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Religion

Tokugawa Ieyasu was known for his devotion to the Jōdo-shū school of Buddhism throughout his life, having been born into the Matsudaira clan which followed Jōdō Buddhism. Demonstrating his constant favor towards the sect, he moved his familial temple to the Zōjō-ji Temple in Edo and funded massive renovations to older Jōdo temples, including the head temple of Chion-in in Kyoto, while also financing the creation of several new temples. After confiding in the abbot of Zōjō-ji temple about wanting to become a deity to protect his country, he was given the advice to regularly recite the nembutsu for the purpose of being born into Amida Buddha's Pure Land of Sukhavati, where he would be able to easily attain Buddhahood and protect his descendants and the entire nation of Japan. Ieyasu readily accepted this advice, and constantly repeated the nembutsu until the day he died. Despite his personal devotion to Jōdo-shū, Ieyasu was not a strict sectarian, placing his secretary Denchōrō, a Rinzai Zen monk, in charge of all religious affairs in Japan, Buddhist and Shinto alike.

Later in life he also took to scholarship and Confucianism, patronizing scholars like Hayashi Razan.

While at first tolerant of Christianity, his attitude changed after 1613 and the persecution of Christians sharply increased, with Ieyasu completely banning Catholicism in 1614. The hostility of Ieyasu towards Catholics were shown when he replaced Jesuits translator João Rodrigues Tçuzu with William Adams in his court. This change of attitude also believed due to Okamoto Daihachi incident, where a Catholic daimyo and shogun's official were accused for the series of crimes. After the execution of Dahachi, Ieyasu reportedly said:

If they see a condemned fellow, they run to him with joy, bow to him, and do him reverence. This they say is the essence of their belief. If this is not an evil law, what is it? They truly are the enemies of the Gods and of Buddha.