From the Matsudaira house to Kanto
Ieyasu belonged to the Matsudaira house of Mikawa and was known in childhood as Takechiyo. As a young man he operated under Imagawa Yoshimoto, using the names Motonobu and Motoyasu. After Yoshimoto's death in 1560 he returned to Okazaki. He adopted the name Ieyasu and then the Tokugawa surname, receiving appointment as governor of Mikawa in 1566.
He fought alongside Oda Nobunaga but suffered a major defeat against Takeda forces at Mikatagahara. After Nobunaga's death, rivalry with Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave way to accommodation. Hideyoshi ordered his transfer to Kanto in 1590, and Ieyasu entered Edo, relocating the territorial base of his power.
References: [1]
Sekigahara, appointment and retirement
Victory at Sekigahara in 1600 gave Ieyasu a decisive advantage among the daimyo. The imperial court appointed him shogun in 1603. Military victory and court appointment were related milestones within a larger process involving territories, retainers and continuing relations with the Toyotomi family.
Ieyasu transferred the shogunal office to his son Hidetada in 1605 and established himself at Sumpu in 1607. As retired shogun, or ogosho, he remained politically active. Officials, religious advisers, scholars, merchants and foreign intermediaries gathered there, while Hidetada headed the government at Edo. Retirement produced a division of governing functions rather than immediate withdrawal.
Regulation, trade and the later government
Government operated through documents confirming temple and shrine holdings, diplomatic correspondence and trade permits. From 1601 red-seal licenses linked overseas shipping to administrative control. After the Toyotomi defeat at Osaka in 1615, regulations for military houses and for the imperial court helped define the emerging political order, with both Ieyasu and Hidetada participating.
Ieyasu also gathered earlier records and supported copying and printing. At Sumpu, political activity accompanied urban rebuilding that reused commercial areas inherited from the Imagawa period. He died in 1616, leaving institutions subsequently developed by his successors. His career and the later history of Tokugawa policy consequently require separate chronological attention.