Tsuneyori To

Tō Tsuneyori (東 常縁, 1401 - 1484) was a Japanese samurai lord and poet of the mid-Muromachi period and early Sengoku period. He was the lord of Shinowaki Castle in Mino Province and served as Governor of Shimotsuke Province. He is known as the founder of Kōkin Denju poetic school. He held the court rank of Junior Fifth Rank. He was also known as Tōyashū.

Life Tō Tsuneyori was born in 1401 as the son of Tō Masuyuki, Governor of Shimotsuke Province. He was adopted by his older half-brother Tō Ujikazu, and thus became the heir to the Tō family

He studied waka poetry under Gyōkō of the Nijō poetic school and Shōtetsu from 1449 until 1451, when he officially became a disciple of Gyōkō.

He died in 1484 at the age of 83. There is also a theory that he died on April 18, 1494, at the age of 93, however 1484 is considered his actual year of death. His Dharma name is Soden.