Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu

The Surprising Life of the Third Edo Shogun

Tokugawa Iemitsu was born August 12, 1604 in the Nishi-no-maru compound of Edo Castle as the second son of Tokugawa Hidetada. Hidetada had an elder son, Nagamaru, born in 1601, but the child died young, and so the second son, the future Iemitsu was given the childhood name of Takechiyo, the same as his grandfather Tokugawa Ieyasu. As such he became the favored grandson of Ieyasu. Iemitsu’s mother was Lady Oeyo, the third daughter of Azai Nagamasa and the adopted daughter of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, his childhood nanny, Fuku was the daughter of Saito Rizo, a vassal of Akechi Mitsuhide.

Although he was pre-destined to follow his father and grandfather, Ieyasu, in becoming Shogun, as a child, Iemitsu was said to have been sickly and weak, to have stuttered, to have had a less than appealing appearance and was reported to have a lower-than-average intelligence. Because of this, his younger brother Tadanaga became his parents favorite and it was suggested that Tadanaga instead be named as Hidetada’s heir. Iemitsu’s nanny, Fuku, felt that her charge was in danger of being disinherited, and so she made an appeal directly to Ieyasu in Sunpu. Ieyasu then demanded that Iemitsu would succeed the position.