Imagawa Yoshimoto was a military leader of the late Muromachi period.
Background
Imagawa Yoshimoto was born in 1519 in Sidzuoka. The Imagawa family were said to have gotten their start as owners of the Imagawa manor in the province of Mikawa. Yoshimoto’s father, Ujichika, became kokushu of the Tokai region, controling the provinces of Suruga and Totomi.
Career
Yoshimoto at first became a monk, but when his eldest brother died without an heir, he engaged his next eldest brother in a struggle for power and, emerging victorious, became heir to the Imagawa family. He later extended his power into the neighboring provinces, defeating the lord of Mikawa, Oda Nobu- hide, and adding that province to the two already under his control.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Edo shogunate, spent his childhood as a hostage in the house of Imagawa Yoshimoto.