Tokugawa Ienobu (徳川 家宣; 11 June 1662 – 12 November 1712) was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the sixth shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Tsunashige, thus making him the nephew of Tokugawa Ietsuna and Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the grandson of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the great-grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. All of Ienobu's children died young.
Contents
Early life (1662–1694)
Tokugawa Ienobu was born as the oldest son of Tokugawa Tsunashige, daimyō of Kōfu, in 1662. His mother was a concubine. Tsunashige was the middle brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna and Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and the second son of Tokugawa Iemitsu with his concubine, thus making Ienobu their nephew. In 1662, Ienobu's uncle, Ietsuna was shōgun, and his father, Tsunashige, was daimyō of Kōfu, a very valuable piece of land to the Tokugawa. Before becoming shōgun his name was Tokugawa Tsunatoyo, the 4th daimyō of Kōfu Domain from the Tokugawa clan. His childhood name was Toramatsu (虎松).
Not much is known of Ienobu's early life except that he was expected to become the next daimyō of Kofu after the death of his father. However, after Tokugawa Ietsuna had died in 1680, and his other uncle, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi succeeded the bakufu, Tsunayoshi's failure to produce a male heir greatly increased the chances of Ienobu becoming shogun. Nonetheless, for the time being, Ienobu was not being groomed to succeed to the shogunate but rather to succeed his father Tsunashige as daimyō of Kōfu.