Battle of Sekigahara

Two years after the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, Japan's lords split between his former regent Tokugawa Ieyasu and a coalition loyal to Hideyoshi's young heir. They met in a narrow valley on the road from Kyoto to eastern Japan. When several western commanders changed sides at midday, Ieyasu won in a few hours. He became shogun in 1603, and his family ruled Japan until 1868.