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Kira Clan
The Kira clan(吉良氏 - kira-shi) was a Japanese clan, descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880), and was a cadet branch of the Ashikaga family from the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji). Ashikaga Mitsuuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji (1189–1254) was the first to take the name of Kira. History Kira Mitsusada sided first with his relative Ashikaga Takauji (1305–1358), the first Ashikaga ''shōgun'', then passed over to the Southern Dynasty. He was defeated by Hatakeyama Kunikiyo (1360) and submitted to the Ashikaga ''shōguns''. In fact, the Kira, from Mikawa province, were a minor branch of the Minamoto clan, as they never had the rank of ''Shugo'' (Governor) of any province during the Kamakura period until the Sengoku period, they never possessed important domains and never represented a real power, in comparison with other grand Seiwa Genji families. During the Tokugawa period, they were among the ''Kōke'', a ranking below ''Daimyō''. The Kira are famous for Kira Yoshina ...
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Mikawa Province
was an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces. Mikawa is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō. Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Mikawa was ranked as a "superior country" (上国) and a "near country" (近国) in terms of its distance from the capital. History Mikawa is mentioned in records of the Taika Reform dated 645, as well as various Nara period chronicles, including the Kujiki, although the area has been settled since at least the Japanese Paleolithic period, as evidenced by numerous remains found by archaeologists. Early records mention a "Nishi-Mikawa no kuni" and a "Higashi-Mikawa no kuni", also known as . Although considered one administrative unit under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, this division (roughly based at the Yasaku River) pers ...
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Kamakura Period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans. The period is known for the emergence of the samurai, the warrior caste, and for the establishment of feudalism in Japan. During the early Kamakura period, the shogunate continued warfare against the Northern Fujiwara which was only defeated in 1189. Then, the authority to the Kamakura rulers waned in the 1190s and power was transferred to the powerful Hōjō clan in the early 13th century with the head of the clan as regent (Shikken) under the shogun which became a powerless figurehead. The later Kamakura period saw the invasions of the Mongols in 1274 and again in 1281. To reduce the amount of chaos, the Hōjō rulers decided to decentralize power by allowing two imperial lines – Northern and Southern ...
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Forty-seven Rōnin
The revenge of the , also known as the or Akō vendetta, is a historical event in Japan in which a band of ''rōnin'' (lordless samurai) avenged the death of their master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. It is one of the three major ''adauchi'' vendetta incidents in Japan, alongside the Revenge of the Soga Brothers and the Igagoe vendetta. The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless after their ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was compelled to perform ''seppuku'' (ritual suicide) for assaulting a powerful court official named Kira Yoshinaka. After waiting and planning for a year, the ''rōnin'' avenged their master's honor by killing Kira, knowing full well that the authorities would likely not tolerate this vendetta's completion. They were then obliged to commit ''seppuku'' for the crime of murder. This true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that pe ...
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Kira Yoshinaka
was a '' kōke'' (master of ceremonies). His court title was '' Kōzuke no suke (上野介)''. He is famous as the adversary of Asano Naganori in the events of the Forty-seven rōnin. Although his name (義央) has been long pronounced as "Yoshinaka" especially in dramas and novels, , written by an anonymous contemporary in 1703, recorded that his name was "Yoshihisa." Life Family and early life Born in 1641, he was the eldest son of Kira Yoshifuyu. His mother was a member of the high-ranking Sakai clan. On the death of his father in 1668, Yoshinaka became the 17th head of the household, inheriting lands evaluated at 4200 ''koku''. His wife was from the Uesugi clan, and his eldest son was adopted by Uesugi Tsunakatsu, the head of the Dewa Yonezawa ''han'', taking the name Tsunanori. Yoshinaka named his second son as his heir, but when that heir died, Yoshinaka adopted Tsunanori's second son, strengthening the connection between the Kira and the Uesugi. Career As a ''kōke'', ...
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Daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to the Emperor of Japan, emperor and the ''kuge''. In the term, means 'large', and stands for , meaning 'private land'. From the ''shugo'' of the Muromachi period through the Sengoku period, Sengoku to the ''daimyo'' of the Edo period, the rank had a long and varied history. The backgrounds of ''daimyo'' also varied considerably; while some ''daimyo'' clans, notably the Mōri clan, Mōri, Shimazu clan, Shimazu and Hosokawa clan, Hosokawa, were cadet branches of the Imperial family or were descended from the ''kuge'', other ''daimyo'' were promoted from the ranks of the samurai, notably during the Edo period. ''Daimyo'' often hired samurai to guard their land, and they paid the samurai in land or food as relatively few could aff ...
