ABSTRACT
Sato Eisaku was born on March 27, 1901, in Tabuse, Yamaguchi. He was the third son of Sato Hidesuke and his wife Moyo and their seventh child overall; in addition to his two older brothers, he also had four older sisters. He would eventually be followed by three more girls, making ten children in all: three boys and seven girls. Eisaku had two older brothers, Ichiro and Nobusuke. Eisaku’s inferiority complex toward Nobusuke and Hiroko’s feelings toward him were so obvious that they were common knowledge among his secretaries when Eisaku later became prime minister. According to his friends from school, Sato was a handsome but quiet young man who did not particularly stand out. While his grades were never at the top of the class, he was driven by an innate desire to not lose, and he managed to pull himself up to eighteenth place.
