Editing Toyotomi Hideyoshi (section)

== Early life (1537–1558) ==
[[File:Monument of Toyotomi Hideyoshi birthplace.jpg|thumb|Nakamura Park in [[Nagoya]], traditionally regarded as Hideyoshi's birthplace]]
Very little is known for certain about Toyotomi Hideyoshi before 1570, when he begins to appear in surviving documents and letters. His [[autobiography]] starts in 1577, but in it, Hideyoshi spoke very little about his past.

According to tradition, Hideyoshi was born on February 16, 1537, according to the lunar [[Japanese calendar]] (March 17, 1537, according to the [[Julian calendar]]; March 27, 1537 ([[Proleptic Gregorian calendar]])) in [[Nakamura-ku, Nagoya|Nakamura]], [[Owari Province]] (present-day [[Nakamura-ku, Nagoya|Nakamura Ward]], [[Nagoya]]), in the middle of the chaotic [[Sengoku period]] under the collapsed [[Ashikaga Shogunate]]. Hideyoshi had no traceable samurai lineage, and his father Kinoshita Yaemon was an ''[[ashigaru]]'' – a [[peasant]] employed by the samurai as a foot soldier.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HQTbDphPKmoC&pg=PA8 Berry 1982, p. 8]</ref> Hideyoshi had no surname, and his childhood given name was {{Nihongo|'''Hiyoshimaru'''|日吉丸||{{IPA|ja|çi.jo.ɕiꜜ.ma.ɾɯ}}<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:新明解日本語アクセント辞典|edition=2nd|editor-last=Kindaichi|editor-first=Haruhiko|editor-link=Haruhiko Kindaichi|editor-last2=Akinaga|editor-first2=Kazue|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]|date=10 March 2025|lang=ja}}</ref>}} although variations exist. Yaemon died in 1543 when Hideyoshi was seven years old.<ref name="TH">{{cite book|last1=Turnbull|first1=Stephen|title=Toyotomi Hideyoshi|url=https://archive.org/details/toyotomihideyosh00turn|url-access=limited|date=2010|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1-84603-960-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/toyotomihideyosh00turn/page/n7 6]}}</ref>

Many legends describe Hideyoshi being sent to study at a [[temple]] as a young man, but he rejected temple life and went in search of adventure.<ref name=sam>{{Cite book|last =Turnbull |first= Stephen R. |title= The Samurai: A Military History |publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co. |place=New York |year =1977|page= 142}}</ref> Under the name {{Nihongo|'''Kinoshita Tōkichirō'''|木下 藤吉郎}}, he first joined the [[Imagawa clan]] as a servant to a local ruler named {{ill|Matsushita Yukitsuna|ja|松下之綱}} {{Nihongo||松下之綱}}.