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Tokugawa Period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, perpetual peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo), where on March 24, 1603, the shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, which restored imperial rule to Japan. Consolidation of the shogunate The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's regional ''daimyo''. A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate, which existed with the Tennō's court, to the Tokuga ...
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Seiwa Genji
The is a line of the Japanese Minamoto clan that is descended from Emperor Seiwa, which is the most successful and powerful line of the clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto no Yoshiie, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate; and Ashikaga Takauji, the founder of the Ashikaga shogunate, belonged to this line. Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, also claimed descent from this lineage. The family is named after Emperor Seiwa, whose four sons and twelve grandsons founded the Seiwa Genji. Emperor Seiwa was father of Imperial Prince Sadazumi (貞純親王 ''Sadazumi Shinnō'') (873–916), who was in turn the father of Minamoto no Tsunemoto (源経基) (894–961), one of the founders of the Seiwa Genji, from whom most Seiwa Genji members are descended. Many samurai families belong to this line and used "Minamoto" clan name in official records, including the Ashikaga clan, Hatakeyama clan, Hosokawa clan, Ima ...
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Sengoku Period
The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various samurai warlords and Japanese clans, clans fought for control over Japan in the power vacuum, while the emerged to fight against samurai rule. The Nanban trade, arrival of Europeans in 1543 introduced the arquebus into Japanese warfare, and Japan ended its status as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of China in 1549. Oda Nobunaga dissolved the Ashikaga shogunate in 1573 and launched a war of political unification by force, including the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War, until his death in the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582. Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi completed his campaign to unify Japan and consolidated his rule with numerous influential reforms. Hideyoshi launched the Japanese invasions of Korea (159 ...
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Shugo
, commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The position gave way to the emergence of the ''daimyōs'' (大名, feudal lords) in the late 15th century, as ''shugo'' began to claim power over lands themselves, rather than serving simply as governors on behalf of the shogunate. The post is said to have been created in 1185 by Minamoto no Yoritomo to aid the capture of Yoshitsune, with the additional motivation of extending the rule of the shogunate government throughout Japan. The ''shugo'' (military governors) progressively supplanted the existing ''kokushi'' (civil governors), who were appointed by the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Officially, the ''gokenin'' in each province were supposed to serve the ''shugo'', but in practice, the relationship between them was fragile, as the gokenin were ...
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Ashikaga Clan
The was a prominent Japanese samurai clan which established the Muromachi shogunate and ruled Japan from roughly 1333 to 1573. The Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, deriving originally from the town of Ashikaga in Shimotsuke Province (modern-day Tochigi Prefecture). For about a century the clan was divided in two rival branches, the Kantō Ashikaga, who ruled from Kamakura, and the Kyōto Ashikaga, rulers of Japan. The rivalry ended with the defeat of the first in 1439. The clan had many notable branch clans, including the Hosokawa, Imagawa, Hatakeyama (after 1205), Kira , Shiba, and Hachisuka clans. After the head family of the Minamoto clan died out during the early Kamakura period, the Ashikaga came to style themselves as the head of the Minamoto, co-opting the prestige which came with that name. Another Ashikaga clan, not related by blood, and derived instead from the Fujiwara clan, also existed. History Emperor Go-Daigo 後醍醐天皇 ...
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Hatakeyama Kunikiyo
Hatakeyama (written: 畠山 or 畑山) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese rhythmic gymnast *, Japanese electronic musician *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese rugby union player *, Japanese shogi player *, Japanese Founder of Ebara Pumps *, Japanese ''daimyō'' *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese shogi player *, Japanese journalist *, Japanese samurai *, Japanese samurai *, Japanese boxer *, Japanese ''daimyō'' *, Japanese samurai *, Japanese samurai *, Japanese ''daimyō'' See also *Hatakeyama clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim to political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in battle ... * 9114 Hatakeyama, a main-belt minor planet {{surname Japanese-language surnames ...
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Shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura period, shoguns were themselves figureheads, with real power in hands of the Shikken of the Hōjō clan. The office of shogun was in practice hereditary, though over the course of the history of Japan several different clans held the position. The title was originally held by military commanders during Heian period in the eighth and ninth centuries. When Minamoto no Yoritomo gained political ascendency over Japan in 1185, the title was revived to regularize his position, making him the first shogun in the usually understood sense. The shogun's officials were collectively referred to as the ; they were the ones who carried out the actual duties of administration, while the Imperial court retained only nominal authority.Beasley, William G ...
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