The impact of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s non-participation in the Japanese Invasion of Korea

The Kanto region (currently the Japanese metropolitan area) was the territory of the Hojo family, but it was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was the lord of the Chubu region next door, was appointed as the lord of the Kanto region.

It was a promotion that increased territory, but in reality, it was the same as being put on Toyotomi’s purge list. Toyotomi promoted meritorious subjects, but later used the pretext of civil unrest to suppress them.

In particular, the Kanto region is now a metropolitan area in Japan, but at the time it had the image of being a barren and harsh frontier region. Japan started in the western region, and its center continued to be the Kansai region.

This image even persisted until the mid-19th century, when Tokyo was already the largest city in Japan. After the Meiji Restoration, when the idea of ​​moving the emperor’s capital from Kyoto to Edo was raised, there were even comments like, ‘How can you ask His Majesty to go to such a barren and rough frontier?’

At the time, the center of the Kanto region was Kamakura and the surrounding area in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, but Tokugawa strangely gave his last name as Edo Castle. Edo was a little-known rural town at the time, and there was only one small Edo Castle.

However, the Tokugawa reclaimed the bay in front of Edo Castle and built a city. This reclaimed land is Marunouchi, where Tokyo Station is now located, and this is the beginning of the city of modern Tokyo.

Tokugawa thought that Edo, heading to the northeastern region along the sea, would be a future transportation hub, and decided to develop this area rather than an existing large city.

It even served as an opportunity for the Tokugawa to become the final victors of the Warring States Period.

All the feudal lords participated in the Japanese Invasion of Korea under Toyotomi’s orders, losing a lot of property and population and ultimately weakening their power. At that time, the Tokugawa also received an order to send troops to Joseon, but they did not send troops, making realistic excuses such as ‘This is too far from Joseon, and as you know, the people here are so crowded that there is no time to spare.’

While the wealth and soldiers of other lords were being divided, Tokugawa worked hard to develop Edo, reclaimed land, and accumulated enormous wealth. This became an opportunity for Tokugawa to dominate the world after Toyotomi’s death, opening the Edo Shogunate, and making Tokyo the capital of modern Japan.