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The nominal leader of the western army, which mustered 128,000 strong, was Mori Terumoto, and under him were ranged Ukita Hideiye, Mori Hidemoto, Shimazu Yoshihiro, Konishi Yukinaga, and many other captains of repute. Under the Tokugawa banners there marched 75,000 men, their van led by Ii Naomasa and Honda Tadakatsu. On October 21, 1600, the great battle of Sekigahara was fought.

Iemitsu, whether obeying his own instinct or in deference to the advice of his ministers, Sakai Tadakatsu and Matsudaira Nobutsuna, summoned the feudal chiefs to his castle in Yedo and addressed them as follows: "My father and my grandfather, with your assistance and after much hardship, achieved their great enterprise to which I, who have followed the profession of arms since my childhood, now succeed.

He therefore instructed his younger brother, Hoshina Masayuki, baron of Aizu, to render every assistance to his nephew, and he appointed Ii Naotaka to be prime minister, associating with him Sakai Tadakatsu, Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Abe Tadaaki, and other statesmen of proved ability.

Nevertheless, some officials opposed the building of bridges, and were only silenced by the astute remark of Sakai Tadakatsu that if Yedo was ever to be a great city, the convenience of its inhabitants must be first consulted, for, after all, the people themselves constituted the best stronghold.