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.

JAPAN: Tokugawa. 2 minute read. TIME. November 10, 1930 12:00 AM GMT-5. A small round man with a large round face the color of old bronze landed in Manhattan last week from the 23-year-old Mauretania.

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 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.