Sohachi Yamaoka (1907–1978) was a Japanese historical novelist from Niigata Prefecture. After working as a journalist, he became a prolific writer of historical fiction, portraying figures from Japan’s Warring States period through the Edo, Bakumatsu, and Meiji eras. His best-known work, "Tokugawa Ieyasu," is an epic historical novel serialized over roughly seventeen years beginning in 1950. It follows Ieyasu from his childhood as the hostage Takechiyo through his relationships with Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Battle of Sekigahara, the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, the Siege of Osaka, and his death at the age of seventy-five. Through Ieyasu’s ability to endure adversity, wait for opportunities, negotiate with rivals and retainers, and build a lasting political order, Yamaoka portrays Japan’s transition from the warfare of the Sengoku period to the relative stability of the Edo era.
