page_title: Council of Five Elders
section_title: Rise of conflict
hierarchical_section_title: Council of Five Elders / Tokugawa hegemony / Rise of conflict
context_page_description: The Council of Five Elders, was a group of five powerful feudal lords formed in 1598 by the Regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi, shortly before his death the same year. While Hideyoshi was on his deathbed, his son, Toyotomi Hideyori, was still only 5 years old and as such Hideyoshi needed to create the council in order to ensure his heir would be able to succeed him after coming of age. They also acted as advisers for the Five Commissioners, which had also been established by Hideyoshi to govern Kyoto and the surrounding areas.
context_section_description: After the death of Hideyoshi, friction generated between the council members. Two factions formed, the Bunchiha (Japanese: 文治派) (those who wished for a state governed by a specialized civil service) and the Bundanha (Japanese: 武断派) (those in favor of a strong military authority), of these two factions Tokugawa Ieyasu was part of the bundanha. One year after Maeda Toshiie died, Ieyasu saw his chance to take control. The death of Maeda Toshiie in 1599 made Ieyasu the most experienced of the Five Elders. Finally, due to the fact that Uesugi Kagekatsu had been illegally constructing and restoring forts, Ieyasu was able to justify going to battle which led to the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Following the battle, in 1603, Ieyasu became Shōgun while Hideyori was declared naidaijin. Ieyasu sent his granddaughter, Senhime to Osaka to marry Hideyori in order to stabilize the relationship between the two families.
  
  Tokugawa Ieyasu rose to power while originally working in the name of Toyotomi Hideyori. Eventually, after Ieyasu's power seemed to be threatened by Hideyori a long series of plots both against Ieyasu and Hideyori occurred followed by the multiple battles of the Siege of Osaka (1614-1615).  Tokugawa Ieyasu reigned victorious against the Toyotomi clan, eliminating them completely, thus cementing his place as ruler of Japan.
  Following the Tokugawa victory at the Siege of Osaka in 1615, Ieyasu was not satisfied with destruction of Hideyori alone, but in order to make sure the Toyotomi clan would not be able to return to power in the future, he had as many as possible of the Toyotomi family killed, or in the case of Hideyori's daughter, placed in a nunnery. Ieyasu had Hideyori’s son Kunimatsu, who was 8 years old at the time, killed at the Rokujō riverbed (Rokujō-Gawara) in Kyoto.
caption: The Tokugawa Clan's Crest (Mon)