Who Is Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Kinoshita Tokichiro)?

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a warlord of Japan's Sengoku (Warring States) period who rose from humble origins and, taking up where Oda Nobunaga left off, unified the country. He went by the names Kinoshita Tokichiro and Hashiba Hideyoshi before the imperial court appointed him kampaku (imperial regent) and granted him the surname Toyotomi. After he handed the post of kampaku to a successor he was called "Taiko," which is where the title Taikoki comes from.

The Taikoki says he was born in Nakamura, in Owari Province, and that his mother conceived him after dreaming of the sun. He leaves home, wanders the provinces, and parts ways with Matsushita Kahei before entering Nobunaga's service. He earns recognition by repairing the walls of Kiyosu Castle and building the castle at Sunomata, and he brings Takenaka Hanbei into his service.

The Taikoki gives his birth as New Year's Day of the fifth year of the Tenbun era (1536), though the sixth year of Tenbun is also widely cited. His childhood name "Hiyoshimaru" and the story of him warming his lord's sandals inside his robe are famous, but neither can be confirmed in reliable records, and both are thought to have spread in later times.