In accordance with this conversation after the fall of Odawara, Ieyasu was endowed with the provinces of the Kwantō and took up his residence at Yedo. This is the first important appearance of Yedo in the general history of Japan. It had however an earlier history, when in the fifteenth century it appears as a fishing village called _Ye-do_, that is _door of the bay_. Near this fishing village Ōta Dōkwan, a feudal baron, built himself in A.D. 1456 a castle. With the advent of Ieyasu, Yedo became a place of first importance, a rank which it still holds. The object of Hideyoshi in thus entrusting this great heritage to Ieyasu seems to have been to secure him by the chains of gratitude to himself and his family. Already Ieyasu was connected by marriage with Hideyoshi, his wife being Hideyoshi’s sister. By making him lord of an immense and powerful country he hoped to secure him in perpetual loyalty to himself and his heirs. In order that he might be free from the cares and responsibilities of the government at home, Hideyoshi retired from the position of _kwambaku_ A.D. 1591 and took the title of _Taikō_. By this title he came to be generally known in Japanese history, Taikō Sama, or my lord Taikō, being the form by which he was commonly spoken of. His nephew and heir Hidetsugu was at this time promoted to the title of _kwambaku_, and was ostensibly at the head of the government. The Jesuit fathers speak of him as mild and amiable, and as at one time a hopeful student of the Christian religion. They note however a strange characteristic in him, that he was fond of cruelty and that when criminals were to be put to death he sought the privilege of cutting them into pieces and trying cruel experiments upon their suffering bodies. In A.D. 1592 Taikō Sama had by one of his wives a son, whom he named Hideyori. Over this new-born heir, whom, however, many suspect of not being Taikō Sama’s son, he made great rejoicing throughout the empire. He required his nephew to adopt this new-born son as his heir, although he had several sons of his own. The result of this action was a feeling of hostility between the uncle and nephew. Hidetsugu applied to Mōri, the chief of Chōsū, to aid him in the conflict with his uncle. But Mōri was too wary to enter upon such a contest with the veteran general. Instead of helping Hidetsugu, he revealed to Taikō Sama the traitorous proposition of his nephew. Hidetsugu was thereupon stripped of his office and sent as an exile to the monastery of Kōya-san in the province of Kii. A year later he was commanded with his attendants to commit _hara-kiri_; and with an unusual exhibition of cruelty, his counsellors, wives, and children were likewise put to death.