The Tokugawa Period
Between 1551 and 1605 three subsequent shōguns rose in Japan and brought about a pivotal moment in Japanese history. Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu had similar imperial views and were devoted leaders to their people. Where Nobunaga and Hideyoshi failed, Ieyasu bided his time inaugurating one of the longest periods of peace, and one of the richest epochs of art, in human history: the Tokugawa period. Ieyasu left a simple admonition to his son: "Take care of the people. Strive to be virtuous. Never neglect to protect the country". This was one of the rare instances in history where the death of a strong leader didn't lead to a collapse. The Tokugawa period is deemed one of the "happiest in the long life of the nation".
Source: Durant, Will, The Story of Civilization, Vol. 1: Our Oriental Heritage. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1954.
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Full disclosure, I may occasionally borrow a sentence from Will Durant's Story of Civilization. I absolutely love that collection!