Who Is Tokugawa Ieyasu (Matsudaira Motoyasu)?
The Mikawa warlord who allied with Nobunaga
Tokugawa Ieyasu was a warlord from Mikawa (today's eastern Aichi Prefecture) who became Nobunaga's ally and later founded the Edo shogunate. In his youth he went by the name Matsudaira Motoyasu and served under the Imagawa clan.
At Okehazama in Episode 4, as the vanguard of the Imagawa side, he brings provisions into Odaka Castle, takes part in the attacks on Washizu and Marune, and then rests at Odaka, so he isn't present when Yoshimoto is killed. At the Battle of Anegawa in Episode 8, he rushes in with his army as Nobunaga's ally, fights the Asakura forces toward Mitamura in the west, and breaks them.
Yoshimoto's death at Okehazama gave Ieyasu the opening to break free from the Imagawa clan. His later alliance with Nobunaga lasted a long time, right up to the Honnoji Incident. In 1603 he became shogun and established the Edo shogunate.
