Shitennō (Tokugawa clan)
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This article is about a group of Japanese samurai. For other uses, see Four Heavenly Kings (disambiguation).
The Four Heavenly Kings of the Tokugawa (徳川四天王, Tokugawa-shitennō) is a Japanese sobriquet describing four highly effective samurai generals who fought on behalf of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Sengoku period. They were famous during their lifetimes as the four most fiercely loyal vassals of the Tokugawa clan in the early Edo period.[1]
Each of those four generals was the founder of a cadet branch clan:
- Honda Tadakatsu[2] of the Honda clan[3]
- Ii Naomasa[4] of the Ii clan[5]
- Sakakibara Yasumasa[1] of the Sakakibara clan[6]
- Sakai Tadatsugu[1] of the Sakai clan[7]