ABSTRACT
Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in Okazaki Castle in the province of Mikawa, on the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth month of the year Tenbun 11, which corresponds to January 31, 1543 in the Western calendar. In 1543, Ieyasu’s mother made a donation to the local temple Iwatsu Myoshinji and requested that prayers be offered for Ieyasu’s long life. His father made a similar donation to the temple Daijuji a month later. Ieyasu proved to be almost as influential in death as he had been in life. Ieyasu was many things: born into misfortune, lucky to survive his moment of emancipation, privileged to work alongside Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, savvy in his navigation of the conflicts that followed their deaths, successful in both his production of a large family with many children and in his establishment of a stable government, and uniquely prosperous in the conditions under which his life came to an end.
