Summer Special Exhibition Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Path to Supreme Rule

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu, having gained the title of supreme commander and Shōgun, established his military government in Edo (present-day Tokyo) and laid the foundations for a period of peace and stability that would last for more than 250 years. Ieyasu lived the greater part of his life amidst the turbulence of the Warring States period that followed the Muromachi period. At times even at risk of his life, he overcame the difficulties of these years and brought an end to this age of unrest.
　In the Hōsa Library galleries, we trace the course of Ieyasu's tumultuous life, focusing on the choices he made as seen mainly through historical documents. In the museum’s original wing galleries, the story of Ieyasu, the man, unfolds, focusing on various aspects of his character—his politics and scholarship, and his connection with various cultural arts such as tea ceremony and incense ceremony—through the many objects gifted to the Owari Tokugawa family after his death through his bequest, known as the Sunpu Owakemono.