyasu Tokugawa would one day take revenge and take over all of Japan for the Tokugawa Shogunate.

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