It was the Ieyasu-established Edo bakufu that, placing the Tokugawa shogun family at its pinnacle of the reign based on its overwhelming power base, controlled daimyo throughout the nation, the Imperial court, and the emperor's family in the posture of 'Do not make them live nor kill them, and abolish a family if it resisted the bakufu (or was dangerous for the bakufu).'
このように圧倒的な権力基盤を背景にして徳川将軍家を頂点に君臨させ、全国の諸大名・朝廷・天皇家を「生かさず殺さず、逆らえば（もしくはその危険があるならば）潰す」の姿勢で支配したのが家康の築いた江戸幕府であった。