← Fame through time1600-1699
The 17th century
Whose working lives fell in the 17th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 17th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Miyamoto Musashi2 decades - 2
Matsuo Bashō0 decades - 3
Koxinga10 decades - 4
Date Masamune0 decades - 5
Hasekura Tsunenaga0 decades - 6
Go-Yōzei0 decades - 7
Tokugawa Iemitsu0 decades - 8
Tokugawa Hidetada0 decades - 9
Toyotomi Hideyori0 decades - 10
Empress Meishōnot measured- - 11
Emperor Go-Mizunoo0 decades - 12
Sasaki Kojirōnot measured- - 13
Emperor Reigen0 decades - 14
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi0 decades - 15
Sanada Yukimura0 decades - 16
Go-Kōmyōnot measured- - 17
Go-Sai0 decades - 18
Izumo no Okuni0 decades - 19
Tokugawa Ietsuna0 decades - 20
Yamamoto Tsunetomo0 decades - 21
Chikamatsu Monzaemon0 decades - 22
Hishikawa Moronobu0 decades - 23
Amakusa Shirō0 decades - 24
Ihara Saikaku0 decades - 25
Tokugawa Ienobu0 decades - 26
Takakazu Seki0 decades - 27
Ukita Hideie0 decades - 28
Yodo-dono0 decades - 29
Kobayakawa Hideaki0 decades - 30Ogata Kōrin0 decades
- 31
Yagyū Munenori0 decades - 32
Senhime0 decades - 33
Arai Hakuseki0 decades - 34
Takuan Sōhō0 decades - 35
Tokugawa Mitsukuni0 decades - 36
Kuroda Nagamasa0 decades - 37
Yamada Nagamasa0 decades - 38
Oda Hidenobu0 decades - 39
Tachibana Ginchiyonot measured- - 40Tawara Sōtatsunot measured-
- 41
Tokugawa Masakonot measured- - 42
Kanō Tan'yūnot measured- - 43
Chōsokabe Morichikanot measured- - 44
Shimazu Tadatsune0 decades - 45
Hayashi Razan0 decades - 46
Kira Yoshinaka0 decades - 47
Arima Harunobu0 decades - 48
Matsudaira Tadayoshi0 decades - 49
Sō Yoshitoshinot measured- - 50
Ōishi Yoshionot measured- - 51
Oeyo0 decades - 52
Ikeda Terumasa0 decades - 53
Yūki Hideyasunot measured- - 54
Tokugawa Tadanaganot measured- - 55
Sanada Nobuyuki0 decades - 56
Kaibara Ekken0 decades - 57
Komatsuhimenot measured- - 58
Mancio Itōnot measured- - 59
Lady Kasuga0 decades - 60Ogata Kenzan0 decades
- 61
Satake Yoshinobu0 decades - 62
Torii Kiyonobu0 decades - 63
Yagyū Mitsuyoshinot measured- - 64
Tokugawa Yoshinao0 decades - 65
Yamazaki Ansai0 decades - 66
Yamaga Sokō0 decades - 67
Tokugawa Yorinobu0 decades - 68Shimazu Toyohisanot measured-
- 69
Date Tadamune0 decades - 70
Iwasa Matabēnot measured- - 71
Bankei Yōtaku0 decades - 72
Matsudaira Tadateru0 decades - 73
Tachibana Muneshige0 decades - 74
Tosa Mitsuoki0 decades - 75Toyotomi Kunimatsunot measured-
- 76Asai Ryōi0 decades
- 77
Akashi Takenorinot measured- - 78
Takarai Kikaku0 decades - 79
Mototsugu Gotōnot measured- - 80
Hanabusa Itchōnot measured-
- 81
Tokugawa Yorifusa0 decades - 82Inoue Masashige0 decades
- 83
Mōri Hidemotonot measured- - 84
Suzuki Shōsan0 decades - 85
Enkūnot measured- - 86
Kanō Sansetsunot measured- - 87
Hidari Jingorōnot measured- - 88
Nakae Tōju0 decades - 89
Hoshina Masayuki0 decades - 90
Matsudaira Tadanao0 decades - 91
Asano Yoshinaga0 decades - 92
Hosokawa Tadatoshi0 decades - 93
Konoe Nobutada0 decades - 94
Shibukawa Shunkai0 decades - 95
Itō Jinsai0 decades - 96
Miyamoto Iorinot measured- - 97
Honda Tadamasa0 decades - 98
Tenjiku Tokubei0 decades - 99
Yoshida Mitsuyoshi0 decades - 100Takeda Nobuyoshi0 decades
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.