ABSTRACT
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born at Nakamura, Aichi-gori, Owari Province, in 1535. His father, Kinoshita Taemon, a musketeer of low rank in the service of Lord Nobuhide, the father of famous Nobunaga, was wounded in battle and retired to till the soil in his native place, dying eight years after Hideyoshi was born. When a boy, Hideyoshi was called Tokichiro, but because his features so much resembled those of a monkey, folks nicknamed him Saru (monkey). This boy Saru, in his 16th year, took some ten or twenty copper coins called Eiraku-sen, which his father had left for his family, and went to Kiyosu, a large city in the province. There he bought sewing materials, which he peddled as he walked in order to buy food and straw sandals, and continued his journey until he came to Hamamatsu in Totomi Province. Matsushita Kahei, the lord of Kuno Castle, saw Saru wandering about in dirty white cotton clothes and, learning by inquiry that he had come from Owari Province to find a position, took him home with him and gave him a job, but later, finding that the lad did not get on well with his comrades, Matsushita pitied him, gave him some money for travelling expenses, and discharged him. Saru then went to Kiyosu, and through the recommendation of Ganmaku and Ichiwaka, who were both old neighbours at his native place and overseers at that time under Lord Nobunaga, served Nobunaga as a sandal-bearer. In a short time Saru was promoted overseer, and after that, winning more and more the confidence of Nobunaga and distinguishing himself very often in battle, his rise was so startling that finally he became a daimyo (provincial lord), with the name of Hashiba Hideyoshi, and, more than that, was looked upon as "Nobunaga's Right Hand."
