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.
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.
In 1678 Tokugawa Tsunashige died and Tokugawa Ienobu succeeded him as daimyō of Kōfu. He became very powerful there since his uncle was the shogun.
In 1694, a rōnin, Arai Hakuseki, was appointed as personal tutor and advisor to Ienobu. Hakuseki used to be a teacher in Edo, but was recommended by the philosopher Kinoshita Jun'an to become personal tutor to Ienobu and was summoned to Ienobu's Edo residence. Until 1709, when Ienobu became shōgun, it is thought that Hakuseki gave him 2000 lectures on the Chinese classics and Confucianism. This was helpful to Ienobu since Shogun Tsunayoshi had also been a great patron of the Chinese classics and of Neo-Confucianism. After Ienobu's ascension, Hakuseki devoted the rest of his life to advising Ienobu, even writing a book for him, known as the Hankanpu covering the history of various fiefs from 1600 until 1680.
Mother: Ohara no Kata later Choshoin (1637–1664)
Adoptive Father: Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
Wife: Konoe Hiroko (1666–1741) later Ten'ei-in
Okiyo no Kata (1685–1752) later Gekkoin
Ukon no Kata (1682–1766) later Hoshin-in
Osume no Kata (d. 1772) later Renjo-in
Itsuki no Miya (d. 1710) later Honkoin
Toyo-hime (1681–1681) by Hiroko
Tokugawa Mugetsuin (1699–1699) by Hiroko
Tokugawa Iechiyo (1707–1707) by Ukon
Tokugawa Daigorō (1708–1710) by Osume
Tokugawa Torakichi (1711–1711) by Osume
child (died in womb) by Itsuki no Miya