The Tokugawa Shogunate was the shogunate in modern Japanese history, which succeeded in centralizing the power of the nation's government and people during its 265-year rule.
For more than 100 years before the Tokugawa Shogunate took power in Japan in 1603, the country wallowed in lawlessness and chaos during the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of 1467 to 1573. Beginning in 1568, however, Japan's "Three Reunifiers" — Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu — worked to bring the warring daimyo back under central control.
In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu completed this task and established the Tokugawa Shogunate, which would rule in the emperor's name until 1868.
