Born on This Day: January 31

Japanese shogun who established the Tokugawa shogunate, beginning more than two centuries of political stability.

Austrian composer whose songs, chamber works, and symphonies transformed Romantic music.

American chemist whose precise atomic-weight measurements strengthened modern chemistry and the periodic system.

American author whose Western novels shaped popular images of the frontier in literature and film.

Russian ballerina whose international tours expanded ballet’s worldwide audience and influence.

American baseball player whose integration of Major League Baseball became a landmark in the civil-rights struggle.

American writer whose fiction, journalism, and essays helped develop New Journalism and influenced postwar literary culture.

Japanese novelist and essayist whose work confronted war, disability, democracy, and moral responsibility.