Ieyasu's whole philosophy basically comes down to patience. He's convinced that if you just endure whatever gets thrown at you, you'll eventually build something peaceful and stable for everyone. He knows he can't pull this off alone, so he's pretty pragmatic about surrounding himself with loyal followers—basically, if you're on his side, he'll work with you.
That said, he's not some zen master about it. He definitely has moments where frustration and bitterness get the better of him. But when it comes to rivals, there's something almost generous in how he treats them, even though they're constantly side-eyeing his methods. They see his slow, methodical climb to power as sneaky and manipulative. Some of the louder critics have even taken to calling him "tanuki"—essentially calling him wily or raccoon-like—and mocking his looks and general vibe, which clearly gets under his skin.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
