Hidetada Tokugawa

Hidetada Tokugawa is Ieyasu's third son and successor. He fought the Sanada army at Ueda Castle during the Sekigahara campaign and lost the battle horribly. He was unable to assist the Eastern army and was said to have earned his father's scorn. Still, he became the second Tokugawa shogun.

Samurai Warriors
In Samurai Warriors 2, Hidetada appears on the Tokugawa's side at Ueda Castle, Osaka Castle and Edo Castle. In Kanetsugu's version of the siege of Edo Castle, Hidetada is guarding the castle in his father's absence and is in the main keep. If he is defeated before Ieyasu's arrival, his father will grieve for his son. During Musashi's story, he becomes the land's ruler but is killed by Hideyori's army. With his dying breath, he pleads Hideyori to create the world their fathers wanted: a world of peace.

Warriors Orochi
During Warriors Orochi 2, Hidetada appears alongside his father in the Wu and Shu armies, replacing his father if he is in the player's team.

Kessen
Hidetada is Ieyasu's bumbling and seemingly incompetent son in Kessen and entitled "Hide Tokugawa". Although he desires to make him proud, he is often berated by his father. In an effort to compensate for his loss at Ueda Castle, he orders for Masayuki's assassination and gravely disappoints his father. When he is named the shogun, Hidetada invokes his own desires to rule and becomes more confident in himself. He volunteers to lead the troops at Osaka Castle and, though Ieyasu is pleased with his son's eagerness, he is denied.

Though given large armies, he habitually loses against more intelligent and experienced opponents.

Voice Actors

 * Alessandro Juliani - Kessen (English)
 * Hiroshi Okamoto - Samurai Warriors 2~3 (Japanese)
 * Keisuke Baba - Samurai Warriors 2: Empires (Japanese)
 * Daisuke Sakaguchi - Kessen (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "I can't let my father down! Go, attack!"
 * "Father! I pledge my service to your cause! Hidetada is your humble servant, to be used as you wish, to achieve peace!"
 * "Yes. One so conscientious as yourself is welcome... You will preserve the peace of future generations."
 * Hidetada and Ieyasu, Samurai Warriors 2: Empires


 * "I see the truth... my path is clear. Yes, it is. I am not my father. I am my own man with my own destiny! Why follow his path?! Hear me! I am Hidetada Tokugawa! I will protect the family my own way!"
 * Kessen

Personal Info
Tokugawa Hidetada was Ieyasu's third son and was born at modern day Tokiwacho, Shizuoka Prefecture. His mother was Oai-no-kata, or Saigo no Tsubone, Ieyasu's first consort and thought to be Tadaharu Totsuka's daughter. Due to a distortion of Edo period folklore, he is commonly known in fictional media as an ignorant and short-tempered man. His failure to take Ueda Castle is often portrayed as an act which earned his father's anger due to the resources he wasted trying to take it. Combined with his sheer inexperience and ineptitude, these fictional interpretations make it seem like it was a miracle that he became shogun, obtaining the title merely through birthright or underhanded scheming. He was so scared of facing his second wife, Ogō, that they hardly saw one another. To summarize the common perceptions of the first three shoguns, author Chōgorō Kaionji famously wrote, "Ieyasu did everything by himself; Hidetada fell short and did half of his decisions by himself; Iemitsu left everything to his retainers."

In reality, there is only some grain of truth from the mountain of folklore. It is true that Hidetada was not quite as resourceful as his father or brothers in war, yet he was by no means incompetent. Though often known as the "plain and unmeritorious" son, he was very dutiful and attended to his responsibilities with absolute seriousness. When it came to paperwork and official attendances, Hidetada was prudent. He reputedly never lied about his failures or his accomplishments, meaning that he was willing to accept any repercussions for his actions. The reason why he kept his distance from Ogō was to prevent a civil dispute between his consort's family and the inheritance for his son. Many Tokugawa retainers remark that he had a bold yet calm countenance whilst ruling and addressed every conflict, thus leading to his popularity amongst vassals to be Ieyasu's successor. Even when the Tokugawa forces momentarily faced the jaws of defeat at Osaka Castle, Hidetada was prepared to fight to the death if need be, willing to stand as the ill-fated rear guard to protect his father's retreat. These traits led him to shine within the political realm, and it is no mystery with historians how he could devise and establish the foundations of the Tokugawa shogunate.

His first wife was Ohime, Oda Nobukatsu's eldest daughter and one of Hideyoshi's adopted daughters. He had the most children with Ogō, who gave birth to four daughters and three sons. His short-lived eldest son, Nagamaru, was had with an unnamed family servant. His mistress, Shizuka, gave birth to his fifth son who was eventually adopted by Ogō. He also adopted several children once he became shogun to protect political alliances within the Tokugawa clan, one of whom is argued to be Komatsuhime.

