Shitennō (Tokugawa clan)
The is a Japanese sobriquet describing four highly effective samurai generals who fought on behalf of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Sengoku period. They were famous during their lifetimes as the four most fiercely loyal vassals of the Tokugawa clan in the early Edo period. Etymology. The sobriquet evolved from the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Buddhist iconography. These are said to be the guardians of the four horizons. Fudai leaders. Each of these four generals was the founder of a cadet branch clan: