<P> Toyotomi had on his deathbed appointed a group of the most powerful lords in Japan--Tokugawa, Maeda Toshiie, Ukita Hideie, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Mōri Terumoto--to govern as the Council of Five Regents until his infant son, Hideyori, came of age . An uneasy peace lasted until the death of Maeda in 1599 . Thereafter a number of high - ranking figures, notably Ishida Mitsunari, accused Tokugawa of disloyalty to the Toyotomi regime . </P> <P> This precipitated a crisis that led to the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, during which Tokugawa and his allies, who controlled the east of the country, defeated the anti-Tokugawa forces, which had control of the west . Generally regarded as the last major conflict of the Sengoku period, Tokugawa's victory at Sekigahara effectively marked the end of the Toyotomi regime, the last remnants of which were finally destroyed in the Siege of Osaka in 1615 . </P> <Ul> <Li> Oda Nobunaga </Li> <Li> Toyotomi Hideyoshi </Li> <Li> Tokugawa Ieyasu </Li> </Ul> <P> The contrasting personalities of the three leaders who contributed the most to Japan's final unification--Oda, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa--are encapsulated in a series of three well known senryū: </P>

Who were the three great unifiers of japan