When he was a child, he was either known as Nagamatsu (長松) or Nagamaru (長丸). Before he had his right to manhood ceremony, he was known as Takechiyo (竹千代). His political aliases are Edo Chunangon (江戸中納言) and Edo Udaishou (江戸右大将).

Early Life
By the time Hidetada was born, his second eldest brother (Yūki Hideyasu) was adopted –or sent as a political hostage– to the Toyotomi clan. A few months afterwards, his eldest brother (Matsudaira Nobuyasu) was ordered to commit suicide. Ieyasu was given the difficult decision of deciding his successor between Hideyasu, Nobuyasu's son, or Hidetada. He was able to rule out Hideyasu due to his ties to the Toyotomi clan. When he asked his retainers for their thoughts, only Ōkubo Tadachika supported the infant Hidetada. Through much pondering, he tentatively favored Hidetada due to his mother's family prestige within Mikawa. Most legends state that Ieyasu actually didn't reach his decision until Hidetada entered adulthood.

During this affair, Hidetada's mother passed away to her failing health so he was reared by his wet nurse, Ōuba no Tsubone. Once Ieyasu had made his choice about his future, Hidetada was raised with the intents of being his father's successor. To honor their peace treaty for Komaki-Nagakute, Ieyasu agreed to send Hidetada to be a political hostage for Hideyoshi in 1590. He received his coming of age ceremony under Hideyoshi's name, leading to the "Hide" within his given name.

During this time, it's thought that Hideyoshi wanted to groom Hidetada to be one of his possible successors. He wanted to use the twelve-year old Hidetada to bolster his ties with Nobukatsu and was used in a marriage proposal. Either Ohime's early demise or his soured ties to Nobukatsu called off the long marriage. Hideyoshi granted Hidetada a high seat within the imperial court (Chunangon) and granted him permission to use the Toyotomi name. All bets were off when Hideyori was born, which resulted in Hidetada's return to Ieyasu in 1593. Hoping to keep healthy ties between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa, Hidetada was married to Ogō in 1595.

Sekigahara
The Sekigahara campaign marked Hidetada's first personal experience with war. He was ordered to march from the east and support Ieyasu's main unit from the center route. His battalion was composed of 38,000 men and a handful of trusted Tokugawa veterans. It was agreed that the separate units were to merge together within Gifu prefecture on October 15th (September 9th in the archaic calendar).

There are two torn accounts over Hidetada's activities. The major account –which is exaggerated by Edo period folklore to harshly belittle Hidetada– states that Hidetada impetuously believed he could outdo his father by taking Ueda Castle, which was defended by Sanada Masayuki and Nobushige. Since it was an obstacle in their path, he first sent Honda Tadamasa to offer an issue of surrender to Masayuki. Once he learned his letter was rejected, Hidetada was incensed by the castle master's stubbornness and the two parties engaged in a siege. He was convinced that his larger army could overpower the tiny castle through sheer numbers, pressing the attack and ignoring the advice of his advisors to discontinue the siege. It was only after he realized that he would be late to meet with his father that he tried to retreat, suffering several ambushes laid by Masayuki along the way. This version is often heralded as sign of Hidetada's incompetence and an example of Masayuki's masterful tactics, leading to the perception that the elder is responsible for completely delaying Hidetada's march.

The other not-so-popular account –that is currently speculated by historians to be likely the historically accurate one– states that Hidetada's forces were merely following Ieyasu's orders to march through Shinano. Ieyasu had ordered his son's forces to move in advance based on his previous experiences of the area. He could not predict that they would be obstructed by heavy rainfall and seasonal over flooding, conditions which would be extremely hazardous for an army of Hidetada's size to rush. His army was ill-equipped for dealing with the downpour and were already stressing themselves to march. One of Hidetada's messengers was able to report this news to Ieyasu on October 15th. Upon learning of his son's situation, he asked his generals whether they should wait for Hidetada. Honda Tadakatsu advised waiting; Ii Naomasa pushed for an immediate attack on the Toyotomi forces. When Hidetada's forces encountered Ueda Castle soon afterwards, their situation was already strained and the siege was much shorter than Edo period folklore suggests.

When Hidetada's troops arrived five days late to the main conflict at Sekigahara, he offered his father his apologies and congratulations for being victorious. Ieyasu was "not in the mood" to face him until a day –sometimes stated as three days– later only through Sakakibara Yasumasa's mediations. It is often stated that Ieyasu was bitterly disappointed in Hidetada because of Ueda Castle, but recent historical findings suggest that his impassiveness towards his son predated this incident.