I am Tokugawa Ieyasu, I was the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. I was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with my former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow Oda subordinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The son of a minor daimyo, I once lived as a hostage under daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto on behalf of my father. I later succeeded as daimyo after my father's death, serving as ally, vassal and general of the Oda clan and building up my strength under Oda Nobunaga.