Tokugawa Mitsukuni (徳川 光圀, 11 July 1628 – 14 January 1701), also known as Mito Kōmon (水戸黄門), was a Japanese daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period.

At the age of six, his elder brother Yorishige became valetudinarian, and Mitsukuni was chosen to succeed his father.

[2] He was responsible for assembling the Mitogaku scholars to compile a huge Japanese history, Dai Nihonshi.

He is claimed to be one of the first Japanese to eat ramen as well as routinely enjoying such exotic food as wine and yogurt.

This tradition of dramatizing his life continued with a novel and, in 1951, the first television series to portray him as a wanderer, masquerading as a commoner, who castigated the evil powers in every corner of the nation.

Episodes were re-broadcast in the early 1990s by WNYE-TV (New York City) under the title The Elder Lord of Mito.