Tokugawa Ieyasu was not a young man when he became shogun in 1603. His rise to power was long and slow, a journey that had begun when he was just 15 years old.

The Tokugawa clan, which produced successive shogun rulers throughout the Edo Period (1603-1867), will hold a ceremony Jan. 29 to formally anoint its first new head in more than half a century.

The Tokugawas wield no formal political power now. (Mr Tokugawa ran for a Diet seat with a liberal opposition party in 2019, but lost.) The 19th shogun’s main role is to shepherd the family legacy.

Tokugawa Ieyasu founded a dynasty that ruled Japan for more than 200 years, but he had to wait to take his chance to become shōgun and reshape the country in his image.

The founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, was born in the castle shown in the distance. Seki: This inn along the highway served upper class travelers such as shogunate officials and ...