Tōjō Chitose

Chitose Tojo was a Japanese woman born in 1861. She was the wife of Imperial Japanese Army officer Eikyo Tojo and the mother of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, the 40th Prime Minister of Japan. She was born at Bando-ji Temple in Kokura Kita Ward, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Her father was Rieho Tokunaga, the chief priest of the same temple.

Chitose married Eikyo Tojo, who was stationed near her family’s home at the 14th Infantry Regiment. Her first child was her eldest son, Hideo, born in 1880. She also had a second son, Hidemi, born in 1882. It is believed that these children died within their first year due to health problems caused by lead poisoning from her breast milk.

Following these tragedies, she became very nervous and paid particular attention to child-rearing. She especially had high expectations for her third son, Hideki, born in 1884, and raised him herself, refraining from having others carry him. In addition to Hideki, she had three more children—a son and two daughters.

Regarding her family connections, Katsuko Tojo, wife of Hideki Tojo, was related to Chitose. She is said to have been strict towards Katsuko.

Her birth year is documented, but her date of death remains unknown.

Information about her can be found in Masayasu Hosaka’s book, *Tojo Hideki and the Era of the Emperor* (Chikuma Bunko, 2005).

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**Note:**

- The year of death is unknown.

- This information has been compiled based on publicly available sources.