Tokugawa Ieyasu

Born as heir to Matsudaira Hirotada, lord of Okazaki Castle in the state of Mikawa, at the age of 6 he was sent as hostage, first to Oda Nobuhide in Owari, and then to Imagawa Yoshimoto in Suruga. At the decisive battle of Okehazama, Yoshimoto was destroyed by Nobunaga allowing Ieyasu finally to escape from a life of confinement. He was then 19. Two years later he formed an alliance with Nobunaga and pacified Mikawa. In 1568, he allied himself with Takeda Shingen and invaded the Imagawa lands of Suruga and Totomi.
As a follower of Nobunaga, Ieyasu was involved in many battles. He later fought against Hideyoshi, but then allied with him, and became a pillar of the Toyotomi regime. He mediated with the Date, Hojo and other Eastern daimyo who would not accept Hideyoshi's sway. Once Hideyoshi had largely unified the realm, Ieyasu moved to the Kanto region, but continued to be as a vital element in the Toyotomi powerbase.
In 1598, Hideyoshi died, and Ieyasu became foremost member of the five-man committee set up to protect Hideyoshi's young son Hideyori. But he had his eye on supreme power. In 1600, he broke all resistance to himself at the Battle of Sekigahara - the greatest encounter of the whole Sengoku period - defeating Ishida Mitsunari's forces, and seizing outright victory. In 1603, he was created shogun, and established his capital in Edo. Two years later, he resigned in favour of his son, Hidetada, and went to live in retirement in Sunpu, although he still retained much power and influence. He consorted with wealthy merchants, monks, scholars and foreign people, manipulating everything to his own family ends. He devised a system for ruling the realm in a unified manner, issuing policies on external relations, economics and trade.
1614-15 saw the summer and winter campaigns against Osaka Castle, which finally obliterated the Toyotomi line. Ieyasu had embedded a shogunate which was to endure for 15 generations and over 260 years.
Ieyasu's funeral complex at Nikko is now a World Heritage Site.