− | Chaya Shirôjirô Kiyonobu, likely the first of the line, was a [[ronin]] of the [[Nakajima family]], crippled in the wars of the [[Sengoku Period]], who was adopted into the [[Chaya family]], and established a humble business in [[Kyoto]] making drapes. He developed a strong business relationship with one of his clients, [[Matsudaira Hirotada]], and later sent his son [[Chaya Shirôjirô Kiyotada]] (1584-1603) to [[Mikawa province]] to serve as a squire to Hirotada's son, now known as [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]]. | + | Chaya Shirôjirô Kiyonobu, likely the first of the line, was a [[ronin]] of the [[Nakajima family]], crippled in the wars of the [[Sengoku Period]], who was adopted into the [[Chaya family]], and established a humble business in [[Kyoto]] making drapes. He developed a strong business relationship with one of his clients, [[Matsudaira Hirotada]], and later sent his son [[Chaya Shirojiro Kiyotada|Chaya Shirôjirô Kiyotada]] (1584-1603) to [[Mikawa province]] to serve as a squire to Hirotada's son, now known as [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]]. |
| Kiyonobu thus became one of the primary suppliers of the Tokugawa family, and quickly came into great wealth and influence in Kyoto. He accompanied Ieyasu in battle, at [[battle of Mikata ga Hara|Mikata ga Hara]] (1572), and served him in other ways, as an intelligence agent in Kyoto and in secretly transporting messages and goods for Ieyasu during the time when [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] held power. Chaya was supposedly the one who informed Ieyasu of [[Oda Nobunaga]]'s [[Incident at Honnoji|death]] in 1582, and thus allowed him to escape the forces of [[Akechi Mitsuhide]] and Hideyoshi, who seized power in the aftermath. | | Kiyonobu thus became one of the primary suppliers of the Tokugawa family, and quickly came into great wealth and influence in Kyoto. He accompanied Ieyasu in battle, at [[battle of Mikata ga Hara|Mikata ga Hara]] (1572), and served him in other ways, as an intelligence agent in Kyoto and in secretly transporting messages and goods for Ieyasu during the time when [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] held power. Chaya was supposedly the one who informed Ieyasu of [[Oda Nobunaga]]'s [[Incident at Honnoji|death]] in 1582, and thus allowed him to escape the forces of [[Akechi Mitsuhide]] and Hideyoshi, who seized power in the aftermath. |